“Transparent Luminescent Solar Concentrator” Could Turn Windows into Solar-Power Generators

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Researchers Develop Transparent Solar Concentrator That Could Cover Windows, Electronics

By Katherine Boehrer
The Huffington Post
8-24-14

     Scientists at Michigan State University announced this week the creation of a “transparent luminescent solar concentrator” that could turn windows and even cellphone screens into solar-power generators.

This technology could mean that one day entire skyscrapers might be able to generate solar power without blocking out light or ruining tenants' views.

The material works by absorbing light in the invisible spectrum (ultraviolet and near infrared) and then re-emitting it in the infrared. The infrared light is then channeled to the edge of the clear surface, where thin strips of photovoltaic cells generate the power.

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US Navy Robots To Build Satellite That Would Beam Solar Energy From Space

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By Meagan Clark
www.ibtimes.com
3-18-14

    The world’s largest oil consumer, the Pentagon, wants to harvest energy in space.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is building solar panels that it plans to launch into space. The panels would be used to beam energy back to Earth to power military operations, especially in remote areas where transporting fuel is dangerous and expensive.

The plan envisions using robots to assemble the solar panels into a kilometer-long reflecting mass. That’s the length of nine American football fields. The only other satellite that comes close to that size is the International Space Station, which is only slightly longer than one football field. . . .

The NRL has tested two prototypes of what it calls a “sandwich” module, which uses a photovoltaic panel that absorbs the sun’s radiation "on top," an electronics system "in the middle" that converts the energy to a radio frequency and an antenna "on bottom" that shoots the radio waves toward a target on the Earth’s surface. The NRL’s Space Robotics Group is building robots that it hopes to use to assemble several sandwich modules into a single powerful satellite.

The second type of module modifies the sandwich design by opening up solar panels, increasing the area available for solar absorption without overheating. . . .

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Adding Solar Power to Public Space – A Futuristic Approach

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By Jenny Xie
www.theatlanticcities.com
2-28-14

     Imagine walking down the street and stumbling upon a glowing cube that looks like it came straight out of TRON. But what you see is not exactly from the future — it’s e-QBO, a modular invention of a group of Italian designers who have been searching for a better way to harness solar power for public spaces.

Born out of a collaboration between Romolo Stanco from design firm T°RED and energy research institution Ricerca Sistema Energetico, e-QBO is autonomous and off-grid, but integrated into the city through the services it provides. Installed on top of a wood and steel structure, custom-designed solar panels soak up sunlight during the day and store energy in battery packs of up to 90 kWh. The e-QBO can then power services like video-mapping installations, charging ports for mobile devices and electric vehicles, and WiFi. Customizable LED lights also offer public lighting.

The unit's design theoretically allows it to adapt to all sorts of urban conditions and needs. The base PV panels are 1 x 1 meter, but can easily be built up to cubes that are 3 x 3 meter, 6 x 6 meter, and so on. This means the e-QBO can just sit there like a power-generating rock or scale up to become an inhabitable space—a lounge, pop-up shop, or visitor information center, for example:

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Germany Sets New Solar Power Record | SMART ENERGY NEWS

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By Erik Kirschbaum
Reuters
5-26-12

(Reuters) - German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity per hour - equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity - through the midday hours on Friday and Saturday, the head of a renewable energy think tank said.

     The German government decided to abandon nuclear power after the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year, closing eight plants immediately and shutting down the remaining nine by 2022.

They will be replaced by renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and bio-mass.

Norbert Allnoch, director of the Institute of the Renewable Energy Industry (IWR) in Muenster, said the 22 gigawatts of solar power per hour fed into the national grid on Saturday met nearly 50 percent of the nation's midday electricity needs.

"Never before anywhere has a country produced as much photovoltaic electricity," . . .

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"A Game Changing Development in Solar Energy": '1366 Technologies' Developed a Silicon Solar Wafer – Cutting Cost By Half

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By Alex Wagner
The Huffington Post
6-17-11

     On Friday, Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu announced a "game changing" development in solar energy. A company called 1366 Technologies, headquartered in Lexington, Mass., has developed a silicon solar wafer that would cut the cost of solar cell manufacturing by an estimated 50 percent.

The wafer technology was developed with the support of a pilot innovation investment program housed under the Department of Energy, known as the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E). According to director Arun Majumdar, "ARPA-E is looking for high risk ideas that, if successful, can be high impact. Those that don't exist today."

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