Solar power enters the plastic age

Cheaper and lighter compared to its more expensive, cumbersome silicon cousin, plastic photovoltaics (PV) could herald a revolution in the solar power market, according to a UK solar panel expert.

“Plastics are much cheaper to process than silicon. In principle the devices we’ve been making might be very, very cheap and cover large areas,” said David Lidzey from the UK’s University of Sheffield.

via CNN.com.

Living Rooms – A Home for the Future

This looks amazing!  Perhaps one day we will see such homes in Asia and Singapore…

Virginia Tech’s Lumenhaus, a solar-powered home that won the 2010 Solar Decathlon Europe, provides a glimpse into future living. Take a tour through the home and listen to Joe Wheeler, one of three primary faculty members who worked on the project with more than 200 students, explain the home’s features and how it may change the way we live and use energy.

via Living Rooms – A Home for the Future – Interactive Feature – NYTimes.com.

HDB makes single largest purchase of solar panels

SINGAPORE: The Housing and Development Board HDB has made its single largest purchase of solar panels to date. The panels bought from Renewable Energy Corporation are worth about S$2.3 million. They will be installed in the 4th quarter of this year at six HDB precincts covering about 3,000 residential units. The precincts are Jurong, Aljunied, Telok Blangah, Bishan and Ang Mo Kio. The procurement is part of HDBs efforts towards a more eco-friendly and sustainable environment for public housing. HDB carried out its first solar panel installation at Serangoon and Wellington precinct in 2008. The trial programme achieved a 10 per cent reduction in energy consumption.

via Channel NewsAsia