PhotoBlog - solar

9
Jul
2012
6:39pm, EDT
Barbara Walton / EPA
Burmese school teacher Aung Pee, 56, powers down a Burmese road on his solar battery powered bicycle as he makes the 38 kms journey to teach his school class, in Twortay township, south of Yangon, Myanmar. In Myanmar, where fuel prices are spiraling way above the pockets of the Burmese, most must ride crowded public buses and trucks. A few trishaws remain and bicycles are a perennial favorite in a country hampered by energy shortages, with one of the more ingenious experimenting with solar power to avoid the cost and shortages of fuel.
Burmese teacher heads to work on solar-powered electric bike
.
Comment
Show more
Explore related topics: myanmar, electricity, solar, bicycle, burma
24
May
2012
12:38pm, EDT
Solar plane takes off for its first transcontinental flight
Fabrice Coffrini / AFP - Getty Images
The Swiss sun-powered aircraft Solar Impulse takes off on May 24, in Payerne on its first attempted intercontinental flight from Switzerland to Morocco. Solar Impulse, piloted by Andre Borschberg, is expected to land in Madrid for a stopover before heading to Morocco without using a drop of fuel. Bertrand Piccard will pilot the second leg on to Rabat, scheduled to leave Madrid on May 28 at the earliest.
Fabrice Coffrini / AFP - Getty Images
The president of the Swiss sun-powered aircraft Solar Impulse project, Bertrand Piccard, helps pilot Andre Borschberg prepare for takeoff on May 24, in Payerne on its first attempted intercontinental flight from Switzerland to Morocco.

AP reports -- An experimental solar-powered airplane took off from Switzerland on its first transcontinental flight Thursday, aiming to reach North Africa next week.

Pilot Andre Borschberg planned to take the jumbo jet-size Solar Impulse plane on its first leg to Madrid, Spain, by Friday. His colleague Bertrand Piccard will take the helm of the aircraft for the second stretch of its 1,554-mile journey to the Moroccan capital Rabat.

Fog on the runway at its home base in Payerne, Switzerland, delayed the take off by two hours, demonstrating how susceptible the prototype single-seater aircraft is to adverse weather.

"We can't fly into clouds because it was not designed for that," Borschberg said as he piloted the lumbering plane with its 207-foot wingspan toward the eastern French city of Lyon at a cruising speed of just 43.5 miles an hour.

Before landing in Madrid in the early hours of Friday, Borschberg will face other challenges, including having to overfly the Pyrenees, the mountains that separate France and Spain.

Just in case things go disastrously wrong, Borschberg has a parachute inside his tiny cabin that he hopes never to use. "When you take an umbrella it never rains," he joked in a satellite call with The Associated Press.

Continue reading.

Fabrice Coffrini / AFP - Getty Images
The Swiss sun-powered aircraft Solar Impulse prepares for takeoff on May 24, in Payerne on its first attempted intercontinental flight from Switzerland to Morocco.
The Solar Impulse will fly from Switzerland to Morocco as the pilot and crew prepare for a trip around the world in 2014. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
136 comments
This is really cool, hope he makes it.........!
Show more
Explore related topics: technology, switzerland, plane, flight, solar
17
May
2012
6:02pm, EDT
Shell Eco-marathon pushes vehicles farther with less gas
Erik van't Woud / EPA
An ultra-efficient vehicle driven by a Spanish team drives the course of the Shell Eco-marathon in Rotterdam, The Netherlands on May 17. During the event students from all over Europe test their accumulated knowledge of energy-efficient driving with cars that can drive as far as possible on minimal fuel.
Erik Van't Woud / EPA
An Italian team works on their vehicle during the Shell Eco-marathon in Rotterdam, The Netherlands on May 17.
Jiri Buller / AP
A vehicle running on solar power races on day two of the Shell Eco-marathon Challenge in Rotterdam, The Netherlands on Thursday, May 17. Teams from universities all over Europe have brought their energy efficient cars to compete in the challenge.

2,843 mpg? High school team takes the prize

Follow @msnbc_pictures

•Sign up for the msnbc.com Photos Newsletter
1 comment
This race has been going on since like 1939. In 1949 a studebaker got 150mpg. in 2010, team microjoule had a winning entry that got over 11,000 mpg. Why isn't this ever in the news in any big way? why has none of this technology seen the light of day? I guess we could file this in shell's "keep your …
Show more
Explore related topics: netherlands, environment, solar, world-news, tech-science
21
Mar
2012
6:05pm, EDT
Solar panels and subsidies in US and Germany
Michaela Rehle / Reuters
A worker mounts 320 square metres of solar panels on the roof of a farmstead barn in Binsham near Landshut on Wednesday. The German government plans cuts to solar funding.
Mandel Ngan / AFP - Getty Images
US President Barack Obama speaks about his energy policies following a tour of the Copper Mountain Solar Project, the largest photovoltaic plant operating in the country in Boulder City, Nevada on Wednesday.
Germany, home to the largest share of the world's solar cells, is planning cuts to its solar subsidies of up to 30%, Reuters reports:

The government wants to cut the expansion of solar power after Germany added a record 7,500 megawatts capacity in 2011 to bring its total to 25,000 MW, nearly as much as the rest of the world combined.

