Researchers have created a new material that overcomes two of the major obstacles to solar power: it absorbs all the energy contained in sunlight, and generates electrons in a way that makes them easier to capture.

Ohio State University chemists and their colleagues combined electrically conductive plastic with metals including molybdenum and titanium to create the hybrid material.

“There are other such hybrids out there, but the advantage of our material is that we can cover the entire range of the solar spectrum,” explained Malcolm Chisholm, Distinguished University Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry at Ohio State.

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Spectra Watermakers’ Solar Cube  is a portable solar and wind powered desalination unit that can produce 950 to 1500 gallons of fresh water each day. Attached photovoltaic cells generate up to 1240 watts, while the wind generator can produce up to 1000 watts.

The Cube generates more power than is necessary for water production, so excess energy can be used for other things—such as the operation of emergency equipment.

Recently, it was deployed for testing by the Chilean military and civilian services, where it was used in identical conditions to those found in Iraq. During the past year, the Cube was also introduced to remote areas of South America and Asia. Prototypes were used in Pakistan after the major 1995 earthquake in the country.

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Engineers and scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have achieved a breakthrough in the use of a one-atom thick structure called “graphene” as a new carbon-based material for storing electrical charge in ultracapacitor devices, perhaps paving the way for the massive installation of renewable energies such as wind and solar power.

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A UK-built solar-powered plane has set an unofficial world endurance record for a flight by an unmanned aircraft.

The Zephyr-6 flew for more than three days, running through the night on batteries it had recharged in sunlight.

The flight was a demonstration for the US military, which is looking for new types of technology to support its troops on the ground.

Zephyr has a carbon fibre frame and is covered in super-light solar arrays thinner than paper. Its rechargeable battery is twice as efficient as any other in the world. It is launched by three people holding it above their heads as they run.

Researchers have devised an inexpensive way to produce plastic sheets containing billions of nanoantennas that collect heat energy generated by the sun and other sources. The technology, developed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, is the first step toward a solar energy collector that could be mass-produced on flexible materials.

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Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (MIT) have developed a way of storing solar energy for use when the sun isn’t shining.

In one hour, enough sunlight strikes the Earth to provide the entire planet’s energy needs for one year. However, solar power is usually a day-time only energy source because storing extra solar energy for later is prohibitively and grossly inefficient.

Drawing on the process of photosynthesis, Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT, Daniel Nocera, and Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera’s lab, have developed a process that will allow the sun’s energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later, the oxygen and hydrogen can be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power homes, or electric cars, day or night.

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ITM Power has unveiled a hydrogen refuelling station and a hydrogen-powered car which could revolutionise commuting while cutting fuel costs and CO2 emissions.

The conventional petrol-engined Ford-Focus, which has completed successful urban commuting trials, has been converted to run on hydrogen, which burns without emitting CO2, and could ultimately reduce drivers’ dependence on fossil fuels.

In addition, ITM Power has also revealed a hydrogen home refuelling station capable of producing the gas from water and electricity. The station overcomes one of the fundamental stumbling blocks to hydrogen economy – the lack of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure and utility supply network.

It has taken scientists and chemists at the company’s Sheffield research base eight years to create a low-cost means of manufacturing hydrogen. It’s patented electrolyser-based refuelling station uses a low-cost polymer which dispenses with the need for expensive platinum and can be manufactured at one per cent of the cost of traditional membrane materials.

The result is a hydrogen production system small enough to be used in a home or business, which can generate the gas from a supply of water and off-peak or renewable electricity – power created by wind, wave, solar or nuclear energy. The stored hydrogen could then be used to fuel converted cars or provide power for domestic or commercial purposes.

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NASA plans to send a satellite weighing less than 10 pounds into space, with an ultra-thin, 100 square foot solar sail as its primary means of altitude control or orbital manoeuvring.

NanoSail-D is the result of a partnership between Marshall Space Flight Center, and Ames Research Center. NASA will send the satellite into space on-board a SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket, scheduled for launch from Omelek Island in the Pacific Ocean between July 29th and August 6th.

Talking about the NanoSail-D, Edward Montgomery, payload manager, said: “The structure is made of aluminium and space-age plastic. The whole spacecraft weighs less than 10 pounds. We carry it around in a special suitcase – airplane carry-on luggage size.”

Once in space, a Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer, developed at the University of California, will be used to deploy the sail. Fully opened, the kite-shaped sail spreads out about 100-square feet of light-catching surface.

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The ‘Anaconda’ is an innovative wave energy concept.

A device consisting of a giant rubber tube may hold the key to producing affordable electricity from the energy in sea waves.

Led by researchers from the University of Southampton, the ‘Anaconda’ is an innovative wave energy concept. The simple design means it would be cheap to manufacture and maintain, enabling it to produce clean electricity at a lower cost than other types of wave energy converter.

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Ricoh Americas Corporation is to erect a sign in New York City’s Times Square, completely powered by solar and wind energy.

The 47 x 126 foot sign will be illuminated by floodlights, and powered by 45 solar panels and four turbines for wind generation. By using all natural energy sources, the amount of CO2 used by the sign will be reduced by 18 tons a year. If there is not enough solar of wind power, the Times Square sign not illuminate.

Ricoh currently has similar eco-powered sign that uses 100 per cent solar and wind power in Osaka, Japan.

To spur new development and demand for renewable energy sources, Intel Corporation is spinning off key assets of a start-up business effort inside Intel’s New Business Initiatives group to form an independent company called SpectraWatt.

SpectraWatt will manufacture and supply photovoltaic cells to solar module makers. Solar cells are the discrete components in a solar energy generation system responsible for converting sunlight to electricity.  In addition to focusing on advanced solar cell technologies, SpectraWatt will concentrate development efforts on improvements in current manufacturing processes and capabilities to reduce the cost of photovoltaic energy generation. SpectraWatt expects to break ground on its manufacturing and advanced technology development facility in Oregon in the second half of 2008 with first product shipments expected by mid-2009.

Commenting on the formation of the new company, Andrew Wilson, SpectraWatt CEO and former general manager in the Intel New Business Initiatives group, said: “The formation of SpectraWatt is an important step forward in the renewable energy market.”

IBM has announced a research breakthrough in photovoltaics technology that could reduce the cost of harnessing the Sun’s power for electricity.

By mimicking the antics of a child using a magnifying glass to burn a leaf or a camper to start a fire, IBM scientists are using a large lens to concentrate the Sun’s power, capturing a record 230 watts onto a centimeter square solar cell, in a technology known as concentrator photovoltaics, or CPV. That energy is then converted into 70 watts of usable electrical power, about five times the electrical power density generated by typical cells using CPV technology in solar farms.

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Glasgow could reduce it’s carbon footprint with the implementation of an award-winning solar power concept.

Glasgow-based developer, ZM Architecture, proposes to float large lily-shaped discs on the River Clyde to stimulate river activity, using the surface to harness solar power on a large scale.

The energy created would then be transformed and exported to the National Grid. The firm said the design of the lilypads was ‘inspired by nature’, and that they could be tethered to the river bed. Integrated motors would rotate the discs to follow the sun for maximum output.