"The Sunbox USB has a panel that can be attached outside of a house or tent that connects to a box with several charging ports. Horizon claims the unit can power an LED light included with the device for as long as 11 hours, so long as the panel sees the six to eight hours of sun it needs for a full charge."
A battery at the end of its automotive life has still got about 70 to 80 per cent of the charging capability that it had when it was new," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted him, as saying. With that in mind, the company is exploring ways to give the battery a "second life" once it is finished its automotive application.
A new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance says altogether governments spent between $43 anf $46 billion on renewable energy and biofuels last year, not including indirect support, such as subsidies to corn farmers that help ethanol production. Direct subsidies of fossil fuels came to $557 billion, the report says.
This disparity raises the question--if the report is right and fossil fuels require so much backing, can they compete with renewables without government support? After all, some renewables--such as sugarcane based biofuels and some wind farms--can already compete with fossil fuels. Without the huge government subsidies for fossil fuels, wouldn't they be eclipsed by renewables?
It's really a question of long-term vision and the desire to rid oursleves of fossil fuel dependence. Do we look at short-term solutions just because the price of deployment is lower?
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"The U.S. utility market for solar is also expected to grow sharply over the next few years, but that will be possible only with government support, which solar thermal companies have been lobbying for.
BrightSource recently won $1.37 billion in federal loan guarantees, while Abengoa got $1.85 billion in conditional loan guarantees.
"The loan to Solana (a 280-megawatt plant in Arizona) is really an investment in America's environmental future because that loan will be repaid," Fred Morse, a senior adviser to Abengoa, said on a recent conference call."
"Sureblades, run by four former Vestas staff on the Isle of Wight, is pinning its hopes on a new type of blade that will be 100% recyclable."
The former International Harvester property -- now the solar plant -- had become an eyesore, a health hazard and a dumping ground for other communities' old tires and other debris.
The Archimede plant, near Syracuse in southeastern Sicily, is the first to use molten salts as a heat transfer fluid, Enel said in a statement.
The plant "can collect and store the heat of the sun for many hours in order to use it to generate electricity at night or in overcast conditions, [overcoming] the common limitation of this renewable source, namely that you can use it only when nature makes it available," Enel said.
Founder @ Dearing Group LLC.
George can be reached via email at george@dearinggroup.com or on Twitter, and Facebook Subscribe to this site via RSS here.
