Autonomous robots to be used in keeping dust off solar panels in Israel’s biggest solar field, reports timesofisrael:
Most solar energy farms are located in deserts, where there is plenty of sunlight — which solar panels, of course, need a lot of. But the desert also has a lot of dust, which clogs up the photovoltaic components of the panels, making them less effective in collecting sunlight for conversion into energy.
Panels have to be cleaned on a regular basis, but water in the desert tends to be expensive, if available at all — and the use of water to clean the panels raises the costs of production, making solar power too expensive to be considered anything more than a novelty….
Instead of using water to clean panels, Ecoppia’s robot cleaners are equipped with microfibers, with each robot assigned to a row of PV panels. Using controlled air flow, the robots push the accumulated dirt off panels, as they glide along the surface of panels on their polyurethane-coated aluminum frame using wheels. Each robot can cover about 100 square feet of panel each minute, saving not only water, but time.
Read more. Via Solar Panel Cleaning Robots To Keep Panels Clean In Dessert #SolarPower « Adafruit Industries.
For a British couple who wanted to live among the birch trees, blue bells, and streams of the gorgeous New Forest National Park in southern England, a custom prefab mobile home was the perfect solution—and the only kind of new construction allowed in the protected conservation area.
As Dwell first spotlights, local practice PAD Studio masterminded the dreamy 1,430-square-foot spread, which was prefabricated off-site “down to the ceiling fans and limestone countertops” over the course of the five months. Arriving on site by a crane (the same way it could be transported later on) , the airy home was built to Passivhaus standards standards.
There are ultra-insulating, triple-glazed windows throughout the home, as well as a 3.8-kW rooftop PV array and rainwater harvesting system.
More: Solar-Powered Prefab Home Offers Airy, Eco-Friendly Retreat - Prefabulous - Curbed
Fifty miles southeast of Las Vegas, at the edge of the California-Nevada border in the Mojave, the Ivanpah Solar Facility takes in the full measure of the desert sun. Instead of photovoltaic solar panels, the project uses 173,500 heliostats, each with two mirrors, arranged in concentric circles that follow the sun, beaming its heat up to four “Power Towers.”
The heat is then used to boil water and create steam, which is then run through a turbine. The plant is a $2.2 billion venture backed by the Department of Energy, and it can service an average of 140,000 homes annually.
Since 2010, Jamey Stillings has photographed the creation and implementation of Ivanpah Solar.
More: The Beauty of the World’s Largest Solar Project | New Republic
One year after a bike path outside Amsterdam was plastered with custom solar panels, it’s generating more power than predicted—and the designers are convinced that it’s proof that networks of solar-covered roads could eventually be a viable energy source.
While typical rooftop solar panels are cheaper to build and can pump out more power, the SolaRoad team argues that pavement could add valuable real estate as roofs start to fill up. In the Netherlands, there’s more available space on roads than all rooftops combined.
(via This Bike Path Paved With Solar Panels Shows That All Streets Could Double As Power Sources)
Designer Alice Min Soo Chun’s SolarPuff is an origami-like lamp that can be folded down for ultra-portability —all powered completely through solar energy.
(via SolarPuff - Cool Hunting)
These Incredible Solar-Powered Cars Are Racing Across The Australian Bush
It’s pretty impressive for a solar-powered car to average 60 miles per hour over a long stretch of 1,800 miles, even if some of the roads in the Australian Outback lack speed limits.
That’s the top speed of any car in the World Solar Challenge, a race across Australia now having its 13th outing. "To put that into perspective, that’s not easy to do in a conventional car,“ says event director Chris Selwood.
Speed is just one of the ways the cars, which rely on solar panels for 90% of their energy needs, have improved over time.
More here.
![Apple Plans to Offset the Energy Used to Make Every iPhone With Renewables:
“In an announcement [Wednesday], Apple explains that it’s working with partners in China to roll out solar, wind and hydropower systems that will generate an incredible 2...](https://64.media.tumblr.com/953fb69c092a1c76d91a5e35b6bb1790/tumblr_nwmeeireZ41qzv12bo1_1280.jpg)
Apple Plans to Offset the Energy Used to Make Every iPhone With Renewables:
In an announcement [Wednesday], Apple explains that it’s working with partners in China to roll out solar, wind and hydropower systems that will generate an incredible 2 gigawatts of power by 2020. As part of that, Apple and Foxconn have committed to building out 400 megawatts of solar infrastructure that will offset the energy that’s used to manufacture the iPhone in Zhengzhou. That’s a bold but respectable plan.
Apple also notes that its current solar projects in the Sichuan Province already produce more energy than its offices and stores in China use. But frankly that’s small fry compared to the energy demand of its production plants.
When it needs extra power, this new experimental building can start pulling energy from the car parked in front. And if the solar panels on the roof start pumping out more energy than needed, the building sends it to the car.
Brian Lee, design partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which partnered with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee to create the house-car pair, wanted a concrete example of how to think differently about how cities consume energy.
More: This 3-D-Printed House Gets All The Power It Needs From A Car | Co.Exist | ideas + impact
Waka Waka’s signature solar flashlight charges in five to ten hours and delivers 80 hours of bright but safe light. …
The flashlight is also designed to be re-positioned easily and even incorporates a hole for resting atop a bottle—making for a makeshift lantern.
Most importantly, Waka Waka has a buy one/give one program, meaning with every purchase, someone in a developing nation gets one for free.
For the first time, widespread adoption of renewables is effectively lowering the capacity factor for fossil fuels.
That’s because once a solar or wind project is built, the marginal cost of the electricity it produces is pretty much zero—free electricity—while coal and gas plants require more fuel for every new watt produced.
If you’re a power company with a choice, you choose the free stuff every time.
More: Solar & Wind Reach a Big Renewables Turning Point : BNEF - Bloomberg Business
Driven by the explosion of residential solar power, the market for home energy storage—which attracted little interest until earlier this year, when Tesla announced its Powerwall battery—is suddenly looking crowded.
This week at the Solar Power International show, in Anaheim, a company called SimpliPhi Power is unveiling a lightweight battery system for homes and small businesses that offers a longer life span than other lithium-ion batteries and doesn’t require expensive cooling and ventilation systems.
SimpliPhi’s bid comes a few weeks after another energy storage provider, Orison, released its design for a small plug-and-play battery system that, unlike the SimpliPhi and Powerwall options, does not require elaborate installation or permits for a home or small commercial setting.
Via: In Every Dream Home, a Storage System | MIT Technology Review
![“[San Antonio-based] CPS Energy said it would offer residents cash—in the form of monthly credits on their electricity bills—if they would just agree to let a third party put solar panels on their roofs.
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More: Solar Panels from CPS Energy: The San...](https://64.media.tumblr.com/4206553cba0166bc32f3b3725ff26e39/tumblr_nuo3hyL2031qzv12bo1_1280.jpg)
[San Antonio-based] CPS Energy said it would offer residents cash—in the form of monthly credits on their electricity bills—if they would just agree to let a third party put solar panels on their roofs.
