Everybody’s going green these days, and it’s been reported that even the soldiers in Australia will soon be joining the movement. The Australian National University (ANU) have managed to create wearable lightweight solar panels that convert light directly into electricity using SILVER solar cell technology. Designed for the Department of Defense, these silver cells have a bendable radius of around a few centimeters, which allow it to be used as part of the soldier’s gear.
An Indian college has trained 12 Sierra Leonean women to become solar engineers as part of a drive to bring electricity to rural communities
A group of 12 women from villages in Sierra Leone is in the frontline of a battle to bring solar-powered electricity to rural communities. No small feat, given that rural Sierra Leone is not connected to power.
The women were all trained at Barefoot College in Tilonia, Rajasthan, in western India. They are now back in Sierra Leone assembling 1,500 household solar units at a new Barefoot College in Konta Line village, Port Loko district, which is to be formally opened next month. They sit at long wooden tables fitting tiny coloured resisters to circuit boards – heads tilted, deep in concentration, as smoke puffs up from their soldering irons.
As the drive for eco friendly transportation modes is gathering momentum, many new and innovative ideas are surfacing everyday with the promise of a greener future. River or water transportation is one such area where newer eco friendly ideas are taking shape almost on a daily basis. Old gas guzzling boats are being replaced by newer boats powered by renewable energy sources. Here I am going to tell you about 10 such boats which are powered by solar energy and have the potential of changing the face of water transport in the future.
The South African Department of Energy (DoE) has opened competitive solicitation process for renewable energy development, including 200 MW of concentrating solar power (CSP) and 1.45 GW of solar photovoltaics (PV).
The program will also solicit 100 MW from projects 1-5 MW in size, which can be PV, wind, biomass or biogas. It will not use the renewable energy feed-in tariff (Refit) published by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa in 2009.
“The abandonment of the Refit has raised anxiety levels among potential developers, which warned that the absence of a predetermined tariff would raise the risks associated with the roll-out of renewables projects in South Africa,” stated the South African Alternative Energy Association.
By the rate at which transportation is going green, soon cars powered by solar, wind or other forms of renewable energy will be a common thing on roads around the world. The biggest benefits of such vehicles would be that one would not have to visit the refueling stations and it would also cut down on the emission of greenhouse gases that the gas guzzling vehicles of today are well known for. Here is a list of 10 such concept vehicles which would be powered by self-generated energy.
In this era it is necessary to adapt unconventional and renewable energy sources. We are running short of the existing fossil fuels and hence solar power can be economical as well as ecofriendly. It is an easy task to install your own appliances which work with the solar power. This never ending source of energy can save electricity and fuel.
Solar in Los Angeles recently received another boost. After shutting down its solar incentive program in April, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the nation’s largest municipal utility, has announced that it will restart its solar incentive program once again.
LADWP initially shut down its solar program in April, as it was overwhelmed with applications with not enough money to go around. The LADWP program initially began with around $30 million to provide rebates to homeowners and businesses to install solar on their rooftops. However, the program was inundated with approximately $112 million in requests prompting the city to shut the program down.
Romanian transportation designer Vlad Iorgulescu has come up with a concept vehicle dubbed “Renault 4 Redesigned”. The concept vehicle is a perfect amalgamation of candor and tenacity of old times with design, technology, and renewable power use of modern times. The Renault 4 has enjoyed the reputation of being the third bestselling model of car across the world, and has become a style icon in itself. The participants in the competition were asked to respect the identity of the old Renault model and create something new out of it. Now this was a challenge for the designers, as the old Renault model was based on the principal of functionality and minimalistic use.
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