SunCone: Concentrating Sunlight With An Inflatable Cone
by Justin Thomas, Virginia 
on 05.27.06
The Suncone is a prototype solar collector that uses an inflatable, cone-shaped apparatus to concentrate sunlight. It's made with thin aluminized nylon with a transparent film over the end facing the sun.
It maintains its shape through air pressure. The system, if successfully completed, will be less expensive and labor-intensive than standard parabolic dish or trough design and require less precise placement, according to the developer, Open Energy Corporation. Apparently the Suncone can achieve a temperature of 2000° C (3632° F) and has a collection efficiency of 90% at 600 ° C (1112 ° F).
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- How to Use a Solar Cooker: What Works and What Doesn't
- 7 Great Weekend Solar Power Projects
- 5 Reuses for Altoid Tins
- How to Repair a Chip or Star Crack in Your Automotive Windshield
- 5 Reuses for: Watermelon
- Find Your Dinner at the Farmers' Market: Peas and Prosciutto
if it doesnt work for Energy, it can cook a steak in no time flat.
Is this technology being developed for domestic use at all? I live in Florida where we have sunshine year round and I end up paying close to a $300 electric bill every month mainly from air conditioning my house. I can't help but think there must be a way to use, what appers to be, your superior solar technology to power my house, possibly even sending energy back through the grid and getting an electricity refund. In any case, thank you to ANY coimpany which is working on Solar Energy--it's obviously the cleanest, most natural, environmentally friendly, and abundant power source available (at least for another few billion years). How in the world are people working on getting solar powered technology for entire houses (especially in Florida), perhaps covering the entire roof with solar panels or if we could somehow shape this apparent new tech, using all of it to cover a Florida, Texan, Arizonan, or New Mexican house's roof. I am extremely interested in investing in solar power to completely power my house so I can pay off the debt in so many years and then never pay another power bill. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Is this technology at all possible for this kind of use?
Tap! Tap! Tap! Is this microphone working?
creating new clean energy sources is fine , BUT WE NEED TO HAVE AN ANSWER START NOW WITH POWERFUL EFFECTIVENESS
SO AS AN APPLIED MATHEMATICIAN, I am certain it is possible to greatly affect energy used without changing any comfort ,without any Job losses and without changing anything physical.. People do it all the time for vacations by automobile. They sliightly shorten the trips total distance when gasoline is more expensive. A MASSIVE cost and energy reduction and CO2 REDUCTION CAN BE DONE FROM little by little putting some slight limits on shipping distance for retailers ,and whole salers enforced by mail carriers and distributers. do the same for commuters and grocers..Doing so creates more distributers and Jobs and shorter commutes which all ship PRODUCTS AND PEOPLE much much more at much reduced energy and pollution. DOING SO WOULD REDUCE ENERGY USED ABOUTt 35 % GLOBALLY IN FIVE YEARS..
jeff scherer -
Yes, the microphone is working, but nobody is listening. Why don't you post your opinion the "sealing off a blasting fire hydrant with a stick of bubble gum" section. In other words, you got your numbers wrong. We need new clean energy, and lots of it. The most herculean efforts to conserve will have minimal impact.