Water from air: What will they think of next?

With news today that Australian scientist Edward Linacre has one the Dyson award for innovation,  we embark on another short journey in our series on bio-mimicry. Edward’s invention is unlike most previous ‘plant mimicking’ water collection efforts, in that his inspiration was a desert beetle that collects dew off its back with a unique cellular structure. Plant mimicking devices typically feature a large fan type funnel structure, such as illustrated in the picture on the left. His inspiration, the Namib Desert Beetle...

read more

Westinghouse combines brand strength with Solar

Many large names such as Bosch, Sharp and BP have been involved with solar for a while. The pioneer of alternating current electricity distribution, global conglomerate Westinghouse has been dipping their toes in solar for a short while, and recently unveiled a large area solar panel with a tiny inverter built in. Subsidiary Westinghouse Solar, a designer and manufacturer of solar power systems, wowed critics with their second-generation AC solar panel – contrasting with the DC panels on the market. Similar ideas were initially trialled...

read more

Conergy installs 2MW Plant

Germany-based Conergy has finished a 2.2 MW PV plant in Brandenburg, Germany. Conergy says it installed 27,300 modules on its own Conergy mounting systems in just six weeks. Power from the plant is fed into the network with the help of 130 units of Conergy’s new IPG 15 T inverters. The plant is expected to produce at least 2,134 MWh of electricity annually.

read more