Dutch engineer students get ready to compete in the 2013 World Solar Challenge

Young engineer students from all over the world are busy getting ready for lift off for the 2013 World Solar Challenge that is to be held in Australia from Oct 6-13. The conditions for the competition influence teams to invent and build the most efficient and unique looking vehicles that stand out. As many of you know, the vehicles will require many solar panels for them to be operational on the road. Therefore, being able to compete with other teams will require some creativity involved while in the process of having it mechanically possible.

“The project started with the first ideas in March last year, we wondered why there was no car yet that is practical, comfortable and drives purely on solar energy,” Lex Hoefsloot, team manager Solar Team Eindhoven, told the News.

Reinstallment of Solar Panels on White House

          In 1979, former President Jimmy Carter had 32 solar panels installed on the White House but in the year 1989, President Reagan had them removed. Carter's panels have eventually found a place for them on a cafeteria at the Unity College in Maine, which one was also donated to the Jimmy Carter Museum.

Former President Jimmy Carter shown with the solar panels

 
           In 2008, shortly after President Obama's inauguration, a writer had written to President Obama that he should reinstall solar panels as a symbol for his commitment to encouraging the use of renewable energy. In September 2010, Bill McKibben and 350.org drove to Washington, D.C., with Jimmy Carter's original solar panels in an attempt to pressure President Obama to reinstall them. After initially denying the free solar panels, in October of 2010, the White House had announced they would install solar panels by Spring 2011. By that time, there was no sign of any solar activities until three years later whereas the White House is upholding their promise to do so.

Juliet Eilpern has reported in the Washington Post that "the White House official, who asked not to be identified because the installation is in process, wrote in an e-mail the project is 'a part of an energy retroit that will improve the overall energy efficiency of the building."

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Sharp Develops See-Through Solar Panels

         Sharp Electronics, a United States subsidiary of an Osaka-based Sharp Corporation and a company known for manufacturing a wide range of consumer and business products, has announced the development of see-through solar panels that offers many benefits over the standard solar panel. The semi-transparent solar panel is designed to be used in balcony railings or as windows in tall buildings, where it can generate energy while also letting light in. The glass, while see-through up close, creates a privacy screen from farther away, acts as a heat shield and is aesthetically pleasing to the eye as well.
        According to CNET, the solar panel "delivers a solar power conversion efficiency of about 6.8-percent with a maximum output of 95 watts." This is quite a bit lower than standard solar panels that typically may have conversion efficiencies of 15 to 20 percent, but then again, standard solar panels can't act as windows.
       Even with a lower efficiency level, the see-through solar panels are generating energy in parts of a building that would typically consist of ordinary glass or metal, so they're still increasing the potential renewable energy generation of a building by a significant amount.
      The panels are also constructed with laminated glass that has been infused with photovoltaic solar cells and are 4.5-feet wide by 3.2-feet tall and only 0.3 inches thick. They will go on sale in Japan on October 1, but so far, no pricing or plans for a release in the United States has been revealed as of yet.