Site Meter

photovoltaic

Areva Announces Plans to Build Largest Solar Installation in Asia

Areva Announces Plans to Build Largest Solar Installation in Asia

The French nuclear engineering company Areva was awarded a contract this week by Indian power company Reliance Power Ltd. to build the largest concentrated solar power installation in Asia, which

Read More >

Los Angeles Approves Pilot Plan to Buy Solar Power from Local Property Owners

Los Angeles Approves Pilot Plan to Buy Solar Power from Local Property Owners

Why do cloudy European countries produce so much more solar energy than the United States? Because countries like Germany, for example, have programs that require local utility companies to buy solar

Read More >

Solar Installations in the US More Than Doubled in 2011

Solar Installations in the US More Than Doubled in 2011

The US solar industry is gaining some serious ground, according to a new industry report charting a recent spike in solar installations. While big bankruptcies — such as government-backed

Read More >

MIT Researchers Find a Way To Make Solar Panels from Grass Clippings

MIT Researchers Find a Way To Make Solar Panels from Grass Clippings

  What if generating solar energy at home required little more than mixing some grass clippings with inexpensive chemicals? That’s exactly what MIT researcher Andreas Mershin has found to be

Read More >

NASA Announces Plans to Launch the Largest Solar Sail Ever Created

NASA Announces Plans to Launch the Largest Solar Sail Ever Created

Solar activity sometimes causes disturbances through massive flares, but the energy can also be used to increase in-space propulsion capability – harnessing solar power with solar sails could expand

Read More >

Next-Gen Electronics Charge Themselves With Energy-Harvesting LCD Screens

Next-Gen Electronics Charge Themselves With Energy-Harvesting LCD Screens

Engineers at UCLA have developed technology that allows energy gobbling gadgets like smartphones and laptops to convert sunlight, ambient light, and their own backlight into energy. Equipping LCD-enhanced

Read More >

SBA Design Unveils Self-Sufficient City of the Future for China

SBA Design Unveils Self-Sufficient City of the Future for China

China pumped €300 billion into its 2010 energy consumption goals, and it may be the only country on earth to have actually met them. This is partially thanks to strict environmental requirements for new

Read More >

Solar Machine Mimics Plants to Transform CO2 Into Fuel

Solar Machine Mimics Plants to Transform CO2 Into Fuel

Plants have long harnessed sunlight to create ‘food’ for themselves, and now a joint American and Swiss team have created a device that can duplicate the process! The team recently unveiled

Read More >

Italy Getting First Solar-Powered Highway

Italy Getting First Solar-Powered Highway

Spain and Germany may be the renewable energy darlings of Europe, but Italy is set to become the first country with a solar-powered highway. The A18 Catania-Siracusa highway, a 30 km addition to

Read More >

Laser-Powered Helicopter Breaks World Record

Laser-Powered Helicopter Breaks World Record

A remote-controlled quadrocopter recently set a new world record by staying aloft for 12 hours using energy beamed up to it by lasers. Developed by LaserMotive, the quadrocopter has photovoltaic panels

Read More >

Top 7 Solar-Powered Bags for Back-to-School!

Top 7 Solar-Powered Bags for Back-to-School!

If you’re gearing up to go back to school, can we let you in on something that might be the most useful thing you get for yourself all year? Solar-powered bags are a super handy and stylish way to

Read More >

California Adopts Bill Letting Homeowners Sell Excess Solar Energy

California Adopts Bill Letting Homeowners Sell Excess Solar Energy

Attention all Californians! Do you generate more power from your solar panels than you can use? Well, under a new bill adopted on Thursday, you can sell that excess electricity (and offset the cost of

Read More >

CASE Solar Power Glass Energizes Any Building Facade

CASE Solar Power Glass Energizes Any Building Facade

Solar engineers have long sought to develop an energy-generating glazing that is as capable of producing power as it is easy on the eyes. The feat may just have been accomplished by The Center for

Read More >

Taipei Pop Music Center Ever Changing Media Wall Powered By The Sun

Taipei Pop Music Center Ever Changing Media Wall Powered By The Sun

Nabito Architects has proposed a fascinating new pop-art inspired design for the Taipei Pop Music Center that integrates a photovoltaic facade and a wall clad in LED panels. Depending on the activities of

Read More >

SOLAR DECATHLON 2009: Cornell Silo House

SOLAR DECATHLON 2009: Cornell Silo House

Things really heated up this past few days as we inched closer to finding out who the winner of this year’s Solar Decathlon would be, and in the end Team Germany’s surPLUShouse stole the show.

