User-Unfriendly Green Gear: Weird Solar-Powered Cell Phone

Imagine that you’re forced to call 911 for some extremely emergent reason – like, say, a psycho killer in a clown costume is chasing you with a chainsaw (my worst nightmare). You whip out your totally awesome solar-powered cell phone… but, wait. You’ve got to mess with weird little stickers before you can place a call.

Okay, so the clown scenario is a little far-fetched, but still – you want your cell phone to be ready when you need it. That makes the strange “Label With Green” phone concept a little hard to swallow, since you’re required to power individual components of the phone with ‘Eco-Green Electronic Labels’.

From Yanko Design, via Treehugger:

Upgrading a redundant cellphone means adding to the pile of toxic trash that accumulates all around the world. The Label With Green is a concept phone aims at weaning you off the upgrade mania. To power the phone you need to use ECO-Green Electronic Labels, which are solar paper labels that juice up the phones various components (display, speaker, keypad, camera, and solar battery) independently. So to turn on any function, say display, you need to stick on enough solar labels onto the rear cover to power it.

The more functions of the phone you want to use, the more solar stickers you need to paste on the rear.

The idea is to make you conscious of the amount of toxic waste being accumulated due to improper disposal of electronic gadgets, our greed for upgrades and the amount of energy we consume to power our stuff. Essentially you can use this concept for a variety of gadgets.

It’s an interesting idea, especially given all the toxic electronic waste that is generated every day in the form of outdated cell phones. But the concept needs some work. As Treehugger noted, the ‘Label with Green’ phone is great as an educational device, but those of us looking for a more environmentally friendly cell phone that’s actually usable will have to keep waiting.

Link [Yanko Design] via [Treehugger]

The Pope Goes Solar at Home in Germany

Pope Benedict XVI is continuing his considerable green streak by adding solar panels to his home in Germany. In June, the Vatican announced plans to add photovoltaic cells to the roof of the Paul VI auditorium to illuminate, heat and cool the building. Benedict XVI was also declared “The Green Pope” by Newsweek in 2008 for his efforts to urge Catholics to take care of the earth.

From Ecorazzi:

For his home near near Regensburg, Germany, over 580 square feet of photovoltaic solar panels were installed on the rooftop. The only condition for the project was that no church funds be used — so naturally, everything was donated. When tweaked and running, the panels are expected to output about 5,800 kilowatt hours of energy a year, which corresponds to saving 11 barrels of petroleum.

The project was commissioned not only for the environmental benefits, but also to produce income (which may amount to $3,500 a year), by providing the German electricity grid with energy. According to a German newspaper, the money will go to an association that offers skills and job training to disadvantaged youths.

This is awesome, considering the huge amount of influence the Pope has on so many people. For a long time, many Christians have seemed pretty apathetic about protecting the environment for whatever reason (in the event of the rapture, who cares what’s left of the planet?). So, it’s nice to see things like this – and “creation care” – taking hold.

Link [Ecorazzi]
Photo credit: Flickr user Wayne National Forest

Solar Electric Vehicle Company Provides Free Green Rides

Colleges, parks, museums and other institutions now have a green way to shuttle people around – for free! – thanks to the Solar Electric Vehicle Company. The company provides emissions-free, solar-powered people movers that are paid for by corporate sponsors so that more people will be able to breathe cleaner air, creating a healthier environment.

From SolarEVco.com:

For every solar electric vehicle in a community, citizens will have access to pollution-free transportation. For every vehicle at a university campus, more students will be able to cut down on their gas bills, as well as feel more secure traveling on campus. For every vehicle at any park, museum, garden, or zoo, there will be one less dirty, costly, petrol burning vehicle which keeps us dependent on foreign oil, and which keeps our economy inescapably tied to the price of a barrel of oil.

At the same time, while every solar electric vehicle is creating cleaner, greener, and better communities and institutions, they are also creating cleaner, greener, and better exposure for advertisers and sponsors. This allows them to connect more intimately and highlight their green commitment to their target markets. This is truly a model in which everyone wins.

Each Solar Electric People Mover is topped with two solar panels, which charge six 8-volt batteries. This enables the electric vehicle to go longer between charges, increasing the range by up to 33%.

