Teste do Buddy na FCUL
Hoje tivemos a oportunidade de testar o Buddy, o carro eléctrico que poderá vir a ser construído em Portugal já no próximo ano. Sem acessórios extra, pure and simple, o Buddy transporte 3 pessoas a 80km/h com uma autonomia de 80km.
A propósito, entretanto o Governo português e a aliança Renault-Nissan assinam hoje o acordo final 'Zero Emission Mobility', segundo o qual Portugal vai criar uma rede de abastecimento para o seu projecto de veículos eléctricos [que prevê] 320 locais de abastecimento para automóveis eléctricos em 2010, número que atingirá os 1300 no final de 2011.

Why don't the Mars rovers have dust wipers?
As many have heard, the Mars rover Spirit is clinging to life, with its solar arrays covered with dust from a recent dust storm. (...) Inevitably, people are asking: why don't the rovers have some kind of wiper system to sweep dust off them? [The New Scientist discusses some of the options considered but never implemented...]

BP Solar to Shut Sydney Production Plant to Cut Costs
BP Solar said it will close its solar power equipment manufacturing plant in Sydney at the end of March to focus operations on lower-cost locations. (...) The move follows BP's decision earlier this month to end planned wind power projects in India, China and Turkey to focus on onshore plants in the U.S. as it concentrates resources on larger-scale ventures. (...)"Most of the new plants going worldwide now are about one gigawatt, so [this] BP plant is really small fish in the present market" said Vernie Everett, at the photovoltaics group at the Australian National University's College of Engineering and Computer Science. "Part of the problem is they are running out of space at the Homebush site."
The Sydney plant accounts for about 17 percent of BP Solar's total manufacturing capacity of about 300 megawatts, Mark Twidell, BP Solar regional director, told reporters on a conference call. The lost capacity will be taken up by BP Solar plants in China, India, Spain and the U.S., he said.

SolarWash – The Automated Solar Panel Cleaning System [inclui video com chuveiro automático]
The accumulation of dirt on solar panels has a significant, detrimental impact on the performance of solar power systems. Dirt, however, is only part of the problem. PV system operators must also compete with the build‐up of dust, tree debris, moss, sap, bugs, bird droppings, water spots, mold and more. (...) The patent pending SolarWash system provides a complete solar cleaning solution including maintenance free nozzles, a webbased interface, and a programmable logic controller (...) allows operators of large PV systems to (...) initiat[e] the washing of panels without the need to schedule a maintenance crew.(...) [The system] will typically pay for itself in three to five years with PV systems that are experiencing energy degradation of 5% or greater.

Panasonic eyes Sanyo; bets on solar power, hybrid cars
Panasonic, the world's top plasma TV maker, is betting on a green future of solar power and hybrid cars as it negotiates a price for rival Sanyo Electric that analysts say could be up to $8.7 billion. A key driver for Panasonic is Sanyo's auto batteries business that powers increasingly popular hybrid and electric vehicles, but it would also secure a foothold in the solar cell industry (...) Sanyo is the world's seventh-largest solar cell maker and competes with bigger rivals such as Germany's Q-Cells

Cool Earth Solar eyes rural power with balloons
In the next two weeks, [Cool Earth Solar] plans to start testing a prototype solar plant built around rows of reflective balloons hung on poles. (...) combin[ing] cheap building materials, notably plastics, with expensive high-efficiency solar cells. Light goes through the side of the balloon facing the sun, is reflected on an aluminum coating on the bottom, and is concentrated onto solar cells in a "receiver." (...) The method can concentrate light between 300 and 400 times. To keep heat under control, the balloons have an automated water-cooling system.