The efficiency of a solar panel is given by the percentage of the sun’s light that is being turned into electricity. The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) innovated a new thin film solar panel that just broke the world’s efficiency record, reaching 19.9-percent.

“The copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cell recently reached 19.9 percent efficiency in testing at the lab, setting a new world record.” Treehugger noted.

Traditional silicon based solar panels may have a hard time when these multicrystalline silicon-based solar cells are going to be produced.

Update:  new oil price record is $122.73 and things sure doesn’t look pink.

The oil prices blasted to a new record of $122.47 a barrel. Buyers were motivated by Goldman Sachs’ predictions that we may see oil selling for $150-$200 prices in a couple of years and the falling dollar.

A grebe is covered in oil after the Korean oil spill. Taean, South Korea. © TDG

From last year, oil prices doubled from $62 a barrel, so I guess this may be the first sign we have to stop paying more and more money for something that is not good for our health and the environment. There seem to be more and more investors to see light at the end of the tunnel for alternative energy technologies.

First step is to make electricity using the sun light and then we should go along with the trend and build better electric/hybrid cars.

We may be on the right track, but we’re moving very slowly.

After reading about the most bike-friendly cities in the world, I came upon a bicycle by Optibike. First impressions was that it looks nice and sportier but then I found out that this is the OB1, the hybrid electric bicycle and my mind change.

Going to work on a bike has never been easier, but I have to agree it’s just as expensive as a medium car: $13,000. If the cash are not the problem and you would rather pedal than driving here is what you get with the 2008 Optibike OB1:

• carbon fiber handlebars
• lightweight aluminum monocoque frame – guaranteed for life
• brakes, chainring and cable ferrules
• GPS satellite navigation
• Wireless PDA interface that provides info: motor temperature, battery charge or the remaining range
• 9 speed grip shift and two power modes – Fast and Economy
• 20ah Li-Ion – three years or 30,000 miles warranty
• UltraBright Twin 10w Halogen lights
• quick charger and TAG Wheels made from a DuPont resin
• a customized paint job.

Though these are great features the big deal about this hybrid electric bicycle is “the patented Motorized Bottom Bracket (MBB) which drives through the derauiller gear system to optimize acceleration and range at all pedaling speeds – is now oil cooled and delivers 850 continuous watts of power”. This is how the Optibike OB1 runs speeds of 30+ mph for decent ranges.

Only 24 units will be built in 2008 so if you want yours and you care about the environment, check Optibike.

via Gizmag

Here is an interesting story of a Hampshire village that decided to become less dependent on supermarkets and grow their own food.

Nick Snelgar a 58 years old villager got the idea in 2003 and his inspiration was the 1970s BBC sitcom where the characters where living off the land. It was never meant to boycott supermarkets but to reduce the carbon footprint by not using carrier bags or packages. Snelgar’s idea soon got roots and out of the 164 families that live in Martin, 101 signed up as members of the Future Farms for an annual £2 fee.

On a 8 acres rented land, the residents of Martin are working on a rotation system to grow vegetables, chickens or pigs. The goods are not only for their own consumption but for anyone that would like to buy. And people buy. 45 types of vegetables and 100 chickens a week are being sold by the VAT-registered co-operative.

Most popular thing the “future farmers” sell are the carrots. Everyone loves the smell of fresh carrots and knowing that they will be pulled out of the ground when sold, it’s great. The prices include the food cost to grow and a 20 percent profit. Just for the records in 2007 they had a £27,000 turnover.

“Our pork sausages, for example, are sometimes cheaper than sausages you buy in the supermarkets. We break even and all money gets ploughed back in.

When we started some people thought it would fail and we’d never last, but as the years have gone by more and more people have become involved.

It is also a talking point in the village and it’s great to see people walking to the village hall on a Saturday morning talking to each other. It has created a sense of belonging.” said Mr Snelgar.

The Martin community seems like a great place to live and what they’ve realized is truly amazin, it’s actually how villages used to be and it’s nothing wrong with it.

Source

During a research voyage to the Bering Sea in the summer of 2007 the guys at Greenpeace came out with an interesting discovery. A new species of sponge was found in the depths of the underwater canyons (Pribilof Canyon), a unique habitat that we don’t know much about except that fishing methods like bottom trawling may destroy it. They named the “new” sponge Aaptos kanuux from the Unungan word that means heart (kanuux).

Apart from the discovery, George Pletnikoff, Greenpeace USA’s Alaska Office Oceans Campaigner and a native of the Unungan communities on the Pribilof Islands warned that the deep waters are at risk because of overfishing and if these canyons won’t be able to pump the much needed nutrients such an ecosystem may fail and the life of people depending on these waters could be in jeopardy.

“We know so little about the seas around us and far less about the open oceans. This amazing discovery underscores the need for the UN to establish a global network of marine reserves and to stop the current free-for-all whereby habitats and species are being destroyed before scientists have even had a chance to give them names,” said Richard Page, an oceans campaigner for Greenpeace International.

There must be something we can do to protect marine life: “if we want fish tomorrow we need marine reserves now“.

It’s beautiful down there, check out this video.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmckLTZlVpg[/youtube]

Source

Hayword, California based, OptiSolar are trying their best to build the world’s largest solar photovoltaic farm (550-megawatt) 100 miles north of Los Angeles in San Luis Obispo County.

The company will produce clean and competitively priced electricity using low profile solar panels that will be placed on ballast on the ground. Thanks to the thin-film photovoltaic technology OptiSolar doesn’t need large structures that turbine-based systems require and will not result in noise pollution.

They are going to start construction in 2010 after completing the local approval process. When the solar photovoltaic farm will be ready it should be able to power up to 190,000 homes and would be a step forward to securing at least 20-percent of the State’s electricity from renewable energy sources by 2010.

Press release (pdf link)

If you were wondering who is the new mayor of London, he’s the Conservative candidate, Boris Johnson.

After a fiercely battle, Ken Livingstone the guy that got the Friends of Earth “Greenest Mayor” seal of approval, lost. He was the first mayor to take radical actions which turned out to be innovative decisions: extra fees for those that entered city center in a so called congestion charge and was planning to introduce a £25 gas-guzzler tax.

However, the new mayor of London, Boris Johnson is not going to stop the environment campaign and his environmental manifesto includes :

• will try to reduce CO2 emissions by 60% by 2025
• will stand against the Heathrow airport expansion
• will promote hybrid buses
• will ban plastic bags
• will support “schemes that pay Londoners to recycle”
• will protect gardens and green belts from development
• London will become a genuinely cycle-friendly city

photo by bobcatnorth

Just for the records Boris Johnson was ranked (note: pdf link) by the environmental group Friends of Earth, at 7 out of 10 while the former mayor of London got 9. Let’s hope Johnson will keep his promises.

via Celsias

After seeing the green wall in Madrid I expected to see more and more walls being covered with plants, but this one does it as well. In China at the Xicui entertainment complex in Beijing, they’ve created this massive and astounding self-sustaining color LED display wall that is completely powered with photovoltaic cells. They also claim that the GreenPix wall is the world’s largest …

The Zero Energy Media Wall uses the sun energy during the day to power itself in a colorful light show, at night. It was built for visitors attending the 2008 Beijing Olympics and it opens to the public this month. See the video below.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZfOy2fo8E4[/youtube]

Implemented: New York architecture firm Simone Giostra & Partners
GreenPix