It’s a pretty rad concept. Imagine how much cleaner the air would be in cities around America if even a fraction of universities and tourist attractions used these vehicles instead of traditional fossil fuel-powered vehicles. It could make a huge difference!

Link [SolarEVco.com]

Lower-Cost Solar Cells Can be Painted onto Rooftops

Nanoparticle ‘inks’ could soon be used to produce solar cells that can simply be sprayed onto a rooftop or other surfaces, and though this sounds like expensive technology, the chemical engineer who created it says it could reduce costs to one-tenth of their current price. Brian Korgel of the University of Texas at Austin says he believes that this reduction in price could thrust solar power into competition with fossil fuels.

From Science Daily:

For the past two years, Korgel and his team have been working on this low-cost, nanomaterials solution to photovoltaics – or solar cell – manufacturing. Korgel is collaborating with professors Al Bard and Paul Barbara, both of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Professor Ananth Dodabalapur of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. They recently showed proof-of-concept in a recent issue of Journal of the American Chemical Society.

The inks could be printed on a roll-to-roll printing process on a plastic substrate or stainless steel. And the prospect of being able to paint the “inks” onto a rooftop or building is not far-fetched.

“You’d have to paint the light-absorbing material and a few other layers as well,” Korgel said. “This is one step in the direction towards paintable solar cells.”

Currently, Korgel and his team at Innovalight, a company he founded, have been able to develop solar-cell prototypes using copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) with efficiencies at one percent. If they can get to 10 percent, there’s great potential for commercialization.

That’s definitely promising considering the fact that America’s solar industry is lagging behind China’s due to the fact that we just can’t seem to compete with their prices. It will be interesting to see how far Korgel and his team can take this technology.

Link [Science Daily]

China Kicking America’s Ass in Race to Go Solar

Leave it to China to find a way to produce just about anything on the cheap, and do it really quickly. Despite the Obama administration’s dedication to getting America’s clean energy industry off the ground, China is leaving us in the dust and it’s looking unlikely that we’ll get a good chance to catch up.

In fact, the Chinese are preparing to build plants right here in the United States to assemble their products, to get around protectionist legislation.

From The New York Times:

The Obama administration is determined to help the American industry. The energy and Treasury departments announced this month that they would give $2.3 billion in tax credits to clean energy equipment manufacturers. But even in the solar industry, many worry that Western companies may have fragile prospects when competing with Chinese companies that have cheap loans, electricity and labor, paying recent college graduates in engineering $7,000 a year.

“I don’t see Europe or the United States becoming major producers of solar products — they’ll be consumers,” said Thomas M. Zarrella, the chief executive of GT Solar International, a company in Merrimack, N.H., that sells specialized factory equipment to solar panel makers around the world.

China’s commitment to solar energy isn’t likely to make a big dent in the fight against global warming, especially given the country’s own skyrocketing emissions, much of which are caused by the pollution that goes hand-in-hand with running ultra-low-cost factories.

America still has the world’s largest supplier of photovoltaic cells – First Solar in Tempe, Arizona – but China’s Suntech is not far behind. Suntech plans to build a solar panel assembly plant in the United States “to facilitate sales — ‘buy American’ and things like that”, according to the company’s president for global sales and marketing.

Link [The New York Times]
Photo credit: OregonDOT

Obama’s Grandmother Gets New Solar Panels

Obama’s step-grandmother, Mama Sarah Obama, just got a brand new set of solar panels installed on the roof of her home in Kenya. Her previous ones were a gift from an airline executive who wanted her to see her grandson’s historic election on television. Sarah Obama lives in a village that does not have electricity.

From Ecorazzi:

Fast forward almost a year later and Mama Sara is now living off-the-grid with clean energy powering her entire home. Young Kenyans working with Greenpeace’s Solar Generation initiative installed the panels, along with a brand new roof. “I am very pleased that my home has been improved thanks to solar energy and I’ll make sure my grandson hears about it,” Mama Sarah said. “Solar power is clean, reliable and affordable, unlike paraffin that is widely used in the area. Also, we now have qualified youth in the village who can help with the upkeep of the systems.”

