I’m actually out of town on a family “rescue mission,” but I’ll be returning shortly. In the meantime, please enjoy the following solar video by GreenInsights

Arizona’s Sun-Powered Bullet Train

Bullet trains are already considered a greener mode of transport that greatly curbs greenhouse emissions while cutting down on our reliance on pollution belching cars and airplanes, not to mention reducing the choke-hold OPEC and big oil have on everybody on this planet and the planet itself. (more…)

India’s “Barefoot Engineers” Light Up The World

The Barefoot College in northern India teaches women skills to bring solar power to their villages and to manage the energy system in rural areas.

The students are mostly women. Some are grandmothers. Hundreds have come here from villages across India and a dozen other countries to learn how to install and maintain solar energy systems in rural areas. (more…)

Concentrated Sunlight For 10X Energy Gains

Skyline Solar manufactures High Gain Solar (HGS) arrays which incorporate industry-proven silicon cells, durable reflector materials and single-axis tracking into a complete, easy-to-deploy system. Skyline HGS delivers ten times more energy per gram of silicon than traditional flat panel systems in sunny locations. (more…)

REC - An All In One Solar Company

Headquartered in Oslo - Norway, the REC Group is the world’s largest producer of silicon materials for photovoltaic (PV) applications and PV wafers, as well as a significant producer of cells and modules.

Simply put, one stop shopping in the photovoltaic manufacturing world. (more…)

Merging Seawater Greenhouses and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)

Since the 1980’s, rainfall has increased in several regions, while drying has been observed in the Sahel, the Mediterranean, southern Africa, Australia and parts of Asia.

In his report for the Fourth World Conference on the Future of Science “Food and Water for Life” held in Venice last September, Charlie Paton put it this way: The Sahara Forest Project aims to provide a new source of fresh water, food and renewable energy in hot, arid regions, as well as providing conditions that enable re-vegetating areas of desert. (more…)

New Concept Could Harness the Power of Ocean Waves

NASA researchers who developed a new way to power robotic underwater vehicles believe a spin-off technology could help convert ocean energy into electrical energy on a much larger scale. The researchers hope that clean, renewable energy produced from the motion of the ocean and rivers could potentially meet an important part of the world’s demand for electricity.

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Lilly pads have wide disc shaped leaves that float lightly on the water like a pontoon boat, form beautifully following function, allowing them to gather sunlight all day without fighting for space like their landlocked cousins. The water intensifies the sunlight that is gathered up by the leaves, which slowly rotate to match the motion of the sun as it arcs across the sky. So not surprisingly, lilly pads were the inspiration behind the innovative design by the Scottish architecture firm ZM Architecture in a brilliant proposal to provide solar power to the city of Glasgow, Scotland.

Ranging in size from 15 ft to 45 ft in diameter, so even on cloudy days these giant floating solar cells would take advantage of the open space of the River Clyde in Glasgow, to generate energy for the city while also stimulating urban riverfront activity. (more…)

Researchers at the Australian National University are working with a new Australian company, Spark Solar Australia and Braggone Oy on a three-year project to develop spray-on solar panels that are both cheap and highly efficient.

Traditionally, solar cells are made of silicon coated with a thin layer of anti-reflective silicon nitrate. The cells are expensive to produce because they are made in a vacuum and creating a vacuum like situation doesn’t come cheap. If this step can be skipped from the solar cell production, price tags can be brought down considerably. The new method uses a spray-on hydrogen film and spray-on anti-reflective film. In this spray-on method vacuums are not needed. The cells travel along a conveyor belt where the films are sprayed on. The simplified process could trim down about $5 million in capital equipment costs per medium-sized factory. The manufacturer can save and produce solar cells at a much cheaper rate. Testing of the process is now taking place at the ANU, and the technology should be available toward the end of 2011. (more…)