Three-dimensional system based on optical fiber could provide new options for PV.

by John Toon, Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

Converting sunlight to electricity might no longer mean large panels of photovoltaic cells atop flat surfaces like roofs.
Using zinc oxide nanostructures grown on optical fibers and coated with dye-sensitized solar cell materials, [...]

(CNN) — Peter Gathungu walks more than a mile to a shopping center, where he pays a sizable sum to charge his cell phone.
That’s because electricity is nonexistent in Gathungu’s hometown of Njoro, in northwest Kenya. Landlines and other forms of communication are not as efficient, so Gathungu and millions of others in emerging nations [...]

The holy grail of renewable energy is a solar power plant that continues producing electricity after the sun goes down.
A Santa Monica, Calif., company called SolarReserve has taken a step toward making that a reality, filing an application with California regulators to build a 150-megawatt solar farm that will store seven hours’ worth of the [...]

If humans were forced to vacate Earth, where is the next best place in our solar system for us to live? A study by the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo has provided a quantitative evaluation of habitability to identify the potential habitats in our solar system. Professor Abel Mendez, who produced the study also [...]

Dark energy is the deus ex machina of cosmology, able to save even the most inflation-prone calculations from destruction or – worse – being provably wrong.  But while we’ve been busy watching the X-energy apparently accelerating all of creation while hiding in plain sight, some believe it’s responsible for much more than that.  It didn’t [...]

Like a wounded Starship Enterprise, our solar system’s natural shields are faltering, letting in a flood of cosmic rays. The sun’s recent listlessness is resulting in record-high radiation levels that pose a hazard to both human and robotic space missions.
Galactic cosmic rays are speeding charged particles that include protons and heavier atomic nuclei. They come [...]

That’s because electricity is nonexistent in Gathungu’s hometown of Njoro, in northwest Kenya. Landlines and other forms of communication are not as efficient, so Gathungu and millions of others in emerging nations rely on mobile phones. Charging the phones can be a headache in towns and villages where electricity is scarce.

Gathungu’s troubles may soon be [...]

The U.S. Army is about to start building a 500 megawatt solar thermal plant in the California desert. When it’s done, the facility will be one of the largest renewable energy plants in the world. Which is kind of ironic, since the Army doesn’t pay all that much attention to climate change. Turns out, sustainable [...]

Infrasound refers to extreme bass waves or vibrations, those with a frequency below the audibility range of the human ear (20 Hz to 22 kHz). Even though these waves can’t be heard by us, they can be felt and have been shown to produce a range of effects in some people including anxiety, extreme sorrow, [...]

On a vacant piece of land near Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, the promise of solar energy has collided into the demands of military training. And a solar project that would have featured a vast field of mirrors, a molten-salt storage facility and a 600-foot “power tower” appears to be heading for defeat.
In 2007, [...]