The panels were installed as part of a 20-day workshop hosted by Greenpeace’s Solar Generation with 25 participants from the Kibera Community Youth Programme, along with community members from the village of Nyangíoma Kogelo.

Link [Ecorazzi]
Photo credit: Richard Mark Dobson / GREENPEACE

Solar ‘Sunflowers’ Provide Energy and Décor

Many people are put off by the less-than-impressive aesthetics of solar panels, maintaining that they take away from the visual impact of a home or business, while others insist that looks shouldn’t be a factor. But if more solar panels were like these flower-shaped ones by public art team Harries/Heder, nobody would have any cause to quibble.

15 of these ‘sunflowers’ sprouted up in Austin, Texas, on a pedestrian and bike path between the village of Mueller and highway I-35. From Inhabitat:

When construction on Mueller, a mixed-use urban village in Austin, Texas first began nearly a decade ago, developers set up a number of environmental and aesthetic rules to safeguard the green spaces and keep the town from taking on an industrial feel. So when a massive retail lot was proposed, Mueller agreed to let it be built on one condition: loading docks behind the stores had to be covered up. Enter Sunflowers, An Electric Garden — Austin’s largest public art installation.

The solar flowers collect sunlight during the day to power their own blue LEDs at night, turning them into an illuminated art display. Unused power is fed back into the grid.

Solar + art = smart! Design like this makes solar energy desirable to everyone.

Link [Inhabitat]

Great Green Job of the Week: Solar PV Installation Instructor/School Director, Solariv

Solariv is seeking qualified technical instructors for contract teaching opportunities for our solar thermal and photo voltaics training center in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Class length is 6 days long and Solariv is looking for an instructor to spearhead the school and grow the program offering.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Create and manage Solariv’s Solar PV Installation training programs.
• Publish training tools for students
• Conduct needs assessment to determine training and course opportunities.
• Deliver training to end users and conduct train-the-trainer classes
• Interact with relevant government and local organizations to develop specifications for the content of courses.
• Prepare lesson plans including, course design, method, media, and documentation to be presented; manages enrollment, tracking of participants and continuous improvement of both courses and training methodology with goal to expand course offering
• Main school administrator responsible for course schedule, outline and growing students.

Qualifications:

• Bachelors degree in education, business, engineer, or related technical discipline
• NABCEP installation certification (ISP Instructor Certification desired)
• Minimum 3 years experience installing solar thermal or PV systems
• Classroom teaching experience
• Demonstrated familiarity with adult learning styles
• The ability to accept and offer positive and constructive feedback
• Must possess excellent communication skills (written and verbal)

Benefits: A competitive benefits package commensurate with experience.
Spanish a plus! From local community a plus!

Apply at the Treehugger Jobs Board.

Link [Treehugger Jobs] + [Solariv]

Solar Blimp Created by French Students to Fly Over English Channel

A solar-powered, emissions-free blimp designed by engineers and built by French students will soon begin a journey across the English Channel. The helium blimp is 22 meters long and is made up of an aluminum frame covered in an outer wrap made from nylon and polyethelene. Semi-flexible solar panels affixed to the blimp are capable of providing 2.4 kilowatts of power.

From Wired:

“Right now we use a surprisingly small motor which powers two big red propellers,” Felix Hildenbrand, one of the people involved in the project, told Wired.com. The propellers can push the blimp, which is 5.5 meters or about 18 feet in diameter, along at as much as 25 mph.

“All the work was done by students of engineering schools or technical high schools,” Hildenbrand said. “We want to cross the channel with this prototype by the end of the summer.” At the Strait of Dover, it should take a little less than an hour.

After a year and half of work, the team just wrapped up a successful display of their final creation at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget.

The team is preparing for a test flight in two weeks before sending the blimp, which has been dubbed ‘Nephelios’, out over the channel. Hildenbrand says they don’t have military ambitions for the blimp – they just want to show that it’s possible.

It may seem strange to mix new tech – solar power – with the old tech of blimps, but it’s an interesting mashup and if this project is successful, it could inspire all kinds of solar-powered aviation creativity.

