Tag Archive

Zep’lin flying boat ponders the future of electric vehicles

A boat that flies.
Now there’s a vehicle Phileas Fogg could really have used. Zep’lin is a blue-sky concept developed by industrial designer Damien Grossemy during a five month internship at Renault which imagines the use of solar panel sails and electric propulsion to liberate the yacht-like vehicle from terra firma.

Setting out [...]

EADS Astrium develops space power concept

Image via Wikipedia

Europe’s biggest space company is seeking partners to fly a demonstration solar power mission in orbit.
EADS Astrium says the satellite system would collect the Sun’s energy and transmit it to Earth via an infrared laser, to provide electricity.
Space solar power has been talked about for more than 30 years. However, there have always [...]

Will solar thermal heat up again?

Image via Wikipedia

It used to be that the term “solar panel” connoted a solar thermal panel, which uses sunlight to heat your house or tap water, as opposed to a photovoltaic (PV) panel, which produces electric power. These days, though, attention (not to mention sunlight) focuses on PV. Many people assume that solar hot water [...]

Solar panel roads to power our homes

Idaho-based Solar Roadways founder Scott Brusaw is excited that his company has a received a USD$100,000 U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) grant to develop further his prototype that turns roads in giant electricity-generating solar panels.

China Racing Ahead of U.S. in the Drive to Go Solar

“I don’t see Europe or the United States becoming major producers of solar products — they’ll be consumers,”