All articles tagged with #solar power
An Ember analysis finds European solar output rose up to 17% on heatwave days, helping meet up to 25% higher electricity demand, with solar performing best during extreme heat; but after sundown cooling keeps demand high and storage is needed to avoid expensive gas-fired power and price spikes amid drought-reduced hydropower.
A 2018 planet-wide Martian dust storm blocked sunlight for months, drenching Opportunity’s solar panels and ending its 15-year mission after last contact on June 10, 2018; NASA formally closed the rover’s file in February 2019 with a final odometer of 45.16 km. The storm’s opacity peaked around tau 10.8 at Opportunity, illustrating how even sun-powered rovers can be overwhelmed by Mars’s weather, while Curiosity remained online on plutonium power. The event spurred studies of atmospheric dynamics and Mars-wide water loss, and it helped shift mission design away from sun-dependent surface explorations.,
Caltech and Sophia Space have patented a cooling system for AI data centers in orbit, enabling solar-powered operation of space-based computing. The concept aims to overcome overheating and energy hurdles to launch orbital data hubs by the early 2030s, joining broader industry interest in satellite data centers despite substantial engineering and power challenges.
A solar-powered home on 52.6 acres in Tunbridge, Vermont, designed for energy efficiency and privacy, is on the market for $595,000. The property features elm kitchen countertops, a wide glass slider with mountain views, a primary bedroom with a barn-door wardrobe, a vintage clawfoot tub in the bath, and an on-site studio that mirrors the home’s design near the historic Cilley Covered Bridge.
Natural Light revealed the CoolShed, a solar-powered walk-in beer cooler with a prize package including a fully built shed and more than $15,000 in beer money; the first 500 entrants receive beer money, and entries run through July 31 at NaturalLight.com/CoolShed. The cooler offers 250 cubic feet of cooling space, advanced temperature control, and heavy-duty shelving capable of holding dozens of cases of Natty.
Ending federal solar tax credits is shifting rooftop solar economics toward leases and subscriptions: homeowners pay monthly and can cancel, with free panel removal if the deal isn’t right, potentially making leasing more attractive than buying.
A Fox News Digital investigation finds regulators have allowed the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility to operate despite ongoing wildlife deaths—thousands of birds killed annually by the plant’s concentrated solar beams—under a monitoring-and-mitigation regime that avoids fines or shutdowns. The plant, funded as part of the Obama-era clean energy push, was approved with the expectation that wildlife impacts would be managed later; enforcement is shared among multiple agencies, and penalties for incidental bird deaths have been narrowed by legal reinterpretations, keeping the facility in compliance even as bird mortality continues.
War in the Middle East disrupts Gulf oil flows, prompting record U.S. crude exports and a Latin American supply surge, while China’s solar leadership accelerates a shift toward renewables—together signaling a major reordering of global energy with new winners and a rise of the ‘electrostate.’
Govee launches a 33-foot Outdoor Solar String Lights kit powered by a 6W solar panel, offering RGBICW with 16 million colors and Bluetooth/Matter compatibility via the Govee app; priced at $100, it’s shorter and less bright than plug-in versions (up to 50 lumens per bulb vs 80), but can run up to 13 hours on a charge with a 4,800mAh battery and recharge via USB-C; IP67-rated for dust and water resistance and operable in roughly 32°F to 113°F (panel -4 to 104°F); available now on Govee’s site and Amazon.
The IEA’s Global Energy Review shows global electricity demand rose 3% in 2025, outpacing total energy growth, with data centers and electric vehicles driving much of the increase. U.S. power demand grew about 2%, with buildings accounting for roughly 80% of the rise and data centers contributing about half of the U.S. increase. Globally, solar PV led energy-demand growth for the first time, followed by natural gas.
A solar-powered Raspberry Pi Zero W runs a diskless RAMdisk web server on 512 MB RAM, using Alpine Linux with lighttpd, a Python-based duckiebox file server, SSHD, and dcron; it consumes about 27 MB of RAM and, under load, handles 50 concurrent connections with an average 1.3-second response time, powered by a ~20 W solar setup and a passively cooled aluminum case as part of the Green Powered Challenge.
The FCC is considering Reflect Orbital’s plan to launch a large fleet of orbital sun-mirrors (starting with a 60-foot prototype and potentially up to 50,000 mirrors) intended to reflect sunlight onto dark regions, a concept pitched as a clean lighting or energy solution but facing serious regulatory, ecological, and astronomical concerns; experts argue that even thousands of satellites would be needed for a meaningful effect, and there is no established regulatory framework for such novel space activities.
Trump’s oil embargo is driving Cuba’s shift to solar energy, with Chinese panels flooding in and households pivoting away from scarce petrol as the embargo reshapes daily life, offering relief but not solving all hardships.
The Trump administration has slowed or halted federal approvals for hundreds of wind and solar projects on federal land and private property, delaying routine environmental reviews and stalling projects nationwide, including the Jackalope Wind farm in Wyoming, as electricity demand rises and critics say environmental safeguards are being used to curb clean-energy expansion.
Elon Musk used his Davos debut to say U.S. tariffs on solar products raise costs and hinder solar deployment, urging policy changes to accelerate clean energy adoption.