PlanetSolar, the 100 by 50 foot catamaran will be “silent and clean,” say its makers, also called PlanetSolar. The vessel will be able to achieve a top speed of around 15 knots, equivalent to 15 miles per hour, and can accommodate 50 people on its round-the-world voyage, its Swiss-based builders say. The boat is topped [...]

Panasonic has released a statement that it wants to be Japan’s top maker of solar cells within about three years as part of an increased focus on environmental technology. Panasonic will expand its solar cell business by incorporating the technology of Sanyo Electric, which joined the Panasonic group last year. The electronics company will invest [...]

Yesterday morning NASA launched the WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer), a solar-powered infrared telescope that will search the stars for planet-threatening asteroids and comets. The telescope will spend the next 9 months in orbit, and will cover the entire sky 1.5 times and take pictures every 11 seconds. All data will be downloaded 4 times [...]

The world’s first solar plane, called the Solar Impulse, took to the runway this week , but hasn’t yet attempted to leave the ground. The plane weighs about as much as car, boasts a 207-foot-long wingspan (equivalent to that of most commercial jets), and has 11,628 solar cells attached to its wings, according to the [...]

Perhaps it is time for the blimp to make it’s long overdue comeback as a viable transportation method. A group of students from technical high schools and engineering schools in France have built a solar blimp that will cross the English Channel by the end of the summer. The 72-foot helium blimp is made of [...]

Scientists are getting closer to producing artificial photosynthesis. Science Daily is reporting that researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have broken new ground with artificial photosynthesis with the discovery that nano-sized crystals of cobalt oxide can effectively carry out photosynthetic reaction of splitting water molecules. “Photooxidation of water molecules into [...]

The kids over at MIT have created a Solar-powered car named “Eleanor,” which on sunny days, has a cruising speed of 55 mph but can top speeds of up to 90 mph. Even if it’s cloudy, the team said that on a full charge the car’s batteries can hold enough power to travel more than [...]

Solar airplane the Sunseeker II, will be flying over Europe this Spring. Eric Lentz Gauthier of Solar Flight says, “The exact dates and destinations that the tour will cover are not set in stone right now. The first leg will be from Freidrichshafen, Germany down to Sicily and then back up to Switzerland. From there [...]

U.S. based Suntrof Systems LLC has just announced their new Alubond Solar Collectors and it sounds like the collectors could have a major impact on the solar power industry by reducing the cost of production by 50 percent. Among the drawbacks of exploiting solar power are the high costs and the long time before the [...]

This spring, a team in California will attempt to ignite a tiny man-made star inside a laboratory and trigger a thermonuclear reaction. In an experiment that will cost millions, these scientists will try to activate a tiny man made star that will imitate sun by setting off a thermonuclear reaction. “We are creating the conditions [...]