Micro-electronics can now breathe in a new life, leaving out dependency on batteries, as researchers have come up with a more efficient way to power up micro-electronics. A microchip that directly integrates photovoltaic cells has been developed that unlike the conventional solar powered micro-electronics that use a separate solar cell and battery, is basically high-efficiency solar cells are placed straight onto the electronics. This makes those low-powered devices self-sufficient and even cable of operating indoors! The chip of the electronic is used as a base for the solar cell which is applied to it layer by layer. This also helps decrease the entire production process, decreases costs, decreases the amount of materials used and also increases efficiency! However, the chip’s energy usage must be below 1 milliwatt.
Waiting for a bus could just be a better experience in future, especially if you’re waiting below a Hydroleaf. Essentially a bus shelter, this one uses a bunch of solar panels integrated up there to collect solar juice which is used to power up its lights, making it a street lamp too. The rain catchments system is hooked on to a water dispenser too, to quench your thirst while you await the next bus. The brains behind this design, Iranian Industrial Design student Mostafa Bonakdar designed this one for developing arid areas, complete with a water collection tank neatly fitted into the pole.
Besides the pyramids and the camels and the date trees, Egypt will now proudly flaunt some pretty green renewable energy projects in the future, with the World Bank planning to pump in money to help develop infrastructure there. Managing director Mahmoud Mohieldin recently stated that two mega electrical grids will be created, one at the Arabian Peninsula while the other links the electric grids of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan and (possibly) Ethiopia together for a supergrid. And it’s not the first time the World Bank has helped Egypt with loans for green energy development. This June, a $220 million loan to develop wind energy sources was sent out with a 270 million investment-loan package to build a massive solar power plant in Egypt.
Arizona will have the world’s largest parabolic trough concentrating solar plant in the world, all thanks to the US Department of Energy’s generous loan of $1.45 billion to Abengoa Solar Inc.’s Solana project, taking it one giant step closer to reality. This plant when built will be powerful enough to generate energy to lighten up a good r 70,000 homes. Besides this, it will also help create 1,600 to 1,700 new construction jobs. With a 250-megawatt capacity, the Solana project located near Gila Bend will use 70 percent of the components made on American soil. This indirectly will help create job opportunities abroad too. And also, the Solana project will suck out some 475,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the air on an annual basis!
Until now we have heard of how sunlight could be used as a form of alternative energy. Here is a ‘break through’ in science – American and Swiss researchers from California Institue of Technology and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology respectively, have found out a way to make fuel from sunlight. They developed a prototype device that directly converts the sun’s rays into fuels that can be stored. This energy can then be used at night when there is no sun or even be transported to areas with no sunlight. It uses a quartz window and cavity to focus the sunlight into a cylinder which is lined with cerium oxide, is an oxide of the rare earth metal cerium and is a pale yellow-white powder. It can attract and hold water molecules from the surrounding environment and also absorbs a small amount of carbon dioxide. As the sunlight heats the ceria, it breaks down the water and carbon dioxide pumped into the cylinder to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen that can be converted to a liquid fuel.
It is sad but true that children these days learn entrepreneurship very early in their lives – dangle a gift in front of them and they will promptly get into action to complete their tasks. This winner of the red dot award Design Concept 2010in the Green category is Natural Energy Park prepared by a four-member team of Hyundai Engineering and Construction. The park is the answer to every parent’s nightmare of having their child turn into techno geeks and not understanding the essence of not just outdoor sports but also the importance of their ecology and environment. It is designed to be an experimental learning playground encouraging children to understand the importance of global resources and renewable energy. It highlights alternative energies such as solar, wind and tidal, through a number of eco-friendly ‘play apparatuses’ using the basic rules of science.
Just of the Mumbai coast, the Elephanta Island, been subjected to diesel generator use for ages now, will finally have its share of renewable energy. For years, the residents living on this little island which is listed as a UNESCO heritage site have either faced darkness or have had to use some pretty polluting sources of energy to lighten up their little homes. The village, Rajbandar, located on the island, has 30 homes which will soon be lit up with solar lamps. Each of these homes will be given four solar powered lamps and if successful, the project will spread to other such places across the state of Maharashtra. Earlier, the 1,500 residents got just four hours of electricity everyday, provided by the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), using diesel generators.
A hotelier with a heart… Frank Marshall’s company aims to educate guests with the concept of using solar energy and to promote what he preaches, the new Courtyard hotel by Marriot in Greenville heats up 3,000 gallons of water a day using solar heaters. Guests can enjoy a hot shower using water heated by the largest solar water heater in the state. The system for the hotel was built by North Carolina’s FLS Energy using glycol, an organic compound used widely as an automotive antifreeze. Glycol is an odorless, colourless, sweet-tasting liquid and ironically can cause death when consumed. Guess they found out the ‘sweet taste’ when the person died after consumption.
Solar energy generation has its fair share of problems, the main one being, no energy can be produced while the sun decides to act shy and hide away or during the night. We all know that well enough by now and have come up with work-arounds like batteries and such. Using molten salt to store the heat is one of the best ways to trap and store solar energy captured during the day for later use. All this while, the technology was busy being developed and is finally ready, all set to show up in California, where the first molten salt solar power plant has just been approved. Similar to concentrating towers, hundreds of mirrored heliostats reflect light and will concentrate the sun’s rays on the tower. Molten salt is then pumped into a reserve tank and maintains close to all of its original heat and when needed, the heat can be pumped through a steam generator that sends electricity to the grid.
All we know a wind turbine to really do is spin around when the winds blows right, and generate a load of green renewable energy. Now, someone stumbled across the idea that these wind turbines could also help benefit crops. Here’s how. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory along with a few from the University of Colorado are busy studying the effects wind turbines have on crops, helping them stay cooler and dryer. These turbines also help keep away fungal infestations from crops like corn and soybean mainly. According to the research, it has been confirmed that wind turbines in proximity with crops affects the micro-climate around to some extent, suitably benefiting the crops.