The government wants to add 2,500-3,500 MW capacity annually, which is why it is cutting the incentives so aggressively after a 15 percent drop on January 1 and after capacity was expanded by over 7,000 MW in both 2010 and 2011.

In the United States, President Obama toured a 58 MW solar power plant in Nevada that was built with the help of federal tax credits of about $42 million. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department is imposing new import fees on solar panels made in China:

"Today's announcement affirms what U.S. manufacturers have long known: Chinese manufacturers have received unfair ... subsidies," Steve Ostrenga, CEO of Helios Solar Works in Milwaukee, said in a statement. The company is a member of a group called the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing.

On the other side, some U.S. companies argue that low-priced Chinese imports have helped consumers and promote rapid growth of the industry.

See more images of solar power in PhotoBlog.
Follow @msnbc_pictures
1 comment
I wish they would come out with small solar panels that could be placed in sunny windows and plugged into an outlet with any converter box. Or windmills that homeowners could put up their yards. As people saw savings they could add to their systems. Small things could add up.
Show more
Explore related topics: energy, germany, obama, solar, us-news
16
Feb
2012
2:51pm, EST
Solar panels atop a canal in India aim to make power while preventing evaporation
Ajit Solanki / AP
An Indian worker works amid installed solar panels atop the Narmada canal at Chandrasan village, about 25 miles from Ahmadabad, India on Thursday. The western Indian state of Gujarat is all set to become the first state in the country to generate solar power through panels mounted on a water body. Generated solar power will be supplied to villages alongside the canal, which will lead to lower transmission losses and also helping to reduce the evaporation of water.
Ajit Solanki / AP
An Indian worker washes his hands as installed solar panels seen atop the Narmada canal.
See more solar energy images from around the world in PhotoBlog.
Follow @msnbc_pictures
1 comment
Commercial Solar Panels are very expensive and it takes about 15 years to pay back The only option for home owners is to try a DIY Solar Panels Solution - like this website suggest
Show more
Explore related topics: energy, environment, electricity, solar, world-news, canal
22
Dec
2011
11:12pm, EST
Holiday calendar: Circle of power
GeoEye
A picture taken by the GeoEye 1 satellte on Nov. 4, 2010, shows the Gemasolar power-generating array in Seville, Spain. At the center of the array is a 40-story-high concrete tower, ringed by 2,650 mirrors. The mirrors focus sunlight on the tower, which stores the heat and converts it to energy.
By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

Follow @b0yle

Will future archaeologists assume this circular structure was some sort of 21st-century Stonehenge? They wouldn't be completely wrong if they did: This is Spain's Gemasolar power-generating array, as seen in a satellite image from the GeoEye commercial Earth-imaging venture.
Like Stonehenge, the array is laid out geometrically to track the position of the sun. But Gemasolar isn't meant to mark the year's astronomical milestones. Instead, it will concentrate sunlight to provide power for 25,000 homes around the city of Seville.
The light is focused by 2,650 large mirrors on a 450-foot-high concrete tower, with a central core that heats up to 1,650 degrees Fahrenheit (900 degrees Celsius). The energy is transferred to molten salt for storage, and the heat of the salt drives steam turbines that generate electricity even when the sun isn't shining. The $325 million plant had its official inauguration in October and is due to reach full operation in 2013. At its peak, the concentrated solar-power plant should be able to produce 19.9 megawatts of power.
Check out this previous PhotoBlog posting for ground-level pictures of the array, and watch this video to learn more about the Gemasolar project:
Learn how the Gemasolar power plant works.
Watch on YouTube
Today's view of a solar power plant from space is the latest offering from the Cosmic Log Space Advent Calendar, which has been presenting images of Earth from space every day this month. It's also one of the pictures featured in GeoEye's 2012 calendar. You'll find more satellite views on the GeoEye High Resolution Imagery blog.
Only three more treats remain to be revealed on this year's Space Advent Calendar. Catch up on the pictures you may have missed:

