How state policy plays an important role in cutting carbon emissions
Using a breadth of datasets, researchers modeled how states’ clean energy goals might evolve under state-led action versus federal support.
Iowa researchers explore how solar panel height, design affects crop yields
Iowa State University is using a $1.8 million grant to study whether higher solar arrays create better growing conditions for horticultural crops and beekeeping production.
Leading threat to farmland is real estate development, not solar, agricultural analysts say
Arkansas could double its total energy generation with solar and still only require a very small fraction of the land to do so, according to analysis by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
MIT scientists developing silicon solar cell based on singlet exciton fission
Scientists in the United States have designed a microwire solar cell that could reportedly enable the coupling of singlet fission with silicon. Key to their achievement was an interface that transfers the electrons and holes sequentially into silicon instead of both at once.
Solar grazing supports healthier soil, food for sheep, study finds
Solar sheep grazing helps to create a beneficial dual-use environment, found American Solar Grazing Association in a two-year study conducted at 31 different solar sites.
Local opposition threatens clean energy transition
Unprecedented local opposition and anti-solar local ordinances, along with softened federal support from the Trump administration, is driving a need for a new generation of state solar rights statutes, researchers conclude in a forthcoming paper from Arizona State University’s College of Law.
Solar-plus-storage for extreme low temperatures
Scientists in the United States have created a testing platform for energy harvesting in solar-plus-storage systems under extreme temperatures ranging from -180 C to 300 C.
Field survey protocol for monitoring PV backsheet degradation
A research group including scientists from U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Underwriter’s Laboratories Inc., and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has outlined a new protocol for assessing PV module backsheet degradation in the field. Through the proposed framework, the researchers analyzed PV backsheet degradation across 41 sites, with exposure times ranging from 1 to 38 years.
Indoor transition metal dichalcogenide solar cells may reach 36.5% efficiency
New research from Stanford University has investigated the performance limits of transition metal dichalcogenide solar cells for indoor energy harvesting intended for powering internet of things (IoT) devices and sensors. The analysis showed these cells may reach a power conversion efficiency of up to 36.5%.
Water-based recycling of perovskite solar cells
An international team has developed a new technique to recycle perovskite solar cells (PSC) made on glass substrates using a water-based solution. Tests showed that the recycled cells were as efficient and stable as the original devices.