Link [Wired]

Solar-Powered Pop-Up-Shop for London Entrepreneurs

Creative entrepreneurs aren’t exactly having an easy go at things during this recession. It’s hard to find a good retail space that’s affordable and accessible to a wide range of consumers. But now, thanks to an innovative – and green – invention by designer Wayne Hemingway and London mayor Boris Johnson, they’ve got a portable place to sell their wares with virtually no overhead costs. The KiosKiosk is a rent-free space with solar panels to power laptops, lights and even a sewing machine.

From Jamble Mag, via Green Living Ideas:

Businesses signed up for the kiosk include Jamble favorites, Above & Below London, the makers of recycled tube shoes. Other creatives include the Arthouse, who exhibit and sell art work created by adults with learning disabilities, and Invisible Children, a charity focused on spreading awareness of child soldiers in Africa.

On the launch of the KiosKiosk, Wayne Hemingway, said: ‘We believe that the KiosKiosk concept is a simple and cost effective way to spice up our towns and cities. This architecturally interesting, easy to construct retail space, gives entrepreneurs and creative minds a chance to have a go and put their ideas in front of the public to encourage an enterprise culture. This also adds excitement to our streets. We’ve been overwhelmed by the phenomenal response to our call for KiosKiosk occupants proving through this experiment, that the demand and talent is out there.’

If you’re in London, check out the calendar on the KiosKiosk website to see which vendors will be occupying the space through the end of summer.

What a gem – there’s no reason why this concept can’t be spread to cities all over the world. Not only does it give small businesses lots of exposure, it’s cool design and eco-friendly to boot! What’s not to love?

Link [Jamble Mag] + [KiosKiosk] via [Green Living Ideas]

Military Blocks Massive Solar Power Project in Nevada

A vacant piece of land in the Nevada desert gets year-round sunlight and has existing transmission lines left over from a mining operation – plus, there are no issues with wildlife. It seems like the perfect place to build a solar power operation.

But a solar project by Los Angeles company Solar Reserve that would have featured a vast field of mirrors, a molten-salt storage facility and a 600-foot ‘power tower’ has hit a major roadblock: opposition from the United States military.

Why would the military want to block the $700 million project, especially with an administration that is so keen to advance renewable energy? It turns out that piece of vacant land is too close for comfort to Nellis Air Force Base, and officials say it would compromise classified aspects of the Air Force’s training range.

From The Washington Post:

The Nevada plant was supposed to be a showcase for SolarReserve: one of the largest solar plants in the world, using heat-transfer technology developed for space rockets by United Technologies. A field of mirrors would focus sunlight on a receiver on a tall tower, where it would heat the molten salt to 1,050 degrees Fahrenheit, much hotter than other solar plants using similar technology. The molten salt would then flow to a storage tank, where its heat would generate steam and power conventional steam turbines similar to those in coal plants.

“We’re trying to build a facility that runs 24 hours a day,” said Kevin B. Smith, SolarReserve’s chief executive.

But Belote said the solar plant would compromise classified aspects of the Air Force’s training range and would interfere with radar. He said the Air Force would tell the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, which owns most of the land in the state, to reject the proposal. (The bureau controls more than 20 million acres of land with wind energy potential and more than 30 million acres with solar potential.)

SolarReserve officials “did a lot of [research] with publicly available tools,” Belote said. “But when they came back for an official look the answer was, ‘Man, that’s still too close.’ And because of the sensitivity [of information], I can’t tell them why. . . . Unfortunately for them and us, there’s stuff on the Nevada testing range we don’t tell anyone about.” Belote suggested they try another site, either 100 miles to the southeast or about 80 miles to the northeast, near the town of Mesquite.

SolarReserve is understandably upset, considering that they were pointed to this site by the air Force after an initial site was rejected as too close to the training base. They’ve spent 18 months in negotiations.

Of course, this just makes people intensely curious about what goes on at that Air Force training base, doesn’t it? The gears are turning in the minds of UFO believers.

Link [The Washington Post]

Solar Energy from Africa Could Power Europe

Europe could soon be partially powered by solar energy harvested in North Africa, if a new project called Desertec become reality. The project aims to capture solar energy with a method called concentrating solar power (CSP), transferring it from the desert to Europe through high-voltage transmission lines.

