renewable energy
Solio Mono-i Solar Charger
As we’re entering Spring, even in Seattle, we ought to start seeing a bit more sun. And nothing would show our gratitude for the change in weather than for us to actually harvest it’s potential with a solar charger.
Sold in a variety of makes and models, these little gadgets collect energy from the sun for your personal appliances. Be it a laptop, an I-Pod, or a cell phone, you can easily find a solar charger out there to match your needs, even essentially universal ones with a multitude of different plugs. One that’s caught my attention recently is the Solio Mono-i. The company boasts it’s compatibility with 3,200 devices, and also lists the other features typically found on a variety of such chargers.
Worlds Largest Solar Powered Yacht – PlanetSolar
Just unveiled in Germany, this Swiss built catamaran dubbed PlanetSolar is the largest of its kind with over 5,000 sqft of solar paneling covering most of the surfaces. With a top speed of 15 knots (17 miles per hour), this 66-ton boat carries 50 people with its crew of two. It’s 38,000 newer generation photovoltaic cells have an efficiency of at least 22% to help with converting the suns rays to turning the propeller. It’s no Code-X speed boat, but it is probably more efficient and practical.
Sticking to routes near the equator, the crew hopes to maximize the suns exposure to keep their average speed at 8 knots. They will be embarking on a 140 day voyage to cities like San Francisco, New York, Darwin (Australia), Hong Kong, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Marseille. Maybe they could stop by the Pacific trash gyre on the way over.
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It’s Time to go Green
That sounds corny, right? It gets worse though. I almost said that as a response to somebody at a bus stop asking me if I had the time. It wasn’t without reason though, and it’s not as if absurd environmental phrases are constantly running through my head. The real reason is that I have a fairly decent-sized assortment of watches for somebody on a college student budget. Occasionally, one of them stands out – like today. A friend of mine, after noticing it and passing a quick compliment, noting my interest in green technology, suggested I check out a series of watches from the Citizen brand.
I
was never a believer when it came to solar-powered watches. Self-winding watches perform a relatively similar task albeit with some inaccuracy and cut the battery out of the equation completely. But it’s not that I thought this long-existent technology wasn’t feasible, I simply hadn’t heard much in terms of innovations in the market so I was never reminded about it and didn’t have enough initiative to give it much thought. The technology is relatively simple as these watches use solar panels not unlike those found in other common items like solar-powered calculators, the only difference being that a much greater amount of energy is than stored. I continued to be a skeptic though. I had always felt that these watches wouldn’t be at par with the ones I already owned. An inflated ego from a minor compliment and an all-to-human feeling of having to reciprocate for it forced me to give this concept some more thought and take the advice.
Green nPower Personal Energy Generator
Now you can be your own recharging station to all of your USB enabled devices. Cell phones, iPods, Kindles, GPS units, and just about any other hand-held electronic device can be charged by this renewable energy source.
A kinetic energy generator based on a wave energy converter, the nPower PEG (Personal Energy Generator) can go with you anywhere and will recharge your devices as you walk, run, hike or bike. By harvesting vertical movements of your everyday activities, they state that it is “able to charge handheld mobile electronic devices at the same rate as a wall charger, which means most devices reach an 80% charge with just an hour of walking throughout the day.” Just think of how much additional energy you could create at the green gym!
Some other great features of the PEG:
- Generating 4 Watts outputted through a USB 2.0 standard plug
- Constructed out of anodized aluminum
- Measures 9 inches tall and weighs 9 ounces
- Produces renewable energy
- 100% recyclable
- Components made of recycled ABS material
- RoHS Compliant
- Does not contain a battery
Solé Solar Roof Tiles by SRS Energy
Keeping in the solar powered theme of my last post, I wanted to focus a bit less on tongue-in-cheek novelty and hone in on some serious design.
Many architects, homeowners and commercial building owners out there aren’t very fond of the blocky look of solar panels, especially if their roof is highly visible or conforming to a specific style. For those who want renewable energy and beautiful design, SRS Energy has answered their wishes with their line of Solé solar roof tiles.
These solar tiles mimic the Spanish or Mission-style homes of California and Italian villas and have a curved surface and SRS Energy has partnered with US Tile to produce an easy to install standard size roof tile (which can be integrated with traditional clay tiles if desired). Instead of being the traditional orange/red colored clay tile, these solar tiles are made up of triple-junction amorphous solar cells produced by Uni-Solar. They are not quite as efficient as traditional crystalline silicon panels because of their curved shape semiconductor design, however, this is made up by the efficiency of the system.
Code-X Solar Powered Hybrid Catamaran Speedboat
Attention Renewable Energy Nautical Sci-Fi enthusiasts, I have just found your perfect water ride. One look, and you can see why – this solar powered Code-X speedboat looks like just about every cool crescent-shaped pointy enemy fighter ship out there. Specifically, this design brings to mind the Battlestar Galactica cylon raider mixed with the jet powered and dual hull performance boat all rolled into one.
Brought to you by CODE-X AG, a swiss company based in Meggen on Lake Lucerne, their goal is to develop ultra exclusive products utilizing renewable energy sources. While this may seem to cause one to cringe at the eco eliteism, it can allow for a trickle-down effect of renewable energy products first being developed for those who can afford the cost of developing newer technologies.
New Solar Panel Powered Stadium in Taiwan
A beautiful integration of renewable energy and modern green design, the recently finished solar stadium in Taiwan will welcome the 2009 World Games to 3,300 lights and two jumbo screens all on 100% solar energy. Designed by Toyo Ito, the 14,155 sq meter roof consists of 8,844 solar panels generating 1.14m KWh (that is 1.14 gigawatt hours of electricity) a year.
When not powering the stadium lights, the power will be funneled into the local power grid and is expected to meet almost 80% of the neighboring area’s energy requirements. It is estimated that this stadium will prevent 660 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year from being released into the atmosphere when compared to a traditional powered stadium of this size.
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Energy Active Eco Home- Taking Energy Efficiency Positive
This technologically advanced home boasts a computer controlled system that regulates the home like a human body. Monitoring temperature, seasons and the time of day to maximize efficiency, this home is an energy over achiever- creating more energy than it uses. While this may sound futuristic, it’s happening right now, in a cold and cloudy Lystrup, Denmark in fact.
Increasingly popular in the U.S., Passive Houses are energy efficient homes that mitigate power through the use of solar, wind or other renewable energy sources. These homes are becoming the standard throughout most of Europe prompting a new frontier of energy Active Houses. These Active Houses are highly efficient homes that captures more energy than the occupants need for heat and power and require not only super efficient building techniques and materials, but also onsite renewable energy sources.
For eight months a year, the solar cells produce excess energy to sell to the grid. In the winter months, the house buys back electricity – from renewable sources, of course. When a mass-market battery car finally reaches the market, there will be a charger for it in the garage and energy to spare.
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