Imagine a machine that could suck carbon dioxide right out of the air and magically transform it into a usable product. It may seem like wishful thinking, but that’s exactly what researchers at the Sandia National Laboratories hope to do. They’ve created a protoype of a device that can turn carbon dioxide into a liquid fuel.

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Post tags: carbon sequestration, Counter-Rotating-Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator, CR5, Rich Diver, Sandia National Laboratories, turning carbon dioxide into fuel

Biofuels are often touted as the next big thing in airplane fuel technology, but solar power shouldn’t be discounted — as was recently proven by the team behind the Solar Impulse. The solar-powered plane just took its first test down the runway, and eventually the plane is expected to take a 20 to 25 day trip around the world.

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Post tags: "solar energy", airplane, alternative energy, green design, renewable energy, solar impulse, Solar Power, solar powered airplane, sustainable design

We’ve seen some pretty energy efficient homes here at Inhabitat, but houses that actually give back to the grid seemed to be a thing of the future — until now. Swedish designers are currently constructing Villa Akarp, a residence that aims to combine energy conservation, energy recovery and energy generation technologies. If all goes as planned, the home will actually produce more energy than it uses and provide the excess to the grid.

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Post tags: E.ON, Green Building, Karin Adalberth, Lund Institute of Technology, Malmo, positive net energy home, sustainable design, Villa Akarp

The recent evolution of solar technology has been nothing short of amazing, and we are continuously impressed by all the products hitting the market that make it easier to integrate clean tech into our daily lives. One innovative company at the forefront of the solar energy bustle is Sulfurcell, the producer of a new kind of modular solar panel that add energy-generating capabilities to any building. The super-thin panels are entirely self contained, so they don’t require any substructure, and they can be applied to new buildings as well as retrofitted old buildings to provide a sleek look and plenty of power.

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Post tags: "sustainable energy", clean tech, green design, modular solar panels, renewable energy, Solar Power, sulfurcell, sustainable design

We’re pretty certain that parking lots of the future will be more than just storage areas for our vehicles. They’ll generate their own power, have morphing advertisements, and likely recharge cars as well. Well our friends at Designboom and Nissan are way ahead of the curve. They just announced the results of their Think Outside the Parking Box competition, and while we’re certainly impressed with some of the imaginative ways to park cars (car ferris wheel, anyone?), we were most excited about the Solasis Light Tower. This renewable energy generating parking lot actually uses the cars’ windshields to shine sun onto a solar power concentrating tower adding valuable juice to the grid. Read on to see how the designers propose to make the tower work and see some detailed pics of the final design.

Read the rest of Solar Parking Lot of the Future Does Much More Than Park Cars

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Post tags: designboom, NISSAN, parking lot, parking lot of the future, power generating parking lot, renewable energy, solar concentrating, solar concentrating power, Solar Power, solasis light tower

Yesterday in Hackettstown, New Jersey, Mars Chocolate flipped the switch of their shiny new 2 MW photovoltaic system. This pic may depict the popular candies catching some rays next to the new solar panels, but don’t worry, Mars still guarantees that M&Ms won’t melt before they reach your mouth! The Solar Garden sits on 18 acres of property that was beforehand just a vacant lot. Now enough electricity for one-fifth of the Hackettstown factory’s needs is produced from the system, meaning that every fifth M&M you eat was made courtesy of the sun. So gather up four friends and dole out those colorful candies, because each one you eat will be green(er).

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Post tags: candy, Hackettstown, M&Ms, Mars Chocolates, new jersey, photovoltaics, PSEG Solar Source, Solar Power, solar powered factory

For centuries sailors have used stars to navigate around the world. Now space-sailors might be able to use the stars to move through the universe — literally! Instead of cruising to Mars on a giant tank of oil, we could soon sail through space using just the energy from sunlight. The Planetary Society — a non-profit space exploration organization — just announced that in 2010 it will send a satellite dubbed LightSail-1 into space that will be propelled by solar sails. The mylar-winged vessel will carry not a drop of fuel (making it much lighter than contemporary space craft) and will be the first in a three part program that aims to prove that solar sailing is a viable technology

Read the rest of Solar Space Satellite Will be Fueled Solely by the Sun’s Rays!

