Solar is already making waves in the developing world, proving once again how beneficial renewable energy can be for everybody. Developing countries have the awesome opportunity of skipping the smokestack revolution and heading straight into clean, sustainable energy. One of the latest in that vein of innovation is the hybrid diesel-solar powered refrigerator.

Developed by Promethean Power Systems, this stand-alone refrigerator system runs on a combination of diesel fuel and 180 Watt solar panels. While this makes it only partially renewable, as Treehugger so aptly points out, there is nothing preventing biodiesel from entering the picture and making it 100 percent clean. Yet this is a big step. While the only refrigeration option people living off-grid have now are expensive diesel generators, Promethean’s hybrid refrigerator would cut operation costs by 66% as it stands now. This is monumental for people who cannot even keep supplies such as milk, fruits, and vegetables fresh long enough to use them. (more…)

Proving that there is no lack of creativity in the solar industry, Solaroad Group has come up with a radical space-saving design for solar panels. What they dub the ElectraWall is a cylinder-shaped solar cell that can be clipped onto any number of surfaces including walls, poles, or rooftops. Using, of course, cylindrical solar cells, ElectraWall panels have a variety of proposed benefits. These include no need for direct sunlight, easy installation, and built-in battery storage. They’re also made with a good proportion of recycled materials. (more…)

The latest development in the rush to increase efficiency and decrease the cost of solar panels is the microinverter. Developed by Enphase Energy, with the help of numerous venture capitalists, this new innovation promises an inverter for every solar panel in an array. Its creators claim that these inverters can increase efficiency by 5 to 25 percent.

In a typical array one inverter, which converts direct current (DC) to the necessary alternating current (AC) that powers the home, is connected to each and every panel in that array. In the new Enphase Energy design, one microinverter for each panel would reduce installation costs by eliminating the need for many cables running to one single inverter. It would also improve efficiency by cutting down the distance of transmission in which energy is typically lost, allowing the panels to produce more usable electricity. (more…)