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KU Leuven team creates solar panel that produces hydrogen from moisture in air

Green Car Congress

Bioscience engineers at KU Leuven have created a solar panel that produces hydrogen gas from moisture in the air. Twenty of these solar panels could provide electricity and heat for one family for an entire winter. A traditional solar panel converts between 18 to 20% of the solar energy into electricity.

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UK researchers use graphite to waterproof perovskite solar cells

Green Car Congress

Most solar cells currently on the market are made of silicon; these are expensive to make and require a lot of very pure silicon to manufacture. Perovskite solar cells, using materials with the same 3D structure as calcium titanium oxide, are cheaper to make, thinner and can be easily printed onto surfaces. —Poli et al.

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Caltech’s SSPD-1 Is a New Idea for Space-Based Solar

Cars That Think

Several recently published deep-dive analyses commissioned by NASA and the European Space Agency have thrown cold water on the hope that space solar power could affordably generate many gigawatts of clean energy in the near future. Ali Hajimiri is the codirector of Caltech’s space-based solar power project. And yet the dream lives on.

IDEA 99
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How I turned a shipping container into a solar off-grid charging station with A/C

Baua Electric

These engineering wonders are great for many uses outside of merely transferring goods around the world, with one of the most common secondary uses being watertight storage units. There are many ways to skin a cat, and even more ways to add solar power to a shipping container. I started with the solar panels, which would need a frame.

Grid 52
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Heating Buildings With Solar Energy Stored in Sand

Cars That Think

In a region known for long, dark winter nights, Polar Night Energy is building a system in the city of Tampere that can heat buildings with stored solar energy — all day, all night, and all winter long. In this way, sand enables solar power to keep people warm, even during the darkest and coldest Finnish nights. Eronen says, laughing.

Store 93
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IPG to demo Flameless Ceramic Turbine for clean, off-grid power in EV charging

Green Car Congress

IPG’s project will demonstrate the role of Flameless Ceramic Turbine technology in bringing EV charging to high-use and remote locations through clean, cheap, grid-independent power generation. Grid access and capacity issues, as well as the infeasibility of on-site solar and wind, is a barrier for EV charging in many locations.

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Charge when it’s cheap with myenergi and Intelligent Octopus Go

My Energi

The UK’s original smart charger just got smarter The world’s first solar-compatible smart electric vehicle charger, the zappi from myenergi, can now integrate with Octopus Energy’s Intelligent Octopus Go tariff, enabling EV drivers to minimise their home charging costs with access to six hours of low-cost energy every night.

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