New findings expand Apollo observations of lunar atmosphere

In December 1972 the astronauts of Apollo 17-the last manned mission to the moon-deployed the Lunar Atmospheric Composition Experiment (LACE), a spectrometer designed to measure and characterize the thin lunar atmosphere. ...

Dutch student offers new insights into power-generating windows

On 5 July Jan Willem Wiegman graduated from TU Delft with his research into power-generating windows. The Applied Physics Master’s student calculated how much electricity can be generated using so-called luminescent ...

No show stoppers for concentrating solar power

(Phys.org) -- A recently published study confirms that solar thermal power is largely unrestricted by materials availability. There are, however, some issues that the industry needs to look into soon, like replacing silver ...

Thermal scout finds trouble at solar plants

(Phys.org) -- At a 20-megawatt concentrating solar power (CSP) plant, some 10,000 mirrors reflect sunlight onto 10,000 receiver tubes, each of which must operate efficiently to get the maximum impact from the sun.

Renewable energy costs falling: agency

Power from renewable energy sources is getting cheaper every year, according to a study released Wednesday, challenging long-standing myths that clean energy technology is too expensive to adopt.

Thermal storage gets more solar on the grid

(PhysOrg.com) -- It's 4:45 on a sweltering August afternoon, and the rooftop solar panels are starting to lose juice. The sun's lower angles and that huge cottonwood tree are interfering with the efficient photon-to-electricity ...

Researchers boost solar concentrator efficiency

A team of researchers at the University of California, Merced, has redesigned luminescent solar concentrators to be more efficient at sending sunlight to solar cells.

Snowball Earth hypothesis challenged

The hypothesis that the Earth was completely covered in ice 635 million years ago has received a serious blow. The atmospheric concentration of CO2 during that period was much lower than previously thought, according to a ...

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