A Chinese-owned solar panel maker is planning to build a 100,000-square-foot headquarters and manufacturing plant in the Phoenix area.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer planned to announce the project Monday. Suntech Power Holdings said the facility is expected to start building solar panels by the third quarter of 2010 and will eventually employ 250 or more people.
Suntech will potentially be the first company eligible under the state’s Renewable Energy Tax Incentive program that provides refundable tax credits and property tax reductions for manufacturers.
Suntech said it selected the Phoenix area for its plant because of Arizona’s leadership in solar research through Arizona State University and statewide renewable energy policies.
A British heritage charity is encouraging employees to help the environment by eschewing indoor toilets and relieving themselves outdoors.
The experiment applies to male gardening staff at Wimpole Hall, a stately home about 50 miles north of London. The National Trust, which runs the property, says the staff are being encouraged to urinate on straw which is then placed on compost heaps.
The trust said Friday that the chemical reaction helps the composting process, while the absence of flushing by 10 members of staff could cut the estate’s water use by almost a third. Officials warned the gardeners to make sure they urinate in spots where they cannot be seen by passers-by.
Japan is aiming to collect solar power in space and zap it down to Earth using laser beams or microwaves. The government has picked companies and researchers to turn the multi-billion pound dream of unlimited clean energy into reality by 2030.
Japan has few energy resources of its own and is heavily reliant on oil imports. The predicament has forced the country to become a leader in solar and other renewable energies. This year it set ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets, but its boldest plan to date is the Space Solar Power System.
It involves an array of photovoltaic dishes, reaching across several square miles, that hover in geostationary orbit outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
“Since solar power is a clean and inexhaustible energy source, we believe that this system will be able to help solve the problems of energy shortage and global warming,” Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, one of the project participants, said. “The sun’s rays abound in space.”
As if turning grapes into wine wasn’t enough, now wineries are aiming to transform their waste into fuel.
The first example of a new renewable method for generating hydrogen fuel from wastewater is now operating at a California winery. The refrigerator-sized generator takes waste from the Napa Wine Company in Oakville, Calif., and feeds it to microbes inside. With the aid of a little electricity, these naturally occurring bacteria break the organic material in the wastewater into hydrogen gas.
There is a lot more energy locked in the wastewater than is currently used to treat it, explained researcher Bruce Logan, an environmental engineer at Penn State University. Eventually, the winery would like to use the hydrogen to run vehicles and power systems.
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Ever wonder how sharks stay so squeaky clean, while whales and other sea creatures attract barnacles and other critters? That smooth skin inspired Sharklet Technologies, which based a new bacteria-busting film on it. And the Navy’s going to put it on their boats.
Researchers have been designing products inspired by or flat-out aping mother nature for years, a process called biomimicry. Sharklet Technologies is the latest to employ biomimicry, having studied the pattern of shark skin and printed it on a thin film in order to repel smaller bugs—bacteria.
Popular Science notes that the film, which is covered with microscopic diamond-shaped bumps, is the first “surface topography” proven to keep the bugs at bay. In tests in a California hospital, for three weeks the plastic sheeting’s surface prevented dangerous microorganisms, such as E. coli and Staphylococcus A, from establishing colonies large enough to infect humans.
The Office of U.S. Naval Research is just one partner using the technology, having announced new hull coatings for Navy ships based on the substance, which should cut fuel use and protect the environment.
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