Accidentally Discovered Material, Black Silicon, Twice as Efficient As Regular Silicon

Harvard (TGW) – SiOnyx is using a material, “black silicon”, Harvard scientists accidentally discovered almost 10 years ago that is 100 to 500 times more sensitive to light than traditional silicon.

The silicon is produced by placing ordinary silicon into a vacuum chamber together with sulfur hexafluoride gas and exposing it to ultra-intense laser pulses equivalent to the collective strength of the total sunlight hitting Earth concentrated on a surface area that's about the size of a human fingernail.

The treated silicon can absorb twice as much visible light as regular silicon and unlike standard silicon is sensitive to invisible infrared light. It can absorb approximately 96 to 98 percent of visible light.

SiOnyx, a three year old startup with $11 million in the bank, has licensed the material.

Black silicon could radically change the solar industry. Furthermore, black silicon can be manufactured using the same equipment used today.

Via :: Good Clean Tech

10 Northeast States to Participate in First U.S. Carbon Auction This Thursday as Part of Cap and Trade Program (RGGI)

Northeast (TGW) – A group of 10 northeastern states will conduct the first carbon action in the United States, in an attempt to reduce humanity’s contribution to global warming.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) will be selling carbon credits Thursday in the first of a series of quarterly online auctions.

The cap and trade aims to steady carbon emissions by 2014. This would be followed by a 10% reduction in emissions between 2015 and 2020.

Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont are participating in the auction. Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., and Quebec in Canada are participating as observers.

The starting minimum will be $1.86 per ton of carbon dioxide.

RGGI, at least for now, only caps the emissions of power plants.

Via :: AP

Bill Gates Invests in Algae Fuel Company

Sapphire Energy HQ (TGW) – Bill Gates’ investment firm is investing in algae energy firm Sapphire Energy, part of a group of financiers that invested over $100 million in the company.

Sapphire produces the chemical equivalent of gasoline from algae grown in wastewater, what it calls “Green Crude”. So far, now company has made the fuel commercially.

The funding will allow the company to produce 10,000 barrels of the stuff a day at a commercial scale in three to five years, the company says.

Via :: Press Release

Tesla's Cheap(er) Electric Sedan Model S to be Built in California

See also pictures of a Tesla Roadster crash

San Jose (TGW) – Tesla has announced that it will be building its Model S electric car factory as well as its new headquarters in San Jose, California.

The Tesla Roadster

The $250 million factory will produce the $60,000 Model S electric sedans that Tesla hopes to roll out by 2010. The car is expected to get 240 miles per charge.

This year, Tesla began selling its $100,000 electric sports car the Roadster.

The company wants to develop a $30,000 car within 4 years.

Via :: Press Release

New Electric Car to be Unveiled from Venturi and Michelin

Venturi HQ (TGW) - Venturi has announced that it will unveil a “new-generation” electric car that it has developed in partnership with Michelin at the 2008 Paris Motor show on October 2.

The vehicle was designed by Sacha Lakic.

Venturi has already designed three electric sports cars, including its $422,000 Fetish, which will hopefully begin production in June 2009. It’s Eclectic is its second car, which is covered in solar panels and has a turbine on its top. It’s most recent project is the solar powered Astrolab.

Via :: Press Release :: Earth2Tech

Space-Based Solar Power Wireless Power Transmission Breakthrough to Be Announced Tomorrow

Space (TGW) – A landmark in space based solar power will be announced Friday, long-distance, solar-powered wireless power transmission.

John C. Mankins, former manager of NASA's Exploration Systems Research and Technology Program, will announce the success of a transmission project in Hawaii. In the test, wireless power transmission between two Hawaiian Islands 148 kilometers apart – more than twice distance from Earth to space – was successful.

The project will be featured in an hour long special on Discovery Project Earth on the Discovery Channel on ambitious geo-engineering ideas to fight global warming.

In space based solar power, large satellites would collect solar energy and beam it down to Earth.