Last week, a group of German businesses announced plans to pursue financing for the project, which is expected to have a price tag around €400 billion, or $555 billion.

From The New York Times:

Munich Re, the large German insurance company, is leading the charge to bring the concept to fruition, and a meeting is scheduled for mid-July to formalize the coalition, which includes companies like Siemens, Deutsche Bank and the energy giant E.On.

“The time now is perfect to start this initiative,” Alexander Mohanty, a Munich Re spokesman, said in an e-mail message Friday, “as climate protection has become an urgent issue and our economies need new impulses.”

Large-scale C.S.P. projects — essentially expansive fields of solar collectors, or mirrors, that concentrate rays from the intense desert sun to heat water, generate steam, drive turbines and produce electricity — are not revolutionary. Such projects have been undertaken in the U.S. Southwest, Spain and elsewhere.

Once completed, Desertec would take the crown as the largest centralized solar power production project on earth. But, not everyone thinks it’s a good idea. Critics question why Europeans should rely on African territory for solar power, when they could harvest it in their own backyards. Frank Asbeck, CEO of SolarWorld, Germany’s largest solar power company, believes that building solar plants in politically unstable countries would entail the same dependency problems as oil.

It also remains to be seen whether Africans would even benefit from this project. Do we really need to rip yet another resource out of their hands?

Link [The New York Times]
Photo credit: Flickr user Shayan

Keep Cool This Summer with a Solar-Powered Fan

Hot days suck when you don’t have air conditioning, or just don’t want to waste the energy and money. So, we really wish that designs like this one were available commercially.

The Solar Fan by Stuart James Sharples can help keep you cool whether you’re at home, in the car or at the office (assuming you have a window close by). It attaches to glass with four little suction cups, drawing power from the sun’s rays shining through your window. The fan head can be tilted to the optimum position.

Until this brilliant concept design goes into production, keep yourself cool with the less awesome but still serviceable Solar Desk Fan by Solar Winds, $21.95.

Link [Coroflot] via [Ecofriend]

UC Berkeley Student Graduates with ‘Small Green World’ on Cap

One University of California at Berkeley student definitely stood out from the crowd at graduation this year, with a ‘small green world’ on his cap complete with a working solar panel.

Roland Saekow, a Product Design major, created this fun little diorama with grass paper, miniature trees, a working solar panel that drives the little wind turbine and a sun that can be made to rise by remote control.

Saekow was involved in several sustainable groups on campus and helped pass the Green Initiative Fund (TGIF) legislation on campus, which generates $200,000 annually for green projects at Berkeley. He was also the Waste Reduction Manager at his housing cooperative for four semesters and taught a course on the impact of waste on our past, present and future.

If this amazingly creative little cap is any indication, we’ll be seeing some awesome sustainable products from Saekow in the years to come!

Link [AP Community]

DIY Solar Charger Takes Top Prize in Instructables’ EarthJustice Contest

30 million people bought an iPhone or iPod Touch last year alone, and that adds up to a whole lot of electricity use when recharging. Now, they can all build their own DIY solar charger thanks to Instructables’ EarthJustice contest winner Jerome Kelty.

From EarthJustice:

Kelty, 41, of Boulder County, Colo., calculated that charging those units every other day for a year would put more than 30 million pounds of carbon dioxide, the main cause of global warming, into the atmosphere. So he bought a portable charger kit and with a few simple tools, in less than an hour, modified it to run on solar power. The homemade device charges his iPod Touch in a few hours without batteries or plugging it in, and also works with most devices with a USB port.

“Individuals can do a lot to fight global warming,” said Kelty, who will receive a new, “green” Macintosh laptop. “I can ride my bike instead of driving my car. I can use more efficient appliances and use solar and wind power whenever possible. An iPod recharger is a small thing, but it adds up.”

Congratulations to Kelty, who won a Mac Book Pro for this awesome DIY tutorial. Check out the full written instructions at Instructables, along with the hundreds of other interesting entries from a portable wind generator to an electric motorcycle.

