Good news in the renewable market: solar-powered laptops are available for $350

renewable energy, solar-powered lapotop, solar energy computer

Solar-powered laptop

The very first solar-powered laptop was released by Ubuntu Sol. The new personal computer guarantees 10 hours of battery life with a two hour charge.

The company that developed the what appears to be a premiere in both solar and it industry is a Canadian one and it is called WeWi Telecommunications. This announcement was made as in 2011 Samsung launched a solar netbook NC215S that is also working with the help of solar energy but is not considered to be a laptop computer

$350 solar-powered computer

The recently launched laptop is said to release for only US$350, with an impressive list of specifications. The computer has an integrated GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, WIFI, 3G/4G LTE capabilities and a 10 hour-lasting battery that is completely charged in about two hours of sunlight.

When charging the Sol laptop is completely transformed. When it is not being charged, the laptop seems a little bigger than other laptops in its category, but that is only because the upper side is converted into a portable solar array. This array charges the laptop if it is unfolded into four solar panels connected to the laptop with a power cable.

David Snir, Ubuntu Sol’s creater, believes that solar panels have to be placed in direct sunlight in order to be able to charge the battery of the computer while every panel produces about 10 W per square foot.

Solar based laptop, suitable for everyone with adventure need

The laptop has generally been received with good remarks from reviewers. Still, the opinions varied especially when it came to the time needed for charging. So, while some claim half a day is no enough to fully charge the laptop, others reported their device charged after only a couple of hours of clear sky.

The laptop designed to be rough, long-lasting and portable is suited for everyone but may be useful to military, adventurers, researchers and students that use computers in locations with no or little power.

European scientists just made the first “green” jet fuel that uses sunlight

Green jet fuel

The project is called Solar-Jet and it exploits the sun for heating metal oxide. After that, 700 °C water and carbon monoxide go into the reactor. This leads to the creation of a synthetic gas that combines of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The final step is the compression of that and the conversion into a fuel that imitates kerosene.

If this works on a bigger scale, it can lead to a source of sustainable and ascendable supply of fuel for planes, cars and some other vehicles.

With the purpose of reducing toxic emissions, Europeans created the first renewable jet fuel that works on water and carbon dioxide

If this is proved on a larger scale, this project could mean a new beginning in the renewable energy industry by making possible an on-demand reserve of fuel that are used in planes, cars and other different type of vehicles.

The achievement was made public by the researchers that have been working on the Solar-Jet project for the past four years and spent the last years developing a solar reactor that utilizes focused sunlight to heat up metal oxide.

The renewable jet fuel could be useful to planes, cars and other vehicles

“The basic idea is to reverse the combustion process. What we do is take carbon dioxide and water vapour, and introduce energy to produce fuel” said the person in charge of at the DLR Institute of Combustion Technology in Stuttgart, Patrick Le Clercq, according to dailymail.

The fallowing step is the compression. After that the gas is sent to Shell, where it is converted into a hydrocarbon fuel that is a lot like kerosene during a process called Fischer-Tropsch.

“This large-scale method is already in widespread use throughout the world and has been certified for aviation purposes. This means the fuel produced using this technique will not need to undergo any new, extensive testing and certification procedures,” added Le Clercq.

The project is currently at the experimental stage and only has a glassful of jet fuel produced in laboratory conditions that use simulated rays. Still, scientists think that this could represent a way cheaper and environmentally-friendly fuel.

Solar-Jet collaborates with German Aerospace Center (DLR), ETH Zürich, Bauhaus Luftfahrt and Shell.

Russia is going put $4.2 billion in the solar sector until 2020

Solar PV blooms in Russia

The technology giant in the state’s propriety, Rusnano, together with the conglomerate Renova are important pieces the European – Asian country’s solar energy field.

PV devlelopers in Russia are willing to install PV plants in sunny southern regions

The main investing in this sector is said to be made by both state and private parts, as the The Russian Ministry of Energy expects. Taking all this into account, Russia will get to RUB 150 billion (US$ 4.2 billion) by 2020.

