Scaling Up Saharan Solar

November 02, 2009

The idea has been thrown around for a while: Let's put a bunch of mirrors--the most ever!--in the desert to provide massive amounts of electricity to faraway places. A newly-formalized consortium is going to do just that, in the Sahara Desert.

Twelve European businesses that form the Desertec Industrial Initiative consortium just signed a pact on Friday in Munich to erect parabolic mirrors on more than 6,500 square miles in the desert. The mirrors will concentrate the sun's rays on giant water containers that will power steam turbines, generating electricity to be transported using high-voltage direct current transmission lines. Tanks containing molten salt will temporarily store excess heat from day. Similar solar projects exist, but this would be the first on such a scale.

The Desertec project plans to provide 15 percent of continental Europe's energy needs by 2050. Several North African countries are interested in joining the consortium and Desertec expects to deliver electricity to local African consumers as well. The technical and financial details of the project, which was first announced two years ago, will be ironed out by 2012 with power deliveries to Europe starting three years later. While I can hardly fathom the crazy financing required, advancements in solar technology make me optimistic that Desertec won't turn out to be a mirage.

Photo Credit: Solar Millennium AG.

German Solar Cube House Wins DC Decathlon

October 16, 2009

On the final, rainy, day of judging at the fourth Solar Decathlon in Washington, DC, I found myself busting a move with the German team in their solar house. Maybe that was what pushed them over the top.

Today, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that Team Germany from Technische Universität Darmstadt had won the competition, coming away with glory and bragging rights. For the uninitiated, the Solar Decathlon is a DOE-sponsored event where college teams from around the world design and build family homes on the National Mall that run solely on solar power.

When the judges aren't evaluating the homes in 10 different weighted categories, the public can traipse through for inspiration. Despite the cold and steady rain yesterday, the German house was packed with visitors drawn to its futuristic cube shape. The team had cleverly used photovoltaics on all sides for maximum power. Team member Patrick Tauchert told me that one of their strategies was to take features that worked and push them as far as they could go. Even on a gloomy day they still had an impressive surplus, but maintaining a comfortable temperature was key so the whole team danced in unison to generate more heat. I'm pretty sure they're still dancing, but this time in celebration. 

Photo: Visitors flock to the decathlon, and to the German house (far right). Credit: Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.

Raise the Roof: Tiles Change With the Seasons

October 14, 2009

Looking at a sea of black-topped roofs during a city summer is maddening. They should be painted white! No wonder we're scorching! Then winter rolls around. Now scientists bring us roof tiles that go both ways.

A team of seven recent MIT grads from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering calling themselves Thermeleon created temperature-sensitive tiles made from commercial polymer sandwiched between flexible plastic layers. Cold causes the polymer to dissolve, exposing a dark layer at the back of the tile while heat makes it form droplets that coalesce into a white surface.

The team is still doing testing on the tiles to determine just how much energy savings they produce, and how durable they'll be. Plus they're experimenting with a paint form. They estimate the tiles could cost about the same as traditional roofing materials. While it's hard to compete with a green roof--in part because it seems like fun to hang out on one--Thermeleon tiles might morph into a viable alternative.

Photo: MIT grad Nick Orf turns up the heat on a roof tile. Credit: Patrick Gillooly.

Australians Break Solar Power Record

August 25, 2009

In a record reminiscent of a 100-meter dash, scientists at the University of South Wales in Sydney, Australia, have created the world's most efficient solar power cell ever...by a hair.

Professor Martin Green and his colleague Anita Ho-Baillie led a team of U.S. researchers to victory with a multi-cell combination that is able to convert 43 percent of sunlight into electricity. The previous record was 42.7 percent.

To capture light at the red and infrared end of the spectrum, the researchers threw everything into the cells--gallium, phosphorous, indium, and arsenic, plus silicon. While a bunch of the semiconductors used are expensive, the scientists did raise the efficiency bar.

Ho-Baillie and Green broke a different solar record with a silicon solar cell last October. If they continue to combine their efficient cells with technology from the folks at the National Renewable Energy Lab and Emcore, maybe they'll make ones that can convert 50 percent. I can't wait for the sunny day when that happens.

