PlanetSolar is a boat powered entirely through solar energy. At 31 meters long and 15 wide, it’s the largest in the world:
The 60 tonne catamaran (or is that trimaran?) has cost 18 million euro ($24.4 million USD) to create at the Knierim Yacht Club in Kiel in northern Germany and will be launched waterside next month with sea trials due between June and September. To achieve to full photovoltaic capture there are solar covered flaps that are extended at the stern and amidships.
SunPower has provided approximately 38,000 of their next generation all black photovoltaic cells, an efficiency of at least 22%, which they believe to be the highest efficiency solar cells commercially available. Maybe it’s buried somewhere on the PlanetSolar site, but I missed what storage medium the boat will use once it has harnessed the sun’s energy.
Link | Photogallery | Photo: Christian Charisius/Reuters
Solar Dog is a prototype cell phone recharging station developed by Erik Schiegg of Switzerland. The user mounts it on a dog’s back to collect solar energy as it plays outside. Schiegg writes:
My Android phone is charged in no time… The dog feels good and I’m feeling good and planet mud is turned a little bit more into planet earth. But this idea would be interesting? for farmers around the world, letting their animals collect electricity, too. Without the cost and waste for installation and the ground.
via Make
Eighteen-year-old Milan Karki of Nepal has invented a new type of solar panel that uses human hair as a conductor:
The hair replaces silicon, a pricey component typically used in solar panels, and means the panels can be produced at a low cost for those with no access to power, he explained….The solar panel, which produces 9 V (18 W) of energy, costs around £23 to make from raw materials.But if they were mass-produced, Milan says they could be sold for less than half that price, which could make them a quarter of the price of those already on the market.
Melanin, a pigment that gives hair its colour, is light sensitive and also acts as a type of conductor. Because hair is far cheaper than silicon the appliance is less costly.
Link (Photo: Tom Van Cakenberghe/Barcroft Media) – via Gizmodo
The U.S. Department of Transportation granted $100,000 to the Idaho-based startup Solar Roadways to build a prototype roadway composed of solar cells and glass. The accumulated energy could, hypothetically, be used to light the roadway and provide electricity to consumers:
The 12- x 12-foot panels, which each cost $6,900, are designed to be embedded into roads. When shined upon, each panel generates an estimated 7.6 kilowatt hours of power each day. If this electricity could be pumped into the grid, the company predicts that a four-lane, one-mile stretch of road with panels could generate enough power for 500 homes. Although it would be expensive, covering the entire US interstate highway system with the panels could theoretically fulfill the country’s total energy needs. The company estimates that this would take 5 billion panels, but could “produce three times more power than we’ve ever used as a nation – almost enough to power the entire world.”
The Solar Road Panels also contain embedded LED lights that “paint” the road lines from beneath to provide safer nighttime driving. The LEDs could also be programmed to alert drivers of detours or road construction ahead, and can even sense wildlife on the road and warn drivers to slow down. The roads could also contain embedded heating elements in the surface to prevent snow and ice from building up on the road. Further, in the future, fully electric vehicles could recharge along the roadway and in parking lots, making electric cars practical for long trips.
Image: Solar Roadways
Inventor Knut Karlsen has designed batteries that recharge themselves when they are exposed to sunlight; no electric power source is required!
Karlsen’s SunCat batteries circumvent chargers completely by integrating solar cells within the batteries themselves. To make these prototypes he attached 1.8V flexible photovoltaic cells onto 1.5V NiMH rechargeable batteries and connected them with a conductive silver pen and a few flat wires. The effect is similar to a trickle charger, which slowly charges a battery and can be left attached indefinitely without overcharging.
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