Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: solar power – Page 46

The design facilitates efficient land use and can even save water lost to evaporation.

Sunstall, a California-based company, has launched a vertical solar panel, Sunzaun, which can be used in existing fields and arable lands without sacrificing them for clean green energy. The installation is much like conventional solar systems, just that the system uses bifacial solar modules, and the entire array stands like a boundary wall in the field.

As countries look to move away from fossil fuels, the interest in solar energy has increased in recent years. Countries in Europe facing harsh winters are also finding new ways of tapping into solar energy, such as installing solar panels at high altitudes… More.

Sunzuan.

Vertical solar panels.

Read more | >

It will produce three times more energy in winter months.

AlpinSolar, a joint venture between three Swiss companies, has successfully completed installing 5,000 solar panels on the Lake Muttsee Dam in Switzerland, Reuters.

Sun and snow generate more energy.

AlpinSolar.

With a project like AlpinSolar, the Swiss have just begun their large-scale transition from nuclear power to green energy, as planned in 2011. Interesting Engineering has previously reported how Switzerland built a massive ‘water battery’ to store its renewable energy.

Continue reading “Switzerland installs 5,000 solar panels on Europe’s highest dam” | >

There are many ways to generate electricity—batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, and hydroelectric dams, to name a few examples… and now, there’s rust.

New research conducted by scientists at Caltech and Northwestern University shows that thin films of rust—iron oxide—can generate electricity when saltwater flows over them. These films represent an entirely new way of generating electricity and could be used to develop new forms of sustainable power production.

Interactions between metal compounds and saltwater often generate electricity, but this is usually the result of a chemical reaction in which one or more compounds are converted to new compounds. Reactions like these are what is at work inside batteries.

Read more | >

A solar distillation device can purify brine from reverse osmosis plants with over 10 percent salinity, as well as water taken directly from the Red Sea. The technology offers double the freshwater production rate of existing salt-rejection solar stills.

Inspired by the floating solar still in “The Life of Pi” movie, KAUST professor Qiaoqiang Gan has developed several nanomaterials and thermal isolation processes to enhance the evaporation of brackish water into pure steam. In 2016 he launched a startup, Sunny Clean Water, that produces low-cost inflatable stills capable of generating 10–20 liters of fresh water per day.

In 2021, Gan joined KAUST and teamed up with fellow KAUST professor Yu Han and researcher Kaijie Yang to improve the efficiency of salt rejection, a strategy that employs techniques such as hydrophobic surfaces or fluid convection to limit mineral buildups.

Read more | >

After solar power, it’s time we tried snow power.

Researchers from the Japanese city of Aomori have begun to study methods to create electricity from snow to provide a sustainable energy supply and meet any power shortages.

Last year there was so much snow in the city the local authorities had to spend about $46 million (5.9 billion Yen) just to remove it from the buildings and roads.

Juhku/iStock.

Aomori is a beautiful city in Japan located 715 km north of Tokyo. Apart from its eye-catching blue pine forests, the city is known for being one of the snowiest places on Earth — receiving about 25 to 26 feet of snow every year.

Continue reading “A city in Japan is trying to generate electricity from snow” | >

Plants are often thought of as sources of food, oxygen, and decoration, but not as a source of electricity. However, scientists have discovered that by harnessing the natural transport of electrons within plant cells, it is possible to generate electricity as part of a green, biological solar cell. In a recent study published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, researchers for the first time used a succulent plant to create a living “bio-solar cell” that runs on photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis is how plants and some microorganisms use sunlight to synthesize carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water.

Read more | >

The Space Solar Power Project (SSPP) began in 2011 when Donald Bren — philanthropist, chairman of the Irvine Company, and a lifetime member of the Caltech Board of Trustees — and Caltech’s then-president Jean-Lou Chameau came together to discuss the potential for a space-based solar power research project. By 2013, Bren and his wife (Caltech trustee Brigitte Bren) began funding the project through the Donald Bren Foundation, which will eventually exceed $100 million. As Bren said in a recent Caltech press release:

“For many years, I’ve dreamed about how space-based solar power could solve some of humanity’s most urgent challenges. Today, I’m thrilled to be supporting Caltech’s brilliant scientists as they race to make that dream a reality.”

While the technology behind solar cells has existed since the late 19th century, generating solar power in space presents some serious challenges. For one thing, solar panels are heavy and require extensive wiring to transmit power, making them expensive and difficult to launch. To overcome these challenges, the SSPP team had to create a satellite that would be light enough for cost-effective launches yet strong enough to withstand the extreme environment of space. This required envisioning and developing new technologies, architectures, materials, and structures.

Read more | >