It’s easy enough to find a solar-powered charger for iPods, cell phones, and other gadgets, but this ultra-tiny solar-powered sensor system is smaller than anything else on the market — 1,000 times smaller than standard systems, in fact. Developed at the University of Michigan, the 2.5 x 3.5 x 1 millimeter system is the smallest in the world, and it can harvest energy from its surroundings almost perpetually.
Can you imagine living in a high-rise apartment building where the 360 degree views are of fishes and saltwater? Although just a concept now, this upside-down, underwater eco-skyscraper could be the future of building, especially if sea levels rise as predicted and we end up living in a water world. Designed by Victoria BC-based firm Zigloo, the Gyre is a floating eco-development meant to be both a research station as well as an off-shore resort with shops, restaurants, gardens and recreation. Powered completely by the sun, wind and ocean, the Gyre would offer a zero emissions stay for both tourists and researchers hoping to gain a better understanding of the ocean’s ecosystem.
Madonna is giving back to the country that gave her David, her son, in a big way by building an eco-friendly academy for girls in Malawi’s capital city, Lilongwe. Through her non-profit organization, Raising Malawi, the pop star has collected funds and donated some of her own in order to build the solar powered, eco-friendly academy, which will accommodate 450 girls when it’s completed in 2012. StudioMDA, out of New York, designed the school and hopes it can become the standard for education and new sustainable construction in the region.
In the hurried and fast paced lives we lead, travel can be just one more stressful, cramped and environmentally unfriendly activity. What if you could slow it down, take some time, and relax – all while aboard a zero emissions luxury cruise that travels not on the water but in the air?! That’s what London-based designers, Seymourpowell, are proposing with Aircruise, a solar and fuel-cell powered airship designed for luxury travel.
Solar engineers have long sought to develop an energy-generating glazing that is as capable of producing power as it is easy on the eyes. The feat may just have been accomplished by The Center for Architecture Science and Ecology (CASE), who have developed a concentrating solar system that is not only modern and attractive but extremely efficient and cost effective. The system is made up of rows of pyramid-shaped glass receptors that move with sunlight throughout the day, magnifying the incoming light and capturing it in a small photovoltaic cell located in the center of each pyramid.
The historic city of Augustenborg, Denmark may soon provide a new view of its surrounding waters thanks to a revitalized city center complete with a modern castle. Successfully combining old and new, Deve Architects plan to transform the city’s aging industrial buildings into a new downtown area that celebrates the country’s modern yacht culture. The new plans call for ground-source heat pumps, wind turbines, and biogas as well as solar arrays and kinetic plates to generate energy.
We tend to have a love/hate relationship with Wal-Mart, but we will give them props for their latest green effort. The retailer has just installed close to 5,300 solar panels at its Apple Valley distribution center in California – that’s enough to power 175 homes. The array is Wal-Mart’s largest solar installation and will provide roughly 20 percent of the power for the …
At first glance it may look like a cyber-robotic monster is eating the historical district of this lovely Italian city, but in reality it’s the roof of a new energy-generating walkway in Perugia, Italy. The ‘Energy Roof’, designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au is powered by both the wind and the sun and serves as the canopy of a gallery that explores important archeological sites around the city.
If you only made between $400 and $4,000 a year in income and didn’t have easy access to electricity, what would you do? For many rural Indians, the answer is the Duron, a $130 solar home power system that allows users to generate and store solar energy, charge gadgets and appliances, and run LED lights.
If you’re going to dress your dog up in silly outfits, they may as well serve a purpose. That’s the tack behind this solar puppy sweater created by Erik Shiegg. According to him, the hi-tech canine couture is capable of charging an Android phone in no time, plus “the dog feels good and I’m feeling good and planet mud is turned a little bit more into planet earth”. Eco-conscious pooches rejoice!
Now there’s no excuse not to bring solar power into your life – in just a few weeks IKEA will be stocking their shelves with a new line of solar-powered summer night lighting! Dubbed SOLIG, the collection ranges from the practical to the decorative and features energy-efficient LED bulbs. Best of all, these new lamps are not only fun, funky, and earth-friendly — they’re affordable as well!
Energy storage is one of the greatest milestones facing the renewable energy industry. You can’t control the winds or the sun’s rays, so intermittency is a problem and you can’t flood the grid when you most need an electric boost. This also means that a lot of the power that is ready for the grid isn’t used, and is lost. Southwest Solar Technology is developing a totally clean Compressed Air Energy Storage System (CAES) that looks quite promising. The system uses clean technology during the day to pump heated and compressed air into an airtight chamber, which is released through a turbine to create power when it is needed the most.
For anyone unfamiliar with hearing aids, know that they require a great deal of two things: money and batteries. Luckily, one humanitarian project aims to make the medical devices much cheaper and more eco-friendly. Solar Ear, a Brazil-based company, creates low-cost hearing aids that get their juice from solar-powered batteries. Not only are the devices much more affordable than traditional hearing aids, they decreases reliance on fossil fuel-based power and seriously cut back on battery waste.
Australia-based EnviroMission Ltd recently announced plans to build two solar updraft towers that span hundreds of acres in La Paz County, Arizona. Solar updraft technology sounds promising enough: generate hot air with a giant greenhouse, channel the air into a chimney-like device, and let the warm wind turn a wind turbine to produce energy. The idea isn’t new — it’s been around since the mid 1980’s — but it’s only now starting to take off.
With a lightweight skin, recycled materials, solar power, and a somewhat crazy-lookin’ volcano-esque shape, this “cloud-covered” stadium in Zagreb has tons of eco-promise. Designed by Croatia-based njiric+ arhitekti, the Za(breg) Stadium is set to be a new landmark for the city center. Nicknamed the “Blue Volcano” by both the public and the press, the new stadium rises up from the city floor in a smooth arc to encapsulate the arena within.
Hamburg’s Office for Urban Development and the Environment (BSU) recently unveiled plans for a brand new eye-catching and energy-efficient office that is sure to promote their green agenda. Designed by Sauerbruch Hutton, the colorful prismatic building will combine both passive and active measures to bring the structure to the forefront of energy-efficient design in 2013.
SOLYNDRA – a report from Earth2Tech
There are hundreds of solar companies developing new materials, new business models, new installation techniques and new manufacturing processes in an effort to bring down the cost and up the efficiency of solar panels. But there’s only one company that has made progress in 2009 with uniquely-designed solar tube-shaped panels: Solyndra.
As snowstorms sweep the country, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are warming up our winter blues with the creation of these gorgeous snowflake-shaped photovoltaic cells. The glitter-sized solar sequins are made from crystalline silicon and use 100 times less material to generate the same amount of electricity as standard solar cells made from 6-inch square solar wafers. Perfect for soaking up the sun’s rays on unusual shapes and surfaces, the solar cells are expected to be less expensive, more efficient, and have promising applications in textiles and clothing.
A vast fan-shaped compound in China has officially taken the title of “largest solar-powered office building in the world“. Located in Dezhou in the Shangdong Province in northwest China, the 75,000 square meter structure is a multi-use building and features exhibition centers, scientific research facilities, meeting and training facilities, and a hotel – all of which run on solar power.
This morning NASA launched the WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer), a solar-powered infrared telescope that will scan the skies for earth-threatening asteroids and comets. We love covering all things green, but solar power plants and eco-friendly architecture mean very little if the planet has been obliterated by an asteroid – which is why NASA’s new satellite is so exciting.
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