The corporate affairs director at Hevel Solar, Anton Usachev is certain that solar power plants will find their home in the southern and southwestern Russian regions of Altai, Bashkortostan, Orenburg, Samara and Omsk in upcoming six years. This words come from Russia’s biggest module producer. He also states that until 2020, approximately 1.5 GW of solar are going to function in the country.

Rusian solar boosts with the help of companies collaborations

The above mentioned company, a collaboration between state-owned tech giant Rusnano and Russian conglomerate Renova, is also planning to settle PV manufacturing plants in Russia. The biggest one is said to be commissioning in June in Chuvashia with an expected capacity of more than 100 MW a year.

Another company included in Renove and France’s Schneider Electric Avelar Energy Group, is willing to launch an inverter production facility in the upcoming years.

Not a long time ago, things were the invested sum in solar energy development did not exceed a $1 billion a year. Besides that, almost 90% had gone to biomass processing projects. But this is going o change along with the arrival of PV in the country.

Google collaborates with SunPower for leasing solar panels to homeowners

Goggle Inc. and solar panel producer Sun Power Corp shaking hands for leasing

The two companies will put $250 million in leasing solar systems to homeowners. The search engine giant is investing nearly $100 million, while the solar panel maker is contributing with $150 million. Google declared that the purpose of this program is to facilitate the procces of going green for thousands of homeowners in the U.S.A.

“Using the fund… we buy the solar panel systems. Then we lease them to homeowners at a cost that’s typically lower than their normal electricity bill”, said Google.

Gooogle supports green energy

Google and SunPower put $250 million in solar panels leasing program

Google invests in solar

The Mountain View technology giant’s plans come after a major boost in financing methodes. The number of homeowners that can benefit from the leasing program is growing and than they buy them outright.

Solar energy based companies are also in search of creative methods of investing in their business.

Solar leasing not for everyone

Solar producers that collaborate with homeowners regularly have difficulties when they are trying to pursue traditional banks to put their money into anything that isn’t a large-scale project, as analysts report. A lot of investment firms do not know the uncertainties that come with solar energy and don’t want to wait out the payout period, that can last many years.

Google seems to be very interested in long term investments in solar energy project in the upcoming years.

The company mentioned has invested in solar leasing before with the help of SolarCity and Clean Power Finance. In November, the company announced its plans to contribute with up tp $80 million for six utility scale solar facilities in two states: California and Arizona.

Apple wants to go 100% green

Apple has plans to embrace green energy

Apple adopts a green policy in order to reduce pollution

Apple goes green

Apple announced initiatives Monday to offer free recycling of its products, as well as plans to use renewable energy sources at its 420 worldwide stores.

Apple is willing to recycle freely all the old products and promises to use green energy for all the stores, offices and data centers in order to bring down the pollution level made by tits devices and online services.

The technology giant gave more details about a greener Apple company in a special section at the section made especially for clean energy launched on Monday. This section’s purpose is to accentuate the iPhone and iPad producer is enlarging confidence in renewable energy and is polluting less with its used electronics.

Apple goes green policy

The electronics company has been rewording its customers from the over 400 stores if they brought iPhones and iPods that could be recycled. They were rewarded with gift card. The company founded by Steve Jobs is now recycle any used Apple device with zero costs.

Taking into account the fact that Apple sold more than 1 billion iPhones, iPods, iPads and Mac computers, this comes as a huge progress. The procedure is valid for electronics that cannot be thrown away as they contain toxins. Their products sand for about 2% of the emissions in 2012 as the statistics from Greenpeace say. Some of the largest electricity demands come from data center that house the stacks of computers that process search requests, store photos and email, and stream video. These services often consume more electricity than China, the U.S., Japan, India and Russia. Being the world’s largest technology company, Apple wants to bring more environmental solutions than problems.

Moreover, the company is not doing this just for good publicity. As a recent review says, Greenpeace is praising Apple and it describes it to be “the most innovative and most aggressive in pursuing its commitment to be 100 percent renewably powered.”

Solar-Panel Windows closer to reality thanks to Quantum Dot Breakthrough

Solar panels that also work as windows are getting closer to become a fact as a big boost in quantum dot research could imply important ways in which the solar rays are captured in the future. The Los Alamos National Laboratory and University of Milano-Bicocca’s researchers arranged a better way of inserting a new generation of quantum in a thin polymer to capture the sun’s energy.

