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Archive for the ‘solar power’ category: Page 34

Dec 18, 2017

Using Nanotechnology, not Water, to Clean Solar Panels

Posted by in categories: nanotechnology, particle physics, solar power, space, sustainability

Although solar panels might appear bright and shiny, in desert environments, where they are most frequently installed, layers of dust and other particles can quickly coat their surface. These coatings can affect the panels’ ability to absorb sunlight and drastically reduce the conversion of the sun’s rays into energy, making it necessary to periodically wash the panels with water. But often, in areas like Nevada, water resources are scarce.

Consequently, NEXUS scientists have turned their attention toward developing technologies for waterless cleaning. NASA has already been using such techniques to wash panels in the lunar and Mars missions, but their developed methodologies prove too expensive for widespread public application. NEXUS scientist Biswajit Das of UNLV and his team are aiming to develop a water-free cleaning technology that will be cost-effective for large-scale photovoltaic generation, whereby they look to nanotechnology, rather than water, to clean the panels. “Our mission is to develop a waterless, or at least a less-water cleaning technique to address the effect of dust on solar panels,” Das says. “Once developed, this method will significantly reduce water use for the future PV generation.”

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Dec 16, 2017

Forget Tesla’s Solar Roof: This Startup Tells Us Solar Window is the Future

Posted by in categories: futurism, solar power

SolarWindow wants to change the world.

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Dec 8, 2017

Solar power glass bricks generate energy while letting in light

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

These glass bricks serve as solar panels AND windows.

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Dec 3, 2017

The Tantalizing Dream of Blanketing the Sahara in Solar Panels

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

Just need 400 billion and 1.2% of the land area.


Desertec continues in a smaller form; they’re still building power plants in Morocco to supply the local energy needs of that country. Perhaps a ground-up approach, where MENA countries increase their own solar production in the desert before becoming net exporters, will provide the solution. This project is not the first wildly ambitious scheme to provide for the world’s energy needs that has stalled; historians remember Atlantropa, a scheme to dam the Strait of Gibraltar and use it for hydroelectric power that had some interest in the 1920s.

Yet the prospect remains tantalizing. Surely, when only a tiny fraction of the Earth’s surface need be devoted to energy production to provide us with more power than we could ever dream of consuming, we won’t wreck the planet by getting that energy through dirty and dangerous means. To starry-eyed idealists, it must seem equivalent to being on a raft in a lake full of drinking water—and choosing instead to swig from a bottle of seawater in your backpack. Solar power in the world’s deserts is one of the few feasible, renewable ways of providing energy on the scale we currently demand as humans. Someday, we will make better use of the abundant energy from the sun. We’ll have to.

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Nov 28, 2017

How Zero Mass is using solar panels to pull drinkable water directly from the air

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

Zero Mass’s ambitious plan to change water.

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Nov 20, 2017

Tesla Roadster might fly — By Peter Valdes-Dapena | CNN Tech

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, solar power, space, sustainability, transportation

“Musk seems to be talking about something different, a sports car that could “hop” over obstacles. The emphasis would, presumably, still be on performance and practicality with four wheels on the ground.”

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Nov 6, 2017

Researchers develop wallpaper bio-solar panel

Posted by in categories: nanotechnology, solar power, sustainability

A two-in-one solar bio-battery and solar panel has been created by researchers who printed living cyanobacteria and circuitry onto paper.

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic micro-organisms that have been on Earth for billions of years. They are thought to be the primary reason why the Earth’s atmosphere is oxygen rich.

Now, a team has demonstrated that cyanobacteria could be used as an ink and printed from an in precise patterns onto electrically conductive carbon nanotubes, which were also inkjet-printed onto the piece of paper. The team showed that the cyanobacteria survived the printing process and were able to perform photosynthesis so that small amounts of electrical energy could be harvested over a period of 100 hours.

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Oct 31, 2017

The Huge Promise of Transparent Solar Cells—Turning the World’s Glass Surfaces Into Solar Panels

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

A long way to go but potentially well worth the R&D.


Transparent solar cells started to emerge in the last 5–6 years, but there are already some live installations of this tech with impressive performance.

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Oct 31, 2017

The carbon catchers of Climeworks

Posted by in categories: climatology, engineering, environmental, solar power, space, sustainability

I was thinking about this thing, and the one in Iceland. Maybe we could build giant blimps in the atmosphere of Venus, it would carry that machine on its belly, and on the back of the blimp super advanced solar panels. Then inside of the blimp the CO2 could be mixed into liquid crystals or something like that and be dropped like rain down on the surface, to eventually terraform it.


Global Engineering — a phrase that describes steadying the world’s climate with technical solutions. A Swiss company has received EU funding to develop a machine that captures CO2. Can it really make a difference?

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Oct 31, 2017

Boeing outlines technology for crewed Mars missions

Posted by in categories: habitats, solar power, space travel

With a focus on building the archetypal missions for NASA’s new Space Launch System rocket, the U.S.-based Boeing Corporation has outlined their view of what technologies can be used to accomplish humankind’s goal of visiting crews to the Martian system – missions Boeing believes are possible through the combination of the SLS rocket’s lift capability, the bourgeoning Solar Electric Propulsion technology field, and Bigelow’s soon-to-be-tested inflatable habitat modules.

From the Earth-Moon system to Mars:

Continuing from their initial presentation on potential SLS rocket uses beyond the opening two circumlunar missions, the Boeing Corporation has presented their idea of how to execute a phased approach to deep space exploration – with an eye for the eventual goal of landing human beings on the surface of Mars.

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