Solar Cells Meets New World Record Efficiency

        Researchers at the German Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems have achieved a new world record for the conversion of sunlight into electricity using a new solar cell structure with four solar subcells. It took three years of research on this particular solar technology to hit the new world record of 44.7%, an efficiency that is getting the world of solar technology tantalizingly close to 50%.
        Just four months ago in May 2013, the group of researchers at the institute were able to achieve an efficiency of 43.6% with the technology. This type of solar cell is used in concentrator photovoltaics (CPV). Phys.org reports, "The terresterial use of so-called III-V multi-junction solar cells, which originally came from space technology, has prevailed to realize highest efficiencies for the conversion of sunlight to electricity. In this multi-junction solar cell, several cells made out of different III-V semiconductor materials are stacked on top of each other. The single subcells absorb different wavelength ranges of the solar spectrum."
       The solar cells developed in the Fraunhofer labs are manufactured by Soitec. So far, the company has produced solar cells for installations in Italy, France, South Africa and California, as well as in 14 other countries.

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.

World's Largest Solar Boat Arrives in NYC

       

       The world's largest solar boat is a catamaran known as Tȗranor (meaning the Master of the Sun), which is operated by the PlanetSolar Expedition. They've been roaming the oceans for a couple of years, already completing a record-breaking 18-month, 37,000-mile trip around the world last year. This year, the PlanetSolar crew is planning to track the Gulf Stream, all the way from Miami, Florida to Bergen, Norway, taking all types of water and air measurements to advance the scientific understanding of important ocean currents and its impact on the planet's climate. This week, they are, apparently, stopping in New York City and will be staying until June 20th.

China's desperate need of cleaner energy

Children at school were being halted from outdoor activities and physical education for several days from massive amounts of smog shrouded across Beijing in January. Anything beyond this level is labeled as a critical state, endangering many lives of young children and adults. Severe crisis of air pollution could prong towards pollution mitigation in which taking 12,000 lives in just two weeks during the incident of, "London Fog" in 1952. The biggest source of the cause of air pollution in China are the cars that are being run on and off of dirty diesel fuel, which brings us closer to global warming inch by inch. We could make a difference in this world; it just takes determination and compassion towards the world we stand upon. Like what Morgan Freeman says, “In the harshest place on Earth, ... love finds a way.”

(Hospital admissions for respiratory complaints jumped 20%)

Robots taking over the world!

Introducing "Qbotix," the world's first monorail robot, equipped with 20 solar panel arrays, trailing behind a small tuna-shaped robot called the "Solbot." Over time, the sun moves 10 degrees in approximately every 40 minutes, decreasing the efficiency of our solar panels that are being engineered today all across the world. So, in order to get the job done more efficiently in harvesting the energy of the sun from sunrise to daybreak, "Qbotix" had designed a robot that moves through steel pipes like a small roller coaster, tracking the position of the sun while moving with it in order to retrieve the most efficiency of the sun without consuming much energy during the process.

A California based startup, Qbotix, has now come up with a robot that does the job efficiently without consuming a lot of energy in the process.

However, here's Germany with their huge robotic arms engineered to install solar panels onto steel racks. This robot is called "Momo" and it could do the work of 250 workers required to build a 100 megawatt photo voltaic power plant. The main idea of this project was to save large amounts of money, mainly towards labor. Towards a construction of a 14 watt solar plant, reports say that the company could cut the cost nearly half of what they had originally paid in which it came up to approximately $2 million in total. 

Renewable robot: A robotic arm places a large photovoltaic panel onto a frame during the construction of a solar plant near Leipzig, Germany. The panel is nearly six square meters in size and weighs 120 kilograms.

Hi and Welcome to SolarEcon

     Let me introduce myself, the name's Lee and I saw a vision of SolarEcon being the key factor to our everyday life. In our present age, we had been led towards the mobile and tablet world, requiring electricity that we all love and rely on. Why not have a world of infinite renewable energy powering our electronics and appliances?
     Beginning with the use of coals that accompanied the Industrial Revolution, development of solar energy in the 1860's had brought many Americans hope. Though it hadn't lasted long, solar technology had dropped drastically during the 20th century and had been brought back up 20% and has been rising after the 1973 Oil Embargo and the energy crisis.
     Development of solar equipment such as solar panels, solar powered backpacks or even solar powered cars will be the future towards our everyday lifestyle and well being for the health and the beneficial factor to our environment on the earth that we love and live in. Lets bring that lifestyle to the test, shall we?