Girls Inc. - Solar-Powered Tech

      Roughly speaking, 100 girls in Oakland are creating solar panel-powered technology this summer. Through Girls Inc., girls teams are making solar wrist USB chargers, cell chargers, backpack chargers, and purse chargers that will charge nearly any technology device. 

      To create their visions, participants meet on weekdays from Monday to Thursday on the Girls Inc. campus at Concordia Park. They attend workshops, field trips, and activities throughout the month. Girls Inc. participants begin their program, Eureka!, in the 7th grade. They finish when they're in the senior year in high school. 

       "It is important for girls to innovate because girls are users," said Danielle Stanton, the Girls Inc. Rookies Coordinator. "When we put ourselves into the shoes of designers, engineers and overall innovators, we incorporate our own perspective, which is important considering women have more purchasing power nationwide. We are able to make products that will benefit a large majority of the population."

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.

The World's First Solar-Powered Helicopter Takes Flight

      As projects like the Solar Impulse and NASA's Helios wing has been recently developed, the idea of propelling aircraft using solar power isn't as fanciful or impossible to accomplish as it seemed before, even if they are still in experimental stages. Before long, we'll surely be able to see solar power used to aid traditional airplanes, even if it is not accompanied by main fuel.
     To show what is possible, a team of master students from the United Kingdom have built what they believe to be called the world's first "solar-copter," a quadrotor that flies solely on solar power. At the moment, it is capable only of short flights but the team had claimed that it should fly longer soon, once they enabled it to have a storage system as well.

     "The Solar-copter is a quadrotor design that incorporates a solar panel providing the power for the propulsion system," the six students had commented. "It is controlled in the same way as a standard battery-powered quadrotor. Optimum thrust-to-weight ratio was mainly achieved through an efficient propulsion system, unique frame design and an optimized solar panel."

     Future versions may be useful in activities such as surveillance, search and rescue, and tracking animal migrations, perhaps in Africa, Australia, Middle East, and Southern Europe, where there is more sun than in England. Its technology could also help increase the range of conventional choppers, and perhaps give other solar aircraft, such as the Solar Impulse, better maneuverability and control.

Solar distribution cuts down school's energy costs

The Murrieta Valley Unified School District, located in Southern California, has been reported to be saving approximately $23 million in electricity cost for the next two decades. Their solar panels, which they had invested in, is providing them with a total of 2.3 megawatts in the midst of the 19 school districts "Solarcity" had distributed. The schools has been mounted with 10,000 PV panels atop of parking lot carports. The project has been expected to cut down $1 million per year in electricity costs for the first five years bringing them the desire to enhance academic excellence towards their students.

Murrieta Valley Unified Assistant Superintendent Bill Olien- "As these solar projects demonstrate, we want to continue to save money while doing our part for our environment."