Japan-based housing and environmental equipment maker Nikko [JP] today said it plans to mass-produce a tiny wind turbine for home use by October next year. Nikko claims their new wind turbine unit will cost somewhere between $5,600 and $6,700 and is just 2 meters in diameter. The company currently has a small wind turbine in its line-up that costs $11,000, which seems to be too much to enter the… → Read More
Japan is turning greener and greener by the week, it seems. This weekend, during the Eco Products 2008 exhibition in Tokyo, a total of 750 companies showcased a few hundred new environmentally friendly products and services. Four noteworthy examples are shown in the video above [JP]. The first segment is about a water heating boiler that is powered by bricks made of dried newspapers, with the main… → Read More
Tokyo-based electronics company OTAS is selling a lithium-ion battery for the iPhone 3G that comes with an integrated mini solar panel [JP]. The so-called LC-1500 is housed in a leather case. OTAS says one charge with solar energy takes 13 hours whereas charging the battery via mini USB takes 3 hours. The device measures 125x64x25mm and weighs 100 grams. OTAS is selling it in Japan only (price… → Read More
Seiko yesterday announced it has developed the world’s most solar-efficient clock [JP]. The HS533W will go on sale in Japan at the beginning of next month (price: $310). Seiko hasn’t said yet if the device will ever find its way outside Nippon. The clock, which is just 8.5mm thick, comes equipped with a CR2032 battery as a backup power supply. Seiko says in dark places, the clock will… → Read More
Tokyo-based electronics company Links International today unveiled the iCharge Eco [JP], a solar charger for multiple mobile devices that goes on sale in Japan November 29. The iCharge measures just 107.5×51.5×15.3mm and weighs 80 grams. It delivers a current of DC5.0 to 5.5V at 600mA and comes with a lithium polymer battery (power: 1,350mAh). Users need 15 hours to charge the iCharge… → Read More
Mitsubishi Electric today said it has produced a polycrystalline-silicon solar cell that converts light energy to electrical energy with an efficiency of 18.6%. According to the company, the previous record stood at 18.3%. The protoype is sized at 150x150mm and has a thickness of 180 microns. Mitsubishi structured the surface like a honeycomb in order to reduce reflections of sunrays. In addition… → Read More
Today Sanyo announced in Tokyo that it will more than triple its solar cell production in the US by investing $80 million in a new plant in Salem, Oregon. The plant will begin operations in October 2009 and is scheduled to be at full capacity by April 2010. Sanyo said maximum annual production is set to hit about 70 MW of solar ingots and wafers. This means the company’s total solar… → Read More
Sanyo Japan [JP] today unveiled a number of new Eneloop products that will go on sale in Japan on October 10th (no word on availability outside this country yet). The Eneloop Solar Light [JP] (pictured above) is equipped with Sanyo’s self-developed “HIT solar cell” and ready for use in areas without power supply or during emergency situations. The device, which can be used as… → Read More
Market research company Fuji Keizai is predicting the global market for solar cells will grow 27% annually until 2012, when it supposedly will reach a size of $42.5 billion. In 2007, the market was worth $10.9 billion. Fuji Keizai calculated that polycrystalline silicon solar cells accounted for 90% of the market in 2007 but says the importance of silicon in the use of solar cells will gradually… → Read More
In a move to curb global warming, the Japanese government today announced a number of measures to implemented in the next years. It decided to put into practice a technology aimed at storing CO2 underground. The country hopes to cut CO2 collection costs from the current $39 per ton to $19 by the 2020s through the so-called ‘‘carbon dioxide capture and storage’’ method. First experiments… → Read More
Tokyo-based Nihon Telecommunication System Inc. [JP] is offering windowpanes with built-in photovoltaic cells, mainly aimed at the residential housing market. According to the company, the electricity produced through the panes will be just enough to power a PC and recharge a cell phone. The electricity will be tapped via USB ports. On sunny days, the new windowpanes are supposed to generate up to… → Read More
Researchers from MIT have been working on a way to use colored glass to increase the efficiency of solar collection. According to reports, the new technique involves painting dyes across the glass that redirect light to the solar cells placed along the edges, as opposed to covering the whole surface. This reduces the amount of expensive solar cell material required and possibly increases energy… → Read More
It seems Japan is getting greener every day. Now Buffalo announced they will start selling a wireless keyboard [JP] powered by solar energy from next week. The BSKBW01SB will be priced at $120. The 2.4GHz wireless device features a small solar panel located above the numerical keyboard block and can alternatively be powered using 2 AAA batteries. → Read More
Today Sharp unveiled a prototype of a 26-inch LCD Aquos TV [JP], which is solely powered by solar energy. The company said one day, their solution might bring television to all the 1.6 billion people on earth who don’t have access to electricity. Sharp’s new green TV uses half of the power existing LCDs need. In comparison to the power consumption of the 28C-PB500 [JP], a CRT TV Sharp… → Read More
The Japanese have a growing interest in solar power, it seems. Today Showa Shell Sekiyu, a Japanese subsidiary of Shell, said [JP] it will set up one of the world’s biggest plants for manufacturing solar power panels starting in 2011. Showa Shell Sekiyu is Japan’s fifth biggest oil distributor. The company said it is willing to invest $940 million into the factory, the location of which is… → Read More
Today Sharp Japan [JP], the city of Sakai and Kansai Electric Power [JP] announced [JP] the so-called “Sakai City Waterfront Mega Solar Power Generation Plan”. Under the initiative, two mega solar power generation plants are to be built in Sakai (near Osaka) by 2010. One facility will have an output of 10,000 kW, while the second plant is planned to produce 28,000 kW. The complex will… → Read More
Japanese companies StrapyaNext and Tokyo Coil Engineering claim they developed the world’s first battery charger for cell phones based on solar energy. The charger comes in the form of a phone strap. The device is 12.5 cm long and weighs 40 grams. It takes between 6 and 10 hours for a full charge with which you can talk for up to 40 minutes. StrapyaNext promises on the product page… → Read More
German fashionistas Picard have a spring and summer bag that’s laden with solar panels to charge your many gadgets, be they laptops, DAPs or other fun and exciting things. Um, it’s black, may or may not match your dancin’ shoes and costs a whopping $670. Wouldn’t it be cheaper just to get a knockoff bag and keep your gadgets charged on your own? Go ahead, people, spend… → Read More
Growing up in the Northwest I was surrounded by trees, mountains, rivers (the non-toxic kind) and a lawn to mow every week. You could call me a treehugger or just a proponent for a greener planet and I’d smile from ear to ear. It always makes me smile when I see eco-friendly products. Sunsei has an assortment of solar panels that are diminutive in size compared to most of the solar panels I’ve… → Read More
Honda announced recently a full-scale entry into the solar energy market. It has gone as far as establishing a new division called Soltec, whose sole purpose is to tackle the endeavor. Soltec will work on developing the next generation in thin-film solar technology. The films will comprised of a compound made of copper, indium, gallium and selenium (CIGS). Honda issued this statement: [our]… → Read More
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