When it comes to producing solar power, efficiency is the key – efficiency of the panels, efficiency of the system’s collectors and, according to SkyFuel, efficiency of the solar concentrator technology. Solar concentrators are increasingly being used in the industry, due to their efficiency in providing cheap solar energy. By harnessing the sun’s energy, a solar concentrator can provide the necessary heat for dozens of homes and thus save electricity. As such, the systems are more efficient than regular solar generators as captured power is not just converted into electricity. But according to SkyFuel, a U.S.-based company, their SkyTrough solar concentrator technology has a thermal efficiency of 350˚C (662 ˚F), which exceeds the standard by 73%. More than just a shallow claim, their statement has been confirmed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which has certified the SkyTrough solar concentrator technology to have the highest efficiency in its class!

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As it turns out, the United States and China are going to walk hand in hand into the renewable energy future. Yesterday, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced that the two countries have formed the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center and will both provide a total of $100 million dollars in funding to research to get both energy hungry countries on the path to a greener future. While the plan sounds like a green dream come true, there’s a twist — the problem with the new initiative is that a half of the cash is going to clean coal technology, something we know doesn’t exist.

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If you love cruising along the city streets on your two-wheeler or charging along the sidewalks on foot, what better way to take advantage of the outdoors than with this super practical solar bag? Designed by Swiss company Sakku, the sakku.traveler is a stylish solar bag that not only stores energy from the sun to power up your favorite gadgets, but each bag …

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While the reflective and shiny solar panels that researchers have been making thus far look pretty, they’re no match for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) recently discovered black silicon solar cell. The scientists at NREL discovered that etching thousands of tiny holes into a silicon wafer causes it to be almost black and thus able to absorb almost all of the sun’s rays, and more absorbent solar cells mean more efficient panels.

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Typical of industrial construction, precious metals such as gold, platinum and palladium are sometimes lost given the difficulties of effectively extracting them. However, researchers from the School of Biosciences at the University of Birmingham have found a way to use microbes, similar to the common soil bacterium Desulfovibrio desulfuricans, to recover palladium from useless industrial waste. Researchers hope that by using such forms of bacteria, high quantities of precious metals can be recaptured and recycled for use in industries. While the whole process to reclaim this little bit of metal seems overly tedious, the end result holds considerable value. Palladium itself is one of the most precious resource metals on Earth, boasting unique chemical properties. This metal can in fact be used as an active element in autocatalytic converters able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Since 1961 when President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps by executive order, thousands of volunteers have traveled to developing countries to implement programs that range from AIDS education to information technology and environmental preservation. Now they’ll be adding another task to their list: the implementation of renewable energy. The US government just awarded the Peace Corps with $1 million to start a program that will bring clean green energy to developing communities in Central and South America.

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The hippies were the first to push solar energy en masse in the 70’s, so it’s a wonder we haven’t thought of this before — it turns out the same stuff used to tie-dye t-shirts can increase the efficiency of solar panels. A new paper released in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy details the discovery that many common off-the-shelf dyes — as well as dyes used in the medical and food industry — can make solar panels more effective when mixed properly. The researchers basically use the dye to change the color spectrum that the panel can absorb, thereby increasing its efficiency by as much as 8%.

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Today Global Solar unveiled a new type of flexible solar module that builders can stick directly on the roof, rather than constructing racks to hold heavy glass-covered cells. The modules won’t cost less than traditional arrays, at least initially, but they make it easier to include solar power at the time of construction and, without the racks, can cover a greater portion of the roof and provide more power.

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Photo © Flickr DraconianRain

A recently-released report announced that the use of precast concrete bases can actually make wind turbines sturdier, more efficient, and less resource-intensive to produce. According to the Atlas CTB White Paper, the wider footprint of precast concrete bases adds stability to the foundation of wind turbines and can reduce the amount of concrete needed to install them by 60-70%. The precast bases also make it easier to raise taller turbines into more powerful winds, and their rapid construction time means that more turbines can be built.

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Following in the footsteps of the U.S. military’s embracing of renewable energy, such as fighter jets running on biofuel and hydrogen fuel cell powered tanks, the U.S. coast guard has decided to use wind power by installing a turbine at their Southwest Harbor Base in Maine. The turbine is part of a more amibitious program to achieve a zero carbon footprint at the station. Some of the other plans include installing solar panels and solar hot water heaters along with new electrical systems and improve insulation in order to reduce emissions and cut costs.

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Soaring like robotic birds, these energy generating flying devices were conceived by Carlos Campos Yamila Zynda Aiub Architects for the skies of Dubai. Called Wings, the curious “creatures” use solar cells to store energy, which they then use to illuminate the land below them at night in a flutter of constellation-like formations.

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Hydrogen fuel station by Honda

Clean energy company Acta has unveiled plans to install a network of solar-powered hydrogen fueling stations throughout Italy. The new fuel pumps will harness solar energy to produce hydrogen fuel from water through electrolysis. While hydrogen-powered cars may not get the column inches that electric cars do, they offer an alternative to the standard gas-guzzling automobile — and this is a market that Italy wants to encourage.

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Electricity’s most fundamental riddle: How does it form in nature? Even centuries after Ben Franklin so famously harnessed lightning, recreating this natural phenomenon has remained an unsolved mystery to the scientific world. That is until now. Recent laboratory tests conducted by Brazilian scientists at the University of Campinas have shown that water vapor picks up a charge much like the way solar cells capture energy from sunlight. While this discovery sounds slight, it’s a finding that will actually bring us a step closer to capturing electricity from thin air.

