Makes sense to combine technologies like solar with LED to get the greatest bang for the buck, which is exactly what
Visible Light Solar is doing. Even if the lighting works for unsexy things like exterior building lights around business parks, saving up to 85% on your energy usage sounds pretty sexy indeed....
It’s a shame we missed this for the recent Ride To Work week. Because it directly answers the main concerns people have about commuting on bicycles, namely arriving at work sweaty from exercise or wet from rainy weather. Business partners Tim Ceolin (Masters in Architecture student) and Mark Rossiter (business graduate) established
Penny Farthings Pushbikes to design and develop bike parking stations. And specifically the Green Pod, a solar-powered bike storage unit that also sports change rooms, showers, a self-cleaning device and use of recycled water....
Image of Aora Solar Tower with Heliostats. Image via: Aora
Like something out of a sci-fi film, this
solar flower (tower) is the first of its kind to combine concentrated solar power with a hybrid-microturbine to ensure production of power 24 hours a day without the need of a grid....
Image by the author.
No Clothesline after a Year of Green Living?! Bad Hippy.
I moved house almost exactly a year ago. Since then my wife and I have done our best to take some big green steps to sustainable living. We've
installed a solar water heater, I've
taken up beekeeping, we have chickens, we're
growing mushrooms, and we are
composting on a massive scale. So I'd hardly call myself lazy when it comes to being green - yet something's been bugging me recently. Where the heck is our clothesline!!?? ...
Image credit: ASES
Largest Grassroots Solar Event in America: Register Now!
Imagine 140,000 people participating in a national tour of solar-powered homes and institutions - all in one day. That's what happened last year at the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) National Solar Tour - and this year looks set to be even bigger. Whether it's
DIY solar homes and solar cars,
new homes with solar as standard, or
utility-scale multi-megawatt solar installations, TreeHugger is not short of stories about how solar power is leading us away from fossil fuel dependence and helping to stem climate change. But while change is beginning to happen, it's not happening anywhere near fast enough. That's why the ASES tour is so important - getting people in front of real, live solar installations, showing them how they work, and encouraging folks to go solar themselves. Read on to find out how you can participate. ...
Eliminating harmful stove emissions is just one benefit of the SolSource 3-in-1. Image credit: One Earth Designs
Revolutionary Light-weight 3-in-1 Solar Energy Device
It's no secret that solar power has tremendous applications in remote, cash poor regions of the world. Whether it's
solar water purification,
solar charging for cell phones and other small devices, or
solar cookers, a small investment can yield massive returns. A new device from
One Earth Designs combines all the most vital solar functions in one convenient, portable and affordable device. Read on for all the details. ...
Photo by David Baker + Partners
Surely these eco-structures will get you drooling. There's everything from prefabulous bamboo huts to towering vertical gardens. And yes, I called you Shirley.
...
Our pals over at the excellent
Wend Magazine thought our readers might be intrigued by a new company they found. I reckon they’re right. For they’ve unearthed the delightfully named
Lorax Motor Works, a start-up who are providing purpose built electric vehicles, and customized conversions of existing internal combustion vehicles. One of their early incarnations is
The Hauler: an all-terrain, mountain-bike style recumbent tricycle, which sports its own solar panel powering an onboard motor that provides electric assist riding....
Image via: Flickr.com
The New York Times reported today that the
Texas State Legislature voted down a measure over the weekend that would have brought solar incentives to this sunny, southern state. For a state with a lot to gain from solar, why would they do such a thing?...
Photo from PHOTO/ REUTERS
With the auto giant
General Motors filing for bankruptcy today, they are now promising to change into a lean, green automobile-making machine. But if you look at the facts, they already are green. Is GM the
poster child for what is to come if established companies don’t innovate, or is it the
scapegoat for America's manufacturing debacle?...
Image via: Flickr.com
When I first saw the
headline that soon solar will support more than just installer jobs, and that it's now become a large enough offshoot to warrant its own news release, I thought, 'great, the idea of
starting one's own green, service business is starting to take off.' Well it's true that those jobs are picking up, but so are jobs for the
chemical industry....
Photo via Make
Here's a pretty cool project to teach high school kids about solar power, magnetism, and putting together something that is somewhat on the more difficult side. The
Mendocino Motor is solar powered, and is making an appearance at this year's
Bay Area Maker Faire. Check out the video on how it works. ...
Photo via: Bosch Rexroth
Renewable energy is currently at an all-time high as far as political focus and public goal orientation are concerned. At the same time, it is also facing one of its greatest challenges, a very unfavorable economic market. I spoke with Raj Boya from
Bosch Rexroth about the prospects of
wind energy as we move towards a greener future....
Image via: Flickr.com
Like it or not, some people still won't go solar based on aesthetics alone. Crazy, huh? Well,
Solar Botanic is hoping to corner that market with
solar trees that are pleasing to the eye and capitalize on movement from solar, wind and heat generated, reports
Fast Company. But can they actually get them to work?...
Image credit: Conergy USA
Thin-Film vs Crystalline Solar: Parallel Installation
There is always much excitement around thin-film solar projects. =From reports that
thin-film could compete with fossil fuels in ten years, to news of
the world's largest thin-film solar installation. But does the technology really live up to the hype? And how does thin-film compare in performance to traditional crystalline solar? A large installation in California's Central Valley may hold some of the answers, with giant crystalline and thin-film solar tracking arrays placed next to each other. So how are the two different technologies performing?
...
images via Wikipedia and
Deputy Dog
We love solar power, we really do, but sometimes wonder if these things are not used for architectural effect rather than real power generation. The new
World Games stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan is just about completely covered in photovoltaics, to very dramatic effect. The 55,000 seat stadium is designed by Japanese great Toyo Ito, and the panels can supply "one million kilowatts of electricity per year." (I know, that makes little sense, it is a
quote.)...
Photo courtesy of: Coroflot
The
Solar Inside, a collectively designed concept bench, is so much more than just a park bench.
Imagined by designers Seon-Keun Park, Byung-Min Woo, and Owen Song, the Solar Inside's made with thin-film solar which works in a variety of weather conditions. The rechargeable battery not only turns the bench
into a night-light but also provides wifi access. ...
Image via: Author's collection.
Last month, I traveled to Nicaragua with
Power to the People and
Green Empowerment to
install solar panels on a school in rural Nicaragua. As a solar installer here in the states, it was fun, challenging and fascinating to see how solar is and is not installed in a developing country and the potential applications and huge impacts that it can have. The following are a few impressions I had on
solar and Nicaragua. Please note these are just impressions from a week-long trip and are no way generalizations about all of Nicaragua or solar in ever developing nation....
This is such a great idea. Take one old satellite dish and a pile of AOL CDs or whatever old software you have filling your drawers. Bolt the CDs to the mesh of the dish. Voila: a solar stove capable of 800 degrees F....
We'll be working on better category archives soon. In the meantime, take a look at the
if you really want to dig around, or use the search box at the top of the page.
on 07. 9.09
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