Tag: SOLARPOWER

Christians tend to gaze skyward for guidance, so it's no surprise that their leaders have chosen the sun as their power source of the future. According to Fox News, the Vatican is planning to spend $660 million on a new 740-acre solar plant near the village of Santa Maria de Galeria. The plant, which would be largest of its kind in all of Europe, is expected to be ready by 2014. The Guardian ...

After JAXA's announcement of space-based solar power for Japan, we've been keeping our eyes peeled for some news of similar projects Stateside. Lo and behold, California's largest energy utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, has agreed to do just that, inking a deal with solar power startup Solaren Corp. The agreement calls for the utility to purchase 200 megawatts of electricity once the ...

A group of engineers, scientists and sailors have banded together to form a team they call Solar Planet. The group is now building a 98-foot-long solar-powered boat for the express purpose of sailing all the way around the world using nothing but the delicious power of the sun. The $13 million dollar vessel -- which is currently in construction in Kiel, Germany -- will have 5,059 square feet of ...

We've heard the excuse a gazillion times: "Yo, I want to go solar, but like, where do you even buy this stuff? Oh snap, 0 percent financing on a Hummer H2!" Finally, you can have a solid answer to that very quip (the first part, at least), as household megastore IKEA has begun stocking (in store; online is coming soon) a new series of solar-powered lighting supplies. The SOLIG series contains a ...

Have you ever wanted to live in a tricked-out cave? Was the tricked-out cave in your fantasy located in Festus, Missouri? If you answered yes to one of these questions, and have $300,000 lying around, you may want to check out eBay. The Sleeper family of Festus, Missouri is selling their unique, 17,000 square-foot home on eBay. The eco-friendly abode, complete with kitchen, laundry room, party ...

During our trip to the desert, we took some time off from the convention floor to head over to the NextGen Home Experience. This super-green, 5,200 square-foot "smart" home boasts some smooth accoutrements, including a powerful home-automation system and a Microsoft Vista-based, centralized entertainment center and media server. But there's nothing really new about a media server for your ...

We've seen personal sized eco-friendly gadget chargers before, but few have been as well designed or affordable as the new line of wind and solar chargers that MINIWIZ unveiled last week at CES. The first is the HYmini, a hand-held -- but not quite pocketable -- power generator activated by the wind. It has an internal battery that can hold a charge for powering devices later or it can be be ...

Around half a year ago, we heard that Toyota was engineering a Prius that would get part of its energy from the sun; now, we're seeing an eerily similar story from Japan suggesting that the plan is still on. In a rather odd report, it's noted that the automaker is "secretly (oh, is it now?) developing a vehicle that will be powered solely by solar energy," though it's also working on a partially ...

Yachts are usually pretty environmentally unsound, so the DSe Hybrid just debuted by Island Pilot at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show should be a real breath of fresh air (literally) if green is your thing. And apparently it's really about as eco-friendly as it gets -- using a combination of diesel, solar and electric power (when it goes into commercial production it will also boast ...

= Husqvarna's plain old battery-powered Automowers have been available in the US for some time now, but it looks like the company's solar-powered hybrid model is now finally making the trip across the pond as well. From the looks of it, the model is the same one we caught sight of back in March, with the 22-pound mower promising to handle lawns up to half an acre in size and not emit a single ...

In a fascinating convergence of the old world and the new, some Pennsylvania Amish communities have recently begun harnessing solar energy to power devices like hot water heaters and horse-drawn buggies' taillights. While environmentalists have been pushing for the development of solar energy for decades, the Amish's adoption of the energy source has little to do with its being "green." ...

Unless your name is Madonna, you're probably in the habit of wearing your underwear beneath the rest of your clothes -- assuming you wear any at all. For this reason, a concept piece from high-end lingerie manufacturer Triumph might seem a bit peculiar to you. It's a solar-powered bra capable of charging an iPod or cell phone, in theory. In practice, this thing doesn't really seem to have any ...

Imagine what would happen if you took a kid ten times smarter than Doogie Howser, made him a scientist instead of a doctor, and then made him more concerned with helping the world than getting dates. The t12-year-old Oregonian has invented a solar cell that is being described as a 3-D cell (though we're still not exactly sure what that means). The new cells absorb visible light and ultraviolet ...

There's certainly no shortage of folks working to incorporate solar cells into clothing and accessories, but a team of researchers from Iowa State University now look to have devised a way to make the wearable technology slightly more discreet, with them using digital textile printing to print fabric that matches the pattern of the solar cells. The solar cells themselves are then attached using ...

Just over a year ago, we passed off a far-out proposal that would turn highways into wind farms. Now, however, the state of Oregon is proving that such feats are actually within reach as it breaks ground on the first so-called "solar highway" demonstration project. The project will be installed at the Interstate 5 and Interstate 205 interchange in Tualatin, where it will cover around 8,000 square ...