Worldwide photovoltaic (PV) solar panel production rose 10 percent in 2012 despite a 9 percent drop in investment, reports the European Commission (pdf). The numbers are imprecise, because solar panel makers use different types of production and sales figures, but the Commission authors estimate that producers added between 35 GW and 42 GW of PV capacity in 2012. The growth follows several years in which European governments have trimmed subsidies to solar power, prompting many private investors to shy away from the sector and driving some companies to bankruptcy.
Something about solar is special, though: investment in PV capacity still made up over half (57.7 percent) of new renewable energy investments, for a total of $137.7 billion, and analysts predict further growth through 2015.
Read the rest of this blog post at IEEE Spectrum’s Energywise blog: [html] [pdf]
In a laboratory on Norway’s fjord-laced coast, Jane Feste bubbles some carbon dioxide gas through a liquid for a crowd of visitors. “I will take an amine—that’s a base—and that will absorb…the CO2. So [that’s] what’s happening out in the plant, just shown for the eye here,” the laboratory technician explains. She’s referring to Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM), the US $1 billion, 350-megawatt power plant and test facility that the Norwegian government and several energy firms built. The assembled journalists cannot seem to decide if they should applaud the spectacle or if they’re witnessing a modern case of the emperor’s new clothes. Continue reading Inside the World’s Largest Carbon-Capture Test Facility→
Dutch students today shaved 20 percent off the record time for an electric car to reach 100 km/h. The Delft University of Technology Racing Team first prepared the ground by blow-torching the rain-soaked runway at Valkenburg Airport, says team manager Tim de Morée, and sweetened the deal by drizzling a little sugar-water on the strip. “Drag racers use actual glue,” he said when questioned about the sportsmanship of the tactic.
The car, driven by the team’s lightest member, Marly Kuijpers, repeated the run about ten times. The team tweaked the traction control and tire slippage for each run. The Dutch press declared victory when the car hit 100 km/h in 2.15 seconds, but de Morée told IEEE Spectrum that a later run achieved the target speed in 2.13 seconds.
Read the rest of this blog post at IEEE Spectrum’s Tech Talk blog: [html] [pdf]
A fleet of cars and drivers whisks visiting journalists around the Frankfurt Motor Show’s sprawling, 144-hectare site. Judging by the number of exhibits of self-driving car technology this year, future visitors can expect their courtesy cars to lack drivers. It’s a matter of putting together many existing technologies in an affordable, safe system.
One piece of that future system nearly clobbered a two-dimensional cutout of a child last week on a fenced-off piece of asphalt outside Hall 10. There, Bosch employees led by Werner Uhler were demonstrating a stereo optical camera system Uhler says could be cheaper than combined radar and optical systems used for collision avoidance today. The device is mounted on the front window of a testbed car, adjacent to the rear-view mirror. As the testbed approached a parked car, Uhler, seated in the backseat, said, “We will drive along…and suddenly a child will turn up and we will brake.”
Read the rest of this post at IEEE Spectrum’s Tech Talk blog: [html] [pdf]
Journalist covering global development by way of science and technology.