The full Cosmic Log Space Advent Calendar

Dec. 1: An ornament in outer space

Dec. 2: The masses in Mecca

Dec. 3: Santa's shrinking domain

Dec. 4: The monster of Madagascar

Dec. 5: Antarctica stripped naked

Dec. 6: Streaking for home

Dec. 7: Pearl Harbor from above, 1941-2011

Dec. 8: The rise and fall of the Dead Sea

Dec. 9: How an eclipse dims Earth

Dec. 10: Psychedelic storm

Dec. 11: Beauty of the Inland Sea

Dec. 12: Drone-spotting stirs up debate

Dec. 13: Light up your St. Lucy's Day

Dec. 14: Satellite spots Chinese aircraft carrier

Dec. 15: Hooray for Hollywood

Dec. 16: Olympics under construction

Dec. 17: Mystery in the Gobi Desert

Dec. 18: Glow over Miami

Dec. 19: North Korea's dark ages

Dec. 20: Happy Hanukkah from space

Dec. 21: Season's tiltings

Hubble calendar, from The Atlantic's In Focus

2011 Zooniverse Advent calendar

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
7 comments
To anticipate your question: The salt is heated in a core receiver in the tower that can reach a temperature of 900 degrees C, but the salt is stored at a lower temperature of 565 degrees C in the tanks. At least that's the way I understand it.
Show more
Explore related topics: energy, environment, solar, featured, cosmic-log, tech-science, holiday-calendar, 2011-holiday-calendar
12
Oct
2011
11:26am, EDT
Solar-powered catamaran makes a stop in Singapore
Stephen Morrison / EPA
The MS Turanor PlanetSolar yacht arrives in Singapore for a stop on its global tour on October 12. PlanetSolar is the largest solar powered boat in the world and hopes to be the first to circumnavigate the world's oceans in a 22,000 mile two-year odyssey.
Stephen Morrison / EPA
Swiss engineer Raphael Domjan, 39, throws a line out from the deck of the MS Turanor PlanetSolar yacht as it arrives in Singapore for a stop on its global tour. PlanetSolar is the largest solar powered boat in the world and hopes to be the first to circumnavigate the world's oceans in a 22,000 mile two-year odyssey.
Roslan Rahman / AFP - Getty Images
French captain Erwann Le Rouzic sits at the helm on board the PlanetSolar, the first solar-powered boat to travel around the world, after its arrival in Singapore on October 12. The 31m by 15m white catamaran, in Singapore for a 15-day stop-over, was unveiled to the world last year and has embarked on a world tour from Monaco since September to promote solar energy for pollution-free shipping. The Swiss-flagged boat, which was built in Germany and cost 26 million USD, is topped by 500 square metres of black solar panels.

Comment
Show more
Explore related topics: energy, environment, solar, world-news, planetsolar
4
Oct
2011
3:26pm, EDT
New solar plant in Spain provides 24-hour power
Julio Munoz / EPA
General view of the first solar power plant by concentration with a central tower receiver, inagurated in Sevilla, southern Spain, on 04 October.
Marcelo Del Pozo / Reuters
Photographers and a cameraman work at the new solar power plant "Gemasolar" the day of its inauguration in Fuentes de Andalucia, southern Spain October 4, 2011.
Marcelo Del Pozo / Reuters
The new solar power plant "Gemasolar" is pictured the day of its inauguration in Fuentes de Andalucia, southern Spain October 4.
Here's more about this solar power plant and how it produces electricity after the sun goes down.
Comment
Show more
Explore related topics: energy, spain, environment, solar, world-news
31
May
2011
4:07pm, EDT
Abundant sunshine partially powers the Moroccan grid
Abdelhak Senna / AFP - Getty Images
Solar panels of the Ain Beni Mathar power station are seen on May 31, 2011. The plant has a large array of 224 parabolic mirror collectors that concentrate solar energy. Two other plants with similar designs will soon be commissioned in Egypt and Algeria.
Abdelhak Senna / AFP - Getty Images
A Moroccan engineer cycles past the solar panels on May 31.
The World Bank reports on its website:
The Concentrated Solar Power plant of Ain Beni Mathar is now supplying electricity to the Moroccan grid. Located in the East of Morocco near the Algerian border, it will provide numerous lessons for further diffusion of concentrated solar power technology.
Comment
Show more
Explore related topics: energy, morocco, environment, solar, world-news
29
Mar
2011
9:08am, EDT
Solar panels fill the roofs of mausoleums in Spain
Albert Gea / Reuters
Solar panels fill the roofs of mausoleums in a cemetery in Santa Coloma de Gramanet, near Barcelona, Spain on March 28. Solar panels on the rooftops of Spain are likely to pay for themselves within five years without needing subsidies and revive an industry in the doldrums after the country became the world's second-largest producer.
By John Makely, NBC News
Is this a desecration of a cemetery or just good use of available space?
1 comment
I say go for it, with energy costs soaring through the roof, why not use the roof.
Show more
Explore related topics: cemetery, solar, world-news, alternative-energy
28
Feb
2011
6:45pm, EST
NASA released some amazing solar flare video today
By Stokes Young, nbcnews.com
Images like these, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on Feb. 24, make we wish our video player had a "loop" function.
Check out some previous posts of solar photography on PhotoBlog:

Sun shoots out monster blast ... but Earth is safe (A still photograph of the event in the video above, with more reporting from John Roach)

Double whammy on the sun (Two simultaneous flares occured in January)

Stare at the sun (Nov. 2, 2010 - one of our most popular posts shows pictures by amateur astrophotographer Alan Friedman--if you haven't seen it before, you should take a look.)
Comment
Show more
Explore related topics: space, nasa, solar, sun, solar-flare
20
Dec
2010
6:23pm, EST
Ricardo Maldonado / EPA
The Swiss catamaran ''Turanor PlanetSolar'' is moored in the port of Cartagena, Colombia, after its arrival here on Dec. 20, 2010. This is one of the stops of the fully solar powerd catamaran which is currently travelling around the world.
Solar-powered catamaran at port in Colombia during a trip around the world
By John Brecher
Looks like the solar boat has reached Colombia. Here's the full story about the boat, and some more technical information.
Comment
Show more
Explore related topics: boat, energy, solar