Last October, the SolarWorld GT solar-powered car set out from Darwin, Australia on a drive around the world. It has since driven 3,001 kilometers (1,865 miles) across Australia, logged 1,947 km (1,210 miles) crossing New Zealand and been shipped across the Pacific Ocean. This Friday, it will embark on the U.S. leg of its journey, as it sets out across America from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
For those who like simplicity and wish to maintain a sober lifestyle, talented designer Lorenzo Giacomini has come out with a special lighting device, the QBIC Lamp. There is a variety of lighting products available in the market but QBIC Lamp is unique in the sense that it fulfills your simple and routine lighting requirements while taking care of the surrounding too. This is an eco-friendly device that runs on solar power. With its shape as of a small cube, this lamp may serve your needs just anywhere. You may easily carry it wherever there is sufficient sunlight.
The military has a few of the United States’ largest sun lit areas in its administration. A recent study, performed by ICF International and funded from military money, revealed that seven bases in California and two bases in Nevada could produce some 7 GW of electricity and could ease the load put on taxpayers’ pockets.
The year-long study took into account only 4 percent of the total surface area owned by these bases, because the rest is either used by specific military applications or can’t be used due to the bad environmental impact a solar installation could have and lots of different other reasons.
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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