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Lonnie Johnson did risk assessment for the Atlantis space shuttle. He helped get the B-2 stealth bomber off the ground. He gave us the Super Soaker. And now, with his latest invention, he might just make solar power viable.

His latest project, a unique heat engine called the Johnson Thermoelectric Energy Converter or JTEC, could revolutionize the energy industry. And that's got some important people very excited.

The JTEC, which has no moving parts and produces no waste, could double that efficiency, making it competitive with coal. Paul Werbos, director of the National Science Foundation, says "It has a darn good chance of being the best thing on Earth."

Johnson Thermoelectric Energy Converter jtec solar power solar cells

Global subsidies for fossil fuels dwarf support given to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power and biofuels, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said.

Governments last year gave $43 billion to $46 billion of support to renewable energy through tax credits, guaranteed electricity prices known as feed-in tariffs and alternative energy credits, the London-based research group said today in a statement. That compares with the $557 billion that the International Energy Agency last month said was spent to subsidize fossil fuels in 2008.

subsidies fossil fuels renewables wind solar power

Advancing General Mills' commitment to renewable energy, the company today announced a major solar energy initiative at its Methuen, Mass., facility. With the installation of solar panels now complete, solar energy is expected to supply nearly 80 percent of the warehouse's summertime power needs, and 40 percent of its needs the rest of the year.

General Mills solar power warehouse

Spain has opened the world's largest solar power station, meaning that it overtakes the US as the biggest solar generator in the world. The nation's total solar power production is now equivalent to the output of a nuclear power station.

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President Barack Obama, under pressure to spur job growth, said on Saturday two solar energy companies will get nearly $2 billion in U.S. loan guarantees to create as many as 5,000 green jobs

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An experimental solar-powered plane landed safely today after completing its first 24-hour test flight, proving that the aircraft can collect enough energy from the sun during the day to stay aloft all night.

solar-powered plane plane test flight solar power

Silicon Valley solar company Solexant has raised $41.5 million to pursue technology it says can slice the costs of solar power with a printing-like manufacturing process.\n\nThe company's technology, which was developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, takes raw semiconductor material and creates nanoparticles which, once dissolved in a solvent, creates an ink that can be printed.

print thin-film solar cells greennumbers solexant solar power Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

Taiwan said Friday it would launch 50 low-carbon communities by 2012 as part of its effort to cut carbon emissions and become a leader in environmental protection.

Under the 10-year plan, by 2012, at least two districts in each city or county will be asked to cut carbon emissions by using wind or solar power, electric vehicles and energy-saving lighting and appliances

wind solar power Taiwan greennumbers low-carbon communities carbon emissions

IBM and the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Saudi Arabia’s national research and development organization, today announced a research collaboration aimed at creating a water desalination plant powered by solar electricity, which could significantly reduce water and energy costs

water desalination ibm kacst solar electricity solar power

A prototype solar-powered plane has made its first full test flight - coming closer to the goal of using solar energy to fly around the world

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For the second time within twelve months, the conservative French Government has proposed raising the feed-in tariff for solar PV in the coming year. The Minister for the Environment, Jean-Louis Borloo, has announced that new feed-in tariffs for solar energy will come into effect as of 1 January 2010.

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The Solar Roadway™ is a series of structurally-engineered solar panels that are driven upon. The idea is to replace all current petroleum-based asphalt roads, parking lots, and driveways with Solar Road Panels™ that collect and store solar energy to be used by our homes and businesses. This renewable energy replaces the need for the current fossil fuels used for the generation of electricity. This, in turn, cuts greenhouse gases literally in half.

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Uganda Telecom has launched the country’s first solar powered cellphone. Dubbed “Kasana”, the phone is designed to harness the East African sun for a sustainable recharge after an initially charging from the conventional AC socket.

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Space-based solar plants are slowly gathering momentum with a Japanese project to develop a space solar plant that is capable of generating 1GW of power being announced. The project will be developed by Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and IHI Corp. and will make use of a four square kilometer array of solar panels stationed 36,000km above the surface of earth.

Space-based solar solar power space GreenNumbers

Over the next two to three years the Chinese government will pay up to 50 percent of the price of solar power systems of more than 500 megawatts. In remote areas it will pay up to 70 percent of the cost.

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China has launched an unprecedented plan to offer hefty subsidies to independent solar power projects, a move that sparked a rally in the sector on Tuesday.

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welve European companies launched a 400-billion-euro (560-billion-dollar) initiative Monday to plant huge solar farms in Africa and the Middle East to produce energy for Europe.

The consortium says the massive proposal could provide up to 15 percent of Europe's electricity needs by 2050.

Engineering giants ABB and Siemens, energy groups E.ON and RWE and financial institutions Deutsche Bank and Munich Re are among the companies which signed a protocol in Munich.

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In unveiling the proposal, which calls for building huge swaths of solar thermal plants in the Sahara, wind farms on the North African coast, and high-voltage transmission lines to carry all that juice back to Europe, the Desertec companies first stressed all the business opportunities the plan would represent, then paid lip service to the environment.

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For a country that was one of the world’s largest producers of solar power in 2007—some sources even award it second place, after Germany—China’s actual solar installation record is far less impressive.The Chinese government, a bureaucracy among bureaucracies, appears to have finally resolved to put the country’s rapidly expanding production capacities to use at home and taken a firm hand in guiding itself toward meeting its goal of having renewable energy account for 15 percent of its energy mix by 2020. According to the Wall Street Journal, it has announced that it will introduce a preferential tariff that will pay energy companies that use solar power for their generating capacity.

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Pacific Gas & Electric, one of the country's largest and most progressive utilities, will invest directly in solar power plants and solar panels distributed in different California communities.

CEO Peter Darbee said the move represents the first time that PG&E--already a large purchaser of solar and other renewable energy technologies--will build and own solar installations. Right now, the utility purchases clean energy from third parties.

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