Solar Power

The prototype

Could This Be the Most Efficient Solar Panel Ever?

Taking advantage of temperatures upwards of 1,000 Celsius, these hot solar cells could produce twice as much energy as the industry standard

The 20-megawatt power facility is located east of Los Angeles in Ontario, California.

Five Questions You Should Have About California’s New Tesla-Powered Battery Bank

The storage facility will collect energy when it’s readily available, and release it when demand is high. What does this mean for the future of energy?

France Is Paving More Than 600 Miles of Road With Solar Panels

In five years, France hopes the panels will supply power to 5 million people

University of California, Irvine chemist Shane Ardo is working to develop special plastic membranes and dyes that would enable a container to desalinate seawater.

A Mission To Invent a Bottle That Takes the Salt Out of Saltwater

Scientists are exploring the potential of creating plastic containers that, with a little sun power, could desalinate seawater

SPS-ALPHA concept and visualization

What's Next for Solar Energy? How About Space

Scientists are closer than ever to making the far-out concept of a space-based solar collection system a reality

Coated in a conductive polymer material, this half-inch square of fabric contains an array of six rectangular solar cells.

A Chemist and a Designer Team Up to Weave Solar Panels Into Fabric

Trisha Andrew and Marianne Fairbanks are developing a solar textile that could end up in clothing, curtains, car seats and tents

Customers usually opt for a pay-as-you-go contract that allows them to purchase the Simpa Networks solar system in monthly payments over two to three years.

Is Rent-to-Own Solar Power the Answer?

A Canadian entrepreneur is using a business model familiar from ‘70s daytime TV to get Indians to embrace solar

The prototype solar vapor generator

How a Sponge, Bubble Wrap and Sunlight Can Lead to Clean Water

With simple materials, MIT researchers have developed a cheap, easy-to-build device to desalinate water and treat wastewater

Checkpoint "Dityatki," an entrance to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Chernobyl Might Get a Second Life as a Solar Power Plant

From nuclear disaster to renewable energy

This Solar Cell Can Float on a Bubble

MIT scientists have created the world's lightest solar cell, thin enough to be used on paper or clothing

A satellite photo of an almost-finished solar farm near Walt Disney World in Orlando reveals a familiar face.

The Shifting Shapes of Solar Farms

They're more than just massive fields of black panels

An artist's rendition of Juno in orbit around Jupiter. The craft is powered entirely by the sun's rays.

Juno Is Now Humanity’s Furthest-Flung Solar-Powered Craft

Armed with over 18,000 solar cells, the Jupiter orbiter is taking solar-fueled space exploration to new lengths

Does Altitude Affect Animals the Same Way it Affects Humans and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

Thin Red Line Aerospace Chief Engineer and CEO Maxim de Jong inspects a UW-CAES “Energy Bag” during initial test inflation

Could Renewable Energy Be Stored in Balloons in the Ocean?

Underwater compressed air energy storage is promising, but the fate of this tech remains unknown

Inspired by the ancient art of paper folding researchers hoped to make a device that could both fold itself and move on its own.

Watch This Piece of Paper Fold Itself Up and Walk Away

Scientists created a piece of graphene-based paper that can fold itself into a box, pick up objects and even inch around corners

Kirigami-cut solar cells

Using Kirigami, the Japanese Art of Paper Cutting, to Build Better Solar Panels

Researchers have used the art technique to make light panels that twist to follow the sun

Are Floating Farms in Our Future?

A Barcelona design firm imagines a two-million-square-foot barge that would yield tons of vegetables, fruit and fish each year

A rendering of the installation, which officially launches June 28. Seventeen artist-made stars will glow each night in a constellation above an abandoned castle.

An Abandoned Island Now Glows Star-Bright Under a New Constellation

Artist Melissa McGill creates a luminous public art project above a ruined castle on a mysterious piece of land in the Hudson River

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Discussion

Letters from our readers

This winter jacket is light, thin and made of the same special ingredient that insulates astronaut spacesuits.

A Winter Jacket Made From the Same Material as NASA Spacesuits and Other Wild Ideas That Just Got Funded

Plus, a high-tech update to the tried-and-true jump rope

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