Man invents machine to convert plastic into oil. Welcome to the Global Cleantech 100 | Guardian Sustainable Business. The fifth annual Global Cleantech 100 provides a snapshot of the most exciting, innovative and potentially significant cleantech companies. This year, 9,125 total nominations were whittled down to a final 100 via a three stage process. Nominations came from worldwide experts as well as "passive" nominations derived from analysing market data, taking votes of confidence in a company's ability to achieve high growth and high-market impact from market transactions, and major customer and partnership announcements. These nominations made a longlist of 5,864 companies (up 13% on last year). A weighting and filter system was applied to score each company against a complex set of criteria, which produced a shortlist of 300 companies. The shortlist was then presented to a panel of 90 experts (listed below), which voted for the final 100. The result is a list that represents the breadth of cleantech innovation companies.
CommunityBasedPowerSharing. Scientists Develop Affordable Solar Panels That Work In The Dark. It's about damn time, don't you think? Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory announced Wednesday that they have been able to confirm a new high-efficiency solar cell design that utilizes nearly the entire solar spectrum. Translation: They figured out a way to make solar panels generate electricity in the dark. CleanTechnica says , In earlier trials, the researchers used different alloys that achieved full spectrum responses but involved very high production costs. The Lawrence Berkeley breakthrough represents just one path to increasing the efficiency and lowering the cost of solar cells. In the meantime, you could just turn any metal surface into solar panels with photovoltaic spray paint .
[Photo: Norby /Flickr] Turn Steel Into Solar Panels With Photovoltaic Spray Paint. No, it's not a joke or a crazy awesome futuristic concept . It's real. Tata Steel Europe (formerly Corus) and Swansea University in Wales, UK are collaborating to develop a spray-on technology that would transform steel sheets into solar panels. Earth and Industry says , The technology has significant applications since it is highly efficient even in diffused sunlight. Therefore, countries at higher latitudes or those with limited solar energy resource can generate significant amounts of solar-powered electricity with going for large-scale power plants. If extended, the technology can find its way to the automobile industry where photo-sensitive dyes can be applied to cars to generate electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen for fuel cells.
Imagine the applications of such a product. The power options could be limitless. And if you think the spray-on solar technology is years away from reality, think again. [Photo: Jaredmoo /Flickr] Renewable Energy. Renewable Energy Used to Make Drinking Water From Air Humidity – Blue Living Ideas. Availability Published on June 18th, 2009 | by Jennifer Lance Scientists have discovered a way to make drinking water from the air’s humidity, even in arid regions. The system completely uses renewable energy and could provide water for many applications.
Models have been built and tested in laboratories at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart. Image by hamed saber Scientists can make drinking water from desert air. Even in areas where there is no surface water or plant life, there is still moisture in the air. The process uses thermal solar collectors and photovoltaic cells, so it can function where there’s no electricity, such as in deserts. Removing the humidity from the air to make drinking water is a unique solution, but I wonder what the meteorological consequences would be to the environment. Would it affect precipitation in non-arid regions? About the Author.