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Tag <Solar Power>

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2010/07/11
Solar Powered Airplane: Solar Impulse
last edited 2010/07/11 11:10 (*)
In a century which brought a lot of invention about mobility, recent developments only pretend to be real innovations, but mostly refinements of existing ideas, concepts and realizations. Solar Impulse project around Bertrand Piccard is such a project.

Solar Impulse Plans

Solar Impulse (Illustration)

Solar Impulse Test Flight

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Payload: Lithium-ion batteries: 450 kg, (capacity: 200 Wh/kg = 90 KWh)
Length: 21.85 m (71.7 ft)
Wingspan: 63.4 m (208 ft)
Height: 6.40 m (21.0 ft)
Wing area: 11,628 photovoltaic cells: 200 m2 (2,200 sq ft)
Loaded weight: 1600 kg (3,500 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 2000 kg (4,400 lb)
Powerplant: 4× electric motors, 7.5 kW (10 HP) each
Take-off speed: 35 kilometres per hour (22 mph)

Performance

Cruise speed: 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph)
Endurance: 36 hours (projected)
Service ceiling: 8,500 m (27,900 ft) Maximum altitude: 12,000 metres (39,000 ft)

Wingspan Comparison of Solar Impulse vs Airbus 380

The wingspan comparison and weight comparison shows the key of energy efficiency: weight. Regardless in air or surface, the weight is a major factor as pointed out in other postings here. To build a 1600kg airplane where the batteries already use up 25% of the weight reveals also the main problem: storing (electric) energy, and currently (2010) electricity is stored in batteries, and those still impose a high weight cost.
I hope the research around Solar Impulse provides also new insights of efficiency of ground mobility and vice-versa.

Links

SolarImpulse.com
Wikipedia: Electric Aircraft
Tags: Solar Power, Airplane, Zero Emission, Bertrand Piccard | Permalink

2009/03/29
Solar Taxi - A Swiss Entrepreneur
last edited 2009/04/11 18:00 (*)
The "Solar Taxi" made it to the mainstream news media world wide, and was praised as true innovation.

Luis Palmer with his Solar Taxi
As the term indicates "Solar Taxi", it is a car which is driven by solar power, but after a close look, it is revealed that just 50% of the charge is coming from the solar panel, the rest comes from the grid. So, it is a "50% Solar Taxi" in truth - yet a good start indeed.

Some details:
6m² solar cells on a rooftop yield power for 15,000 km per year!
up to 400 km range
max. speed: 90 km/h
vehicle weight: 500 kg (+ 250 kg for trailer) - which makes a 6.25 vehicle/body ratio
energy efficiency: consumption of 8 kWh/100 km (equivalent of 0.8 l petrol / 100 km)
Source: SolarTaxi.com
Tags: Solar Taxi, Solar Power, Solar Car, QCells, Luis Palmer | Permalink

2009/03/25
Shell quits alternative energy investments
last edited 2009/03/30 19:32 (*)

According to The Guardian , the UK-based energy company Shell quits wind, solar and hydro power investements - as if it was just too good to be true to have an oil company to metamorph into a "green" company - so we are back in reality, Shell is and was always an oil company and will end as such as well.
The same week Obama announces to invest more into wind farms and bring US back to leading development in that area of expertise, which in the last 10 years was dominated by europeans. Isn't this odd, one quits, another starts to invest more in the same technology?
Source: Guardian Article
Tags: Royal Dutch Shell, Alibi Engagement, Hydro Power, Wind Power, Solar Power | Permalink

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