Solar panels a ‘requirement’ on all new EU buildings
Solar panels are set to become mandatory be on all Europe's new public, commercial buildings, and residential buildings buildings. The European Union wants to boost the rollout of solar energy while also rebuilding Europe’s solar manufacturing industry. As part of the EU's new strategy to dump imports of...
Buckyballs boost prospect of transparent solar cell
Engineers in the US have discovered a way to allow electrons to travel farther than was previously thought possible in the materials used to create organic solar cells. This new advance could allow organic solar cells to become much more useful than the inorganic alternative. Organic solar...
Graphene solar panels developed that generates energy when it rains
Whilst Solar Power has made significant steps forwards over the last decade there has always been the problem of what happens at night. The new solution proposed by scientists from the Ocean University of China and Yunnan Normal University in China is to produce energy from raindrops. The...
Carbon emissions drop in the UK as renewables rise
Provisional figures released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have revealed a 3.4% drop in greenhouse gas emissions last year. This decrease is thanks in large part to falling coal use, with emissions dropping below 500 million tonnes for the first time. The biggest polluter,...
Swedish researchers develop wood-based glass
Researchers at Sweden's KTH Royal Institute of Technology have developed transparent wood that could in future be used in solar cells and biodegradable windows. The team, led by Prof. Lars Berglund, achieved this result by chemically removing lignin from wood fibres and then mixing this material with prepolymerized...
Transparent photovoltaic windows could reach the market in three years
Researchers at the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), in collaboration with solar photovoltaic glass manufacturer Polysolar and materials developer Merck, are developing the prototype stage of lightweight and low cost organic photovoltaic windows which will be able to control temperature and generate power. The CPI’s Dave Barwick said:...