MMA Renewable Ventures will fund, own and operate Nellis Air Force Base photovoltaic system through third-party financing.
Much like the powerful message photovoltaic (PV) installations planned for commercial stores such as Target and Wal-Mart send to the public about the practical benefits of solar power, large-scale projects that involve the U.S. military also have the potential to lead to the widespread use of renewable energy at the “civilian” level.
Revolutionary circuit fires thousands of times without flaw
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An electrical circuit that should carry enough power to produce the long-sought goal of controlled high-yield nuclear fusion and, equally important, do it every 10 seconds, has undergone extensive preliminary experiments and computer simulations at Sandia National Laboratories’ Z machine facility
The global search for a sustainable energy supply is making significant strides at Wake Forest University as researchers at the university’s Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials have announced that they have pushed the efficiency of plastic solar cells to more than 6 percent.
On the surface of a new photovoltaic prototype, microscopic nanotube towers perform best when they catch light on their sides.
Solar cells generally crank out the most power at noon, when the sun is at its highest point and can strike the cell at a 90-degree angle. Before and after noon, efficiencies drop off. But researchers Georgia Tech Research Institute have come up with a prototype that does the opposite. Their solar cell, whose surface consists of hundreds of thousands of 100-micrometer-high towers, catches light at many angles and actually works best in the morning and afternoon.
Through photosynthesis, green plants and cyanobacteria are able to transfer sunlight energy to molecular reaction centers for conversion into chemical energy with nearly 100-percent efficiency. Speed is the key – the transfer of the solar energy takes place almost instantaneously so little energy is wasted as heat. How photosynthesis achieves this near instantaneous energy transfer is a long-standing mystery that may have finally been solved.
With solar corporations like BP Solar and Sun Edison already headquartered in the state, the passage of legislation earlier this week requiring the development of 1,500 megawatts (MW) of solar energy by 2022 puts Maryland in the “upper echelon” of solar-supporting states in the U.S. In addition, the bill raises the net metering cap from 200 kilowatts (kW) to 2 MW.
Solar cell technology developed by the University’s Nanomaterials Research Centre will enable New Zealanders to generate electricity from sunlight at a 10th of the cost of current silicon-based photo-electric solar cells.
Dr Wayne Campbell and researchers in the centre have developed a range of coloured dyes for use in dye-sensitised solar cells.
The synthetic dyes are made from simple organic compounds closely related to those found in nature. The green dye Dr Campbell (pictured) is synthetic chlorophyll derived from the light-harvesting pigment plants use for photosynthesis.
Other dyes being tested in the cells are based on haemoglobin, the compound that give blood its colour.
European researchers have built prototypes that combine plastic solar cells with ultrathin, flexible batteries. But don’t throw away your battery recharger just yet.
Mobiles phones, remote controls, and other gadgets are generally convenient–that is, until their batteries go dead. For many consumers, having to routinely recharge or replace batteries remains the weakest link in portable electronics. To solve the problem, a group of European researchers say they’ve found a way to combine a thin-film organic solar cell with a new type of polymer battery, giving it the capability of recharging itself when exposed to natural or indoor light.
It’s not only ultraslim, but also flexible enough to integrate with a wide range of low-wattage electronic devices, including flat but bendable objects like a smart card and, potentially, mobile phones with curves. The results of the research, part of the three-year, five-country European Polymer Solar Battery project, were recently published online in the journal Solar Energy.
