Renewables
Making energy efficient changes to your home could save £200 per year
Renewable or energy efficient appliances? How long does it take to start seeing a return? MoneySuperMarket has revealed the costs and savings associated with the most readily available renewable energy sources and efficiency-improvers around the home.
Solar cell achieves high front side conversion efficiency
At SiliconPV 2019, research and innovation hub, imec, announced that its n-PERT (Passivated Emitter and Rear Totally diffused) solar cells developed with Jolywood, have reached a certified front-side conversion efficiency of 23.2%. With cost-efficient processing and a clear path to higher efficiencies, this makes these n-PERT cells a serious contender to p-PERC technology.
Panels with BIPV metal sheet solar roof
Swedish solar energy technology provider, Midsummer, has launched a new energy producing metal sheet roof ‘Midsummer solar roofs’. This signals a broader effort to expand from mainly selling production equipment for thin film solar panels into the end market for solar panels for various roofs, facades, and vehicles, through in-house production and via contract manufacturers.
Majority of employees would consider an electric car
A survey carried out by Fleet Evolution identified that well over 92% of respondents would consider an electric car but are nervous about relying on one for 365 days a year. The same survey found that the average commute driven was just 7.6 miles, with most employees covering around 200 miles a week and only venturing further a total of five weeks a year.
‘The Jetsons’ are coming to an electric vehicle near you
‘The Jetsons’ cartoon, which aired on television in the early 1960s (and again with new episodes in the 1980s) featured a family in the year 2062 riding around in a flying car. While we don’t have flying cars yet, we are soon going to hear similar sounds from the electrified vehicles (EVs) around us. By Gregg Burke, Texas Instruments
Post-subsidy solar fund launched
A new funding partnership to develop and finance solar projects in a post-subsidy environment has been announced by AMP Clean Energy and Eden Sustainable. The organisations already have a 30MW pipeline (15MW of it advanced), representing around a £10m investment including SME’s, academies, Industrial and Provident Societies and listed companies.
Manufacturing industrial-grade solar inverters
Global provider of power supply systems and solutions for all types of critical and demanding applications, AEG Power Solutions, has announced that it has granted to the Ukrainian company SEMAG the exclusive right to manufacture solar inverters under AEG PS technology.
Finnish innovation boosts battery recycling rate to over 80%
Electrification will rapidly increase the need for batteries. A new solution by Nordic clean energy company, Fortum makes over 80% of the EV battery recyclable, returns the scarce metals back into circulation and resolves the sustainability gap by reducing the need to mine cobalt, nickel, and other metals.
Wireless fast-charging infrastructure for taxis
The clean-energy company, Fortum, is in cooperation with the City of Oslo and the American company Momentum Dynamics to build a wireless fast-charging infrastructure for taxis in the Norwegian capital. The project aims to install wireless charging using induction technology. Charging plates are installed in the ground where the taxi is parked and a receiver is installed in the taxi.
Hemming process designed for lightweight and EV manufacturing
Comau is taking a quantum step forward in digital-enabled solutions for lightweight vehicle manufacturing with its new robotic roller hemming process. Fast, flexible and extremely precise, Smart Hemmer is a highly compact, symmetrical roller hemmer able to hem any complex joint. It is a suitable solution for the new generation of electric, hybrid and traditional lightweight vehicles as it is designed to allow automakers to joi...