With a futuristic bee farm within the photovoltaic park, beekeeping increases crop output by increasing the degree of pollination.

Solar panel fields help increase honey production in photovoltaic beehives

A place where bees, crops, animals, and photovoltaic panels coexist and thrive may very well be feasible.

In fact, modern solar technology combined with traditional techniques has improved the bee population and honey production in the Spanish town of Carmona, according to an initial report by Endesa.

In the town, roughly two and a half million bees coexist with sheep and aromatic plants in the middle of a solar facility. Run by the Endesa energy company, the project is called Solar Apiary and is a brilliant example of agrivoltaics, the simultaneous utilization of land for both solar power and agriculture.

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Source: Interesting Engineering

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The vehicle, which Lightyear describes as production-ready, has 388 miles of range, 44 miles of which are derived from solar power alone.

Lightyear’s solar-powered car will go into production later this year

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EV startup Lightyear revealed its first solar-powered electric vehicle, dubbed Lightyear 0, at an event this week in the Netherlands. The vehicle, which Lightyear describes as production-ready, has 388 miles of range, 44 miles of which are derived from solar power alone.

The Lightyear 0 is the product of six years of research and development from its engineering team. That said, it doesn’t look too dissimilar from the sleek sedan prototype first revealed by the company in 2019. The specs are a little more down to earth: 388 miles versus the prototype’s 450 miles — but the overall shape and design of the vehicle appear mostly unchanged.

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Source: The Verge

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Growing crops beneath solar panels is an innovative way to use farmland to generate renewable energy in countries with limited space.

Electric farms are using solar power to grow profits and crops

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In many respects, Takeshi Magami’s farm is like any other in Japan, growing everything from potatoes to ginger and eggplants. But one major difference sets it apart from its neighbors: the 2,826 solar panels perched above the crops.

The panels, covering much of the one hectare (2.5 acres) of land in the tranquil countryside east of Tokyo, serve a dual purpose. They supply nearly all the power needed to run the farm, and are a source of extra income by selling surplus renewable energy to the grid.

For Magami that can mean 24 million yen ($187,000) of additional revenue a year, eight times more than the maximum 3 million yen generated from his produce. While he benefits from generous tariffs that have since been reduced, it’s an indication of the added value available to farms in Japan and globally.

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Source: Bloomberg

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Here are the best breakthrough technologies that could help accelerate the transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient & resilient future.

Solar-powered tuk-tuks and thermal clothing: The best green innovations of May 2022

Every hour, the Earth is bathed in 430 quintillion Joules of energy from the sun. That is more than the amount of energy the whole of humanity consumes in a full year. These staggering figures show the true potential of solar energy for innovation. And the uses of sunshine go beyond solar farms and solar panels on domestic roofs.

Four of this month’s innovations use the sun as an energy source for applications as varied as urban mobility and water disinfection. A new tiny house achieves carbon neutrality through in-built solar panels, while an electric tuk-tuk can travel 10,000 kilometres per year on solar energy alone. Meanwhile, a cleantech startup has a bold vision to put super-efficient, digitally printed solar cells on every consumer device, and a social enterprise has developed a device that lets remote communities harness the UV rays in sunlight to disinfect drinking water.

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Source: edie

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Solar EV manufacturer Aptera says if all 22,000 of their EV reservations turn into eventual sales, it would bring $800-million in revenue.

New Solar EV already has over 22,000 reservations

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Aptera has been around for over 15 years, but the company that we know today was only actually launched in 2020, when it revealed an updated version of the solar EV it had shown all those years ago. And this time it had a plan regarding how and where to build it, gaining the confidence of thousands who put their name down for one.

According to the most recent information from Aptera, it reports to already have 22,000 reservations for its EV, with deliveries still slated to commence later this year. The company says that if all these reservations are confirmed with eventual sales, then it would bring some $800-million in revenues.

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Source: Inside EVs

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In addition to offering energy resiliency and reliability, many of these solar power innovative applications provide secondary benefits.

The secondary benefits resulting from innovative solar power deployment

One of the chief benefits of renewable energy is its decentralized nature, allowing for energy resiliency and innovative deployments in places where power otherwise couldn’t be produced. By being creative and relying on the private sectors’ R&D, governments and businesses alike can weave solar energy seamlessly and cost-effectively throughout urban and rural settings – a feat that’s already been accomplished in a multitude of innovative projects.

Below, we’ll outline six of these – and cover why they represent such marked innovations.

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Source: PV Buzz

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The Falcon Solar looks like a superhero’s jet, running exclusively on solar power and shaped like the bird of prey it’s named after.

Meet the Falcon Solar, a new solar-powered airplane concept

The Falcon Solar looks like a superhero’s jet, running exclusively on solar power and shaped like the bird of prey it’s named after. Despite having no visible propulsion system for takeoff, and no flaps or ailerons in the wings for lift or turning, could this experimental design inspire manufacturers to move forward with aircraft powered by the sun? It will take a lot more tech to get there.

“We want to bring a new perspective to solar sustainable aviation,” Laszlo Nemeth, whose Budapest-based firm Lasko Design created the concept, told Robb Report. “I believe that modern technology is sufficiently advanced to allow us to fly on solar power. This could be a reality before self-driving cars.”

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Source: Robb Report

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Students invent solar vaccine storage system for Sub-Saharan locales

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MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. – A team of four SUNY Orange engineering sciences students is among a dozen teams announced as finalists Wednesday (April 27) for the 2022 Community College Innovation Challenge (CCIC) organized by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) in partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The CCIC is a national competition where community college student teams use science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to innovate solutions to real-world problems.

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Source: The Photo News

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This solar-powered plane could stay in the air for months

In 2016, a bizarre-looking plane, covered with more than 17,000 solar panels, showed the world a glimpse of the future of flight. With the wingspan of a Boeing 747, but weighing only as much as an SUV, it circumnavigated the Earth without using a drop of fuel.
Called Solar Impulse 2, it was the brainchild of Swiss explorer Bertrand Piccard and Swiss engineer Bertrand Borschberg, built to showcase the potential of renewable energy. After its record-breaking flight, it had accomplished its goal — but now it’s getting a new lease of life.
In 2019 it was bought by Skydweller Aero, a US-Spanish startup which aims to turn the plane into the world’s first commercially viable “pseudo-satellite,” capable of doing the work of an orbiting satellite, but with more flexibility and less environmental impact.

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Source: CNN

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New solar-powered system produces energy and drinking water

A new solar-powered system out of Saudi Arabia is capable of producing two vital resources: energy and clean water.

Peng Wang, an environmental scientist at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), was working alongside a team of biologists and engineers to improve solar panels’ efficiency when he thought of the idea for the system. Wang grew up in a Western China village without running water, requiring his family to fetch water from a communal well. If scalable, his team’s invention could supplement or fulfill similar communities’ water and energy needs.

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Source: Extreme Tech

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