16Dec

Luxury MIG 675 Yacht Harvests Energy from the Water it Floats on

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Luxury MIG 675 Yacht Harvests Energy from the Water it Floats on

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Quimperié’s Luxury MIG 675 is a hydrogen-powered boat that grabs energy directly from the water beneath it as it zips across the waves. The high-tech 22-foot-long boat has seats for three and it tops out at 70 mph. It’s quite the zippy, zero-emissions ride, and it has a price tag to match – it retails for $329,727. We’re still not quite sure how the technology in this speed demon works, Quimperié isn’t letting out much information about the engine inside the boat but it sure looks fast. Check out video proof of the boat’s speed after the jump!

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9Dec

New Organic Solar Cell Efficiency Record Obtained by Heliatek

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New Organic Solar Cell Efficiency Record Obtained by Heliatek

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A new efficiency record for organic photovoltaic cells has been reached by Heliatek, for the third time in a row. The German company created a cheap solar cell that can convert up to 9.8 percent of the incoming light into electricity.

Heliatek’s new solar cell is made from oligomers, and differs from polymer and dye-sensitized solar cells because the cells can be produced at low temperatures and uses the least amount of non-toxic materials.

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8Dec

Chicago-Rockford International Airport to Build 20-MW Solar Array

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A renewable energy joint venture has received environmental approvals from the DoE and FAA to proceed forward with construction of America’s largest commercial airport solar farm.

The 20-megawatt solar farm will be built on 70 acres at Chicago-Rockford Solar Partners, LLC, comprised of Elgin-based Wanxiang America and Chicago-based New Generation Power.

Wanxiang America will supply the photovoltaic solar panels from its new Rockford-based solar panel assembly plant. This facility has a solar module production capacity of 30MW per year. Panel production is well underway and Wanxiang will ramp up jobs and production as the project expands.

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2Dec

What’s Next: Green products powered by self generated energy

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As we know it

While the greatest drive of the eco-conscious generation is to use renewable sources of power, attempts are being made to replace every possible gadget run by non-renewable sources with green products that curb environmental pollution and reduce over brimming of the landfills. Berlin based eco-conscious engineer, Benjamin Beck has made a noteworthy move in this direction. He has developed a green battery pack that is run by solar energy as well as kinetic energy. All you need to do is to place the charged out battery pack in sun for a certain period of time on sunny days and the battery will juice up within no time. But in cloudy days it draws the charge from your movements, thereby converting kinetic energy into electrical energy and gets charged up again. It has been named by the designer as Scaraby Energy Backpack. This functional green gadget is portable and convenient to use.

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28Nov

What’s Next: Superyachts powered by hybrid engines

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As we know it

The emergence of the super-yachts began in the beginning of the twentieth century, when many private owned yachts became a growing rage with the super rich. This opulence naturally became an interest for the press to highlight its popularity. These super-yachts began to appear in magazines which again highlighted the industry boom of these yachts. In the present day, there has been a massive growth in the popularity, size and growth of these luxury yachts. Some of these are operated as charter yachts for businesses and some are available for part time charter but privately owned.

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26Nov

Eco Island: Isle of Wight Developing England’s Largest Sustainable Community

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Eco Island Isle of Wight Developing England’s Largest Sustainable Community

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Off of England’s southern coast, the Isle of Wight is developing the largest sustainability project in the country. By 2020, “Eco Island” will become a net exporter of energy, and residents will see their electricity bills drop by 50%. The island will become a precedent for renewable energy and sustainability practices, and an example of Prime Minister David Cameron’s “Big Society” concept for the UK.

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21Nov

World Bank Group Co-Finances Morocco’s Ouarzazate 500 MW Solar Thermal Power Project

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World Bank Co-Finances Morocco's Ouarzazate 500 MW Concentrated Solar Thermal Power

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The World Bank approved $297 million in loans to Morocco to support construction and operation of Morocco’s 500-megawatt (MW) Ouarzazate Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant, one of several large scale solar power projects in various stages of planning or development across the solar energy rich Middle East-North Africa region.

Upon completion, the Ouarzazate parabolic trough CSP plant would be one of the largest CSP plants in the world. A group of seven international lenders has committed $1.435 billion dollars to build and develop the project. Ouarzazate is seen as a key milestone for Morocco’s national Solar Power Plan, which was launched in 2009 with the goal of deploying 2000 MW of solar power generation capacity by 2020.

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18Nov

Ocean-faring robots set sail on Guinness record attempt

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Ocean-faring robots set sail on Guinness record attempt

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Four robots left the Golden Gate today on an across the globe mission to set a world distance record and demonstrate new data-gathering tools that could help save the planet.

The robots, known as Wave Gliders, were built by a Silicon Valley startup known as Liquid Robotics. And starting today, the four autonomous sea-faring craft are heading out on journeys to Australia and Japan with the intention of setting the Guinness World Record for the longest distance traveled on the surface of the Earth by a robot.

The four Wave Gliders are thought to be capable of traveling across the world without any fuel or outside propulsion. But setting records is really just a “stunt,” said James Gosling, one of the creators of the Java programming language and now Liquid Robotics’ chief software architect. By that, Gosling meant that going for the record would draw attention to the robots’ real work: helping bring scientists, educators, students, industry, and many others access to a level of data about the world’s oceans that may never have been possible before.

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16Nov

Nanoantennas could make for more efficient solar panels

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Nanoantennas could make for more efficient solar panels

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Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic energy, and when they’re picked up by traditional metallic antennas, the electrons that are generated can be converted into an electrical current. Given that optical waves are also a type of electromagnetic energy, a team of scientists from Tel Aviv University wondered if these could also be converted into electricity, via an antenna. It turns out that they can – if the antenna is very, very short. These “nanoantennas” could replace the silicon semiconductors in special solar panels, which could harvest more energy from a wider spectrum of sunlight than is currently possible.

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16Nov

LuminAID solar-powered inflatable lantern – simply a good idea

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Although it can be considered as a basic human need alongside food, water and shelter, 1.6 billion people all over the world have no access to stable and safe source of light. It’s a situation that two bright young Architecture graduates are aiming to combat with the LuminAID solar-powered lantern. Like the Solar Pebble initiative, the LuminAID lantern is designed to address dependence on kerosene lamps in the developing world and its extremely lightweight and easy to transport inflatable design is also targeted at use in disaster relief situations … plus it makes a very handy addition to your camping kit.

At first glance the LuminAID resembles a simple plastic bag, but its coating is made of flexible, semi-transparent waterproof material with a printed dot matrix to diffuse light and it incorporates a very thin solar panel, bright LEDs that provide the light source and a reinforced handle for easy carrying.

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