Solar Balloon Creates 400 Times More Energy Than The Average Solar Cell

There are many new forms of alternative energy but maybe none as interesting as the Cool Earth Solar “Balloon.” The concept behind this design is that they create an “inflatable plastic thin-film balloon (solar concentrator) that, upon inflation, focuses sunlight onto a photovoltaic cell held at its focal point.

The design produces 400 times the electricity that a solar cell would create without the company’s concentrator.” Cool Earth has already began construction on a power plant in Livermore, CA that will utilize this new technology. The plant is modest in size, creating only 1.4 Megawatts but if this plant works as well as they expect it to, they plan on launching a full sized plant next summer. One great thing about this device is that it’s made up of a very common and cheap material. “Plastic thin film is abundant and cheap,” said Cool Earth Solar CEO Rob Lamkin. “It only costs two dollars for the plastic material necessary for our solar concentrator.”

It’s ideas like this that I think will stick. It’s cost efficient. It’s made of an easy to find material and it’s an environmentally sound concept. Read more

Samsung Releases Blue Earth Solar Powered Phone!

With the release of Blue Earth Solar Powered Phone by Samsung the world witnesses a new era of solar-powered mobile phone. Blue Earth phone. Blue Earth is a gorgeous green touch phone that has a full solar panel on its back which can generate enough power to charge the phone, but the gadget is still small enough to slip in your pocket!
As if releasing a Blue Earth solar powered phone wasn’t enough, Samsung is going beyond to achieve greenest phone on the market. The body of Blue Earth Solar Powered Phone is made out of recycled water bottles and has no toxic substances. Blue Earth is solar powered, so really, a charger?

Blue Earth Solar Powered Phone is set to be energy efficient, with a new user interface making it easy to activate the phone’s energy saving mode. Blue Earth Solar Powered Phone is also includes a pedometer, and CO2 emissions calculator. Samsung is aiming to pack Blue Earth Solar Powered Phone with entirely recycled paper.

With Blue Earth Solar Powered Phone Samsung is clearly throwing the gauntlet to all phone manufacturers, and we hope to see solar cells integrated throughout the rest of their line. Blue Earth Solar Powered Phone will be unveiled on February 16th at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

SunCat Solar Batteries Powered by Sun shine

Designer and inventor extraordinaire Knut Karlsen recently unveiled SunCat, Solar Batteries Powered by Sun shine an inspired approach to portable power that can’t be beat for its elegant simplicity: a prototype battery capable of charging itself when exposed to sunshine. His slick set of SunCat C-cells are wrapped in flexible photovoltaic panels and will slowly recharge when left to bask in the sun - just like a cat.
Rechargeable batteries like SUNCAT are a boon to eco-enthusiasts who use portable electronics, however all too often they require additional peripherals in order to keep them charged. These devices generally take the form of a black box loaded with non-biodegradable plastics and heavy metals - not very earth-friendly.

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.

Karlsen plans to continue to tweak the batteries, adding capacitors to charge the batteries more efficiently and electronics to check when the batteries are full. We’re excited to see the results of his testing - finally, a justification for all those see-through gadgets with clear cases!

Solar Energy Spain

Solar energy in Spain along with the solar industry is growing so fast that the Spanish government is considering upping its renewable-energy goals and decreasing its incentives on projects of solar energy. Strong Solar potential has beckoned those in the solar energy industry to come in droves. Coupled with support from the Spanish government, the country's solar energy industry is on track to three folds in 2009.
Spain's Ministry of solar energy has proposed tripling the cap on solar-electric installations from 400 megawatts to 1.2 gigawatts. Solar energy in Spain would face a decline if the government decides to act on the proposal of reducing Solar energy Subsidies by 35%, projects of solar energy in Spain are already not being financed by any bank, because of this fear. Fate of solar energy in Spain could be disappointing if the reduction in subsides on solar energy happens. Public in Spain should act together to avoid this type of negative effects on solar energy and renewable industry in Spain.

Solar Cells

solar cells were first seen on calculators that never need batteries, and in some cases don't even have an off button.
solar cells bidden together in large panels aren't as common as solar powered calculators, but if you look hard you could spot solar cells. There are solar cell arrays on satellites, where they are used to power the electrical systems.
Invention of solar cells gave birth to the concept of "solar revolution" the idea that one day we will all use free electricity fro­m the sun with the help of solar cells. This is a seductive promise: On a bright, sunny day, the sun shines approximately 1,000 watts of energy per square meter of the planet's surface, and if we could collect all of that energy we could easily power our homes and offices for free.

SCE, BrightSource sign deal for 1,300MW of solar thermal power

By Datamonitor staff writer(http://www.energy-business-review.com)

Southern California Edison and BrightSource Energy have reached agreement on a series of contracts for 1,300MW of clean solar thermal power, which can serve nearly 845,000 homes.

According to SCE, the first of these solar power plants, sized at 100MW and located in Ivanpah, California, could be operating in early 2013 and are expected to produce 286,000MWh of renewable electricity per year.

BrightSource will build and place in commercial operation each of its plants as quickly as permitting and infrastructure allow. The full 1,300MW of projects will produce 3.7 billion kWh of clean energy and avoid more than two million tons of CO2 emissions annually, the equivalent of removing more than 335,000 cars from the road.

Stuart Hemphill, vice president of renewable and alternative power at Southern California Edison (SCE), said: “These contracts represent an addition to the renewable portfolio.”

SCE is engaged in purchasing renewable energy. In 2007, the utility purchased about 12.5 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable energy, which comprises about 16 percent of SCE’s total energy portfolio. SCE also recently signed two wind-energy contracts. One agreement, with Puget Sound Energy signed in January, calls for 2 billion kilowatt-hours over the next two years. The other, with AES Mountainview, calls for 66.6 megawatts from a wind farm in the San Gorgonio Pass near Palm Springs.