Qantum dot discoveries help solar-based windows become a fact

Solar power windows

The nanocrystals consisted of semiconductor materials, quantum dots, are being utilized in solar panel systems thanks to the low-cost and mechanical benefits, and transistors, LEDs and lasers also.

“The key accomplishment is the demonstration of large-area luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) that use a new generation of specially engineered quantum dots,” said Victor Klimov, lead researcher at the Centre of Advanced Solar Photophysics at Los Alamos.

The new discoveries were published in Nature Photonics and they prove that a transparent LSC material is able to harvest and transport solar energy with the help of quantum dots.

“The LSC serves as a light-harvesting antenna which concentrates solar radiation collected from a large area onto a much smaller solar cell, and this increases its power output,” said Klimov.

The harvested light is diverged through the LSC and guided to a tiny solar cell the slab’s edge, that grows the power performance in a way that could have developed applications in future solar cells.

Gained eficiency with Quantum Dot

Sergio Brovelli, a researcher involved in the study at the University of Milano-Bicocca, said: “LSCs are especially attractive because in addition to gains in efficiency, they can enable new interesting concepts, such as photovoltaic windows that can transform house facades into large-area energy generation units.”

Google to purchase solar based drone company

The search engine giant takes New Mexico – based Titan Aerospace a company that is producing unmanned, solar-powered jets conceived to fly many years at a time.

The new Google purchase was announced this Monday and Titan Aerospace for a confidential amount in a step that brings the technology giant in a race for the unmanned skies.

Solar power drones bought by Google

Titan Aerospace Solar purchased by Google

After Facebook’s $20 million acquisition of U.K. – based aerospace company Ascenta – that was developing the unmanned, solar-powered aerial drones for some time – the search engine giant moved quickly to take over the expected bid for Facebook to purchase the Titan Aerospace too.

The company from New Mexico has also been interested in developing solar powered drones made to fly continuously for many years as, a solar science that Google needs to use mainly to expand its prestige and be available in as many places on earth as possible.

Even if the amount that Google paid to a close source said that the technology giant was willing to pay more than anyone from Facebook for the Titan Aerospace. The purchased company only has a staff of 20 people and its location will remain New Mexico to carry on with its work and help Google provide internet in different corners on earth that are currently without cellphone towers or telephone wires.

Solar-powered drones bring an interesting aspect for companies such as Google and Facebook because of the reliability and stability in all kinds of weather conditions, whereas fossil fuel- or battery-powered unmanned aircraft are way more expensive and less promising.

Google gets better quality images

The two companies will work together to provide the material and to design the drone’s components and also to research algorithms that assure an improved traverse wind patterns and flight routes. The purpose is to gather real-time, high quality images of the earth with a lot more details needed for Google Maps but not only.

“It is still early days, but atmospheric satellites could help bring internet access to millions of people, and help solve other problems, including disaster relief and environmental damage like deforestation”, said a Google statement announcing the acquisition.

PV is celebrating its 60th years anniversary since it’s big boost

Palo Alto, a city from the American state California will be a part of the sponsoring team of the event commemorating solar energy’s big breakthrough.

The City of Palo Alto and Renewables 100 Policy Institute will join forces and to pay tribute to scientists that started today’s booming solar industry.

A nonprofit organization that is responsible for the big breakthrough of solar industry and is aiming to bring it to 100% will cosponsor the PV 60 – History Becoming the Future, a celebration of the solar industry big boost. The event will take place on the 18th this month at the Lucie Stern Community Center.

Solar PV history

Ssolar PV 60th anniversary

In 1954, scientist from an important lab in the U.S proved that the world’s very first solar cell that was able to transform sufficient sunlight onto electricity in order to generate electricity. This happening will celebrate Dr. Mort Prince who is 90 years old and is the last person that is still alive from the team of designers of the of the 1954 original demonstration photovoltaic arrays. Dr. Mort inspected the manufacturing of solar cells for the Vanguard that was the first solar satellite that started the solar industry and later headed the U.S. photovoltaic program under Pres. Jimmy Carter. Eugene Ralph collaborated with Prince on Vanguard’s first solar cells for space will be participating as well.

