Solar cells that convert sunlight to electricity at 1 or 2 percent efficiency don’t sound very exciting in a world where standard silicon cells produce at rates in the teens and even higher. But what if the cells were so thin and light that you could stack layers of them atop each other? That might… Keep reading →
Yesterday was a tough day for renewables, with rising reports of solar panel defects, a failure of Kenya’s renewable-heavy national power grid, and ethanol losing some of its cost advantage over gasoline. Solar developers, testing labs, financiers and insurers are reporting defects with solar panels – some that have caused fires – early on in… Keep reading →
The U.S. Commerce Department will announce a final decision today on duties in the China solar trade dispute that has split the U.S. industry and raised fears of a global trade war. Of course, for several months the government has already been collecting duties on certain Chinese solar imports. And, just to be clear, this won’t be the last word in the case. Keep reading →
Tiny hills and valleys on the surface of leaves have guided a team of Princeton University scientists in the creation of a new kind of solar cell. By wrinkling up a layer of adhesive, the team designed solar cells that can capture more light, even in the infrared region.
“If you look at leaves very closely, they are not smooth,” said Yueh-Lin Loo, Princeton’s principle investigator on the project. “We’d like to mimic this geometric effect in synthetic, man-made light-harvesting systems.” Keep reading →
There are many ways to survive in the solar business, but relying on protectionist policies and planning to serve only one part of the growing marketplace are not successful strategies for survival.
“A global manufacturer has to be willing to look at its product portfolio and participate in all aspects of the market,” Canadian Solar VP of US Sales and General Manager Alan King told Breaking Energy recently. Canadian Solar, despite its name, has an expanding presence around the world and is a NASDAQ-traded company determined to survive the fallout from falling panel prices. Keep reading →
No one ever said training for battle was easy, nor energy-efficient. The “Battle Lab” is a U.S. military facility in New Jersey where more than 20,000 soldiers prepare and train for battle. The lab includes shooting ranges, vehicle rollover trainers and other high-tech simulators. But those high-tech tools suck up millions of kilowatts of power.
Now, more than a quarter of the training facility’s power is being provided by renewable energy sources. The Army Corps of Engineers along with the help of contractor P & S Construction helped complete a solar power project onsite at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. Photovoltaic solar panels were mounted to the roof of the Battle Lab, covering approximately 71,000 square feet. Keep reading →
IT is poised to revolutionize the energy industry by ceding control of consumption and generation to consumers and lead to an “age of empowerment”, an influential figure in the wholesale power sector said yesterday.
David Crane, the outspoken CEO of NRG Energy, told the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco: “We’ve come a long way from the days of the legendary Henry Ford and his comment that the American consumer can have any color of model T as long as it’s black. Keep reading →