Via :: Press Release

Cylindrical Solar Panels Always Facing the Sun

Solaroad HQ (TGW) – Solaroad Group, LLC has come up with an innovative way to ensure that its solar panels are facing the sun: cylindrical solar panels.

Their cylindrical solar panels, the ElectraWall PV System, can be attached to almost any surface: walls, light polls, rooftops, etc.

However, Electrawall does come with one serious deficiency: never will all of the solar panels be utilized.

Information on efficiency was not available.




Via :: EcoGeek

65 MPG Ford Won't be Available in the U.S.

Not the U.S. (TGW) – Ford Motor’s 65 mpg diesel Fiesta ECOnetic will not be available for sale in the United States, Ford has announced.

The five-seater will only be sold in Europe because the vehicle runs only on diesel. In Europe half of cars run on diesel; only 3% of American owned cars do.

Diesel fuel is now as clean as or cleaner than gasoline and is at least 30% more efficient.

The Fiesta would be $25,700 not including a $1,300 tax deductible available for diesel car owners.

Ford will be making a gas powered Fiesta. (Yes, that sentence sounds a little strange)

Via :: Business Week

Chevy Accidentally Publishes Volt Pictures

...And here they are! (via)

Honda Unveils Cheap Insight Hybrid

Honda HQ (TGW) - Honda today unveiled the hybrid Insight, said it will be shown at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, and announced that it will only be sold as a hybrid.

The only car that is on sale currently only as a hybrid is the Toyota Prius.

The Insight will be a five seater, and Honda has introduced a host of new features to improve efficiency: the battery and control unit are located beneath the cargo space for exceptional utility and a light, a highly efficient compact hybrid powerplant, and a new driving support function.

Honda also claims ‘significant’ cost reductions.

The car will be introduced into the market in the spring of 2009, and Honda expects to have annual global sales of 200,000 units. The Prius, America’s most popular car, sold 180,000 units in the U.S. alone last year.

Via :: Press Release

Giant Floating Generators to Provide Energy and Food to Japan

Japan (TGW) – Scientists at Kyushu University in Japan have come up with a solution to Japan’s energy and food problems: massive floating generators.

200,000 hexagonal photovoltaic generators and wind turbines on the floating “eco-rigs”, which measure 1.2 miles by 0.5 miles, would produce about 300 megawatt hours of power.

Some of that power would be lost in transporting the power back to shore, but by strapping three of the rigs together, the effect would be the same as a standard nuclear power plant.

Some of the energy from the solar cells and wind generators would be diverted to power LEDs on the bottom of the rigs.

The lights would turn the platform into a nursery for a specially selected type of seaweed that absorbs carbon dioxide and feeds fish and plankton.

The eco-rigs will be unmanned and automatic.

The first rigs are expected to be ready three years from now.

Via :: Times Online

Triple Helix Vertical Home Wind Turbine Generates 6 Kilowatts

Your roof (TGW) - Quiet Revolution, a London based small wind turbine maker, has raised $12.5 million in funding for its 6 kilowatt triple helix wind turbine, the ‘qr5’.

The qr5 uses three S-shaped blades which are designed to work in urban environments where wind speeds are lower and change frequently.

The turbine is just 15 feet high and 9 feet wide. 30 have already been sold and 45 are in the process of being installed.


However, the turbine isn’t cheap at a nice £25,000, plus installation costs of £3,000 to £6,000 per turbine, turbine controls that cost £4,600, and the cost of the mast, £2,950 - £5,150

The company is working on a smaller qr2.5 which would be 7.5 feet high and would generate 3000 to 4500 kwh as well as a qr12 would be 36 feet high and would generate 45,000 and 55,000kWh on a decent wind site.

Quiet Revolution is targeting schools and businesses for its products.

Via :: Press Release (PDF) :: Earth2Tech

Maps Distort Countries by Carbon Emissions, Population, Other Statistics

Earth (TGW) - Online cartographers have taken a different look at how maps are made.

