Solar Power

The 2019 World Building of the Year winner Mecanoo is leading a team that's creating a new tower in Amsterdam. Featuring an interesting stepped form and finished in brick, it will also incorporate greenery, solar panels and rainwater collection.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world in many ways. Now, scientists have quantified an effect that lies a few links down the chain, finding that solar panels in certain cities have seen a boost in output, due to reduced air pollution.

Perovskite is emerging as a promising material for solar cells, but it has some durability problems. Now, engineers have developed a new electrode that could make them more stable, using a protective layer of "graphene armor."

Assuming it goes ahead as planned, this solar-powered urban poultry farm will host roughly 7,000 egg-laying hens, as well as an area for growing food, in a harbor in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

UNStudio has announced that construction is underway on a new college campus building in the Netherlands. Once work is completed, students will be hitting the books in a flexible and energy-efficient space that integrates greenery on its facade.

Happel Cornelisse Verhoeven recently completed a new fire station in Antwerp, Belgium. Sustainable design includes solar power and rainwater collection, while the eye-catching red brick on the outside contrasts with wood and concrete on the inside.

German company Sinn Power has proposed a hybrid offshore power generation platform that combines wind turbines, solar panels and wave energy harvesters to generate off-grid electricity for people living close to the coast.

Quantum dots have shown promise in solar cells. Now, researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have developed a new type of quantum dot solar cell that isn’t made with the toxic elements found in most, while maintaining efficiency.

When the US Air Force's X-37B autonomous spaceplane launched into orbit for the sixth time this week, it carried an experiment to explore the potential for beaming solar energy from space to Earth using microwaves.

There are some places that a solar-powered rover just can’t reach, like the Moon’s polar regions that are permanently in shadow. Now, ESA has outlined a new system where a lander shines a laser at a rover to keep it powered from miles away.

Solar cells are constantly improving on the road to maximum efficiency. Now, three records have been broken by two different devices, including one that pushes the highest overall solar conversion efficiency towards the 50-percent mark.

K20 Architecture was commissioned to design a new community center in Bayswater, a suburb of Melbourne. In response, it delivered a building that makes use of local and recycled materials and features solar power and rainwater collection systems.