Raise the Roof: Power Source
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Solar panels are a good source of home energy, but they can be an eyesore. Manufacturers want to make solar more popular by gussying up panels and integrating them into roofing materials. John Gartner reports from San Francisco.
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Large-scale solar-power projects will bring big benefits.
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There's money on the table if you take some energy-saving steps.
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A new device recharger debuts, along with products that could take advantage of it.
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German researchers claim they have figured out a way to use body heat to generate power that could eventually run mobile devices.
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Tom Shannon's massive spherical blimp design boasts 7 million LEDs. Now the challenge is to get it built. In Gadget Lab.
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HOUSTON -- The International Space Station (ISS) unfurled a shiny new set of solar wings Tuesday to increase its power supply and support future construction.
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The One Laptop Per Child Project (OLPC) is toying with a novel source of power for its&#160;low-cost XO laptops: cows.&quot;We plan to drive a dynamo (taken from an old Fiat) through a system of belts and pulleys using cows/cattle,&quot; wrote OLPC&#39;s Arjun Sarwal, in an e-mail dated Oct. 21 and posted to one of the group&#39;s discussion lists.Sarwal and others are now finalizing the design of the cow-powered generator.The goal is to develop a low-cost energy source that can be used in Indian villages. Working in a village close to Mumbai, Sarwal said the group considered using solar energy but sunlight near Mumbai was not &quot;consistently strong.&quot; There was not enough wind or running water nearby to use these as sources of power, and the cost of running a gas-powered motor was too high.&quot;But the village had an abundance of cattle that were being used in the fields. So we decided to design something around that,&quot; Sarwal wrote in a subsequent e-mail.The dynamo used in the system was taken from a Fiat car that is commonly used as taxis in Mumbai and therefore both cheap and readily available.OLPC is close to putting its XO laptop into production, but has been beset by delays and rising costs. Originally intended to cost $100 each, the&#160;cost has since risen to nearly $200. And production is also moving slowly.After a trial production run in August, OLPC had hoped to start mass production in late September or early October. That date has now slipped to Nov. 12, according to a Reuters report that quoted the group&#39;s chief technology officer, Mary Lou Jepsen.
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EU adopts green energy plan.Plus: Robotic salamander sides with evolution.... President Bush says go solar? And more.
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Gabe: We did a really awesome project (can I say it"s awesome, is that okay?) for Wired magazine. You can either go pick up the most recent issue and read it there or check it out on their site. They asked us to do a piece for them handicapping all three of the next generation systems. We tried to be as fair as we could and hopefully you"ll get a kick out of it.
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A device that turns heat to sound and sound to electricity could power spacecraft.
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Concerns over exploding computer   batteries may be heating up, but alternative power sources for   portable devices like laptops, music players and cellphones   could still be up to 10 years away.
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The new tower planned for the World Trade Center site has a lot more going for it than its 1,776-foot height -- it will include an array of environmentally friendly power sources. By John Gartner.
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Blog: Researchers create lighting foil to save energy, space.
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BOSTON | Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers made a 60-watt light bulb glow by sending it energy wirelessly - from a device 7 feet away - potentially heralding a future in which cell phones and other gadgets get juice without having to be plugged in.
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An electronic device that uses spinach to convert light into electrical charge has been developed by US researchers. Shuguang Zhang at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US, and research collaborators
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Heavy users of mobile phones, iPods and other portable devices may want to try on a new coat lined with solar modules and a battery to charge their gadgets on the fly.