Marine Solar Park built as a landmark in Changwon, Korea

The Marine Solar Park was first constructed by the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy as the world's tallest solar tower, which was built as the nation's landmark in 2006. The solar park is composed of two sections: the exhibition floor and the solar panel tower that is constructed above it. The solar tower stands firm in 136 meters high and the entire floor space is 6,336 square meters across a spacious lot of 14,977 square meters. With a shape of a sailing ship, the solar tower can generate 1,264 kW a day with a capacity of 600 kW/h, equivalent to the total energy consumption of 200 households. The four story exhibition floor will accommodate a 644 square meter conference room that can seat 500 people at a time. In the near future, the Marine Solar Park will not only be a tourist attraction but a learning site to steer many towards a cleaner environment with sustainable renewable energy and a business center for companies.

Marine Solar park constructed on top of Eumjido in Jinhae-gu

Outside view inside the exhibition floor

New Solar Technology made from Carbon

Scientists at Sanford University developed a solar panel made entirely from Carbon making it more economical for everyday use. The panel is formed of a thin film that can be applied from a solution which means it could be coated onto buildings, cars, or even glass to generate electricity. The one downside of having the film all carbon is the fact that the efficiency is not so great, but the durability resulting much greater compared to our modern solar panels being manufactured today. Wonder how our economy may benefit greatly from this technological approach in renewable energy, this may be the beginning of a new revolutionary invention bringing many new ideas and innovations to our world, at the same time establishing a sanitary and sustaining environment.

5 innovations that will CHANGE the world! not the IPHONE

According to the reports of REN21 (Renewable Energy Network for the 21st Century), it was shown that global investments in renewable energy jumped 32% bringing an all time high of $211 billion, despite the current downturn of the economy. However, in many regions there is a big competition between the two odds of renewable & coal energy. But with the advancement of solar technology increasing every year with the latest solar development researched currently at MIT, it is likely coal will be going against it anytime soon. Here is a list of 5 development that could make a big impact towards our society as well as our economy that could also be safely executed against the burning of coal.
1. Nano-templated molecules that store energy
A professor named Jeffrey Grossman, associated with MIT, discovered and created a new molecule called azobenzene  that uses carbon nanotubes structuring the molecules that locks in and stores clean solar thermal energy. These molecules so called, "azobenzen", converts solar energy to a density of a lithium ion battery. Like what people say, "kill two birds with one stone", you have yourself a object that converts and stores infinite energy. 
2.Printing solar cells on possibly anything
A team led by Professor Karen Gleason discovered a way to imprint a solar cell into just about anything you could think of, using low temperature and vapor as opposed to liquid solutions. The paper imprinted with the solar cell is also highly durable withstanding it being folded a 1000 times with no change in performance. Imagine having solar cells imprinted all over your shirt and having to charge your mobile phone that remains in your pocket, that would be pretty awesome don't you think? 

Photo by Patrick Gillooly, Courtesy of MIT

3. Solar Thermal Power in flat panels

Professor Gang Chen discovered a whole new way to make solar power. Unlike ordinary solar panels that has been going on for some time now, Professor Gang Chen discovered a revolutionary new way to produce solar energy -micro solar thermal- in which theoretically could produce 8 times the efficiency of the world's best solar panel that are being manufactured today. Therefore, having it be a thermal process, Chen's system can heat up from ambient light even on a cloudy day. It is said that these panels can be made with very inexpensive and affordable material that could be appealing to many investors.

4. A virus to improve nano-solar cell efficiency

MIT graduate recently engineered a virus called "M13", that could effectively convert solar energy at a  more efficient rate, jumping from 8% to 10.6% efficency, boosting the rate to almost nearly one-third. The virus acts as a matching tool that pattern the nanotubes properly at a faster rate. 

5. Transparent solar cell could turn windows into power plants

See yourself in a skyscraper built with glass that could bind with the sun's rays while keeping their transparency? Well unfortunately several of these attempts had been made, resulting in terrible efficiency bringing it down less that 1% and also resulted in blocking too much light, depicting the glass useless. However, Professor electrical engineering professor Vladimir Bulvoic has made a breakthrough by engineering a new transparent layer of PV cells into the window glazing. The MIT team believes it can reach a high efficiency of 12% at a reduced cost over thin film solar cells. A team of researchers from UCLA had also developed a new kind of solar cell that is both efficient and transparent called the polymer solar cell that is almost 70% transparent and could generate energy through infrared light.

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