FCEVs!

Three of the world’s biggest car manufacturers – Ford, Nissan and Daimler, the company behind Mercedes Benz, have signed a three-way hydrogen fuel cell development agreement in an effort to bring affordable, mass market fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) to market by 2017.

The companies, which have already been separately working on the technology, plan to jointly develop a common hydrogen fuel cell system, which if successfully developed, they believe will significantly reduce the cost of zero-emission technology and make it more widely available and some countries, such as the UK, are actively developing fuel cell and hydrogen technology manufacturing and their related supply chains.

Green Power Projects Face 'clearance' Roadblock

All Credits: DC
source: DC-epaper

2-In-1 Green Mode Power Switches Boost Efficiency

Source: EFY Magazine

As today’s consumer electronics and home appliances become more sophisticated, they require better performance and reliability. Designers of these types of switch mode power supply (SMPS) systems need space-saving, cost-effective power supply solutions with high energy efficiency that meet strict energy regulations. In response, Fairchild Semiconductor’s new FSL1x series of FPS Green Mode Power switches helps designers address these challenges.

Solar Manufacturers Suffer As Price Of Solar Panel Drops

Source: EFY Magazine

India seems to be trying its best to make its people optimise the use of solar energy in the form of various sources. The country's energy ministry has also taken the initiative by drafting Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). But all efforts seem to be going waste. The impact of cheap solar panel being imported from China, US has given a huge blow to the fortune of domestic solar equipment manufacturers and now, these people are facing a hard time with the price of solar panels crashing in the global market.

Over the last six to 12 months, most of these developers have either stopped their operations or have scaled down to 15 to 30 per cent of their capacity. The country has installed 1,100 MW of solar power capacity in the last two years and out of this, Gujarat has close to 750 MW of solar power projects, which explains the reason for lack of overall growth of the solar sector in India.

World's First Peel-Off Solar Cells

By fabricating "peel-and-stick" solar cells, scientists make an attempt broaden the thin-film photovoltaic cells' uses.       
Researchers at Stanford University have created what they claim to be the first flexible, reusable decal-like solar panels that can attach to almost any surface. In other words, it is possible to attach these Thin-Film Solar Cells (TFSCs) to paper, plastic and glass without direct fabrication. The adhesive comes off with some room-temperature water.
Thin-film solar cells (TFSCs), such as hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), are generally made with rigid silicon and glass structures to maintain their form, according to a paper by lead investigator Chi Hwan Lee, a mechanical engineering doctoral candidate, and the study's contributors in the Dec. 20 issue of Scientific Reports.

Mistakes of Solar Installers

This piece originally ran on the blog of CleanEdison, a renewable energy training company based in New York. It is reprinted here.

Okay, so you've got some equipment, you’ve got some know-how and you are ready to get out there and become a solar installer. Sounds easy enough, I mean everyone is talking about it, right? Well yes, but before you start going onto people’s roofs and drawing high-voltage DC electricity from the sun, you should know the common mistakes that others (many others) have made before you. This is by no means a list of all the questions you will have, or problems you will run into, but it should help dispel some misconceptions you may have about solar energy.

Mistake #1

I learned that solar PV panels lose their efficiency as they get hotter, but I also know that solar thermal collectors use water heated by the sun for use in the home. I could just use the water to simultaneously cool the PV panels and then get heated for hot water use, I’m a genius!