Central Solar Tower and Heliostat System Stores Heat Energy in Molten Salt

GEMASOLAR is the first Torresol Energy project to be developed with central tower and heliostat technology. The plant incorporates significant technological innovations, among which is the solar collection system, but there is also a molten-salt heat storage system that is capable of attaining temperatures exceeding 500ºC. It went on-line 5/24/2011, with a maximum output of 19.9 MW, and 15 hours of thermal energy storage, which allows it generate power 24 hours per day many months per year.


Central Solar Tower and Heliostat System Stores Heat Energy in Molten Salt

Beautiful Eco Friendly Homes for Sale in the UK

ECO HAB™ - ECO FRIENDLY HOMES

The Mission at EcoHab is to create an exciting and innovative range of high performing, energy efficient, Eco Friendly Homes, which offer the chance to achieve sustainable living at affordable prices.

Every step has been taken during the design and construction of our EcoPods to minimise the demand for and dependency on fossil fuels, and to incorporate energy saving features.eg:

• High level of thermal insulation giving an excellent overall U value
• Sealed Envelope (no air leakage)
• Hot air recovery ventilation
• Wood/ solid fuel burning stove (for use on colder days)
• Under floor heating
• Full recycling facility (5 separate waste chutes

On Grid - It can be connected as normal to mains electricity, water mains and local sewage piped network.

Off Grid - It uses its own renewable energy source technology such as solar hot water heaters, rainwater harvesting, Dry Toilet, Wind power, gas powered generator & battery power store (if needed) and many other green home products. Therefore allowing, the Eco-Hab to be used in remote sites without traditional power sources.

Other extras can include:

• Solar and/or PV panels
• Wind Turbine
• Seasonal Thermal storage tank
• Rainwater harvesting
• Composting toilet

The Eco-Hab, often refered to as Eco-Pod, which has just been showcased at the Grand design show is the brainchild of Aidan Quinn the Managing Director of Eco Hab Ltd. The innovative egg shaped, eco-home is set to revolutionise the concept of carbon zero housing.



The Eco-Hab doesn't have to be used as your main residance there are many other uses for these eco-friendly homes,
• Outdoor office
• Place to stay for guests & visiting family
• Used at campsites as luxcury accomodation
• Within schools as educational centers
• Within corporations as quiet or games rooms

For more details about the models of Eco-Habs available, please click here.

c Robot Pumps Sunlight Indoors for Powerful Daylighting

"What if you could light your entire building using no electricity, or artificial lights – but just the natural light from the sun? Conventional sky-lights do this well in certain types of single-story spaces, but are not very adaptable, powerful, and often have problems with excessive solar heat gain and heat loss. Enter the Sundolier, a powerful sunlight transport system that’s like putting a solar robot on your roof to pump sunlight indoors! The manufacturer claims a single Sundolier unit can provide enough light to illuminate a 1000-2500 sq. ft. area without any other sources."

Read the full story by Andrew Michler

Teenager invents £23 solar panel ... made from human hair

Teenager invents £23 solar panel that could be solution to developing world's energy needs ... made from human hair

By Daily Mail Reporter

A new type of solar panel using human hair could provide the world with cheap, green electricity, believes its teenage inventor.

Milan Karki, 18, who comes from a village in rural Nepal, believes he has found the solution to the developing world's energy needs.

The young inventor says hair is easy to use as a conductor in solar panels and could revolutionise renewable energy.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1212005/Teenager-invents-23-solar-panel-solution-developing-worlds-energy-needs-human-hair.html#ixzz0QdKGxtQh

220MPH Solar-Powered Bullet Train on Arizona Horizon

Travelers going from Tucson to Phoenix may soon be blazing across the desert in speeding solar bullet trains propelled by the sun’s rays. Hot on the heels of President Obama’s plan for High Speed Rail in the US comes the news that Arizona-based Solar Bullet LLC is proposing a new 220mph bullet train that will be entirely powered by the sun.

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The World's First Solar-Powered Waterproof Cell Phone

"Ever find yourself with a water-soaked low-battery phone? Sharp and Japanese network KDDI have a solution: the world's first solar-powered waterproof cell phone. The phone, scheduled for a June release in Japan, can nab one minute of talk time or two hours of standby power from ten minutes of sun. The phone can derive 80% of its charge in total from solar power. It's not a fast enough charging time to change anyone's life, but it's ideal for afternoons in the park or on the beach."

