A United States-based company is seeking to produce the tiniest solar cells ever made. Semprius, based in Durham, North Carolina, was inspired by research conducted by Professor John A Rogers and his team at the University of Illinois.

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Aeon Co is a leading retailer in Japan. Kyocera Corp is a major solar cell manufacturer. The two have formed a business alliance for the marketing of solar cells.

“We have focused on door-to-door sales thus far. The alliance with Aeon will change our business model,” said Kyocera President. The company aims to boost its solar cell sales by making the most of Aeon’s retail outlets. Aeon sees some 10 million shoppers every year.

Meanwhile, Aeon President said, “We are aiming to enhance our reform business. In that process, solar cells will be a key product.”

Aeon and Kyocera hope to install solar cell modules on 10,000 existing houses by the end of fiscal 2011.

Shops will open at “Aeon Lake Town” (Saitama Prefecture, Japan) and “Aeon Mall Hinode” (Tokyo) in the fall of 2009.  Kansai will see them at at shopping malls in the spring of 2010.

Kyocera will conduct a caravan tour to promote sales that will visit shopping malls all over Japan. Aeon Credit Service Co Ltd will start offering “solar loans.” Aeon Delight Co Ltd, will run standing counters, sell solar cell modules and offer installation services as part of Aeon’s “Housing Reform” sections.

Aeon has solar cell modules installed at 122 of its shopping malls as of the end of fiscal 2008. Three-fourths of those bought solar cell modules from Kyocera.

Look for an increased penetration of solar cells in Japan because of cooperations such as this where companies can attract many customers who are potential buyers.

Solar Bullet Train Design

Bullet trains powered by solar energy were associated to a very distant future. But with the American government planning for a high-speed rail system, the future of sun and rails together is about to become history sooner than we ever thought.

Brainchild of the Arizona based Solar Bullet LLC (you know where the impetus came from), this new train would tread at 220 mph — Tucson to Phoenix in half hour — with solar power as its source of energy. Energy that is converted to 110 megawatts of electricity required to set the wheels in motion, using the solar panel mounted tracks.

In an attempt to save the waning world, solar power commuters could be our best chance and although this project involves a heavy cost ($28 billion), there is a need for a serious head start. The solar-powered Bullet could be the ideal beginning at least as far as the developed world is concerned. [via Inhabitat]

Palmdale was set to be the location for a new international airport in LA. However, it never got off the ground. Today, however, there is good news! Apparently the authorities have finally come up with a plan for the location. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power wants to install a solar farm on some 4,000 (largely undeveloped) acres of the land.

Palmdale Regional Airport

With solar power becoming the energy source of choice as the most effective and environmentally friendly way to power buildings, LA official have decided to set up a solar energy structure that can generate as much as 100 megawatts of environmentally friendly energy.

The whole plan looked like a good deal considering that a pending proposition requires Los Angeles to produce at least 400 megawatts via solar power by 2014. This project alone could provide 1/4 of the energy needed to meet the city’s goal. No problems, right?

Wrong!

If all passed with no complaints, Los Angeles could be well on its way to a cleaner and greener future.

But…but… is there anyone who could oppose such a fantastic proposition? Indeed there is. Apparently there are other activists who think it is unnecessary to build such a large solar power facility and want to use the land for something else.

It’s hard enough when the environmentalists and land grubbers can’t agree. It’s even harder when the environmentalists can’t agree among themselves, eh?

Image by gtarded

While the rest of the world is in an economic slump, Wal-mart keeps chugging along. It makes sense to me. When all else fails, which is the case these days, Wal-mart is still the cheapest place to buy anything … anything that the company sells.

Wal-Mart aims to buy the green power at prices equal to or less than traditional energy.

Wal-mart is about to put some life into the renewable energy market. The company announced on Earth Day that it plans to double the size of its solar power initiative in the next 18 months. Some 10-20 stores in and distribution centers in California will get solar panels on their roof tops. Sam already has solar set ups on 18 stores in CA and HI.

Wal-mart will save the equivalent of enough energy for 2,600 homes or keeping 4,000 cars off the road each year. Until Sam sells those cars, I suppose. And Wal-mart won’t buy the solar setups outright, but will instead pay only for what it uses under a 10-year power purchase agreement. The stores that use solar power get 20-30% of its electricity from above.

“The pilot program led us to the point that we believe in solar,” says Kim Saylors-Laster, Wal-Mart’s vice president of energy.

And, that is good news for the renewable energy market.

I wonder what Wal-mart thinks about nuclear power?

Livermore is a bit inland from the Bay Area of San Francisco. What that means in practical terms is that it gets real hot real fast and can be pretty windy. But Livermore Cinemas is not worried. The cinema is now the United State’s largest solar-powered movie theater. Largest of a mere handful, but still has the bragging rights.

Livermore Cinemas Becomes Largest Solar-powered Theater in the US

The announcement of the achievement was timed when Disney nature movie “Earth” began to play nationwide on— Earth Day.

