Las Vegas has invested millions in pushing sustainability initiatives from water conservation and waste management to solar power.

Sin City could be called Solar City’: How Las Vegas is going green

Las Vegas is notorious for bright lights, excess and hedonism. But America’s playground – or to use its better-known nickname, Sin City – is going green. From water conservation and waste management to solar power, the city has invested millions in pushing sustainability initiatives.

“The effort began in earnest in 2005,” says Marco Velotta, who serves as the city’s sustainability officer, “and accelerated with the Recovery Act in 2009”. The federal act set targets for renewable energy, water conservation, recycling and green buildings.

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Source: BBC

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Terrasmart created a racking system for a 2.8 MW solar carport at Cincinnati Zoo, claimed to be the largest public solar array in the U.S.

Cincinnati Zoo completes 2.8 MW solar carport

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Florida renewables company Terrasmart and Ohio-based engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services business Melink Solar have completed the installation of a 2.8 MW solar carport at Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden.

Melink Solar, Terrasmart, and Cincinnati Zoo said the new development is currently the largest publicly accessible urban solar array in the United States.

The project’s racking system was designed and manufactured by Terrasmart. It comprises nearly 5,000 bifacial modules connected via string inverter technology. Melink Solar came on board to oversee mechanical installation at the site.

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Source: PV Magazine

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Researchers at LUANAR tested a solar-powered milking device in Malawi, reducing milking time & improving efficiency, milk quality, and farmers' livesResearchers at LUANAR tested a solar-powered milking device in Malawi, reducing milking time & improving efficiency, milk quality, and farmers' lives

Solar milking tech boosts dairy farms in Malawi

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When Robert Mbendera started out as a small-scale dairy farmer in rural Malawi 20 years ago, milking the one cow he owned was an arduous, time-consuming process.

“It would take about 80 minutes to milk the cow—that’s 80 minutes in the morning and 80 minutes in the evening,” he told SciDev.Net.

“I would start imagining what a lot of hard work and expense it would involve if I were to have three or four cows.”

But this changed in 2020 when researchers at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) trialed a solar-powered milking device and water pumping system at Mbendera’s farm in the Dedza district of central Malawi.

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Source: PHYS.org

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An electric motorcycle completed a 6,000-km journey from Nairobi, Kenya, to Stellenbosch, South Africa, in 17 days, using only solar power.

Electric motorcycle completes solar-powered 6,000-kilometer journey through Africa

An electric motorcycle, made by Swedish-Kenyan manufacturer Roam completed a 6,000-kilometer (3,700-mile) journey from Nairobi, Kenya, to Stellenbosch, South Africa, in 17 days, using only solar power.

While the world record for the longest electric motorcycle journey is 25,000 kilometers (11,300 miles), undertaken over 42 days in the US, Roam hopes that its stunt helps to prove the viability of renewable energy for long-distance travel even in remote areas with poor charging infrastructure.

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Source: CNN World

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Solar panels provide more than electricity to Indigenous people, with renewable energy now reaching most villages in Brazil's Xingu territory

Solar power to the people: how the sun is bringing light – and TV – to Amazon villages

At dusk, Piyulaga village starts to wake up. Families gather at the entrances of their huts, children play and cycle around, and Brazilian country music fills the air as lights flicker on in the small settlement in the Xingu Indigenous territory of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Some residents watch TV while others relax in hammocks with their phones, illuminated by spotlights in the communal area.

It would be trivial but for one detail: lights have only been available for a few weeks, thanks to the installation of new solar panels on each home.

In recent years, solar projects have multiplied in remote communities in several Amazonian countries, mainly with funding from civil society organisations, helping to democratise electricity in off-grid areas of Latin America.

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Source: The Guardian

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Con Edison and First Student see bus-charging depots equipped with solar & batteries as a win-win that supports the power grid.

