Vada Energy blog

In our thirst for energy we gladly accept anything not done before, or old methods improved to work with new technologies. Still, we have to take into account all the possibilities these new ways of generating energy open for us, or close for other species or for our entire planet’s ecosystem.

Even though plastic solar cells are cheaper to produce and they have some advantages like lightweight and flexibility, they still miss one important thing: the efficiency. Researchers are optimistic that in the years to come, the polymer solar cells will be able to compete from the efficiency point of view with the silicon solar cells, [...]

Silicon photovoltaic cells are preferred in today’s market conditions and technological implementations because they are cheap, silicon is abundant and the ongoing research has made them more and more efficient. Still, manufacturing the PV cells is very energy consuming, and silicon PVs are very fragile and prone to breaking in the most mildly hostile situations [...]

Sometimes, what we get is not what we expect - at all. For example, a team of scientists from Northeastern University and from NIST discovered by mistake how to produce more solar power by using the residue of a process used to build arrays of titania nanotubes. Now, physorg.com interprets this invention through the perspective [...]

Do you want to charge your phone? Put in into direct sunlight and you won’t depend on plugs and cords anymore. At least this is what we are promised by this new cell phone.
The waterproof solar cell phone will be sold starting with June by Japan’s No.2 wireless provider, KDDI Corp. The gadget has been [...]

The transition to a fully-renewable global energetic system has to be done in small but sure steps. New inventions pave the way towards sustainable technologies, and their experimentation on small and medium scale improves their survival chances and lowers their implementation price.

The run after the new gold, the unlimited and cheap energy, is being pursued all over the world, not only in the US. There are states, like Israel, where solar power has been harnessed for decades in the form of hot water for its inhabitants. All those solar water heaters have been build by economical [...]

The Holy Grail of energy was, is, and will be the solar power. Numerous solutions of converting solar power have existed along the centuries, and people have always used the Sun to power things up, except for the last hundred years or so - that’s the main reason we all got into troubles with mother [...]

A space-based solar electricity program could soon power the Californians’ homes. The project belongs to the state’s biggest energy company, PG&E, and it aims to generate 200 megawatts in the next 15 years. The company hopes that its plans will become operational until 2016 and is now trying to establish a partnership with a company [...]

The world’s largest solar plant is about to be built in Florida. The construction will begin in June next year, and the entire project will cost approximately two billion dollars. A Florida utility company and a real estate developer intend to establish the United States’ first town powered completely by solar energy

There have already been successful experiments involving solar powered boats, and there have already been people sailing them in the last ten years. Still, all of them have something in common: they use photovoltaic cells as an intermediate between the sunlight the mechanical work.

People find ways to reduce pollution every day. But is it in the interest of the society to use these inventions to do something good?
Jon Boehmer, a Norwegian based in Kenya, developed a solar powered cooker that can reduce greenhouse gases at a large scale. The cardbox named the “Kyoto Box”, costs 5 Euro($ 6,60) [...]

Using microscopic creatures as our friends is not a new idea, not it has been used recently. Nowadays, pushed by our green energy needs, we have to find solutions by using and probably killing some of our little friends to make us energy. This phrase sounded like the madhouse, now let’s get to the real [...]

The officials at California’s South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID) and solar energy experts at Denver-based Conergy Americas have developed the world’s first single-axis solar tracking system which is stated to generate about 419kW of electricity. The utility will save the irrigation district nearly $400,000 a year in utility costs.

New types of solar cells emerge every month, but this particular kind has caught my attention, not due to its efficiency (approx 1%), but to the idea that conceived it.