Science and Enterprise

Tag: solar

  • Chinese Solar Company, NREL Sign R&D Agreement

    LDK Solar Co. Ltd., a manufacturer of solar wafers and photovoltaic products in Xinyu City, China and Sunnyvale, California, says it signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for collaborative research and development activities on silicon materials and photovoltaic devices. Under the agreement, the LDK Solar…

  • Solar Powered Water Purifier Developed for Disaster Relief

    Spectra Watermakers Inc. in San Rafael, California, in collaboration with Trunz Water Systems, a Swiss company, has developed a self-contained water purification unit that can meet the needs of disaster relief efforts, such as those now in action in Pakistan. The Solar Container, as the unit is called, is powered by renewable solar or wind…

  • State Grant Awarded for Solar Energy Storage R&D

    SunPower Corp. in San Jose, California has received a $1.8 million grant from the California Public Utilities Commission to research photovoltaic (PV) energy storage for large commercial applications. The grant, awarded from the the California Solar Initiative Research, Development, Deployment and Demonstration program, will establish a pilot program to demonstrate the integration of energy storage…

  • New Process Produces Iron Without the CO2

    Stuart Licht, a professor of chemistry at George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, D.C., has developed a carbon dioxide-free method of producing iron that uses solar energy and a process of solar conversion. Licht has patented this process, called Solar Thermal Electrochemical Photo (STEP) energy conversion, which offers an alternative to the same basic polluting…

  • Nanomaterial Can Turn Ordinary Window Glass into Solar Power

    EnSol AS, a company in Bergen, Norway, working with the University of Leicester (U.K.) Department of Physics and Astronomy has developed and patented a thin film solar technology that can generate electric power when applied to common glass windows. The material developed by EnSol is composed of metal nanoparticles embedded in a transparent composite matrix.…

  • Clean Tech Venture Capital Hits $1.5 Billion in 2nd Quarter

    Venture capital (VC) investment in U.S. clean technology (cleantech) companies in the second quarter of 2010 hit $1.5 billion in 68 financing rounds, according to an Ernst & Young analysis based on data from Dow Jones VentureSource. Automotive, solar, and alternative fuel companies attracted the most investment dollars. Ernst & Young says this was the…

  • Canada Awards Grants to Solar Energy and Genomics Companies

    National Research Council of Canada, through its Industrial Research Assistance Program, awarded grants to Boreal Genomics Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia, and Day4 Energy Inc. of Burnaby, British Columbia. The grants, totaling $CAD769,000, were awarded to support research and development projects that build high-tech solutions for global markets. Day4 Energy received $496,000 to develop a…

  • Window Glass Solar Power Prototype in Development

    Researchers at New Energy Technologies Inc. of Burtonsville, Maryland report achieving scientific and technical breakthroughs allowing completion in the upcoming weeks of a working prototype of the world’s first glass window capable of generating electricity. Current solar energy systems use opaque panels. The ability to generate electricity with transparent glass windows, however, is limited by…

  • Semiconductor Partnership to Focus on Energy Technologies

    Semiconductor Research Corporation, a university-research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies has established a $5 million industry-university partnership to bring new energy systems and technologies to the marketplace. Founding industry members include ABB, Applied Materials, Bosch, First Solar, IBM, Nexans and Tokyo Electron. The new Energy Research Initiative will team companies from semiconductors and related…

  • California Nanoparticle Ink Developer in Solar Cell Deal

    Innovalight, in Sunnyvale, California, will supply its silicon ink based on nanotechnology for JA Solar, a Chinese manufacturer of high-efficiency solar energy cells. The two companies will also co-develop solar cells that promise higher power-conversion efficiency. JA Solar has pilot tested Innovalight’s silicon ink since May 2010. Full commercial production is expected to begin later…