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Solar powered cars race in South Africa
Cape Town (AFP) Oct 1, 2008 Africa's first-ever solar-powered car race is underway in South Africa to raise awareness about alternative energy and promote science and technology, organisers said Wednesday. Local teams are competing against racers from India and Japan in the two-week South African Solar Challenge, which aims to encourage students to study engineering, a field in which the country faces huge skills shortage. "Promoting science and technology, that is the main focus. If we can convince another 10 people in our country to become engineers, it could be a radical improvement to our economy," said organiser Winstone Jordaan. The group also hopes to promote alternative energy and green technology. "Not a lot of people understand a six-square-metre (65-square-foot) solar array can make a car go 160 kilometres (100 miles) per hour. That's the crux of it, to get a generation of people growing up understanding the power of solar, how do we apply it." Other solar car races are held in Europe, the United States and Australia, helping to develop technology for both alternative energy power sources and electric cars. Related Links All About Solar Energy at SolarDaily.com
US Solarcell Design Hits 40 Precent Efficiency
Golden CO (SPX) Sep 30, 2008Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have set a world record in solar cell efficiency with a photovoltaic device that converts 40.8 percent of the light that hits it into electricity. This is the highest confirmed efficiency of any photovoltaic device to date. |
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