Co-Locating Solar and Wind Power Farms Can Two Renewable Energy Sources Be Better Than One

The intermittent, yet often complementary, nature of wind and solar energy has long been observed and increasingly remarked upon of late. Minnesota’s Ecos Energy is looking to take advantage of that by building the state’s largest solar photovoltaic (PV) array on a 13-acre site in southwestern Minnesota, home to more wind farms than any other region state-wide, the StarTribune reports.

At 2-megawatts (MW), the solar power array can’t be considered large by any stretch, but it’s expected to provide enough electricity for 340 homes, about as much as a single wind turbine. Yet more significantly, Ecos Energy’s Slayton project will provide some trailblazing data as to whether or not intermittent solar energy and wind turbine arrays can be used in tandem to provide a more consistent supply of power to the grid.

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Solar powered homes that will compete in Solar Decathlon Europe 2012

Environmentally friendly homes can reduce inhabitants’ carbon footprints, save resources and lead the way for others to live the same way. Most of us, however, have been living in homes that are pretty standard, in that they don’t help us reduce our carbon footprints. The US Department of Energy has been trying to further green living in terms of homes and has been organizing the Solar Decathlon for a while now. The international competition is a biennial event that challenges 20 college teams to come up with conceptual homes that utilize solar energy. The teams get to work on site, detailing their prefabricated houses for 10 days in a bid to take home the Solar Decathlon title. 2012’s competition is set to begin and we’re eager to see who wins the coveted prize.

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In the Developing World, Solar Is Cheaper than Fossil Fuels

Advances are opening solar to the 1.3 billion people who don’t have access to grid electricity.

The falling cost of LED lighting, batteries, and solar panels, together with innovative business plans, are allowing millions of households in Africa and elsewhere to switch from crude kerosene lamps to cleaner and safer electric lighting. For many, this offers a means to charge their mobile phones, which are becoming ubiquitous in Africa, instead of having to rent a charger.

Technology advances are opening up a huge new market for solar power: the approximately 1.3 billion people around the world who don’t have access to grid electricity. Even though they are typically very poor, these people have to pay far more for lighting than people in rich countries because they use inefficient kerosene lamps. While in most parts of the world solar power typically costs far more than electricity from conventional power plants—especially when including battery costs—for some people, solar power makes economic sense because it costs half as much as lighting with kerosene.

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HyperSolar harnesses sunlight to produce cleaner-than-clean hydrogen fuel

HyperSolar claims it is developing a zero carbon method of producing hydrogen gas from wastewater by harnessing solar energy. Hydrogen gas is a clean source of fuel in that, theoretically at least, the only waste product is water. But hydrogen gas does not occur naturally on Earth, and requires energy to create. Typically that energy comes from traditional, carbon dioxide-emitting sources, rendering hydrogen fuel rather less environmentally friendly than it has the potential to be. HyperSolar’s work may mean truly clean, renewable hydrogen fuel could be a commercial reality sooner than we might have imagined.

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Military bases in Mojave desert could generate 7GW of renewable solar powercould

According to a study conducted by ICF, a consulting firm for the US Department of Defense, surplus land at four military bases in the Mojave desert in California could be capable of producing up to 7 Gigawatts of solar power. These bases include, the Edwards Air Force base, Fort Erwin, China Lake and Twenty-nine Palms. Some 37,873 acres of land is available for setting these solar power plants, without impacting the space needs of the military for its ongoing operational needs or for potential future needs. The type of solar power plant to be installed, whether silicon flat panels or solar concentrators, has not yet been determined. If the go-ahead happens, power plant construction could commence by 2015.

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Small, Portable Solar Light

There are many solar energy gadgets out there, but some of them seem to stand out. Take the LightShip, for example. It is a practical, portable solar light that could be the clean energy answer to campers, boats, cabins and emergency use. I particularly like the fact that it features three suction cups so that you can attach it to any smooth surface!

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Army and Air Force Push Solar Power into Quantum Territory

The Department of Defense has been on a roll with new solar energy installations, but the real action is going on behind the scenes in laboratories where DoD is quietly supporting research into low cost, lightweight solar cells enhanced with quantum dots. In the latest project, researchers from the Army Research Laboratory and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research have teamed up with the University of Buffalo to create a quantum-enhanced technology that could boost existing solar cell efficiency by up to 45 percent, and possibly more.

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The classic Toyota 2000GT has managed to carve an everlasting image in the minds of people, thanks to its style and of course James Bond. Japanese engineers have given James Bond getaway car a new lease of life by remodeling a Toyota 2000GT for a recent car show. The car will roar like an angry beast but not by a gas-guzzling engine. It has been swapped into a 100 percent electric and solar-powered coupe under the ‘Crazy Car Project,’ which definitely shows some care for the environment.

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Tûranor PlanetSolar World’s Largest Solar Ship About to Complete Trip Around the Globe

The epic voyage of the Tûranor PlanetSolar – the world’s largest solar-powered boat – will soon come to a close as the ship closes in on its final stretch. The Swiss vessel is a full-bore high-tech solar harvesting machine whose deck is covered in 537 square meters of photovoltaic panels. The array produced enough energy for the boat to navigate the entire circumference of the Earth without any other means of energy. The Tûranor PlanetSolar is currently set to depart Abu Dhabi en route to their final port in Morocco – the same place the expedition launched on September 27th, 2010. The journey has come full circle in more than one respect, as it was not too long ago the only way to navigate the earth was by harnessing renewable energy with sails.

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Taking cues from the master Solar energy systems inspired by natural forms

Solar power: Green but inefficient

While green energy like solar power can be the answer to our power needs, there are certain hindrances to its success. First, it is expensive building the necessary equipment for harvesting the sun’s power. Next, sufficient land needs to be made available to set up a solar energy systems. Lastly, modern methods don’t allow for maximum harvesting of sunlight, which is why a lot of it goes to waste. These drawbacks pose a huge problem in attempts to replacing conventional energy with green sources. Considering solar energy systems cost about $45,000 each, most towns can’t afford to invest in them, as maximum benefits of this green energy source will be reaped only when several such systems will be installed. This is why the world still relies on conventional power even though fuel supplies are fast depleting.

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