Photovoltaic

Heating and cooling buildings is a major consumer of energy, especially older ones that weren’t built with modern energy efficiencies in mind. Now Fraunhofer engineers have developed a modular solar-powered facade that can heat or cool rooms.

Solar panels continuously accumulate dust, plus they're often located atop tall buildings or in remote areas – this means that they need to be cleaned, but doing so is difficult. That's why a drone-based setup is now being developed to do the job.

Material scientists in China experimenting with carbon in its many forms have conjured up a form of glass so hard that it can scratch the surface of a diamond, while also having the ability to act as semiconductor.

German startup Sono Motors has introduced new battery technology for its forthcoming Sion electric vehicle that promises to not only power the vehicle across longer trips but allow higher charging rates in between.

Maxeon Solar Technologies reckons that it's come up with a way to install PV panels on the roofs of buildings that may not be able to support conventional setups, creating frameless, thin and lightweight panels that can be adhered directly to a roof.

Ahead of scheduled production of its PV-packing battery electric family car next year, German startup Sono Motors is joining forces with MAN Truck & Bus to trial integrating solar cells into an electric panel van.

Light-equipped bike helmets are now fairly common, but most of them still have to be plugged into a charger, and manually turned on and off as needed. The just-announced Omne Eternal, however, lets ambient light do all the work.

At the online-only CES 2021 earlier this month, German mobility startup Sono Motors revealed a collaboration with EasyMile to install its solar technology on driverless shuttles. Now we have a few more details.

The International Space Station (ISS) is getting a major upgrade starting this year, as Boeing is tapped to deliver six new solar arrays. They will provide the orbital laboratory with up to 30 percent more electricity for research and commercial applications.

Sono Motors has shown the second-gen Sion vehicle prototype at CES 2021, which features 248 photovoltaic panels integrated into the vehicle's body that will top up its battery pack during daylight hours, for up to 20 miles of extra range per day.

In summer months sunlight comes with an unwanted side order of heat. Now, researchers have developed windows that can change color automatically when heated by sunlight, to keep buildings cool – and to top it off, they’re solar panels as well.

Worksport has decided the flat surface on the back of a pickup truck is a great place for a solar array, so it's launching TerraVis, a photovoltaic, folding tonneau cover that takes power from the sun and stores it bed-mounted and removable batteries.