Sunlight Direct brings us a very effective and useful hybrid solar lighting technology. It consist of a device on the roof that collects and concentrates sunlight throughout the day. After filtering the UV and Infra Red spectrum (for heat reasons), this light is piped down to the building interior where it can be distributed via hybrid fixtures. On sunny days the fixtures might emit 80% natural sunlight mixed with 20% fluorescent or incandescent. On cloudy days it might be just the opposite. The natural light has been shown to improve our productivity, help synchronize our circadian rhythms or sleep patterns. Microprocessors control the system, aiming the collector directly at the sun (within accuracy of .1 degrees) throughout the day and adjusting the blend of natural light and artificial light at the fixtures to keep a steady light level.

check out this video segment about it from the Discovery Channel

Lightpipe lighting from Sunlight Direct has the ability to make a significant difference in your energy cost. With some proven health benefits as well. We’ll certainly be keeping an eye on this and future developments like it.

via - Gizmodo

Technorati Tags: hybrid solar lighting, sunlight direct, solar lighting, solar power

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Solar cells are typically made from silicon crystals. This is the same material used in computer semiconductors and chips. Crystalline silicon is a somewhat scarce commodity because of the huge demand. Alternative materials or perhaps less use of scarce materials will go a very long way to increasing the feasibility of solar power. This becomes even more important when you consider the ideal future, which for me would include every roof surface having a solar panel array. Fortunately, Power Film has created solar cells that use a minimal account of silicon. This cell is incredibly thin, using 2 micrometer thick non crystalline silicon wavers. This allows the Power Film cell to be mounted on flexible plastic, curved surfaces and other materials. It still has a ways to go as the power yield is about half of the normal crystalline silicon panels. Also the performance decreases over time. This will have to be fixed

via - UberGizmo

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This could change everything if it’s really more capacity than hype. Scientist at EEstor claim to have created a battery - a “parallel plate capacitor with barium titanate as the dielectric” or hypercapacitor. This is basically a battery that holds extremely high voltage charges in solid ceramic material. Quoting from www.TreeHugger.com with info obtained from a Toronto Star source within EEstor, this is what such a battery could offer:

The batteries fully charge in minutes as opposed to hours.

* Whereas with lead acid batteries you might get lucky to have 500 to 700 recharge cycles, the EEStor technology has been tested up to a million cycles with no material degradation.

* EEStor’s technology could be used in more than low-speed electric vehicles. The company envisions using it for full-speed pure electric vehicles, hybrid-electrics (including plug-ins), military applications, backup power and even large-scale utility storage for intermittent renewable power sources such as wind and solar.

* Because it’s a solid state battery rather than a chemical battery, such being the case for lithium ion technology, there would be no overheating and thus safety concerns with using it in a vehicle.

* Finally, with volume manufacturing it’s expected to be cost-competitive with lead-acid technology.

“It’s the holy grail of battery technology,” said my source. “It means you could do a highway capable electric city car that would recharge in three or four minutes and drive you from Toronto to Montreal. Consumers wouldn’t notice the difference from driving an electric car versus a gas-powered car.”

This could have major implications for the use of Electric Cars in specific and power storage in general. Although I’m not sure if that 5 minute charge would be possible in non industrial sectors. That amount of voltage or amperage is beyond the power mains connected to most homes. As some of the astute readers at www.treehuggers.com pointed out, perhaps the home solution could be slow charging 8 to 9 hrs, while one could go to a commercial “energy station” to get a quick 5 min full capacity charge.

I really hope this comes out for real and is not shelved or sabotaged for the sake of other corporate interest. The good news is the people behind this are extremely well funded. Also of note, Feel Good Cars of canada has an investment stake in EEStor and as - Gizmodo writes is committed to making this technology roadworthy by 2008. We really need clean energy and storage!

Be sure to check these sources for the full details, ( before they’re shut down and removed by “the man”)

The Toronto Star article by Tyler Hamilton
EEStor info on Tyler’s Blog Clean Break
TreeHugger article

Never-Ending Potency: Battery Replacement Could Charge Electric-Car Industry [Jalopnik]

Technorati Tags: batteries, capacitor, clean energy, Concept Car, electric cars