Photo: The fast ones: Ho-Baillie and Green with last year's (different) record-breaking solar cells. Credit: University of New South Wales.

The Waterpod People Take Manhattan

July 30, 2009

Looking like a lost set piece from the Kevin Costner movie Waterworld, the sustainable art and tech showcase Waterpod Project has finally made its way from conceptual design to aquatic New York reality.

In previous summers, a Science Barge docked in New York promoted the possibilities of urban farming and sustainability. This summer belongs to the Waterpod--a different kind of barge with much broader goals. The brainchild of a sculptor and photographer from Queens, Mary Mattingly, the pod is a useful and self-sufficient green project--a mobile art studio, aquatic living space, classroom, and science lab.

Mattingly, along with several other artists, will live aboard the converted commercial barge as it travels around the five boroughs through October. Beyond creating cool conceptual art, the pod is welcoming the public to come aboard and check out sustainable tech in action. Teams of students from an engineering class at Humboldt State University came up with tech experiments, including bike-electrical power, small-scale hydropower, a human-powered water pump, and a rocket stove. A rocket stove? Yes, really. The pod heads to my borough in September. I wonder how they'd feel about a stowaway.

Photo: The Waterpod in New York City. Credit: Mary Mattingly.

Giving Rechargeable Batteries a Pause

July 24, 2009

Whenever we charge a lithium ion battery, we're burning a quarter of a pound of coal. Ouch. With that stunning fact in mind, a University of Arizona professor and his research team are working on next-generation solar cells.

Current solar cells rely on silicon and other inorganic materials as semiconductors, but they're pricey to make and somewhat unwieldy. The ones coming out of Professor Neal (not Neil) Armstrong's research group at the university's Energy Frontier Research Center are tiny and extremely thin.

One prototype is a square sliver of glass coated with transparent indium tin oxide, an organic dye film, and an aluminum electrode. Armstrong envisions a day when you can buy some of these cells at, say, Target, roll them out, and use them to recharge your electronic devices. Similar to work being done at MIT, Armstrong is looking at ways to turn this thin solar cell technology into a kind of paint or ink process.

Armstrong, a chemist and optical scientist, acknowledges that making the cells inexpensive and durable remains a challenge, but thinks that what his group has in development is close to commercialization. Next time I recharge my batteries, I'll be thinking about the sun.

Here's a brief video from the university about the project:

Image: An organic photovoltaic cell on glass. Credit: The University of Arizona.

The Solaqua Lets the Light Shine In

June 03, 2009

You know how much I love solar for water purification--tech the World Health Organization even recommends. Now University of New South Wales student Jason Lam's new device is making it easier to get the job done.

Lam's Solaqua uses solar water disinfection--or SODIS for short--to clean up to 2.6 gallons of water, reports Gizmag. Unclean water is poured into the middle, passes through an initial filtering cloth, and then fills five detachable bottles that have reflective interiors. Each bottle comes off so it can lie in the sun. The whole setup can either be carried by its handles or placed comfortably on the head to be transported.

Lam's design was the silver Australian Design Award James Dyson Award winner this week, named for the British vacuum cleaner billionaire. There are still some drawbacks, though. Treehugger's Jaymi Heimbuch points out that its plastic, while recyclable, might not be rugged enough. At the rate designers are going, I imagine that future prototypes will resolve this. After all, the sky is the limit here.

Photo: The Solaqua uses the sun to kill disease in water. Credit: Jason Lam/Australian Design Award.

Wide Angle: Inventors Wanted

April 20, 2009

This week your trusty tech team is taking on invention. From Leonardo da Vinci to modern-day master inventors, there's plenty of inspiration to go around...especially if you're thinking about the greater good.

While searching for invention engines that help turn smart ideas into reality, I came across several particularly cool catalysts:

Innocentive  Solar king Mark Bent first introduced me to this site, which takes an open-source approach to innovation. Pick a challenge, come up with a viable solution, and you could be eligible to receive financial awards up to a million dollars.

Ashoka's Changemakers  Full disclosure: I do some work for the nonprofit org Ashoka. A look at their online competitions and you'll see why. Take on some of the world's biggest problems through an open process that encourages constructive feedback from an entrepreneurial community. Even the entries that don't win can go on to succeed with outside grant money.

