Following is a transcript of the video. SmartFlower is an intelligent “sunflower” that will “bloom” to generate clean solar energy. By tracking the sun from east to west, it aims to be more efficient than regular solar panels. The SmartFlower claims to produce energy with 40% more efficiency than other solar panels. SmartFlower was inspired by the heliotropic properties of …
Washington, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced selections for up to $53 million in new projects to advance early-stage solar technologies. Through the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office, DOE will fund 53 innovative research projects that will lower solar electricity costs and support a growing solar workforce. “Innovation is key …
In late September, the Heartland Institute, a libertarian think tank that receives donations from fossil-fuel companies, published a blog post titled “California Billionaire’s Renewable Energy Initiative Makes Arizona Ballot.” The billionaire in question was Tom Steyer, whose year-long effort to pass Proposition 127, an amendment to Arizona’s constitution that would require power companies to generate fifty per cent of their …
Vernon, N.Y. — Town of Vernon officials sat with developers interested in building a $10 million community solar project and asked them the questions residents want answered. While both businesses and residents of the town of Vernon were invited to the public meeting on Oct. 22, only town officials were in attendance; Town Supervisor J. Randall Watson, Councilor Mick McDonough, Zoning Board of …
Solar panels might be the energy source of the future, but they also create a problem without an easy solution: what do we do with millions of panels when they stop working? In November 2016, the Environment Ministry of Japan warned that the country will produce 800,000 tons of solar waste by 2040, and it can’t yet handle those volumes. …
CLOSE The U.S. Senate debate between Marsha Blackburn and Phil Bredesen in 3 minutes Nashville Tennessean Phil Bredesen, seated on the left, is shown with the Silicon Ranch team. Bredesen was named chairman of the Nashville solar company in 2010 while he was still governor. He says he will resign as chairman if he is elected senator.(Photo: Kerry Woo) Former Tennessee Gov. …
A prevailing problem with the structure of organic cells is that molecules in the active organic layer responsible for light absorption and charge transport tend to face both towards the edges of cells, as well as towards the light absorbing substrate. Maximizing the number of molecules facing the substrate, however, is the key to maximising absorption and conductivity of the …
Rows of solar panels stand at the Broken Hill Solar Plant, operated by AGL Energy Ltd. and constructed by First Solar Inc., in Broken Hill, Australia. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg First Solar, the largest U.S. solar equipment manufacturer, published a mixed set of Q3 2018 results on Thursday. While earnings came in ahead of market expectations, the company reduced its outlook …
Not surprisingly, the governor’s veto of a bill to make large solar projects more profitable has put a number of municipal solar projects on hold, or at least up in the air. “Due to the veto of Senate Bill 446, we are currently evaluating the financial impact to this and other projects,” is how New England Solar Garden Corp. of …
The Gravity Assist Podcast is hosted by NASA’s Chief Scientist, Jim Green, who each week talks to some of the greatest planetary scientists on the planet, giving a guided tour through the Solar System and beyond in the process. This week, he’s joined by Alex Young, a solar scientist from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, to discuss the mechanisms behind …