The biggest challenges for using solar power for energy are clouds and sunset the electricity produced by photovoltaics needs to be efficiently stored to provide power on overcast days and overnight.
Nanosys, Inc. is an advanced material architect, harnessing the fundamental properties of inorganic materials into process ready systems that can integrate into existing manufacturing to produce vastly superior products in lighting, electronic displays, solar power and energy storage.
Then there's a small-technology approach: solar power, wind energy and distributed generation.
The car was built by the SUNY New Paltz Solarcar Racing Team in partnership with The Solar Energy Consortium as a way to promote environmentally conscious design and solar power as a viable energy source for personal transportation.
SunPower's five-year growth plan will lower the cost of solar power to 12 to 18 cents per kilowatt-hour, positioning solar energy as a key peaking energy resource to meet our growing power demands.
To get clean energy to them requires a decentralised approach using local resources such as wind power, solar energy or small hydroelectric projects.
Meanwhile, whatever happens with nuclear energy, solar power remains the most dynamic, fastest-growing source of clean, renewable energy and, indeed, of any energy source.
Zhengrong Shi, chairman of China's solar energy giant Suntech Power and Tulsi Tanti of India's wind company Suzlon Energy have both netted billions in recent years by harvesting nature's own power sources.
She recommended that the nation begin relying less on nuclear power and more on renewable energy sources like solar power.
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Utilities want those power plants to store solar energy so it can be used to balance a power grid increasingly supplied by intermittent sources of electricity like wind farms.
Solar power and other renewable energy sources can augment off-peak use too, further reducing energy costs.
Proponents of a hydrogen economy want to produce the hydrogen with excess electricity from renewables such as wind power and solar energy.
We provide subsidies for ethanol that distort global corn prices and subsidies for wind power and solar energy that pay executives of otherwise nonviable companies.
Instead of fantasizing about catastrophes (running out of oil) and miracles (a rapid transition to solar power), our energy thinking needs to emphasize the achievable and the incremental.
We should heavily invest in renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, and we must dramatically increase the energy efficiency of our homes and buildings -- which also would lower our electric bills.
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In addition, two easy-to-use and reliable online tools for energy optimization and solar power generation will offer users a great overview of where, how, and how much energy can be saved or even generated on an individual basis.
This includes everything from tapping our offshore oil supplies and vast natural gas reserves, to doubling down on clean energy resources like wind and solar power, to developing new technologies that help us use less energy altogether.
Such a plan will likely include a new emphasis on renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, and a commitment to enhancing energy efficiency, he stated.
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Even with the ability to convert sunlight into electricity with high efficiency using photovoltaic solar cells, many challenges prevent us from being able to power all our energy needs with solar panels.
Renewable-energy companies, particularly solar power product makers and developers, say the loan-guarantee program administered by the Department of Energy is crucial to allow projects currently under development to proceed.
Several companies have pulled their IPOs over the past year, including solar thermal power plant builder BrightSource Energy.
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In addition to nukes, OR-SAGE also examines advanced coal with carbon capture and storage, solar and compressed air energy power plants.
The centre, which opened in 1975, contains a range of interactive displays on wind, water and solar power, green transport and energy efficiency.
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Kempton first got the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) idea in 1996, while wrestling with a fundamental problem with renewable energy: Solar power peaks at noon, and wind power peaks at night, but demand for electricity peaks between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Currently, it offers a 30 percent tax credit for any business investing in solar energy and a renewable energy grant equal to that 30 percent to businesses purchasing solar power systems.
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Previous clean energy investments by Google include eSolar Inc, which builds Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants, as well as AltaRock Energy and Potter Drilling, which use various techniques to optimize and develop geothermal energy sources.
Knies is hopeful that soon the world will embrace solar power as the leading source of energy.
"We have explored various methods, ranging from radio frequency energy harvesting to solar power, " he told BBC News.
GCL-Poly recently created a joint venture with New Jersey-based NRG Energy to provide solar power plant engineering and construction services.
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