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More and more retail chains are embracing renewable energy in a bid to cut costs and reduce their carbon footprint. Examples include Wal-Mart installing close to 5300 solar panels at its Apple Valley distribution center in California and Green Depot making their stores LEED-certified. Now IKEA has joined the renewable retail ranks by announcing that a store near Centennial in Denver will be powered by geothermal energy. Thanks to a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Denver IKEA store will be the first IKEA store in the United States to be built with geothermal heating and cooling, saving both energy and money.

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As California utility companies struggle to obtain 20% of their total energy from renewable sources by the end of 2010, the nations first solar thermal power plant in two decades was approved for Kern County, California. The thumbs up from state regulators comes after a two and a half year environmental review that made sure the effects of the construction would be minimal on wildlife and that the water obtained for the plant would not deplete the area’s already meager supply. When built, the Beacon Solar Energy Project will supply 250-megawatts of clean green power to the grid.

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Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine maker, announced Wednesday that it will convert a former Portland, Oregon department store warehouse into its new North American headquarters. An impressive undertaking generously supported by the local government, once the renovation is complete, Vestas will become home to the city’s largest array of solar panels and a gorgeous eco-garden terrace. Gerding Edlen Development, a leader in green architecture, has been chosen to oversee the conversion of the former Meier & Frank warehouse, and with five stories and 194,000 square feet in the pipeline, Vestas will finally be able to house its entire staff under one, green roof.  More that just a building of adaptive reuse, the new construction is shooting to achieve LEED Platinum certification!

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We all know that if you give a little kid some sugar, they’ll have enough energy to be a total pain for a couple of hours. Well, why not charge your gadgets that way too? A group of researchers just presented their findings at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) about a fuel-cell battery that runs on sugar! The battery can be juiced up with soda-pop or even vegetable oil and recharges electronics the way we recharge ourselves — with glucose.

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Photo by Brandon Baunach

The human body is arguably one of the finest machines ever created by nature, and now a team from Norway’s Academy of Science and Letters in Oslo are looking to it for inspiration as they design the next generation of hydrogen fuel cells. More specifically, they are looking at the lungs — according to Signe Kjelstrup, who is heading the team, making fuel cells in the shape of lungs could cut down on the amount of expensive catalysts needed, such as platinum, while increasing efficiency. It is hoped that the research will enable hydrogen cars to manufactured en mass.

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Anybody’s who ever said that electric vehicles are only for the bright lights of a big city just got proven wrong by Pulaski, Tennessee — population 7,871. Local business Richland, LLC (with help from federal and state funds) just spent $180,000 on a solar parking lot with EV charging stations. Now that’s what we call a little town with big green dreams. Pulaski is just 74 miles due south of Nashville, Tennessee where the all-electric — and hotly anticipated — Nissan Leaf is set to debut this coming December.

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Dutch designer Gijsbert Koren has given his country’s famed windmills an even more sustainable edge by outfitting them with these fab new bamboo blades. Each blade has been constructed from two layers of handwoven bamboo mats that are reinforced with an eco-friendly resin. Koren’s mats are handwoven by tribal craftsmen in India — this choice of materials helps sustain the crafts trade in these Indian tribes by offering them another source of income….

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Firefighters at New York’s Bellevue Fire District No. 9 station are looking forward to a bright future in solar energy as they recently unveiled a large photovoltaic installation. Funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the station’s new solar array is composed of 140 panels rated at 200 watts each. It is hoped that the installation will be able to offset up to 14 percent of the station’s energy consumption by producing more than 23 kilowatts of electricity.

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The oldest and largest existing public pool in the Bay Area shuttered its doors ten years ago due to structural concerns but has re-emerged like a phoenix from the ashes this weekend as the greenest pool in the country! The Richmond Plunge has long been a stable icon of a city with an ever-changing identity. Now the pool represents not just renewal but a leap forward in sustainability with a historic preservation that saves energy, and a huge 80 panel solar thermal system that saves water and chemicals by using saline water. And they did it all without swimming in red ink as the reconstruction and upgrades were all done well under budget.

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Finland recently unveiled plans to build the world’s first green highway — an 81-mile stretch of road that would feature charging stations for electric cars and pumps filled with local biofuels. Outfitted with energy-efficient lighting systems and geothermal heat pumps, the proposed carbon-neutral roadway handily out-greens Britain’s plans for a green service station.

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When it comes to green transportation, everyone has heard of hybrid cars and energy-efficient vehicles. Even airplanes use biofuel these days, but one form of transport that has yet to be made greener is shipping. Namely, diesel-powered tugboats. Used to tow liners and tankers out of the world’s ports, conventional tugboats are a major source of pollution — however, an American company is aiming to change that with the launch of an energy-efficient hybrid tugboat!

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According to a new book, Ireland has the potential to produce three times the country’s energy needs using renewable resources. The book, Green & Gold – Ireland a Clean Energy World Leader? by Alternative Energy Resources CEO John Travers, states that 20 percent of total Irish energy needs can be met by clean energy within the next 10 years, while an impressive 80 percent can be met by 2050. Not just that, but 20 percent of Irish GDP can also be derived from clean energy exports.

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