Advances in solar energy efficiencies have so far been made with irregular surfaces, thinner tabbing between cells, more optically perfect glass and even special coatings, but now Stanford engineers say the best efficiency is via ultra-thinpolymer films inside solar cells that allow more “bounce room.”

The new nano-ceramics would be key components in the next generation of capacitors. Like batteries, capacitors store energy, but there the resemblance ends. Batteries are designed to collect energy over a relatively long period of time, then release it at a low, constant rate. Capacitors charge and release large amounts of power very quickly. The basic principle has been around since the 18th century, but until recently one roadblock has been how to reduce them down to an efficient size.

Light behaves differently in macro- and nano- scale environments, and this could be a starting point for those researchers who want to improve the solar cells’ efficiency. It was a starting point for some Stanford engineers, who found out that light ricocheting inside an ultra-thin polymer film solar cell behaves differently than if the film wasn’t so thin. The difference is enormous.

The two companies, in cooperation with PetersenDean Roofing and Solar Systems, announced a partnership earlier this year to pre-install solar panels at no additional cost to homebuyers at The Preserve new home community. Last Friday, September 17, Toll Brothers hosted the official ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the community to the public.

The UK environmental group Carbon Trust and Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory have jointly formed a new company called Eight19 concentrating on the development of new organic photovoltaic (PV) technology that could make the installation of solar cells cheaper and easier.

As part of the National program on energy efficiency and conservation, Energy Efficiency Office has collaborated with the German Energy Agency, ALTUS AG Company of German and Hanoi University of Science and Technology’s Center of New Energy to start the project "Installation of grid-connected solar system at the headquarters of MOIT to save energy and protect the environment".

Recently-invented e-readers, though, do not have this issue, since they only use ambient reflections as their source of energy – mostly like regular paper. Still, current e-readers are limited to black and white, since their electrophoretic displays only know how to let light pass or block it.

Along with urban growth, the demand for use of energy in urban areas has increased rapidly, especially in big cities such as Hanoi, Hai Phong, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Nha Trang. In such circumstances, using solar energy is considered to be a solution that will help reduce energy consumption in urban areas and prevent climate change. This solution was discussed at a workshop themed 'Climate change and sustainable urban development in Vietnam' that was held recently in Hanoi.

Tàu năng lượng mặt trời lớn nhất thế giới, MS Turanor Planet Solar, đã rời cảng Monaco vào lúc 14 giờ chiều ngày 27/9 để thực hiện hành trình vòng quanh thế giới lần đầu tiên trong lịch sử hàng hải.

Tập đoàn sản xuất máy bay Boeing đang phát triển một thế hệ máy bay không người lái (UAV) chạy bằng năng lượng mặt trời có khả năng hoạt động trên tầng khí quyền liên tục trong vòng 5 năm. Chiếc máy bay không người lái chạy bằng năng lượng mặt trời SolarEagle, được thiết kế có thể hoạt động trên tầng khí quyền cao ngoài tầm phát hiện của radar nhằm phục vụ cho các mục đích quân sự, như thu thập các thông tin tình báo và gửi về các trạm thu tín hiệu ở mặt đất.

Doug Natelson and graduate student Dan Ward, from Rice University, have discovered how to make a light-harvesting antenna from two gold tips separated by a gap only a few nanometers wide. As light source they used a laser, whose rays, once trapped in the gold tips, get concentrated into a tiny space, increasing the light intensity in the gap by a thousand times.

Verve Energy in collaboration with BP Solar are planning to build Australia’s largest ever grid-connected solar power plant. The photovoltaic power plant is expected to generate about 10MW of clean energy and according to the two companies, it will be built in Geraldton, Western Australia.

At the beginning of this month, the European division of Sanyo has officially released its new enhanced HIT solar panel. Dubbed HIT-N235SE10, the new 235 watt solar panel has an energy-efficiency of 21.1%, improving the performance in limited space installations and offering more power generation per square meter.

The U.S. Navy’s Seal Beach facility in California is now home to a new $1.9 million solar parking lot, thanks to funding from the federal Recovery Act. Aside from creating new green construction jobs, the new solar facility will save the Navy more than $30,000 per year in electrical costs. It’s just one part of an all-around solar power makeover for the Navy, which just this summer has commissioned another $100 million worth of new solar projects.

Two scientists are on a path-breaking method to produce ’sea-urchins’ to expedite the work capacity and efficiency of photovoltaic devices. Jamil Elias and Laetitia Philippe are the two scientists from Empa’s Mechanics of Materials & Nanostructures Laboratory who have been successful in producing these tiny ’sea urchins’ which are ready to revolutionize solar-cell technology.

A recent study, conducted by the Rochester Institute of Technology, reveals that the total energy needed to make organic solar cells is less than the one needed to make inorganic solar cells.

A new directly solar powered air conditioning system has been unveiled in China that has the potential to not only make cooling a home green, but also save homeowners a huge amount of money at the same time. The machine is made by a company called Vicot.

New and unique ways of making solar panels more efficient in power generation are coming to light every day. The new kid in the block of one such device is a large transparent sticker applied to the front of the panel which increases the power output by about 10% or so. Genie Lens Technologies is the firm which has developed these polymer film stickers. These polymer films are imprinted with special kind of microstructures.

A report published by an Indian Defense ministry-backed think tank has proposed for the establishment of an international space-based solar energy program with India and the United States initiating this massive project. The report is prepared by Peter Garretson, a US Air Force lieutenant colonel, working with the Institue of Defense Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. The reports calls for the Indian and the United States’ governments to extend their strategic partnerships to initiate this pathbreaking project and make the space-based solar energy a commercially viable business venture by 2025.

A new study reported in the journal Applied Physics Letters in August this year (published by the American Institute of Physics), explains how solar energy could potentially be collected by using oxide materials that have the element selenium. A team at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, embedded selenium in zinc oxide, a relatively affordable material that could make more efficient use of the sun’s power.