Through a combination of solar cells and battery power, the Zephyr experimental plane recently flew for three days straight. Using super-lightweight solar cells and super-efficient batteries, the plane is powered and charged by day, and then the batteries provide power at night.

Like a lot of amazing research, including the Internet, this was funded by the military, in this case to provide a new generation of spy planes.

Filed under: zephyr, solar flight, solar plane, endurance, and military

A new company appears to have cracked one of the major obstacles towards full-scale adoption of solar power: Cost.

Its cells can generate power at a price approaching "grid parity" - that is, the same acquisition cost over their lifespan that it would cost to buy power from a normal electric company. It turns out that cost is about $1 per killowatt of capacity.

Previous solar cells cost about $2-4 per killowatt, so this is huge cost savings over the previous technology.

Read the full story at the link.

Filed under: solar power, cheap, and grid parity

It's coming ... on August 1, 2008!

If you want to see it, prepare to go a long way and endure hazardous conditions, political strife and much more.

But those who go say it's ... simply amazing.

As well as the link, also see this Wired article with details on how to see it.

Filed under: solar eclipse and travel

The Corona, the outer edge of the sun's atmosphere, is hundreds of times hotter than the sun's surface.

Why?

NASA is determined to find out, with its new Solar Probe +, designed to withstand the intense heat and million mile an hour solar wind ...

What will it find and will it survive?

We'll have to wait until 2021 to find out ... in the mean time, check out the article for more.

Filed under: solar probe +, sun, exploration, and corona

A couple of days ago, we had a solar cruiser - now we have a solar speedboat. Capable of speeds up to 30 knots (which is about 35 mph and feels a great deal faster on the water than it does on a car), this beauty has solar panels on pretty much every surface.

Unlike the cruiser, the design of the speedboat is very beautiful. The solar panels cover almost the entire boat, and I was impressed by how attractively they were integrated into the body. They look almost like the old wood plank style construction and so you could think of this as a throwback to the beautiful Chris Craft wooden boats of yore.

The boat can do 30 knots on battery or 10 knots on solar power alone. So if you want to dawdle along you might not have to charge the boat at all, but if you want to do 30 knots, the batteries will have to be charged to make that happen.

Unfortunately, specifications like how long it can run at 30 knots without a recharge, and how long it takes to charge the batteries with the solar panels were not available. Price was also "on request". In short, the practicality of this undeniably beautiful creation is not easily determined.

Still, it's great to see that we don't need to sacrifice the pleasure of fast boating in this new solar age. Hopefully continued refinements will give this a good range (if it doesn't already have one) and higher speed.

Filed under: solar, boat, and speedboat

Here's an idea in sync with the times - an airship with solar panels that can drop down power to the ground, anywhere it would be needed. The possibilities in politically sensitive areas, such as Myanmar, where aid is tough to provide seem unlimited. Imagine an airship giving direct aid to the Tsunami victims, bypassing the government. It would create an enormous amount of good will the government would be unable to counteract.

The airship has solar cells on top of it, so it can provide electricity from anywhere sunlight can be found low enough for it to route its giant power cords down to the ground.

Power to the people, and clean solar power at that.

Cool.

Filed under: power, solar, airship, and blimp

This potential new breakthrough solar array uses lenses to magnify sunlight 2000 times. Solar cells are then used to convert this energy into electricity.

If all goes well, this should produce electricity for about $ 0.07 per killowatt hour - or about the same cost as the cheapest coal-fired power.

Release is initially to utilities, but a household version could be made available within three years.

Filed under: solar power and cost-effective