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Category: solar power – Page 71

Complex terrain and Yutu 2’s reliance on solar power limit driving speed.

China’s Yutu 2 lunar rover recently spotted something intriguing on the far side of the moon, but it’ll take the vehicle a few months to reach the object for a closer look.

Yutu 2 photographed a strangely cube-shaped rock last month, during the robot’s 36th lunar day of activities. The rover drive team estimates that the object, which has been dubbed the “mystery hut,” to be around 260 feet (80 meters) away. That doesn’t sound far, but it’ll take careful planning and effort by the Yutu 2 team to cover that distance safely.

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And it offers limitless range.

Zurich-based Swiss Sustainable Yachts has unveiled its new luxurious yacht that is powered by not one but two sustainable fuels, solar and hydrogen. Dubbed Aquon One, the yacht has all the amenities that your heart can desire on a yacht and comes with zero guilt, the New Atlas reported.

Even as cars are going the electric way, maritime transportation is yet to see the same kind of enthusiasm. The first electric ship may have made its maiden voyage, however, the limited range offered by electric batteries is a major challenge that still needs to be overcome. The makers of Aquon One couldn’t agree more and therefore, have opted for a hydrogen fuel cell-powered electric propulsion than massive batteries.

They have gone a step further to set up a hydrogen fuel generator on the yacht itself that completely eliminates the need for a fuelling stop, taking away any limits on its range. The hydrogen generator is powered by solar panels that occupy 689 square feet (64 square meters) on the vessel rooftop, which can output more than 75 kWh/day in the summertime. Hydrogen is generated by electrolyzing desalinated water and then compressed to be stored in carbon tanks, for long-term usage.

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Continue reading “A Luxurious Swiss Yacht Is Powered by Two Sustainable Fuels” | >

Humans have been dreaming of living on the Moon, but what would that look like exactly?

Put simply, an outpost (or outposts) on the Moon could benefit humanity in numerous ways. It would allow for regular access to the lunar surface, enable vital research into low-gravity and its effects on terrestrial organisms, and shave billions off of the cost of missions destined for Mars and other locations in deep space.

Beyond the scientific and spaceflight-related, a lunar outpost would also allow for the creation of new industries, such as lunar mining, space-based solar power, commercial space stations, and lunar tourism. The infrastructure created for this purpose could also lead to a thriving economy in the Earth-Moon system, including asteroid mining and space-based manufacturing.

**The Moon is our gateway to the rest of the Solar System and the first step in any plan for “going interplanetary.” Granted, the challenges are enormous, and the cost of developing all this architecture is nothing short of immense. But as the Loonies say, “TANSTAAFL!”

Continue reading “The Logistics of Going “Interplanetary”: What Does It Take to Live on the Moon?” | >

A new computational simulator can help predict whether changes to materials or design will improve performance in new photovoltaic cells.

In the ongoing race to develop ever-better materials and configurations for solar cells, there are many variables that can be adjusted to try to improve performance, including material type, thickness, and geometric arrangement. Developing new solar cells has generally been a tedious process of making small changes to one of these parameters at a time. While computational simulators have made it possible to evaluate such changes without having to actually build each new variation for testing, the process remains slow.

Now, researchers at MIT and Google Brain have developed a system that makes it possible not just to evaluate one proposed design at a time, but to provide information about which changes will provide the desired improvements. This could greatly increase the rate for the discovery of new, improved configurations.

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Heliogen announced the roll-out of its robots to install and clean its CSP plants.

Heliogen, a California-based developer of concentrated solar power (CSP) plants, held the first technical demonstration of its ICARUS, or Installation & Cleaning Autonomous Robot & Utility Solution.

ICARUS is a system of autonomous robots designed to clean the heliostats, which are the reflective mirrors of the CSP system. Heliostats reflect sunlight into a collection tower, where the light and heat is converted to electricity and usable thermal energy. Recently, the company partnered with Bloom Energy to produce hydrogen fuel.

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And it would create 4.7 million long-term jobs.

The United States’ energy system that’s running completely on wind, water, and solar, combined with storage, would not only avoid blackouts but also lower energy requirements and consumer costs, a Stanford University study has shown. In addition, this would create millions of jobs, improve health, and free up land for various other purposes.

This is incredibly important because, for some people, a future powered by renewable energy isn’t feasible due to concerns about blackouts driven by inconsistent electricity sources. Take, for example, the grid blackouts caused by extreme weather events in California in August 2020 and Texas in February 2021.

However, the study, which examined grid stability under various scenarios in which wind, water, and solar energy supplied 100 percent of all energy needs in the U.S., has now demonstrated that those concerns are misplaced.

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Continue reading “Researchers Show a 100% Renewable US Grid with No Blackouts Is Possible” | >

The auto-retracting system can be deployed when solar energy is needed.

California-based energy firm Xponent Power developed an auto-retracting Xpanse Solar Awning that can be deployed if and when solar energy is needed, a report from New Atlas reveals.

The retractable solar panels move out to the side of the RV, creating a nice bit of shade for travelers, at the same time as providing on-demand solar energy. Depending on the model, owners will get 800, 1,000, or 1,200 watts of charging power.

The off-grid solution was designed to allow RV owners to camp away from electrical sockets for days at a time, and it can be easily mounted to either side of the vehicle. The Xpanse awning is made up of a 16 × 7-foot (4.9 × 2.1-m) “fabric” of high-efficiency glass-based solar panels. The awning features “bi-facial” solar panels, meaning it captures the energy of the sun from above as well as from below — the underside can capture a surprising amount of energy from reflection off the ground and the RV itself.

Continue reading “A ‘World First’ Solar RV Awning Enables More Affordable Off-Grid Living” | >

Tens of thousands of years ago, on the territory of the uninhabited Sahara Desert, gardens flourished, rivers flowed, ancient people cultivated fertile lands. However, we know how it all ended — today in this place is a desert scorched by the blazing sun with an area 38 times the size of Great Britain. However, humanity has a chance to return life to these lands again, and as a bonus to receive free electricity for all inhabitants of the planet.
The installation of wind and solar farms could radically change the climate in this region: more rainfall, which will lead to a revival of vegetation and a drop in temperature. At least that’s what Yang Li, the study’s author and senior researcher at the University of Illinois, says. No mystery! Wind turbines facilitate the diffusion of hot and cool air. This, in turn, will raise the average rainfall by 50%, and solar panels absorb most of the solar energy, preventing it from overheating the earth.
All this will be effective only with the global development of a lifeless desert. The process has already begun. But they tried repeatedly to tame the cruel and hot sun of the Sahara.

#inventions #technology #solar.

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Continue reading “Giant solar power plants of the Sahara” | >