INDUSTRY – Page 26 – Solar Magazine

Audi engines will use wind power

Audi wants to build vehicles with clean power and zero- and low-emissions.

The manufacturer plans to use wind power for its upcoming electric and natural gas vehicles.

Like other large companies, Audi is financing the construction of four wind turbines off the North Sea that will generate annually up to 53 GWh of electricity and from this electricity, the manufacturer plans to use a portion of the wind power to charge its electric e-tron vehicles.

Audi can power fuel cell vehicles, including the Audi Q5 HFC by harnessing the power of wind to produce hydrogen through electrolysis.

Audi currently uses e-gas to power a CNG version of the A3.

The A3 TCNG will be even more environmentally friendly; Audi plans to break ground on its own synthetic methane facility in July. Using CO2 from a connected waste-biogas plant, Audi’s facility will produce annually 1,000 metric tons of e-gas.

This fuel will be added to Germany’s natural gas network, which serves 900 CNG stations.

Solar Impulse completes world’s first solar powered flight

Solar Impulse, first solar energy plane made the world’s first international flight powered by the sun.

The solar plane took off from an airfield at Payerne in western Switzerland on Friday morning, the Solar Impulse completed its solar powered trip to Brussels airport after 13 hours of flying.

The 10 year project worth 90 million Euros and was demonstrate what the technology can do in terms of renewable energy.

The Solar Impulse project has involved engineers from Swiss lift maker Schindler and research aid from Belgian chemicals group Solvay.

The solar plane which requires 12,000 solar cells embarked on its first flight in April 2010 and completed a 26-hour flight, a record flying time for a solar powered aircraft, three months later.

The Solar Impulse has an average flying speed of 70 km/h (44 mph) which can not be compared with existing jets velocity which is much higher.

A larger prototype is scheduled to fly around the world in 2013.

Google unveils Android LED Light Bulb

In a few months Google has made many investments in renewable energy, the last one we read being a wind farm.

Now, search engine major Google hits again with a new investment in bulb manufacturing.

People will be able to buy an LED light bulb controllable from an Android device by the end of this year.

The new LED bulb can be controlled by any Android device using the company’s new open-source wireless networking protocol.

Google partnered with Lighting Science Group to bring out this 60-watt equivalent LED bulb that works with any android equipped laptop, tablet pc or a smart phone.

The smart bulb is the perfect test bed for Google’s new protocol, which stands to open the door to a new wave of energy-efficient home systems.

This A19 bulb was created to ensure low energy consumption and it features a built-in radio that interfaces with Google’s new open-source wireless protocol.

The price of the android LED lights will vary between 20 USD and 35 USD for 60-watt equivalent.

The A19 LED bulb was unveiled at I/O developer in San Francisco and caught the attention of the people.

A new portable eco-lantern

This new invention allows growing a little plant inside, the eco-lantern is designed by Franklin Gaw.

Eco-Lantern works as a complete bio-environment for a little plant that grows in its belly and also serving the primary purpose of lighting.

Eco-Lantern is a hand-held lantern that doubles up as a terrarium for tree saplings using a growth light as the light source.

The top of the lantern enable you to reach inside and set up the plant with pebbles for water retention, moist soil, moss and finally the plant itself.

The powered light functions as a growth light, mimicing the color and temperature of the sun’s rays.

The eco-lantern uses an integrated flexible solar panel to charge.

First wind farm in Peru

The Ministry of Energy and Mines has agreed to build the first wind farm in Peru.

According to the Latin American Wind Energy Association (LAWEA), this South American country boasts an “amazing” wind potential.

The wind farm will be constructed in Pariñas district in the province of Talara (Piura) and will have an installed capacity of 30 megawatts.

Latin America is gradually ramping up its wind capacity and a lot of renewable energy developments taking place across the continent have a policy support.

Japan: Prime Minister promote renewable energy

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the government will focus more on the development of renewable energy, like solar and wind power.

“Japan needs to review its energy policy while seeking safer ways to secure nuclear power,” Kan told a gathering of reporters on Tuesday.

The Japanese government will promote renewable energy and create a more energy-efficient society.

The country goal is to have renewable power account for 20 percent of the country’s total electricity output by 2030.

Solar power installations had a huge growth rate in 2010

Solar energy is racking up major increases in installed capacity year after year.

2009 was a bad year for solar energy, because the growth rate slowed to 24% which was a disappointing pace.

According to PVNews, 2010 saw a growth increase of 141% over the previous year, more than doubling the amount of new solar installations from 7.2 GW to 17.5 GW.

It seems the weak performance of 2009 was due to economic uncertainties.

Chinese manufacturers have contributed greatly at this increase with cheaper crystalline solar cells.

China’s market has little to no environmental regulations in place and the production of solar cells is a toxic business.

The thin film solar cells have the potential to be much cleaner to produce than crystalline cells and are largely manufactured in the west.

Thin film solar cells still only make up about 5% of the solar market.

Nine of the top fifteen producers of PV cells are based in China or Taiwan.

In the next years will be a significant challenge on solar market and subsidies are critical for the expansion of solar power.

Investment continues to occur at a rapid pace, and the solar industry has shown a remarkable ability to change with the times and continue expanding.

A new solar powered iPhone dock, the Eton Soulra XL Solar Dock

The new arrival in the iPhone market is the accessory Eton Soulra XL Solar Dock.

This one uses a retractable solar panel which powers on the dock’s speakers, allowing for 5 hours of playback on a full charge.

This is a perfect way to have fun with you iPhone either the pool or camping.

It has a 72 sq inch solar panel that soaks in enough sunrays to power on the speakers that boast an output of 22W.

Your gadget will work so long as the sun shines bright.

You can buy the Eton Soulra XL Solar Dock for just $300.

Boeing goes green with solar panels

Boeing has entered a partnership with South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) to provide 100% renewable energy at the production site for the Boeing 787 airplane.

Airplane makers, Boeing, have decided to go green with 100% renewable energy!

20% of this energy will be generated from thin-film solar laminate panels owned, installed and maintained by SCE&G.

The installation will be located on the roof of the facility and it’ll be the sixth largest of its kind in the United States.

Boeing 787 will be designed to consume less fuel and produce fewer emissions.

The solar installation will provide up to 2.6 megawatts of electrical power for the facility, enough to light up 250 average homes.

The site will also have point-of-use containers as well as recycling centers.

Rightly placed turbines may increase efficiency

Properly placed wind turbines can generate more energy.

South Australia’s University of Adelaide computer science research succeeded to understand where best these wind turbines may be placed to increase wind power.

Senior lecturer Dr Frank Neumann from the School of Computer Science has developed a step-by-step approach called “evolutionary algorithms”.

Dr Neumann has come to the University of Adelaide this year from Germany where he worked at the Max Planck Institute and now is working on wind turbine placement optimization in collaboration with researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Renewable energy is playing an increasing role in the supply of energy worldwide and will help mitigate climate change,” says Dr Neumann.

Factors that will influence this development are size of land, wake effects, wind as a whole, wind turbines – their aerodynamics and the resulting complexities of the same.

According to Dr Neumann current approaches to solving this placement optimization can only deal with a small number of turbines.