EPN Renewable Energy Blog

The harvesting jigsaw

Over the last few years, electronics distributors have started to use their different line cards in order to provide solutions targeted to application areas. Such multi-manufacturer platforms have proven to be quite successful, and now there is one leveraging a distributors' know-how for energy harvesting.

Green society

The need for exponential growth in solar-energy production, as required by Europe’s 2020 climate targets and general energy policies, creates formidable technological challenges. A new European research program aims to address these requirements by improving the efficiency of solar cells, devising innovative harvesting techniques, reducing power-conversion losses, and enhancing energy-management strategies.

Energy of the future

Conflicting signals from European governments have upset the PV market in 2011; even though the year ended on an optimistic note. Forecasts for 2012 indicate interesting developments.

Who’s got the smartest energy?

Ever since the German government returned to the anti-nuclear energy policy of its predecessors, scientist, politicians and utility companies are trying to figure out ways of restructuring the infrastructure. In order to expedite this process, a new award for »intelligent energy« will be bestowed for interesting approaches.

Rate your efficiency

We've all got used to the environmental labels on white goods that have become more and more useless since no manufacturer of refrigerators can sell an »F«-rated machine anymore and everything is between »A« and »C«. Now, a French company takes this approach one step further and rates private households with smart-grid data.

Looking for inverters

The trend toward renewable energy causes companies to invest heavily. Due to the nature of those power sources, they require special electronic components - even electronic specialists need additional know-how.

Sustainable shack

Traditionally, an alpine hut used to be self-sustainable in every conceivable way. Today there’s electricity, air conditioning, internet and gourmet food available, so mountain cabanas aren’t very 'green' any more. Modern methods of energy generation combined with building automation techniques have the potential to keep the high standards AND let the huts become self-sustainable again.

Paint for Power

A happy new year to all readers! Are you planning to renovate your house this year? You might try getting a sample of a new kind of paint that has been developed at the University of Notre Dame, USA.

Efficient flexibility

Organic photovoltaic cells are not really well known for their efficiency. While advantages in possible applications outweigh the low energy yield, the frustrating issue for researchers in this field is that in theory, the efficiency doesn't have to be much lower than with silicon-based technologies. However, the potential is hard to put into effect, so every small increase is cause for celebration in research labs.

The non-silver bullet

One of the downsides of photovoltaics is the trade-off between efficiency, cost and pollution. Generally, a very efficient solar cell is expensive and, production-wise, as far from eco-friendly as a means of renewable energy generation can be. A new architecture has the potential to shift the weights toward 'greener' and 'cheaper'.