Posted: 2010-03-05
New technology being developed in New York could allow office windows to be transformed into solar power generators, according to a report by the Associated Press.
The Center for Architecture Science and Ecology has designed a solar system that, unlike regular flat panels, would consist of a grid of pyramids. It would have a higher efficiency than traditional cells because each pyramid module would track the sun and focus light through a lens onto the solar cell. Cooling water would also be used to maximize efficiency...
Posted: 2010-03-01
Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) recently signed a power purchase agreement with Secure Futures LLC to install solar photovoltaic arrays on the roof of the Sadie Hartzler Library and on top of solar canopies in the north University Commons parking lot.
EMU, located in Harrisonburg, Virginia, in the western part of the state, serves about 1,600 students with a broad-based curriculum focused on cross-cultural studies, medical school and nursing school...
Posted: 2010-02-17
On Monday, February 15, the New England chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers highlighted Constellation Energy’s Two Patriot Place solar installation, naming it “the best renewable energy project in New England”.
Baltimore, Maryland-based Constellation Energy is a leading supplier of energy products and services to both the wholesale and retail electric and natural gas marketplace, and operates as Baltimore Gas and Electric, a regulated utility, in central Maryland. Constellation is also a distributed power generator, operating power plants throughout the U.S., in Alabama, California, Maryland, New York, Utah and Pennsylvania, as well as a natural gas peaking plant in Alberta, Canada...
Posted: 2010-02-16
U.S. researchers are developing a new solar cell that will combine the flexibility of organic materials - currently used by Japan's Sharp Corp. and Germany's Q-Cells SE - with the efficiency of silicon wafers.
The cells would require 1 percent of the material currently used in conventional solar cells. Michael Kelzenberg of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who worked on the study, said this would help cut costs usually associated with solar cell production...