New York City tests a solar-powered electric-school-bus microgrid

New York City utility Con Edison will need to be able to charge about 10,000 electric school buses on its constrained power grid within the next 10 years or so. A $9 million pilot project in Brooklyn could help it figure out how to do that.

The project is starting small. Four battery-electric school buses are onsite today, with 12 more expected by the start of next school year. They’ll be bolstered by a 500-kilowatt solar array and a 2-megawatt-hour battery onsite, as well as by solar panels on some of the buses themselves.

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Source: Canary Media

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London Stadium aims to be one of the greenest venues, saving over 200 tonnes of carbon annually and powering major events sustainably.

Solar panels help drive London Stadium sustainability goals

The project will enable the Stadium to save more than 200 tonnes of carbon emissions a year and generate enough to power all the venue’s major events. It is part of a range of measures to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions at London Stadium. These include solar membranes, LED lighting, chiller and air handling improvements and kiosk energy-saving devices, backed up by a campaign to encourage Stadium staff to reduce energy consumption.

These current measures will reduce the Stadium energy use by 1.9 million kWh by March 2025, and at that point the roof solar savings will drive a further reduction of at least 0.8 million kWh, and a further saving of between 10% -15% on electricity costs. In total, between 2022 and 2026 the stadium will reduce energy drawn from the national grid by 3 million kWh – from 11.5million kWh per annum to 8.5 million.

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Source: POPULOUS

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CSIRO has officially launched its Printed Photovoltaic Facility in Melbourne, advancing pilot-scale production of flexible printed solar film.

Flexible printed solar film research tacks closer to commercial viability

After 15 years, scientists at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia have advanced the commercial potential of their flexible perovskite cells printed on long continuous rolls of flexible plastic film following the opening of their AUD 6.8 million ($4.4 million) Printed Photovoltaic (PV) Facility in Clayton, 23 kilometres southwest of Melbourne.

The solar films are thin, lightweight, portable and semi-transparent, making them suitable for various applications including construction, space, defence, mining, emergency management, disaster relief, and wearables.

For example, printed PV films can be laminated onto windows or other glazing or incorporated into tents or sails for recreational or emergency purposes.

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Source: PV Magazine

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MBJ Solutions launched two products for perovskite device developers: a Sun Simulator for research and a Light Soaking Unit for aging tests.

New sun simulator, light-soaking tools for perovskite solar cells, modules

Germany’s MBJ Solutions, a PV industry equipment specialist, recently launched the MBJ Steady State Sun Simulator, designed for small perovskite module characterization, and the MBJ Light Soaking Unit, made for perovskite device aging tests and preconditioning.

The market for the MBJ Solutions equipment is international, according to Volker Biemann, MBJ solutions product manager. “We have customers all over the world but mainly Europe, US and Southeast Asia,” Biemann told pv magazine.

The MBJ Steady State Sun Simulator, featuring a 500 mm x 500 mm measuring area, is made for teams developing a range of device sizes, from cells to small modules. It has a continuous Class A+ sun simulator, compliant with IEC 60904-9 Ed.3. The 22-LED unit has extended ultraviolet and infrared extended spectrum. The spectral coverage and deviation are > 98% and < 24%, respectively, It is compact, with an integrated 5 megapixel electroluminescence camera.

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Source: PV Magazine

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DigiOcean4Solar will enhance research on renewable energy efficiency, focusing on wave, wind, and floating solar structure interactions.

Grant awarded to advance floating solar research in offshore environments

DigiOcean4Solar, short for a Digital Ocean environment for floating Solar farm assessment, is set to advance research on renewable energy efficiency and will enable the study of interactions between waves, wind, and floating solar structures.

With offshore locations emerging as a promising solution for renewable energy, several companies are exploring floating solar farms at sea. According to the Delft University of Technology, the solar platforms, some spanning up to a square kilometer, are ideally situated near offshore wind farms to leverage existing grid connections.

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Source: Offshore Energy

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