Norsun raises $163 million for making solar cell wafers
Mar 12, 2009 Green Technologies, Startups
Norsun
Norwegian solar industry group NorSun has succeeded in raising $163 million through equity and debt instruments. NorSun said that it has raised 500 million Norwegian crowns in equity and 650 million crowns in a five-year bank loan, totaling 1.15 billion crowns ($163 million). It also secured 450 million crowns in bank guarantee lines.
It is an encouraging development that Norsk Hydro and Good Energies reinvested in the company. But in line with the current economic gloom and the falling oil prices, which has made solar energy relatively expensive again, Norsun’s equity was valued at 2 billion crowns ($283 million) approx., less than half of its 5.4 billion fugure from a year ago.
Still, any cash will be welcome in a climate where every company is having trouble raising capital to not just expand, but simply to run existing operations and research. Norsun will need this money to expand its production of silicon ingots and wafers for solar cells. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Norsun, Solar cells, Solar Energy
Ikea introduces solar powered LED lamps
Mar 7, 2009 Green Architecture, Green Technologies
Solar powered outdoor lamps
Ikea, international home products retail behemoth is now going to sell solar powered LED lamps for your home. There are a range of products: post lamps, strings of paper lanterns, accent lighting, pathway globes, a solar powered desk lamp amongst others. All come with rechargeable and replaceable batteries and solar power ensures that your lawn will look good without messy electric wires. Coming from Ikea, they are reasonably priced as well: from $6.99 to $19.99!
Check out the cute looking range here, though you will have to wait before you can order them online. You could cycle to your nearest Ikea store though and they may just be available there.
Tags: Ikea, Solar Energy
Artificial trees to produce green energy
Feb 28, 2009 Green Architecture, Green Technologies
SolarBotanic
A company called SolarBotanic claims to have developed what they call Energy Harvesting Trees. The trees aren’t “real” ( just modeled on real ones); they are composed of Nanoleafs, which use nanotechnology derived designs to capture the “sun’s energy in photovoltaic and thermovoltaic cells, then convert the radiation into electricity.”
The artificial trees also have stems and twigs which house nano-piezovoltaic material which act as generators producing electricity from movement or kinetic energy caused by wind or rain. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Artificial tree, piezoelectricty, Solar Energy, Solarbotanic
New solar cell efficiency record: 41.1%
Jan 28, 2009 Green Technologies, Ratings and awards
Researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have just achieved a new record for solar cell efficiency. Using concentrated sunlight on a specially constructed multi-junction solar cell, the research group lead by Frank Dimroth has achieved 41.1 % efficiency for the conversion of sunlight into electricity. For comparison, a petrol engine in modern cars have 18-24 % efficiency.
While the previous record 40.7 % has been shattered, many sceptics may point at the use of sunlight concentrated by a factor of 454 for achieving the efficiency figures as a major deterrent for large scale commercial applications. Others will be put off by cost and difficulty of facbrication of multi-junction solar cells, which combine semiconductor compounds in layers.
Cost has been one of the factors why many scientists are exploring thin film solar cells. They are flexible and easier to fabricate, even though they have not been able to match the peak efficiency of semiconductor solar cells. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Fraunhoffer, record, solar cell, Solar Energy
Intel unveils solar installation for its New Mexico plant
Jan 24, 2009 Green Architecture, Green Technologies
IT companies are going green with a vengeance. Both Google and Microsoft are aiming to dramatically lower their data center power consumptions. Now Intel Corp. has unveiled a 10-kilowatt solar installation near its New Mexico manufacturing plant
The energy generated by the array’s 64 solar panels (made by Sharp) will feed into the local electricity grid and tractor-trailer-sized test racks of computers — rather than directly powering the roughly 5,000 servers at Intel’s facility. The company said it hopes solar can eventually boost the data center’s power supply during times of peak demand. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Intel, Solar Energy
Walmart goes greener
Jan 20, 2009 Green Technologies, Natural Resource Conservation
Walmart
Walmart stepped up its sustainability efforts last week, by opening two stores powered by renewable energy sources in Canada and Mexico. The store in Canada uses geothermal energy for many of its needs, while the sunnier Mexican weather allows using of photovoltaic cells.
