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More efficient Concentrated Solar Power plants inspired by sunflowers

By Damir Beciri
One Comment14 January 2012

ps10_solar_power_tower.jpgIn our article about solar power, we already wrote about concentrated solar power (CSP) power plants. In order to function, these plants need a lot of space and sunlight, and researchers at MIT collaborated with RWTH Aachen University in Germany to come up with a design that increases the amount of sunlight its mirrors collect,… »

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Solar collector stationary system efficient as solar tracking systems

By Damir Beciri
3 Comments30 September 2011

uc-merced-solar-collector-teamTypically, solar collectors must move and track the sun to achieve optimal energy production, necessitating additional equipment that can be costly to install and complex to maintain. A team of researchers from the University of California, Merced, have developed an entirely stationary system which is equally effective as solar tracking systems while being much simpler… »

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Green architecture – Vicino House

By Damir Beciri
2 Comments8 February 2011

vicino-house-1Vicino House is another example of architecture practice where sustainable and luxurious intertwines, and it has earned LEED for Homes Platinum certification. Perched on the steep bank of Pacific Palisades, California, the house features spectacular 180-degree views of the Pacific Ocean and Santa Monica Bay. Materials used in the build and the building envelope are… »

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MIT researchers on a path to revive solar heat harvesting

By Rob Aid
One Comment30 October 2010

fulvalene-diruthenium-moleculeResearchers explored the thermo-chemical approach to capture solar energy since the 1970s, but nobody could find a chemical that could reliably and reversibly switch between two states, absorbing sunlight to go into one state and then releasing heat when it reverted to the first state. Such a compound was discovered in 1996, but it included… »