Cartographers Danny Dorling and Anna Barford of the University of Sheffield, UK, have created a series of online maps at worldmapper.org that distort countries by statistics such as carbon emissions, population, number of refugees, the proportion of people that will be living in urban areas, and much, much more.

CO2 levels in 2000

Total Population

Mazda Developing Its Own Electric Car

Mazda HQ (TGW) – Mazda is developing a rival to the Chevrolet Volt – a car which uses a gas engine to charge a battery pack which powers the wheels via an electric motor.

The prototype developed so far uses a Wankel rotary engine to charge a battery pack in the shell of the 5 MPV.

Toyota is also working on an all electric Prius.

Via :: Autocar.co.uk

Giant Eco-Pyramid That Houses 1 Mil to be Unveiled in Dubai

Dubai – where else?! (TGW) – Timelinks, a Dubai-based environmental design firm, has revealed concept renderings of a giant eco pyramid, named Ziggurat, with the official unveiling set for the Cityscape Dubai event October 6-9 this year.

Ziggurat will be 4000 feet high and would be capable of housing one million people – even better, it will only take up 2.3 square kilometers and will be carbon neutral.

The pyramid will utilize natural energy resources including wind power and steam power to achieve this.

The building will also have an extremely efficient public transportation system that goes both horizontally and vertically.

Timelinks has patented the designs for the structure.

Via :: Inhabitat

New Solar Cell Can Be Made With Nail Polish, Pizza Oven, Injket Printer

Australia (TGW) – The inventor of the innovative iJET solar cell has won two Australian Museum Eureka Prizes - the nation's top science awards.

Nicole Kuepper, 23, has patented the cell, which can be made at low temperatures using an inkjet printer, nail polish, and a pizza oven.

Kuepper hopes the cell will be useful the developing world.

However, it could be five years before the cell will be commercially available.

Via :: The Australian

All-Electric ZAP Alias Now Taking Reservations

Zap HQ (TGW) – Zero Air Pollution (ZAP) has announced that it is taking reservations for its 2 seat, 3 wheeled electric vehicle: the ZAP Alias.

The car is projected to be ready for sale in 2009 at $32,500, and on line reservations are being taken for a $5000 deposit.

The car can got 0 to 60 in 7.7 seconds, has an EV range of 100+, and get up to 100 mph.

Via :: Ecototality Life

$7000 Residential Vertical Wind Turbine Can Power Your Whole Home

Your roof (TGW) – Mariah Power is planning a bigger version of its $5000, 30 foot, 1 kilowatt, residential vertical axis turbine.

The new $7000 (without the $3000 US tax credit) version will be able to produce 3 kilowatts, enough to power the average residential home.

The bad news is that the smaller version has a backlog of a few months, it is so in demand.

Via :: Ecogeek

Google to Invest $10 Mil in Enhanced Geothermal

Google (TGW) - Google.org announced today that it will invest $10 million in Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS).

EGS differs from traditional geothermal in that it does not exploit existing wells of steam, but rather uses hot rocks far below the surface to heat water to generate steam.

Google invested in 3 different companies:

• AltaRock Energy

• Potter Drilling

• Southern Methodist University Geothermal Lab

Google posted this video in explanation:



Via :: Dot Earth

NREL Sets New Solar Cell Efficiency World Record at 40.8%

NREL (TGW) – Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have set a world record in solar efficiency, creating a solar cell that is 40.8% efficient at converting light, compared to the previous record of 40.7%.


The scientists used a variety of methods to improve efficiency: “The cell uses compositions of gallium indium phosphide and gallium indium arsenide to split the solar spectrum into three equal parts that are absorbed by each of the cell's three junctions for higher potential efficiencies,” the lab said in a press release.

This lets the cell be efficient at different spectrums.

The cell hit the efficiency under the amount of light concentrated on was equal to 326 suns – the amount of sunlight that hits the earth in 326 days.

Via :: Press Release