MIT unveils solar powered car
Mar 3, 2009 Auto Tech, Startups
Eleanor
This may look similar to the B-2 stalth bomber, but it is actually the latest creation of MIT’s Solar Electric Vehicle Team. Built at a cost of $243,000, the carbon-fiber racer has been nicknamed Eleanor and is being prepared to take part in the upcoming World Solar Challenge in Australia.
With a ultra-slippery drag coefficient of 0.11, Eleanor features 580 silicon solar cells that cover six square meters and generate 1,200 watts. All the enrgy is stored in a 6-kilowatt-hour battery pack comprising 693 lithium-ion cells. The battery weighs 32 kilograms (about 71 pounds) and provides sufficient range — even without sunlight — to do a steady 55mph all day. Power comes from a 10-horsepower hub-mounted motor driving the lone rear wheel which enables a top speed of 90mph. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: MIT, Solar power
LG outs solar phone competitor to Samsung
Feb 22, 2009 Green Technologies
LG Solar Phone
When Samsung unveiled its Blue Earth, LG could not but get into the game and sure enough, it had its own solar powered phone at the Barcelona Mobile World Congress. Maybe everything was put together in a hurry, so there is no name yet, let alone other details.
What we know though that the phone’s solar power system is embedded onto the battery cover. More specifically, exposing the panel to the sun for ten minutes will give the phone enough power for a three-minute call, making it the perfect companion for emergency situations when no power is available to charge a dead battery. If left in natural light for long periods, the solar panel creates enough standby power to power the phone without any charging devices.
LG plans to release this eco-friendly phone in the European market at the end of this year, wh makes less sense than ZTE’s decision to release its own solar powered phone in Jamaica, where people actually face problem of unreliable power supply. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: LG, Samsung, Solar power
Samsung teases with a solar powered handset
Feb 13, 2009 Green Technologies
Samsung Blue Earth
Samsung has just let loose Blue Earth, a touchscreen phone that charges via solar cells on its back! There is not much info on the underlying hardware except that the handset is made from recycled PCM plastic.
Expected to be in UK market in Q2, 2009, Samsung says that the phone boasts an “eco” mode for efficiently adjusting screen brightness, backlight duration and Bluetooth usage, and an “eco walk” app / built-in pedometer to tell you how much CO2 emission you’ve saved by walking instead of driving!
While we have already seen a phone made from recycled plastic bottle from Motorola, the Blue Earth will really endear itself to environmentalists (as well as people in working in remote places, without steady electric supply?) if it lives up to its claim of the solar cells providing enough charge to make a phone call anytime the sun’s out.
While the color of the upcoming Barcelona Mobile World Congress may not be green (unlike the recent motor shows), every manufacturerr is making efforts. Nokia recently offered a version of N79 without a charger, so that one could reuse the old charger lying around.
Tags: cellphone, Samsung, Solar power
Rumours of solar powered car from Toyota
Jan 3, 2009 Auto Tech
Solartaxi
This may sound a bit far fetched, but there are reports that Toyota may be developing a solar powered car! According to The Nikkei, Toyota is working on an electric vehicle that will get some of its power from solar cells equipped on the vehicle, and that can be recharged with electricity generated from solar panels on the roofs of homes. The automaker later hopes to develop a model totally powered by solar cells on the vehicle, the newspaper said without citing sources.
While Toyota has always been at the forefront of developing green vehicles (Prius was the world’s first commercial hybrid) and it has been planning to integrate solar panels on the roof of its next-generation Prius to power the onboard electronics and other stuff, powering a complete vehicle (commercially produced, with enough space and safety) would perhaps take further advances in efficiency of solar cells and maybe even lighter cars. But it may be helped along the way by the integration of Panasonic and Sanyo, who will now have expertise in solar cells as well as hybrid batteries.
Solar powered car won’t be without a precedent though. Recently, Swiss adventurer Louis Palmer returned home after a tour in his Solar Taxi after a journey lasting 53451 km and 534 days. It was a small vehicle powered by panels on a trailer behind the vehicle, a DIY kind of project to spread the message of climate change.
Tags: Solar power, solartaxi, Toyota
California solar project on the rocks after judge ruling
Nov 9, 2008 Green Technologies, Stars, Policy and Finance
Stirling solar power in Spain
A solar energy project that aimed to install 900 MW of Stirling solar power in uninhabited Southern Californian desert wasteland, has been thrown into tailspin after a judge struck down plans to build a high power transmission line, fearing its environmental impact.
The project was struck down by Judge Vieth, who argues that its 150-foot-high transmission towers, which would cut through Anza-Borrego State Park, could be environmentally damaging. The park features many protective species and Judge Vieth calls the power lines impact “frightening”.
The project was supposed to use the method of concentrating sunlight with mirrors onto water fueling a Stirling engine, and is claimed to yield higher efficiencies than photovoltaic cells. The plant would feature 34,000 dishes, each generating 25 kW. Central to the plan was the construction of a suitable power transmission line.
This again puts at loggerhead erstwhile allies: green technology advocates and those concerned about their environmental impact. We have aready seen this in the debates raging about wind turbines and their effects on birds. Just goes on to emphasise how one should be careful and try to gauge the impact more holistically.
Read more here and here is more on Stirling engines.
Tags: California, Solar Energy, Solar power