Shortly after shareholders approved the acquisition of renewable energy firm SolarCity on Thursday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed that his company’s dope new solar shingles could cost less than wack conventional versions of the same thing, even before saved energy costs are accounted for.
Elon Musk is on the brink of acquiring the the next critical component in a solar-electric transportation future. Tesla Motors just made a $2.8 billion stock-to-stock offer to buy SolarCity, one of the largest solar energy companies in the country. It also happens to be a company founded by Musk’s cousins and one…
Those black wings aren’t just for show. This manned, prototype aircraft utilized solar panels to keep itself afloat for around 20 minutes on Friday.
There’s a annoying theoretical limit on the efficiency of solar cells that limits the amount of electricity they can create from sunlight. But now a team of MIT engineers has developed a system that overcomes the problem by first converting light to heat—and it could double the efficiency of solar cells.
Solar Impulse has chalked up another 1,000 miles in its bid to circumnavigate the globe. The all-electric solar-powered airplane successfully flew from Phoenix to Tulsa, landing in the dead of night.
After taking off from Hawaii at 6:30am, pilot Bertrand Piccard reported that he felt great after a day of travel, and after a total 62 hours of flight time, he successfully landed at Moffett Airfield, California.
Over a year ago, the solar-powered airplane Solar Impulse 2 started its audacious round-the-world trip—but it became so damaged that it had to pull up short in Hawaii. Now, it’s ready to fly again.
Rain means clouds and clouds mean less sunlight. That’s bad news for most solar cells, but a new design can actually make use of rain drops that fall on its surface, allowing it to generate electricity even when the weather’s bad.
Most solar chargers are either gimmicks that would struggle to juice up a lemon, or giant packs you need a car to haul around. Goal Zero’s new Nomad 7 Plus looks like it might tick the holy grail of small, cheap, and useful.
From our perch here on Earth, the sun seems pretty uniform from day to day. But a closer look in this new magnetic map reveals that it’s teeming with activity—and with some intriguing bright spots.
Evoking the famous imagery created for the Works Progress Administration, a lovely series of posters created by the US government depict the country’s ongoing renewable energy revolution. And it’s definitely a place I want to live.
As the leaders of 196 countries negotiate a carbon emissions goal for the planet to prevent an environmental apocalypse, the real work will fall to the companies that will need to deliver change to consumers. And no single person is doing as much to help change our energy consumption as one Elon Musk.
Earlier this year, the Clean Power Plan pledged to cut US power plant carbon emissions by 32 percent by 2050. A new study says the US can do way better than that: reducing all greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent and running the country entirely on renewable energy by 2050.
·The giant Ivanpah solar power plant in the California Mojave Desert recently detailed how much natural gas it burned to generate power when the sun wasn’t sufficient – the equivalent to 46,000 tons of CO2 emissions in its first year, according to reports.
Solar cells suffer a strange problem: the hotter they get as the sun pours down on them, the less efficient they become at converting light into electricity. But now a team of Stanford researchers have developed a new transparent coating that can help them keep a little cooler—and more efficient.
It’s the drought but it’s not just the drought: California is currently facing unprecedented environmental challenges. It might not seem like they have a lot in common, but Saudi Arabia can teach California how to deal with its current water, energy, and transportation crises. Because, in a way, looking at Saudi…
The vast majority of solar cells sit fixed in place on top of buildings — but that means they miss out on absorbing some energy, as the sun moves through the sky. Now, researchers suggest that a few simple cuts could help create simple solar cells that track the sunlight throughout the day.
Solar cells are becoming increasingly efficient, but many still fail to make full use of the radiation that falls upon them. A new hybrid cell, however, converts unused light into heat to boost its efficiency by 20 percent.
This fantastic compilation of solargraphs were taken with beer cans: homemade pinhole cameras with a paper negative inside. These sixteen were among the best that the Philippus Lansbergen Public Observatory in Middleburg, Netherlands received.
After 76 hours of solar-powered flight, pilot Andre Borschberg has set a new record for the longest non-stop solo trip without having to refuel.