Link [EarthJustice] + [Instructables]

Solar-Powered 6-in-1 Robot Drives, Flies and Floats

For $21 you can distract your kids – or amuse yourself – with a fun kit that can be transformed into six different solar-powered robots. 25 pieces easily fit together to create a dog, a boat, a moving plane, a car, a windmill and a desktop plane thanks to a solar panel mounted on the top.

The pieces clip together easily, there are no screws involved and it can be charged up with a 50-watt or brighter halogen bulb when the sun isn’t shining. Check it out at the Red5 gadget shop.

Link [Red 5] via [Greenpacks.org]

The World’s First Fully Solar-Powered Stadium

Solar panels are making their way onto a wide variety of buildings across the world including college residence halls, movie theaters and now, sports stadiums. Taiwan has a newly built stadium created for the 2009 World Games in July, and it’s 100% solar powered.

From Meta Efficient:

Designed by Japanese architect Toyo Ito, the stadium incorporates 8,844 solar panels on the roof. The roof will generate enough energy to power the building’s 3,300 lights and two giant television screens.

On hot days, the stadium will generate more power than it needs, so the Taiwanese government plans to sell the excess capacity. A Taiwanese official said that the panels will generate 1.14 million KWh per year, preventing 660 tons of annual carbon dioxide.

Brilliant! Why not take advantage of all that sunlight? And it’s beautifully designed, as well. The solar panels were incorporated in such a way that they blend in effortlessly with the architecture. Next up: Yankee Stadium? We can dream.

Link [Meta Efficient]

Build a Free DIY Recycled Solar Powered Stove

Long, warm, sunny days are on the way – and that means plenty of free solar energy to cook many of your summer meals. But, what if you don’t have the money to spend on a solar oven? EcoFriend pointed us to a great tutorial on Instructables.com that shows you how to create one from recycled materials without spending a penny.

From Ecofriend:

We mentioned a combination of recycling and alternative energy in our previous post. The Solar Insider bench is a concept yet, but this fantastic solar-powered stove is a practical example of the same blend. The maker used a discarded 62-inch satellite dish, used CDs and other junk he found around. It stands on a base made up of 3” ABS plastic pipe filled with concrete and re-rod. After making sure that it’ll stand stable, the maker attached most of the CDs with the help of 1/8″ X 3/4″ fender washers and 4 by 3/8″ machine screws. For the outer two layers he found a tube of leftover silicon adhesive.

After completing the installation, a temperature of 400 degrees was easily achievable without any external expenses. You can find a detailed description in six steps at Instructables.

The instructions are easy to follow, and the results are actually kind of cool looking – like a big, weird garden sculpture from another planet.  Solar cooking is a great option during the summer since you don’t have to turn on your oven and unnecessarily heat up your kitchen. Oh yeah, and did we mention enough times that the entire project is FREE? Free energy, free solar oven, and you don’t have to sweat your balls off in the kitchen when it’s 90 degrees outside. How can you resist?

Link [Ecofriend]

Is it Green? Louis Vuitton Solar-Powered Suitcase

‘High-tech suitcase’. ‘Sustainable Louis Vuitton’. The words in each of those phrases don’t seem to jive, yet put them all together and you’ve got this monstrosity, reportedly commissioned by a Chinese millionaire.

From the Alternative Consumer:

This luxury suitcase contains an assortment of gadgets and unnecessary tripe like a TV, DVD player, coffee maker and a handy solar panel to keep it all percolating.  Just the array of stuff you’ll need if your private jet should go down in the jungle or that third world country you’re visiting to exploit just doesn’t have enough juice out at the diamond mine.  Plenty of storage for you fancy underoos and such.

It’s hard to imagine the sort of people who would pay out the ass for Louis Vuitton in the first place even sitting in the sun. I suppose Mr. Mystery Chinese Millionaire makes his servant take the solar panel out to get some rays while he sips tea in the parlor.

Although, it would probably come in handy when you’re hankering to surf the internet sustainably while lounging on a luxury yacht. Hmm, I’ll keep that in mind next time I’m in the market for some ridiculously overpriced, ugly luggage and solar-powered gadgets.

Link [Alternative Consumer]

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