Imagine a vehicle that could travel at a hundred kilometres an hour on around the same energy as a hair dryer uses. That’s what the Cambridge University Eco Racing (CUER) team have achieved with their new solar-powered racing car design, currently codenamed ‘Bethany’.
According to a report just released, world solar panel installations attained a record high of 5.95 gigawatts during 2008; growth of 110% over 2007.
Solar powered air conditioning that doesn’t require copious volumes of water or huge arrays of solar panels has been somewhat of a holy grail for the solar industry. Recently we reported on such a solar powered air conditioning unit under development in Australia and now there’s a new player in the market – Chromasun.
One of the more drastic approaches to addressing climate change has been the concept of geoengineering, in particular ejecting particles into the upper atmosphere to cool the planet. However, according to the USA’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), such a move would see reduction in electricity generation by solar farms that concentrate the suns energy using mirrors and lenses.
Research from the Helsinki University of Technology’s Advanced Energy Systems asserts renewable energy technologies like wind and solar power could supply 40 percent of the world’s electricity by 2050 if given similar support as to what the coal fired and nuclear industry receives.
Deep cycle batteries can store large amounts of power – but they are rather bulky.Lithium-ion batteries, such as those found in notebook computers, are much lighter and able to store significant levels of energy too – but they can take a long time to recharge. A new battery technology developed by MIT engineers dubbed “beltway battery” gets around this problem and may help propel Lithium-ion technology into the wind and solar related energy storage market much sooner than expected.
A team at MIT is currently working on a new approach to deep cycle batteries using chemical reactions of liquid materials that could be applied to small and large scale energy storage applications.
There was a flurry of media activity yesterday and today ahead of the release of the Australian Government’s Emissions Trading Scheme draft legislation, which was unveiled a short time ago.
According to researchers at Penn State University, carbon dioxide emissions intensive industries could convert CO2 to a wide variety of hydrocarbons, such as methane. While methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, it’s a useful one that can be used for fuel.
The dedication last Friday of Atlantic City Convention Center’s new solar roof heralded the end of the largest single roof-mounted grid connect solar construction project in the United States.
