Tag Archives: ocean
The California Carbon Challenge
Next10, which develops online tools that help people gain a deeper understanding of complex issues, has released the California Carbon Challenge. The idea is to simulate the tough choices policymakers face in how to address climate change. It allows people to choose strategies to cut the state’s carbon emissions through an interactive game and get feedback [...]
In Focus: Floating Wind Farms
A couple of the common complaints regarding wind power as an alternative source of energy is that, firstly, they are noisome contraptions disturbing those forced to be in close vicinity, and secondly, that they do not produce enough power because they stop generating when the wind stops blowing. However, those arguments don’t hold much weight [...]
In Focus: Floating Solar Panels
Japan is one of the few bright lights for the solar industry this year, with its new aggressive feed-in law. With developers rushing in, there’s room for innovation rather than the scrimping we’re seeing elsewhere. One of the more interesting concepts are floating solar plants. A domestic home developer, West Holdings, plans to build 10 floating solar [...]
HIT Sets 21.4% Efficiency Solar Cell Record
Thanks to researchers at EPFL`s Institute of Microengineering in Neuchatel, Switzerland, a new world record efficiency of 21.4% has been set for solar cells. This feat was done with HIT solar cells (heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer), and is by far the highest conversion efficiency ever achieved with the substrates that were used. These types [...]
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Goes Solar Underwater
Solar power works best when it has full access to the sun—not 9 meters underwater. That being said, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has found that photovoltaics can operate at up to 9 meters underwater, harbor water that is. While others have developed solar arrays that float on water, this may be the first [...]
The North Sea Is Now A Renewable Energy Hub
There’s been some great news over the past few weeks for the British offshore wind industry. British Prime Minister David Cameron recently stated 20 companies have signed a deal to transform the North Sea into a massive renewable energy hub. According to a report by Reuters, Cameron believes Britain’s North Sea has the ability to [...]
In Focus: Tidal Energy
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently issued its first pilot project license for a tidal energy project located in New York City’s East River. The project is owned by Verdant Power and is known as the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) Project. The project’s capacity is 1,050-kilowatts and uses the East River’s natural tidal [...]
Solar XOF1 Drives Over Arctic Ocean
We’ve heard of the XOF1’s adventures before. Well, this solar powered flying-saucer-lookalike car has jumped yet another hurdle on its solar powered journey. Driver andproject leader, Marcelo da Luz, drove across the treacherously frozenArctic Ocean on a biting cold journey that lasted around 9.5 hours. Travelling at 70kmph over smooth ice, the solar powered carhad [...]
Wind, Solar and Ocean Power Will require $17 billion of Capital Through 2012
Rapid growth has come to alternative energy. Wind power generation grewmore than tenfold in the U.S. in the 2000s, while funding for solarstartups soared past many information technology sectors. But in the2010s, feed-in tariffs will decrease, and many renewable electricitysources will approach cost parity with fossil-fuel sources. Asa result, manufacturers and investors will increasingly depend [...]
Solar-powered houseboat can survive the harshness of the ocean
Presentlyall houseboat designs limit innovation and their travel is limited tocalm waterways, rivers, inlets and bays. The reason you can’t take yourhouseboat to the open ocean is that their flat bottom top heavy designprovides no underlying support, which is necessary to prevent it fromrocking wildly on larger waves. Industrialdesigner Orhan Cileli has come up with [...]
LSA – Floating solar panels for the ocean
Conventionalsolar panels can only be installed on the surface of earth however themajor part of the earth is covered by highways, buildings, forests etc.where installing panels is not feasible. The rise in the demand ofenergy and the lack of supply has always tempted researchers to lookfor ways to generate energy that by no means can [...]