The hosting city will also be given recognition and will receive an award, the History Becoming the Future Award for using 100% free of carbon electricity for its community.

“Palo Alto is a living demonstration of history becoming the future” said Diane Moss, founding director of the Renewables 100 Policy Institute, organizer of the event, according to pv-magazin. “The City’s commitment to an all renewable energy electricity portfolio is remarkable, and we’re delighted to pay tribute to their bold leaders, along with the visionaries who helped make it all possible by launching the global solar industry back in the 1950s.”

Palo Alto Mayor Nancy Shepherd will accept the award on behalf of the City

“We are honored to be the recipient of this award recognizing the City’s efforts to create a healthy and sustainable community,” Mayor Shepherd said. “The City has long been a leader in pursuing initiatives to increase our community’s environmental sustainability. Committing to using only carbon neutral electric resources is one of many positive steps the City has taken toward combating climate change.”

People who attend will be able to see exhibited artifacts that have never been exposed. This will include things like Bell Laboratories modules, archival photos and films, and former top secret papers that chronicle solar’s remarkable first 60 years.
Solar historian and author John Perlin, that participated in the exhibitions for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the California Energy Commission and will add his observations based on his latest book Let It Shine: The 6000-Year Story of Solar Energy, which experts are calling the “solar bible,” and “the authoritative background story on the world solar revolution.”

The gorvernment in Poland prepared green energy bills

In Poland, 90% of the electricity is produced from conventional sources, coal to be specific. Still, the country is looking forward to grow the green energy level by 15% by 2020 in order to respect the European Union’s targets.

The parliament in Poland and its president needs to decide on the new draft law.

Solar energy bills to be introduced in Poland

Poland prepares renewable energy bills

The country’s government decided to agree on a bill during this week, a bill regarding green energy projects that have the purpose to help reach the European Union climate targets and bring electricity costs for consumers down.

If the parliament and Bronisław Komorowski, the country’s president, accept the law, it means that planners and holders of recently developed renewable installations can sell the produced electricity at sell-offs for a formerly announced price that will not change for 15 years as a Reuters report says.

Green energy power developers that are already in the business have the freedom to preserve their subsidies or choose to join the auctions.

The new voted laws have been discussed by the government for two years now

The European country produces almost 100% of the electric power from coal and it’s obliged to bring up the level of clean energy to at least 15% of the total until 2020 to be in line with Eu regulations on carbon emissions.

Green energy supporters have been criticizing Poland’s foggy legal environment that has been standing in the way of new investments and preventing a major development in renewable projects.

The country’s former subsidy program did not supply long-term guarantees. European governments have been reducing subsidies and the European Commission this week announced new guidelines, that will be valid starting from July and market-based initiatives will be replacing renewable energy subsidies.

SmartFlex wants to totally change the personalized PV elements

Custom made PV elements

SmartFlex is a European program that wants to help with the development of “a prototype production line capable of manufacturing photovoltaic modules in accordance with architects individual requirements”. The project receives a €2.9 million support from the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.

The first production line is going to take into account the users preferences for different shapes colors, sizes, and materials, then process the individually personalized PV elements for mass production.

ProTech, Photovoltaik-Institut Berlin, Glassbel, Mondragon Assembly, Via Solis, the Swiss BIPV Competence Centre, Creative Amadeo, and Sunbeam Communications are also a part of the program.

Personalised PV is developing

“What makes the project unique is its aim to produce these remarkable solar elements using an automated process, reducing manual operations to a minimum. Such an approach has never been seen before as, to date, only standard modules have been manufactured in bulk and customized solar products have always been painstakingly produced by hand. SmartFlex is striving to find a way of manufacturing modules on a large scale using an extremely smart and flexible process that makes even tailored solar elements fully affordable” are Paul Grunow’ s words, director of the Photovoltaik-Institut Berlin.

Lithuania is the country where the first tests are being run. To be precise, at Glassbel’s headquarters. There, approximately 20 PV elements are being certified. Those element include modules up to 3.5 meters in length with 750 watts peak output. The mounting systems are ready to use and some of the inverters are also being approved.