Caltech Explores Plastic Solar Cells

The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has recently developed solar cells made of 98% plastic, effectively using 1/50th of the normal semiconductor material required. More importantly though these solar cells have demonstrated over 90% efficiency, almost four times greater than traditional silicon-based solar cells.

The researchers at Caltech have discovered that by growing silicon wires in [...]

Greener Gadgets Conference 2010

On February 25 the Greener Gadget Conference will kick off in NYC where executives and entrepreneurs of the green industry gather to discuss the future of a greener life. The conference will also feature up-and-coming inventors and designers who will showcase their green, sustainable products for a group of panelists. It is simply green innovation [...]

CalCars: PHEVs are the Future

Based out of Palo Alto, CA, CalCars is a nonprofit organization comprised of engineers, environmentalist and entrepreneurs. While a majority of people are looking to invest in the EV market, CalCars believe that plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs) are the best of both worlds. To them, PHEVs are not simply a transition [...]

Europe Integrates Renewable Energy Through North Sea Grid

While we are all concerned with what calendar will be gracing our walls for the next year, Europe is concerned with much bigger things. Earlier this month Europe announced plans to construct an enormous North Sea electricity grid in 2010. The blueprints for the grid will be released soon following the agreement signed by nine [...]

Toyota Develops Solar Charging Stations for EVs

Toyota Industries Corp. (TIC), the parent company of Toyota Motors, has laid plans to develop a solar charging station network throughout Toyota City in the Aichi Prefecture. Twenty-one stations in eleven locations are set to be built by April 2010 after which they will be thoroughly tested with Toyota’s very own Prius fleet.
The stations will [...]

California Approves Space-based Solar Satellite

The ever-expanding solar industry has tackled land-based projects and is now looking to the skies for their latest innovations. Although space-based solar technology has been around for decades, it has never really been a viable option in terms of cost-efficiency. Nevertheless, last Thursday California regulators approved a project to beam solar energy from a satellite [...]

Suncore’s NovaCell Solar Charger

With the average consumer becoming more mobile than ever, the worry of depleting battery life on iPods, cell phones, or other portable devices may soon become a distant memory. Suncore, a leader in self-charging solar solutions, has developed a new product called NovaCell; a portable, pocket-sized, solar charger for your portable device granting its users [...]

U.S.-China Alliance in Clean Energy

U.S. and Chinese Presidents, Barack Obama and Hu Jintao, more or less announced their partnership in clean energy technology last Tuesday. Specifically, the two signed official documents declaring their “cooperation on climate change, energy and environment.”
Their first task will be constructing a U.S-China Clean Energy Research Center in a joint effort [...]

Cape Wind: Wind Technology Pioneer

While wind is hardly groundbreaking in the renewable technology field, the Cape Wind Project is unprecedented in size and ambition. The $1.6 billion, 24-square mile offshore wind farm will be comprised of 130 wind turbines producing over 420 MW of clean energy. It will be located about 5.2 miles off the shore of Cape Cod, [...]

Nocturnal Solar Power Plant

The renewable energy front has made tremendous strides in the last decade which is no more evident than in the new solar power plant that transcends its very own definition. A solar power plant that harnesses energy long after the sun has set. In Santa Monica, CA a solar company called SolarReserve is working tirelessly [...]

Green Cars: Tesla Motors Shatters Single-Charge Distance Record

The biggest knock on the electric vehicles (EVs) is its lack of range on a single charge. On average the typical EV being produced today has about a 100-mile range before needing to recharge. On hybrids it becomes even more dismal with an all-electric range of roughly 40 miles. For normal [...]

Green News: Electric Vehicles Gone Postal

With consumers largely avoiding electric cars due to their shortcomings (range, charging infrastructure) the United States Postal Service is already undertaking the electrification of their current Long Life Vehicle (LLV) model to contribute to the green movement.
AM General and Smith Electric Vehicles (SEV) will be teaming up to complete this project in converting all 178,000 [...]

Nissan’s Zero Emission Tour: North America

On Thursday, Nissan North America released its Zero Emission Tour dates for US and Canada featuring the brand-new, all-electric Nissan Leaf. Beginning on the November 13th, the Tour will span three months covering 23 cities including Vancouver, B.C. Precise tour dates can be found below.
The Zero Emission Tour is part of a larger vision Nissan [...]

U.S. Military Plans 500 MW Solar Plant in Mojave

According to the Press Release, “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has hired two companies to build a 500 megawatt power plant at Fort Irwin in California’s Mojave Desert, which would be by far the military’s largest solar facility.”  This project, set to be complete by 2022, would cost roughly $2 billion [...]