Read More >

Graft Lab’s Vertical Village in Dubai Has Spider Web of Solar Panels

Graft Lab’s Vertical Village in Dubai Has Spider Web of Solar Panels

At first glance, Graft Lab‘s dazzling complex in Dubai may appear to have a cluster of sparkling geometric pools at its base. But upon further inspection, the web-like structures are actually

Read More >

Solar Sunflower Field Energizes Austin, Texas

Solar Sunflower Field Energizes Austin, Texas

A retail lot in Austin, Texas recently sprouted a stunning field of solar sunflowers that soak up the sun’s rays to provide shade while generating a steady stream of renewable energy. Designed by

Read More >

Monolab’s Soaring Solar Rotterdam Tower

Monolab’s Soaring Solar Rotterdam Tower

Monolab is aiming to take solar power to extreme heights by designing their sky-high Rotterdam Tower with a skin of photovoltaic panels. At 450 meters, the Rotterdam Tower design is intended to connect

Read More >

Researchers Unveil Flexible Solar Cell Roof Shingles

Researchers Unveil Flexible Solar Cell Roof Shingles

By far one of the most wasted spaces of every residence is the roof – of course it is there to protect us from the elements, but surely it can be put to better use. Aiming to innovate upon

Read More >

U.S. Largest Solar Power Facility Approved for Austin

U.S. Largest Solar Power Facility Approved for Austin

Texas is famous for having the biggest of everything, from the biggest capitol in the nation, to the largest population of livestock cattle. And while one may not immediately think of Texas as a green

Read More >

Vertical Park: Stackable Solar Skyscraper for Mexico City

Vertical Park: Stackable Solar Skyscraper for Mexico City

In the ever-expanding metropolis of Mexico City, green space is hard to come by. An estimated population of 22 million inhabitants bears an impressive weight on the Valley of Mexico and, in recent years,

Read More >

Largest City Solar Initiative gets greenlight in San Francisco

Largest City Solar Initiative gets greenlight in San Francisco

San Francisco has made solar energy a top priority with the passage of the Solar Energy Initiative Program – the largest solar energy subsidy program of any city in the United States. An annual

Read More >

Santa Monica’s New Solar Powered LED Ferris Wheel

Santa Monica’s New Solar Powered LED Ferris Wheel

The Pacific Ferris Wheel at the Santa Monica Pier in California took her last spin on May 5th before crews dismantled the sun-faded behemoth piece by piece to make way for a shiny new wheel. And shiny it

Read More >

FLOATOVOLTAICS! Far Niente Winery’s Floating Solar Power

FLOATOVOLTAICS! Far Niente Winery’s Floating Solar Power

Last month we brought you news of the Solar Lily Pads that are being proposed for Glasgow’s Clyde River. In a perfect example of serendipity, we’ve discovered that the Far Niente winery,

Read More >

SOLAR LILY PADS Proposed for Glasgow’s Clyde River

SOLAR LILY PADS Proposed for Glasgow’s Clyde River

In a stunning example of biomimicry, Scottish architecture firm ZM Architecture have come up with a brilliant scheme to provide solar power to the city of Glasgow – and do so in a way that is

Read More >

  • Read Inhabitat

  • Search Categories

  • Recent Posts

  • Recent Comments

  • Browse by Keyword

get the free Inhabitat newsletter

Submit this form
popular today
all time
most commented
more popular stories >
more popular stories >
more popular stories >
What are you looking for? (Solar, HVAC, etc.)
Where are you located?