Here’s a device that will save millions of megawatts at your Wal-marts and Home Depots. Why? The SunTrackerOne is a roof-installed system that rotates based on a GPS tracking system to bring the sun light into the building distributed, thereby letting the retailers to not use any electricity for their lights during the day. (Video after the jump)

Continue reading ‘CIRALIGHT Presents Active Daylighting System - SunTrackerOne’

Santa Monica Pier will be getting a new solar powered LED ferris wheel.

Continue reading ‘Santa Monica’s New Solar Powered LED Ferris Wheel’

Remember the post on the world’s largest college solar farm of 16 acres?  Well, a winery in Napa has implements a similar deal to power their own winery.

Continue reading ‘Napa’s Winery Implements a Solar Farm!’

A Japanese company just launched a solar powered media player that can play your audio and video files.

Continue reading ‘Solar Powered Media Player!’

Here’s a great idea for schools.  It’s a solar shade veil that would generate power for the schools while providing shade for the students and teachers.

Why didn’t we think of this earlier like 10 years ago?

An Australian government funded initiative, the VEIL solar-shade is a future possibility for the integration of solar-energy harvesting technologies into a form that is pragmatic (providing shade & energy), evocative and educational.

The idea is very simple: instead of having simple canopies outside the school to protect the kids from the heat of the sun, with one small tweak they can be used for collecting sun’s energy at the same time. Adding solar cells on top and handles on the base that can rotate the canopy to get the most efficient orientation in relation to the sun, these canopies can provide at the same time shade and energy.

[via engadget - inhabitat - uglydoggy]

The Czeers MK1 solar speed boat runs completely on solar power, total of 14 square meters photovoltaic solar cells mounted on all of its top surface.

The solar speed boat is supposedly world’s first solar powered speedboat.

Czeers MK1 comes built with carbon fiber everywhere for light weight and durability.

The boat’s top speed?

The MK1 can go up to 30 knots, an amazing feat for a boat completely powered by the sun with no CO2 gas or any other pollution-causing fumes.

The Czeers MK1 prototype is, as far as its Dutch creators are concerned, the world’s first solar speedboat. The Delft Technical University Solarboat Team built the original platform as an entry in the 2006 Nuon Frisian Solar challenge, which it easily won - and in the process, attracted serious investment power from Rabobank to get a full scale test boat built.

[via gizmodo gizmag]

Video after the jump.

Continue reading ‘Czeers MK1 Solar Speed Boat’

Don shows you how to build your own solar scooter.  What a nice guy, free detailed PDFs to explain everything.

Cool stuff!

Yes this is one! This is where you get to build your own solar powered scooter, it looks simple enough and in fact this scooter is actually street legal and will travel at least five miles on one charge.

The builder uses it regularly for work, which is five miles away, once at work he unfolds the solar wings which then charge up the batteries. Before you start shouting out “How can I build one?” there are full plans on the Build It Solar website, so I ask: “What’s stopping you?”
via keetsa

How much land is 16 acres? You could probably easily fit about 10 small houses in an acre so 16 acres is about the size of 1,600 small houses or 64 749.7028 meter squared for those of you in international countries.

Florida Gulf Coast University, a college opened in 1997 with a focus on the environment, was given $8.5 million by politicians to start a big solar farm of 16 acres on its campus.

The school’s focus is environmental sustainability and it has a special center dedicated to that purpose, but Shepard said using renewable energy on campus had been largely ignored.

“We were just focused on different things,” he said. “We need to practice what we preach and think about reducing our dependency on fossil fuels.”

During the 2008-2009 academic year, FGCU expects to spend more than $3.5 million on energy and uses an average of 1.4 megawatts per day.

The new solar farm, including the panels purchased with private donations, would generate 2 megawatts per day.

“The sun is free so there’s no risk the price will go up,” Fenton said. “The more solar we can do, the better.”

[via ecolocalizer palmbeachpost]

Charmaine Watts, pictured here, hasn’t had a power bill for eight years.  She deserves an award.

Charmaine Watts hasn’t had a power bill for eight years.

Her family of two adults and three children are one of hundreds around the country generating their own electricity.

With power prices on the rise, the $20,000 the Watts spent installing solar panels, a small wind turbine, storage batteries and wiring is starting to look like a good investment.

“I don’t need to worry about power cuts,” said Ms Watts. “It’s just like a normal house. I flick the switch on my computer or my DVD player and away I go.”

via nzherald