WalMart Mexico installed a photovoltaic complex that will generate 20% of the energy used by Bodega Aurrera Aguascalientes. Over 1,056 solar panels that were set up on the roof. With 174 kW installed, it claims to be the largest photovoltaic complex in Latin America and will eliminate the emission of some 140 tons of CO2.
Nearly at the same time, WalMart Canada announced the opening of its first environmental demonstration store in Burlington, Ontario, which features a first-of-its-kind application of geothermal technology in a large-scale Canadian retail operation and energy-conserving lighting innovations, among many other sustainable features. It is facilitated by 15 km of piping buried under parking lot. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Canada, Mexico, Solar Energy, Walmart
Wind and solar powered gadgets from CES
Jan 11, 2009 Information of the Day
Kinesis K2
CES 2009 is here. And while consumer electronics has not put been spouting the green mantra as frequently as car makers, few altrenatively powered gadgets were on display.
If you are the one who wants a greener option of recharging all the devices that you carry, have a look at the Kinesis K2 - it is a charger that uses solar as well as wind energy. About one hour of good sunlight is enough juice to give your phone a 30-minute charge. There’s no word yet on how much steady wind it takes to charge it up.The manufacturer suggests that when the device is fully charged it will have enough energy to recharge the average cell phone roughly 5 times. and you could also plug it into an AC outlet to reenergize the thing.
Another company, Miniwiz cames up with the very stylish looking Solarbulb, which allows you to reuse your old bottles.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: CES 2009, Kinesis, MiniWiz, recycling, Solar Energy, wind energy
Suntech anounces 1GW solar cell capacity
Jan 9, 2009 Green Technologies
Suntech HQ
China’s Suntech Power Holdings announced the major milestone of hitting 1 gigawatt (GW) of photovoltaic cell and module production capacity in Wuxi, nearly doubling the firm’s 2007 output of 540 megawatts. Suntech is the largest manufacturer of solar cells in the world.
Suntech also officially opened its new solar-powered headquarters building in Wuxi . It has a 1 MW, grid-connected, building-integrated solar facade, which the company said is the largest in the world. The 193,750-square-foot building uses more than 2,552 of Suntech’s Light Thru semi-transparent solar panels, and features energy-efficient building materials, geothermal temperature control, smart lighting and a water recycling system.
The company has plans to grow even bigger. Suntech started constructing in September a new 300-MW PV cell production facility in Yangzhou that’s expected to help push Suntech’s capacity to 1.4 GW by the end of this year and 2 GW by the end of 2010.
Tags: China, solar cell, Solar Energy, Suntech
Toyota denies solar powered Prius
Jan 8, 2009 Auto Tech
Recently, there were rumors flying that Toyota is developing a car that will be solar powered. Now Toyota has come out with a denial.
“We have absolutely no knowledge of any pure solar-powered vehicle, or plans for one,” said Jana Hartline, a Toyota spokeswoman. She said the article, first reported in a Japanese daily, might have arisen from unconfirmed reports that the third-generation Prius will have solar panels to power the air-conditioner. She declined to comment on any solar applications for the new Prius.
But when did rumors stop with a company denial?
Tags: Prius, Solar Energy, Toyota
Honda powers billboard ads on solar energy
Jan 7, 2009 Green Technologies
Honda ads
Honda has launched bilboards advertising its Accord Euro model illuminated by solar power and with green energy electric backup. Honda has partnered up with APN Outdoor to create Australia’s first eco-friendly outdoor advertisements. The solar panels provide power when possible and a backup electrical connection that gets its power from a green feed is there to pick up the slack.
Honda has invested in solar technology itself, with its Soltec subsidiary supplying solar panels for residential or commercial use. Few days back, we also heard rumors of Toyota working on a car to be powered by just solar energy. And last month saw a Japanese company launching a ship that used solar energy to power a small percentage of its needs.
Tags: australia, Honda, hybrid, Solar Energy