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Japan Launches First Solar cargo ship

TOKYO (AFP) – The world's first cargo ship partly propelled by solar power took to the seas on Friday in Japan, aiming to cut fuel costs and carbon emissions when automakers export their products.Auriga Leader, a freighter developed by shipping line Nippon Yusen K.K. and oil distributor Nippon Oil Corp., took off from a shipyard in the western city of Kobe, officials of the two firms said.The huge freighter capable of carrying 6,400 automobiles is equipped with 328 solar panels at a cost of 150 million yen (1.68 million dollars), the officials said.The ship will initially transport vehicles being sent for sale overseas by Japan's top automaker Toyota Motor Corp. The project was conceived before the global economic crisis, which has forced automakers to drastically cut production as sales dwindle.Company officials said the 60,213-tonne, 200-metre (660-foot) long ship is the first large vessel in the world with a solar-based propulsion system. So far solar energy has been limited to supporting lighting and crew's living quarters.The solar power system can generate 40 kilowatts, which would initially cover only 0.2 percent of the ship's energy consumption for propulsion, but company officials said they hoped to raise the ratio.

read more | digg story

Sun + Water = Fuel

With catalysts created by an MIT chemist, sunlight can turn water into hydrogen. If the process can scale up, it could make solar power a dominant source of energy.
By Kevin Bullis

"I'm going to show you something I haven't showed anybody yet," said Daniel Nocera, a professor of chemistry at MIT, speaking this May to an auditorium filled with scientists and U.S. government energy officials. He asked the house manager to lower the lights. Then he started a video. "Can you see that?" he asked excitedly, pointing to the bubbles rising from a strip of material immersed in water. "Oxygen is pouring off of this electrode." Then he added, somewhat cryptically, "This is the future. We've got the leaf."

What Nocera was demonstrating was a reaction that generates oxygen from water much as green plants do during photosynthesis--an achievement that could have profound implications for the energy debate. Carried out with the help of a catalyst he developed, the reaction is the first and most difficult step in splitting water to make hydrogen gas. And efficiently generating hydrogen from water, Nocera believes, will help surmount one of the main obstacles preventing solar power from becoming a dominant source of electricity: there's no cost-effective way to store the energy collected by solar panels so that it can be used at night or during cloudy days.

Solar power has a unique potential to generate vast amounts of clean energy that doesn't contribute to global warming. But without a cheap means to store this energy, solar power can't replace fossil fuels on a large scale. In Nocera's scenario, sunlight would split water to produce versatile, easy-to-store hydrogen fuel that could later be burned in an internal-combustion generator or recombined with oxygen in a fuel cell. Even more ambitious, the reaction could be used to split seawater; in that case, running the hydrogen through a fuel cell would yield fresh water as well as electricity.

Storing energy from the sun by mimicking photosynthesis is something scientists have been trying to do since the early 1970s. In particular, they have tried to replicate the way green plants break down water. Chemists, of course, can already split water. But the process has required high temperatures, harsh alkaline solutions, or rare and expensive catalysts such as platinum. What Nocera has devised is an inexpensive catalyst that produces oxygen from water at room temperature and without caustic chemicals--the same benign conditions found in plants. Several other promising catalysts, including another that Nocera developed, could be used to complete the process and produce hydrogen gas.

Nocera sees two ways to take advantage of his breakthrough. In the first, a conventional solar panel would capture sunlight to produce electricity; in turn, that electricity would power a device called an electrolyzer, which would use his catalysts to split water. The second approach would employ a system that more closely mimics the structure of a leaf. The catalysts would be deployed side by side with special dye molecules designed to absorb sunlight; the energy captured by the dyes would drive the water-splitting reaction. Either way, solar energy would be converted into hydrogen fuel that could be easily stored and used at night--or whenever it's needed.

Nocera's audacious claims for the importance of his advance are the kind that academic chemists are usually loath to make in front of their peers. Indeed, a number of experts have questioned how well his system can be scaled up and how economical it will be. But Nocera shows no signs of backing down. "With this discovery, I totally change the dialogue," he told the audience in May. "All of the old arguments go out the window."

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XCPV Solar Panels Aim for Much Cheaper, Chip-Based Power

CHICAGO — Paul Sidlo doesn't see solar power toppling king coal's reign in the energy kingdom any time soon—not today and maybe not tomorrow. But he does see it seizing at least a portion of the fossil fuel's territory. On Friday, Sidlo's SUNRGI startup introduced a solar panel he claims will generate electricity cheaper than coal using only a fraction of the space needed by conventional photovoltaic panels. Xtreme Concentrated Photovoltaics (XCPV) technology was publicly unveiled for the first time at Wired NextFest here with the promise of generating electricity at five cents per kilowatt-hour—cheaper than coal-fired power and less than a third the cost of conventional solar power. [Check out hands-on video here; story continues]

New Coating= Solar Panels Harvest 96% of Available Sunshine

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - A new type of reflective coating can make solar panels far more efficient, soaking up nearly all available sunlight from nearly any angle. Current solar panels -- which convert energy from the sun into electricity -- absorb only about two-thirds of available sunlight.

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The True Costs of Renewable Energy

As utility costs mount ever higher, Americans now have real options to take home energy matters into their own hands with "green" systems that can pay for themselves in as little as a few years.

Among the choices: wind, solar, geothermal and a "microhydro" option that is potentially cheaper than a year's tuition at many state colleges.

Choosing the do-it-yourself route can offer the freedom of going partially or totally off the grid. And, if the energy generated exceeds your actual usage, you can even sell the excess juice to your utility company. But none of this is free. Here's how much change you should expect to kick in:

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