Heliatek GmbH has announced a record breaking 12.0% cell efficiency for its organic solar cells. This world record, established in cooperation with the University of Ulm and TU Dresden, was measured by the accredited testing facility SGS. The measurement campaign at SGS also validated the superior low light and high temperature performances of organic photovoltaics […]
Artificial intelligence
Device Tosses Out Unusable PV Wafers
Silicon wafers destined to become photovoltaic (PV) cells can take a bruising through assembly lines, as they are oxidized, annealed, purified, diffused, etched, and layered to reach their destinies as efficient converters of the sun’s rays into useful electricity. All those refinements are too much for 5% to 10% of the costly wafers. They have […]
Official: Rare-Earth Elements in Jamaica’s Red Mud
Jamaica may be able to benefit from newly found deposits of rare-earth elements that are key ingredients for smartphones, computers and numerous other high-tech goods, the Caribbean island’s top mining official said Tuesday. Science, Technology, Energy & Mining Minister Philip Paulwell said Japanese researchers believe they have found “high concentrations of rare-earth elements” in the […]
Concentrated Solar Power with Thermal Energy Storage Can Help Utilities’ Bottom Line
The storage capacity of concentrating solar power (CSP) can add significant value to a utility company’s optimal mix of energy sources, a new report by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) suggests. The report found that CSP with a six-hour storage capacity can lower peak net loads when the sun isn’t […]
Securing Skills for a Successful Offshore Wind Industry
Trade group RenewableUK has said that the offshore wind and marine energy sector could support 88,000 jobs in the UK by 2021, up from approximately 10,600 at present. In order to reach this target the right policies and financial conditions must be in place and, as obvious as it may seem, there will need to […]
Could Minneapolis Get Cleaner Energy With a Utility Takeover?
As we spoke to legislators and activists roaming the halls of the State Capitol this past legislative session, it became increasingly clear that Xcel Energy and other utilities are calling the shots for our energy future. Minnesota spends more than $20 billion a year on energy — primarily importing polluting fossil fuels — and the […]
How to Make a Parking Garage Energy Efficient
It’s no secret that researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) do cool things — including finding new ways to capture energy from the sun and wind. But there’s nothing cooler than working on a parking garage, right? “It doesn’t sound glamorous, but it is a place for building […]
It’s Back to the Future on the US Clean Tech Industry
President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney recently stated how each would “get tough” with China. This reminded me of a conversation with economists I had in Vice President Biden’s office several years ago. We discussed how to put together the president’s stimulus proposal and the possibility of using clean tech programs — solar, wind, […]
Cutting Building Energy Use in Half with Renewables
The blips of a heart monitor, the hum of an MRI, the intense lights of a surgical room: all can bring both comfort and fear — and all require a lot of power. But new hospitals are being filled with natural, calming light and are leveraging energy from the sun and earth to power the […]
Report: Two Solar Technologies That Will Thrive; Two On the Demise
For every revolutionary advance in solar, there are countless evolutionary dead-ends — technologies that were well worth exploring, but ones that ultimately failed to live up to the mantra of “cut costs or die.” These are the Solyndras of the world. Their science may have raised the bar, but ultimately they were judged by the […]