Planetary Power plans to follow-up their introduction of HyGen with a truly unique solar hybrid power generator early next year that will again change the game for energy generation both on and off the power grid.

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Such a grid is being tested at the army's model forward operating base (FOB) in Fort Irwin, California, along with prototypes of a mobile, hybrid power station that combines solar panels and wind turbines with a conventional generator.

ECONOMIST: Monitor

Neither solar nor wind are powerful enough to carry the heavy load that a backup generator must provide to a facility such as a hospital or a school or a county prison.

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In other solar news, the Westmill Solar Cooperative launched the world's largest community-owned solar project in the UK, a group of African teenagers developed a pee-powered energy generator and Tunisian company Saphon Energy unveiled a new bladeless, bird-friendly wind turbine.

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It was also a hot week for energy-generating tech as Intel unveiled a solar laptop chipset that can be powered by a desk lamp and MIT developed a tiny kinetic generator that can produce 100 times more power than previous devices of its kind.

ENGADGET: Inhabitat's Week in Green: sun-powered homes, retro robots and a solar laptop chipset

The complex runs completely on solar power, courtesy of 150 Sanyo solar panels that provide round-the-clock electricity. ("We fire up the generator once a month just to see if it works, " Derek Joubert says.) Construction materials were chosen through an environmental audit: The furniture is made from Indonesian mahogany uprooted by the 2004 tsunami.

FORBES: Lifestyle Feature