MIT Clean Energy Prize  It wouldn't be an invention-related list without at least one MIT entry. This annual contest is open to student teams from any university in the nation. The grand prize winner walks away with $200,000 in cash plus serious support to put the plan into practice. Speaking of MIT, a shout-out also goes to the Lemelson program for student inventors, which gets greener every year.

Intellectual Ventures  This company, founded by scientists, is based on the idea that capital + invention = awesome. Historically, inventors were off by themselves tinkering away and few made a business out of it. Intellectual Ventures sees beyond the standard product cycle. They organize sessions designed to cull the best that the brightest have to offer and then seed those ideas with investments.

What's your favorite invention engine?

Photo: Brendan Mauro.

GET MORE OF THE WIDE ANGLE
Put your thinking cap on...

News: Solar Engine Whips Waste Heat Into Power

Feature: Super Soaker Inventor Invents New Thermoelectric Generator

Top 10: Unsung Inventions

Top 10: Accidental Inventions

Slideshow: Da Vinci's Inventions

WIDE ANGLE V2G: How About an Electric Car With That Mortgage?

February 05, 2009

Every once and a while, important and serendipitous collaborations emerge. They're so simple--like peanut butter in chocolate cups--that you wonder why everything can't be so obvious. Same goes for a house and car. Why keep separating them?

That's exactly what Terry Penney thought while comparing the bills from his off-grid cabin and on-grid family home. Penney manages vehicle technologies at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden Colorado and explained his thinking to me when I was grilling him on vehicle-to-grid tech for a (very cool) video.

Penney envisions developers, utilities, electric car manufacturers, green builders, and regulators collaborating on smart, sustainable communities. "It’s a system," Penney says. "So you have a mortgage that combines the house and the car as a total package. The package is part of this net-metered system that delivers energy to your car. And in an emergency, let’s say an ice storm, your car can keep essential services going in your house." Solar trees could provide power for the community and, if there's excess power produced, everyone gets cash back.

What's more, you'd sign up to get a bunch of cars over the course of a 30-year mortgage. That helps car companies come up with production schedules and cover the price differential for batteries. Mortgage defaults go down because the utility and fuel costs are low...or nonexistent. Plus, Penney says, insurance reps told him they'd charge less annually because the cars could serve as backup power.

So, where do I sign? "Someone has to take the first step," Penney says, having spent the last few years advocating this collaborative, smart system. There's been interest in Sarasota, Florida, Sonoma County in California, and in Austin, Texas, but so far the plans are still piecemeal. In this economy, I'm thinking car companies and banks will see that it's time to start running with this.

Photo: An electric car fills up under Palo Alto's city hall. Credit: Peter Kaminski.

GET MORE OF THE WIDE ANGLE
Now that you're behind the wheel, fill up on more cool vehicle to grid coverage:

Top 10: V2G Projects

News: Electric Car Gets Network

Video: Electric Car Feeds Grid

Sustainable: Vehicle to Grid Faces Speed Bumps

Puzzle: Electric Cars Got the Look

Podcast: Engineering Works! Fill Up on Electricity

Philly Cheapskate: The $100K Green House

January 30, 2009

Would you go for an eco-friendly house in the city? What if it only cost $100,000 to build? The idea that green building can be affordable is behind a new house going up in Philadelphia.

As National Public Radio's Marketplace reported this morning, developer Chad Ludeman and his realtor wife, Courtney, hope their new home will serve as a prototype for affordable, responsible building. The two-story, 1,100 square foot house in the East Kensington neighborhood isn't complete yet, but it is on budget. How? The modern design makes it easier to keep costs down while improving efficiency, allowing it to get LEED platinum certification. Its features include radiant heat, solar thermal hot water, a rainwater collection system, CFL lighting, and structural insulated panels (SIPs) that effectively combine framing and insulation. The team has plans to build more houses in the area.

I love the idea of an affordable green house that doesn't have to be 100 square feet. It would take more than a $100K house to draw me to Philly, but if this crew expands to NYC and beyond, they'll have quite the waiting list. Now, about that gray exterior...

Image: A rendering of the $100K house. Credit: Chad Ludeman/Postgreen.