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Post tags: green design, Green Transportation, light powered propulsion, light sailing, lightsail, planetary society, solar satellite, space exploration, sustainable design

Throughout India there are many rural villages that are completely removed from the grid. With no source of power for cooking, light, and heating they currently must rely on firewood, kerosene or diesel for fuel. Now green jobs are blossoming throughout these remote areas as the Orissa Tribal Empowerment & Livelihoods Programme trains women and youth to become barefoot solar engineers. This brilliant initiative provides a bright future for the semi-literate and illiterate rural poor by teaching them to harness the sun through the construction of photovoltaic systems and solar powered lanterns.

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Post tags: barefoot solar engineers, dfid, green design, Orissa Tribal Empowerment & Livelihoods Programme, renewable energy, social design, solar lanterns, sustainable design

A giant step has been made in what will be the world’s largest renewable energy project. While previously just a grand vision for the production of clean energy in the Saharan desert, the project now has a core group of backers and a signed agreement between 12 companies wanting to move forward with the $555 billion renewable energy belt. The 12 collaborators signed articles of association last week for the DESERTEC Industrial Initiative (DII), which will work to bring more companies and groups on board as well as focus on regulations and conditions to get the project successfully completed and generating pure power from the sun.

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Post tags: Africa, Desertec, Europe, renewable energy, renewable energy belt, renewable energy project, Saharan, Saharan Desert, Saharan Solar Project

We’ll admit it: We’ve never totally understood Nascar’s appeal. I mean, come on, it’s just a bunch of cars going round and round a track like a zillion times! But the World Solar Challenge? Now that is one car race we can really get behind. The event, which started way back in 1987, features solar-powered vehicles created by some of the world’s top engineering colleges. Using the power of the sun instead of polluting fossil fuels, the cars race across thousands of miles in order to advance solar and electric vehicle technology — and to achieve the satisfaction of winning, of course.

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Post tags: chevy volt, delft university, Global Green Challenge, Nascar, solar vehicles, Tokai Challenger, tokai university, university of michigan, world solar challenge

Earlier this week, Regen wowed us with their sleek, modular iPhone charger. Now the electronics company is back again with another impressive Apple-related product: the Reverb, an eye-catching 3-foot tall iPod dock that blasts out the equivalent of 60 watts of sound from a conventional speaker. And best of all, it’s solar-powered.

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Post tags: clean tech, green design, Greener Gadgets, ipod, regen, renewable energy, Reverb, Solar Power, solar-powered, speakers, sustainable design

Multi-functional centers are great – same complex, different uses, minimal infrastructure. The House of Music in Aalborg, Denmark is just such a place, combining public and performance space with cultural and education functionality. Designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au this multifunctional center is a marvel of Solar passive design and features a south-facing facade covered with thin-film photovoltaics that help to reduce its energy use. With a concert hall, auditoriums, public courtyards and sustainable design features, Denmark has a wonderful addition to its cultural scene.

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Post tags: Coop Himmelb(l)au, Denmark, house of music, mixed use building, natural ventilaiton, solar passive design, Solar Power, thin-film pv

The problem with most built-in solar gadget chargers is that it just doesn’t make sense to stick your pricey phone in the sun for the whole day while you wait for it to charge. But the Regen ReNu modular solar panel takes care of that issue–the combination solar panel and battery pack attaches to the back of an iPod/iPhone dock or USB device for easy access to solar power. When you want to charge the panel, just remove it and place it near sunlight!

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Post tags: modular, regen, renu, solar panel, Solar Power

Canvas swag bags are par for the course these days, but PopTech upped the ante yesterday by giving conference attendees the Swag Bag to End All Swag Bags: a Timbuk2 messenger bag that’s really a portable, solar-powered lantern in disguise. Built in collaboration with the Portable Light Project, the FLAP—Flexible Light and Power—incorporates solar panels that can be charged by day, and then used to power a built-in LED light or a cell phone/iPod at night.

READ MORE AT ECOUTERRE >

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Post tags: FLAP bag, poptech, solar bag, solar fashion, Solar Power, Timbuk2

Things really heated up this past few days as we inched closer to finding out who the winner of this year’s Solar Decathlon would be, and in the end Team Germany’s surPLUShouse stole the show. We were sad to see that Cornell University’s Silo House did not place in the top 3, but we still love this totally unconventional and clever home which held steadfastly in the ranks as part of the top 10 throughout the week. As a compact modular structure, the Silo House proves that impressive green, energy-efficient things do come in small spaces!

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Post tags: cornell, cornell house, cornell university, Department of Energy, hvac, photovoltaic, Solar Decathlon, Solar Power