Dephotex - Flexible Photovoltaic Textiles
Researchers at the Portuguese Center for Nanotechnology and Smart Materials are currently working on a way to embed photovoltaic cells in fabric in the hope that one day, we could see solar panels included as part of the make-up of products such as vehicles and clothing.The technology is called Dephotex and is what's known as a photovoltaic textile which is flexible, light, durable and resistant. The benefit of flexible photovoltaic panels is that they can be embedded into anything. The photovoltaic textile could be included in clothing to charge gadgets such as mobile phones and tablets and researchers have also been looking into the possibility of charging a vehicle's battery whenever it is in direct sunlight.
Solar panel news and green news on 16th February 2012 is provided by external sources including solar panel installers.
- Why food manufacturers should take biodiversity seriously
Without vibrant ecosystems, our food system will become less diverse and less resilient, says Andrew Kuyk.
Why should the number of other species on the planet be an issue for food manufacturers? After all, the fossil record tells us that there have been five previous waves of mass extinction, including the dinosaurs – and if it wasn’t for these wipe-outs, we might never have evolved! So why worry now, if a few birds and insects are going the same way…?
Because the habitats and resources around us are ultimately as vital to our survival as they are to that of many other species currently under threat. And because that threat is largely the result of our own actions. To some extent, we can use technology to insulate ourselves – and other life-forms – from the more immediate consequences of our behaviour. We can pollinate plants without the aid of insects, remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere without rainforests, and purify water without healthy soils…
Thu 16th Feb 2012 9:45am - ‘Dump the Big Six’ goes global
The Big Six power companies have been confronted by a sudden backlash of campaigns after years of abusing their market dominance.
Three campaigns have been launched in the last week by consumer group Which?, liberal pressure group Compass and now green energy company Ecotricity all targeting the bad behaviour of the Big Six energy companies – British Gas, EDF Energy, E.ON, Npower, Scottish & Southern, Scottish Power.
Ecotricity’s ‘ Dump the Big Six’ online campaign featuring a film of Collapsing Cooling Towers with animated faces, has attracted over 1,300,000 views (and growing) on You Tube in just 5 days – and featured in the Top 5 films worldwide over the weekend.
The film is resonating with people online in the UK and around the world and has already been shown on television is the United States, to be followed by Norway, the Middle East and Latin America this week.
With 101 Conservative Party rebels mounting their own campaign to maintain the status quo – which in effect is the Big Six – Ecotricity founder Dale Vince believes now is the right moment for people to vote with their energy bills, ‘Dump the Big Six’ and bring the UK into a green energy future.
“For most of last year, and continuing quite unabated this year, the mood in our country has turned very much against the Big Six energy companies. And it’s not hard to see why.
“The interests of the Big Six energy companies are simply not aligned to the interests of the British people. They chase short-term profit and shareholder dividends – at almost any cost.
“People are fed up with the unethical pricing, awful customer service and the dire lack of investment in new sources of green energy.
“So we’ve launched a campaign called ‘Dump the Big Six’.
“As befits an organisation such as Ecotricity – it’s not a big budget TV campaign, but is taking place online, through digitally enabled People:Power.”
The online film features crumbling cooling towers as symbols of a passing era, of the old industrial approach to energy production – through burning fossil fuels. And the campaign itself is taking place in the (relatively) new world of social media, a place that enables and empowers people to come together, voice opinions and bring about change – in a way that has never been possible before. It’s digitally enabled democracy.
People:Power is at the heart of Ecotricity, it’s how the company works – empowering people to bring about change by using the power of their energy bills:
- Firstly, Ecotricity have an ethical pricing policy – everyone gets the best price automatically – matching the standard tariff of the Big Six on their home turf.
- Secondly, Ecotricity customers get the greenest outcome for their bill money – 80p in every £1 billed is reinvested in building new sources of Green Energy, compared to an average of just 8p with the Big Six.
- Thirdly, and no means least – Ecotricity have real customer service and care passionately about this – with a real person answering the phone and promises are kept – all basic stuff, but so long missing from the Big Six.
Vince continued: “People:Power can bring change to the energy sector – when people join us they vote with their energy bills. Together we can harness the energy bills of Britain and direct them to a proper outcome – the creation of a Green, energy independent Britain – a Green Britain.”
“It’s time we moved on and ‘Dumped the Big Six’ and the old way of doing things (they’re inseparable after all) and to instead be a part of a revolution.”
About Ecotricity
Britain’s leading green energy company, Ecotricity was founded over 15 years’ ago when, in 1996, it founded the UK’s green electricity market and movement. A ‘not for dividend’ company with no outside shareholders to answer to, it now powers over 58,000 homes and businesses in the UK from its fleet of 53 windmills and it invests more per capita in building new sources of green energy than any other UK electricity company.
For more information, please contact:Stuart Brennan, Ecotricity stuart.brennan@ecotricity.co.uk or (01453) 761318
- www.ecotricity.co.uk
- twitter: @ecotricity
- Facebook.com/ecotricity
Thu 16th Feb 2012 8:59am