The 20K square foot roof is covered with a 132-kilowatt system covers the bulk of the theater’s roof. It is not only the largest known solar-power system for a movie theater but also one of the largest solar “modules” anywhere in the country.

The modules are not like traditional solar panels. They are cylindrical tubes about the length and width of shower curtain rods. They are lined up side-by-side and put on a flat roof where they cannot be blown away.

The modules are good for areas like Livermore which is also quite windy as well as hot. When the solar panels don’t work, it’s cloudy and windy enough for the wind turbines on nearby hills to fill in.

There are some 800 modules, about 21 miles of solar cells and accounts for about 35% of the electric needs of the movie house. We wonder if when God turns out the light (the sun goes down) do the lights in the movie house go off, too?

According to the EPA, the Livermore system will save more than 3,400 metric tons of greenhouse gases over the next 25 years.

Source

The Kyoto Box is probably the cheapest and most useful version of the fancy solar cooker (solar ovens) models, we’ve seen. Winner of the contest for sustainable and practical green ideas— organized by the Forum for the Future, it’s a an amazing design by Jon Boehmer, a Norwegian based in Kenya, that plans to save the trees, reduce carbon emissions and most importantly save lives.

Since much of the rural part of the developing world still uses firewood to boil contaminated water and cook food, the Kyoto Box is definitely a clean alternative to a couple of billion people. Made from two cardboard boxes, which use reflective foil and black paint (to maximize absorption of solar energy) and is covered in a transparent lid, the temperatures inside this can go up to a good 80°C on a fairly sunny day.

Named after the international environment protocol, the Kyoto Box is perfect to capture sun for those who live in tropical and semi-tropical regions of Africa, India and South-East Asia. And since it only costs $6, it’s damn affordable and helps to keep more trees standing. Don’t you think?

Kudos to Jon!

Japan says it is a leader in solar cell manufacturing. Taiwan and China want a piece of Japan’s solar panel market, especially considering the onslaught of business that is expected.

Meanwhile, a Taiwanese solar cell manufacturer Gintech Energy Corp. will supply Japanese companies this year on an OEM basis.

Low-cost production is why Gintech hopes to sell 50,000kw to 75,000 kW worth of solar cells each year to Japan. Gintech is already talking with Japanese clients – specifically, those companies that assemble and market solar power systems.

Gintech has a solar cell production capacity of 660,000 kW a year in Taiwan. Gintech’s major market is Europe and has sold just 5,000 kW of solar cells to a Japan.

Suntech Power Holdings Co. is the world’s third-largest solar cell manufacturer. The Chinese producer hopes to begin a major sales push in Japan also this year. “We are now able to supply sufficient volume of products to the Japanese market,” Chief Executive Officer Zhengrong Shi says.

And we’re on a good track, isn’t it?

Original image by Okinawa Soba

With Tokyo expected to make buying surplus solar power at double the cost a requirement demand for solar panels is expected to climb in Japan.

Image by richardmasoner

Sharp Corp. and Kyocera Corp. are Japan’s biggest solar cell manufacturers. However, Chinese, Taiwanese and other foreign solar cell makers are getting ready to enter the market in Japan.

There is a 2nd International Photovoltaic Power Generation Expo happening in Tokyo this week.

1. Taiwan’s Sun Well Solar Corp. has thin-film solar cells. The company already sells two types of solar cells, one see-through, mainly in Germany and Spain.
2. Chinalight Solar Co. manufacturers and sells machinery hopes to start selling its solar cells in Japan through the machinery sales network.
3. Most Chinese and Taiwanese sell their solar goods in Europe. Now they take aim at Japan.
4. Some Japanese chemical companies are aiming to enter into the solar cell business.
5. Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. is working on an organic thin-film solar cell  with built-in solar cells.
6. Fujikura Ltd. is displaying pigment-sensitized solar cells at the expo.
7. Kyocera is displaying a  polysilicon module cell that maximizes the light-capturing area by placing the electrodes on its back.
8. Mitsubishi Electric Corp. is promoting a polysilicon solar cell that uses infrared rays.
9. Sharp’s is displaying a solar module that requires an installation space of just 13 sq. meters.

In the end, the customer and the Earth will win this competition, eh?

Source (sub req)

A U.S. company, Solarmer, is developing plastic solar cells for portable electronic devices. Technology for the project was invented at the University of Chicago.  A commercial-grade prototype will be ready later this year, said the vice president of IP development and strategic alliances at Solarmer.

The prototype measures eight square inches (50 square centimeters) and is expected to achieve 8 percent efficiency with a lifetime of at least three years.  New materials with higher efficiencies are considered a key in the industry. Plastic solar cells are behind in terms of the efficiency … for now.

The invention is a new semiconductor material called PTB1. The material converts sunlight into electricity. The active layer of PTB1 is a mere 100 nanometers thick. The width is approximately 1,000 atoms. Synthesizing the material even in very small amounts is a time-consuming, multi-step process.

The University of Chicago licensed the patent rights to the technology to Solarmer last year in September.

Solarmer will sponsor research at the university. The advantage of this technology – simple, says the pair.