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Fight back against spiralling energy costs with solar PV

On December 20, 2011 in Energy, Technology

Homeowners in the UK have been hit by wave after wave of energy price increases over the last few years, putting a strain on already squeezed household budgets. During 2011, the Big Six energy suppliers – British Gas, EDF Energy, SSE, E.ON, Scottish Power and Npower – have continually come under fire for raising their rates, leading to more people switching to alternative energy sources like Evoenergy solar panels.

In July, British Gas announced that gas and electricity would cost 18 per cent and 16 per cent more respectively. This was followed in August by E.ON increasing electricity prices by 11.4 per cent and gas by 18.1 per cent, while in November EDF’s gas and electricity prices went up by 4.5 per cent and 15.4 per cent respectively.

A survey by independent energy firm SmartestEnergy recently predicted that wholesale energy prices will rise by at least 40 per cent over the next decade. Based on the responses of 71 leading industry figures, the study found that more than a third believed costs will hit between £70 and £79.99 per MWh by 2021, while just eight per cent thought prices would be the same or lower than today’s. Continue Reading →

Sour Economy? Green Jobs!

On September 24, 2011 in Energy, Technology

The Dow Jones plunged yet again this week, amidst European economic turmoil and doubts that the American political system can get its act together in getting the unemployed back to work. All the while, the green energy movement sits idly by and thousands, perhaps millions of hours of labor involved in that process goes uncompleted.

The Great Depression was solved by the massive stimulus that was World War Two. In a world where we’re fortunate enough to avoid major warfare, we need a similar call to action. Updating the country to meet the energy efficiency requirements of tomorrow can be that call to action.   Continue Reading →

MIT Students Install World’s Cheapest ‘Solar Bottle Bulbs’ in Manila Slums

On August 10, 2011 in Products, Technology


Currently, millions of Filipinos live without any kind of light source at all. Isang Litrong Liwanag (A Liter of Light), is a sustainable lighting project which aims to bring the eco-friendly ‘Solar Bottle Bulb’ to disprivileged communities nationwide. Designed and developed by students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the ‘Solar Bottle Bulb’ is based on the principles of Appropriate Technologies — a concept that provides simple and easily replicable technologies that address basic needs in developing communities.

The students found that a one liter plastic bottle filled with bleach water and installed on top of a metal roof is a surprisingly simple way to light homes that have neither electrical connectivity nor natural lighting. The plastic defracts light and pushes it to every corner of a small slum house instead of beaming it onto one area like a typical lamp might. The organization has already installed 10,000 of these super basic but amazing lamps throughout Manila.
Continue Reading →

‘BeeHive PV’ Solar Panels to Energize Building Facades

On July 29, 2011 in Architecture, Technology

Israeli start-up SolarOr is a technological leader in the development and industrialization of innovative Building Integrated Photo Voltaic (BIPV) solar panels, delivering both high efficient modules as well as improved transparency and insulation values.

Their idea is a brilliant new transparent solar panel that is modeled after the complex forms found in honeycomb. Called ‘BeeHive PV’, the solar panels are designed to integrate into building facades to serve as energy-generating windows. Each sheet is covered with hundreds of tiny prisms that focus sunlight to maximize energy generation. Continue Reading →

‘Aluminum-Celmet’ to Increase Electric Vehicle Range by 300%

On July 18, 2011 in Technology, Transportation

Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) is the Japanese company behind an innovation that could potentially lead to a serious rise in the capabilities of electric vehicles. SEI is a manufacturer of electric wire and optical fiber cable that recently developed a porous aluminum called ‘Aluminum-Celmet’.

The company says the lightweight metal can be integrated into lithium-ion batteries and claims that ‘Aluminum-Celmet’s three-dimensional structure forms interconnected, spherical pores that somehow nearly triple battery capacity. SEI has set up a small-scale production line at Osaka Works to accelerate development efforts toward mass production of the new material.

‘Aluminum-Celmet’s electrical resistance is supposedly lower that of Celmet, a proprietary metal derived from nickel and currently used in SEI’s NiMH batteries. By replacing the conventional aluminum-copper foils within a li-ion battery with its patented Aluminum-Celmet, the company says battery capacity can jump by up to 300%. Continue Reading →

Pininfarina Designs Beautiful ‘Antares EV’ Charging Tree

On July 5, 2011 in Technology, Transportation

Famed Italian design house Pininfarina designed the pint-sized Nido EV last year, and what good would the Pininfarina-designed electric car do without a charging station designed from the like?

Metalco, specializing in the urban furniture market, developed and presented the Pininfarina-designed photovoltaic station—dubbed the Antares— for the first time in Rome at the MoTechEco Sustainable Mobility Show. Looking like something straight from the future, the Nido sat parked underneath the modular charging station that closely resembles a tree. Continue Reading →