This may be trivia to some folks but these are the facts!

Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize in Physics 1921 for his ground-breaking experiments
with solar power and photovoltaics.

German solar industry has generated 10,000 jobs in production, distribution and installation

A world record was set in 1990 when a solar-powered aircraft flew across the US in 21 stages, using no fuel at all.

Water is the most commonly used renewable energy resource, providing enough power to meet the needs of 28.3 million people. (more…)

Smart Water

A standalone desalinator needs 17 gallons of diesel fuel and 66.5 kilowatts of
electricity to make 1,000 gallons of freshwater, but now, the Solar Cube, (made
by Spectra Watermakers in California), churns out 1,500 gallons of drinking water
on just 22 kilowatts of its own solar and wind power. The innovation is a pump
that triples efficiency by recapturing hydraulic pressure during the filtering
process. Solar Cubes are now bringing freshwater to remote regions and places
short on infrastructure and electricity without paying the CO2 price – way cool. (more…)

Energy efficiency boom leads 9 clean technology predictions for 2009

SHANGHAI, China, December 4th, 2008 – Continuing an annual tradition, the Cleantech
Group™, founders of the cleantech investment category and providers of leading global
market research and financial services for the cleantech ecosystem, today issued nine
predictions for clean technology markets in 2009, forecasting progress in some sectors,
but delays and setbacks in others.

A reflection of undercurrents in the global clean technology category from the company’s
conversations with industry and government leadership worldwide, the nine predictions
include a global focus on energy efficiency as a job creation and economic engine, and an
increase in valuations of global wind companies. (more…)

Research and development in the area of OLED’s has been fast and furious
in the past few years. Numerous universities and corporations have leaped on
this exciting green innovation. OLEDs are organic light-emitting diodes,
organic because it relies on carbon-based polymers and molecules rather than
inorganic semiconductors such as silicon (like the standard LED.

Even the U.S. Department of Energy has jumped into the fray, which reports
approximately 22 percent of the electricity consumed in the United States goes
toward lighting. It’s a $58-billion-a-year bill and growing.  Through its
solid-state lighting research program, the energy department hopes to develop
commercially acceptable lights that will need 50 percent less electricity (more…)

Research scientist at two different universities are on the same path to
developing an inexpensive process that will allow you to paint on or print
out your own solar cells. Imagine, a simple and inexpensive energy alternative
for households around the world.

Last year it was reported that researchers at New Jersey Institute of Technology
(NJIT) developed an inexpensive solar cell that can be painted or printed on
flexible plastic sheets. Lead researcher, Professor Somenath Mitra said, “The
process is simple, someday homeowners will even be able to print sheets of these
solar cells with inexpensive home-based inkjet printers. Consumers can then slap (more…)

Fifty years after the introduction of photovoltaics, they are still stiff, bulky,
and extremely expensive. The time till cost recovery for silicon based solar panels
is 8 to 10 years.

Scientist at U.C. Santa Barbara are developing a way to make the sun’s energy affordable to everyone. Knowing to accomplish their goal, the first step
had to be finding a cheaper material than silicon. Dr. Alan Heeger made a (more…)