As the COVID-19 pandemic shut down cities around the world, and major transportation systems slowed to a crawl, pollution levels plummeted by around 50% in Delhi, India, according to a recent report from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The researchers found an 8% increase in solar panel energy production as a result of clearer, less polluted skies in the region.

Two major breakthroughs in solar cell technology could vastly improve the way energy is harvested from the sun. The two studies, published in Nature Energy and Nature Photonics, will transform the efficiency and significantly reduce the cost of producing solar cells, scientists say. The first breakthrough involves “upconverting” low energy, non-visible light into high energy light in order to generate more electricity from the same amount of sunlight.

A group of researchers evaluates the way forward.

Double sided solar panels which collect light on both sides and move to follow the sun’s position produce over a third more energy than standard systems. Most solar panels installed around the world are fixed in one position, without the ability to adapt to where the sun is in the sky. Therefore, research has previously been focused on how to make these systems more efficient instead of looking at how the electricity produced could be increased in other ways.

In this article we take a look at the best rooftop solar panels which can be used as part of either an on-grid or off-grid solution.

Are you tired of hearing nothing can be done to save the environment? Here are 7 ways you can make a difference to Earth's health (and your wallet!)

The development of next-generation solar power technology that has potential to be used as a flexible ‘skin’ over hard surfaces has moved a step closer, thanks to a significant breakthrough at The University of Queensland. UQ researchers set a world record for the conversion of solar energy to electricity via the use of tiny nanoparticles called ‘quantum dots’, which pass electrons between one another and generate electrical current when exposed to solar energy in a solar cell device.

Virtually all the world’s demand for electricity to run transport and to heat and cool homes and offices, as well as to provide the power demanded by industry, could be met by renewable energy by mid-century.

University of Queensland researchers have made a breakthrough on next-generation solar technology that could potentially turn any flat surface into a solar generator. The team, led by Professor Lianzhou Wang, have been working on harnessing the power of "quantum dots" - tiny particles that can pass electrons to each other and generate electrical current.

Greenhouses and solar panels both need to be placed in areas with a lot of sunlight – so why not combine the two? Semi-transparent solar cells could potentially be built into the glass roof panels of greenhouses, capturing light at wavelengths that plants don’t use anyway. Now, researchers at North…

Our self-hosted, solar-powered, off-grid website has been running for 15 months now. In this article, we present its energy and uptime data, and calculate the embodied energy of our configuration. Based on these results, we consider the optimal balance between sustainability and server uptime, and outline possible improvements.

Are three multimillionaires about to break Australia’s political deadlock on climate?

A Calgary-based company has received regulatory approval to build a massive solar farm, the largest facility of its type in Canada, in southern Alberta. Greengate Power Corp., which has already developed close to 600 MW of wind power projects in Alberta and Ontario, plans to begin construction on its Travers Solar project in 2020. The $500-million project will be located on 1,900 hectares of grazing land near the village of Lomond in Vulcan County. It’s projected to generate 400 MW of electricity, making it one of the world’s largest operating solar energy projects.

The Earth is a watery place. In fact, 71 percent of our planet is covered in water. Despite this, one in nine people do not have access to safe drinking water – that’s around 785 million people.

This might be where Elon Musk is best able to make a lasting mark.

CITE Research recently conducted a survey for Vivint Solar and found that 70% of Americans would support a nationwide mandate requiring that solar panels be installed on all newly built homes. The survey was conducted online, and 2,000 U.S. adults age 25 and up participated in the study from June 13 to 16, 2019.

Researchers in South Korea have developed a new method for making solar windows. Correcting a well-known problem with transparent solar cells producing a reddish hue, these researchers discovered is that you can make a solar window simply by punching extremely small holes—the size of a strand of hair—into crystalline silicon wafers.

Could you meet the United States entirely from solar energy? Sure, claims tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. The Tesla CEO, whose company provides solar panel solutions like the Solar Roof, shared a video via Twitter on Saturday of the electricity-generating tiles taking a beating from a hammer. One fan responded to Musk’s video with a 2011 quote from Bill Gates, who described solar and similar technologies as “cute,” but that the answer is in nuclear power.

Hundreds of homes and businesses in Cornwall have started selling electricity to their local energy network and the national energy system in a pioneering move. The trial is the first time that traditional energy users – such as homes, hotels and businesses – have acted as suppliers in a microcosm of a full energy system.

Solar panels could be made from rows of artificial sunflowers, each less than 1 millimetre wide, which automatically bend towards light