Tag Archives: gadget
SolarCity Raises $500M
SolarCity (Nasdaq: SCTY), a provider of distributed energy, just announced a $500 million lease financing agreement with Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS). That translates to more than 100 megawatts of solar power. The combined lease is the largest of its kind for U.S. residential rooftops. SolarCity allows consumers to get electricity from grid-tied solar rooftops at [...]
In Focus: The Chemicals in Chicago’s Air
Scientists have found that Chicago’s air is infested with chemicals courtesy of airborne compounds that are traveling as far as the Arctic. The chemicals, called cyclic siloxanes, are toxic to aquatic life. Where do they come from? From chemicals in deodorants, lotions and conditioners. “These chemicals are just everywhere,” said Keri Hornbuckle, an engineering professor at the [...]
The Window Socket Portable Solar Charger
As the economist Adam Smith once said, “If you have a mind to look after the pennies in life, the pounds will look after themselves.” A rubbish theory obviously, but one which perhaps illustrates the beauty of a new little solar charging device that you can stick to a window and then charge your mobile [...]
The Inflatable MPOWERD Luci Solar Lantern
Solar lanterns are a great idea for campers and scientists working in regions of the world where grid electricity isn’t as easily accessible. As wondrous and eco friendly solar lanterns are, many people just don’t find them practical enough for their outdoors excursions given the sheer size of the solar panel that is needed to [...]
Lanai: Future Solar Eco Lab
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison purchased close to 98 percent of the 141 square-mile Hawaiian island of Lanai for $500 million four months ago from billionaire David Murdock in June for an undisclosed price. On the island, Ellison owns “two resorts and golf courses, a variety of commercial and residential structures and vast acres of [...]
NREL Achieves 18.2% Efficient Nano Solar Cell
Using a chemical nano-porous etching process, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) was able to create an antireflective surface on silicon PV cells without using additional antireflection coating. The method could reduce the cost of adding anti-reflective layers to crystalline silicon-based photovoltaics. Researchers at the laboratory, including Jihun Oh, Hao-Chih Yuan, and Howard Branz developed [...]
Mexican President Felipe Calderon Inaugurates Large Scale Solar Plant
Mexican President Felipe Calderon inaugurated a large-scale solar power plant that he touted as the region’s first, a pilot facility in the northwestern state of Baja California that features 4,000 photovoltaic panels and 1 MW in generating capacity. The current president of Mexico Felipe Calderon Hinojosa has inaugurated a large-scale solar power plant in the [...]
The Future of Eco Building Materials
Designing and building an eco house, or renovating your property to make it more energy efficient is a great way to cut down on bills, and not to mention great fun! More and more people are looking to build their own property today, and the number renovating in an effort to save in the long term is [...]
Graphene That Redefines Electric Current
A new joint innovation by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the University of Cambridge could pave the way for redefining the ampere in terms of fundamental constants of physics. The world’s first graphene single-electron pump (SEP), described in Nature Nanotechnology, provides the speed of electron flow needed to create a new standard for electrical current [...]