Here is a great article from Treehugger (A Discovery Company) about a huge innovation in clean tech engineering. I have re-posted the entire article below, but if you would prefer to read the original – click here.
For decades, cleantech has engaged in a slogging uphill battle. Renewable energy, arguably the most disruptive technology in the marketplace, poses a clear threat to status quo fossil fuels industries that supply us with the vast majority of our power. As such, the oil, gas and coal industries have worked hard to paint clean energy as a silly hippie daydream. They have funded skeptical think tanks and used their resources to influence and appeal to conservative politicians and opinionators.
As a result, conventional wisdom in U.S. popular culture says clean energy is still a pipe dream. Wind and solar “aren’t there yet”, electric cars are weird and unreliable, and without coal, gas and oil, why, the lights would up and go off in much of the country! None of that is true, of course, but the American public has been inculcated to believe such boilerplate after years of naysaying ‘industry leaders’ and dismissive op-eds and so on. Which is why, when something like Solyndra happens, the sufficiently indoctrinated press eats it up and affirms its biases.
I know, I know, you saw the headline, and were promised cool solar airplane footage. But all of the above is why a stunt like the one depicted in this short video below is so important. Headline-making stunts, like launching a solar-powered plane that can fly even at night, showcase the latent power of clean energy can break through all that saturated dogma and rearrange prejudices more powerfully than a hundred pro-oil talking heads on Fox News.
The Solar Impulse is an experimental jet that will attempt to fly around the world, nonstop, with 100% solar power, in 2014. The good folks at Motherboard put together a nice documentary about the project. Check it out!
This is really interesting. A solar-powered airplane, if successful, could really change the common perception on solar power. I think that people today i general are skeptical that solar power can work on anything more than a small calculator or watch. And I’m sure, as it would be for me, people would be a bit hesitant to fly on a solar-powered aircraft. It seems like such a wild idea, but it has obviously been thought out. The plane being able to fly at night is really cool and shows that the plane must be able to store energy. My opinion on this solar-powered plane is that it would take a long time to catch on and might never catch on for commercial airlines. Maybe solar energy could serve as a secondary source of energy for the plane, but primary is unlikely. Still, I’ll be interested to see in 2014 if this thing actually happens.
I agree with Jackson that people find it hard to believe that solar power can work on bigger things that can make an impact on our environment. We believe it to work on the little items people own. It’s going to be hard for people to accept the fact that solar power can be used for such big things. I feel like it would cause people to be uncomfortable to fly on these kinds of planes. It is such a random invention, however if it was created and known, then it has to be somewhat reliable. It is going to have a hard time becoming popular and used often. It will be interesting to see its developments in the future!
I don’t think that by making a plain that can fly with solar energy will make any point other than that it can make a slow moving plane that can store solar energy in batteries. People use planes as a fast means of travel. If that weren’t so, we would use our cars, boats or trains to travel. I personally think that the plain doesn’t prove anything. I believe that if they want to prove that solar energy can replace oil and carbon they should do it through other projects. As well, energy can’t be stored on a massive scale. So solar energy by itself won’t provide the energy we need at night, it would have to work together with other energy sources to meet our demands.
Since we are currently learning about air pollution this post is more than appropriate. Everyone knows how oil, coal burning, and gas pollute the earth and that we need to come up with a renewable energy resource that does not pollute the earth, but like this article is talking about… this almost seems like a dream to most people. I think this plane is a brilliant idea and it will prove to a lot of people that solar energy is a lot more powerful then most of us give it credit for. I can’t wait to see this in 2014… I think it will change the way we think about energy for the better.
Meghan is right about the pollution factor in this new idea. With countless flights happening daily, the emissions due to fuel has to be large. Now, if that emission was due to clean energy, think about how much pollution would be cut down just by switching energy sources. This change, as is widely known, is an issue with the automobile world too. If an airplane can run on solar power, why can’t a car be developed that goes far distances on solar power. This idea could bring about major changes and it could be a game-changer in the problems of pollution.
I agree with both Meghan and Jackson. The majority of people are probably very skeptical about this “pipe” dream of solar energy being a primary source. It hasn’t been done before, at least not on a wide scale. But the way I look at it is, everything has a first. before the wright brothers, if somebody had said people are going to be able to fly places in the air… how many people do you think would have said, “for sure!” Probably very few. Solar powered planes is just another step forward in innovating our society. In time, if it works and enough people see that it works I think it could become more common. However not for a very long time. I’m also very interested to see this in 2014!
I think that this is an awesome idea, one that I would love to see catch on in the coming years. Pollution levels aren’t as bad as they were years ago, but in several places around the globe pollution is a problem. Planes today defintely contribute to air pollution and seeing a solar powered plane concept is a breath of fresh air. If this solar powered plane were to work out like the designers hope, we could be seeing a major shift in the flight industry. I am hoping to see this plane gain more media attention around the world in an effort to spread the word about alternative and cleaner ways of travel. I am very excited to see the results of this flight in 2014 and hope to see much more over it.
I would love this solar powered airpalne to be a success, because like Meghan said air pollution has become and is still becoming a major issue. People do not realize that this is quickly ruining our planet and killing a great amount of people.
This solar powered plane is a great innovation because it would not be polluting the earth as much as the planes do now. However i feel that it will be very difficult to get people to ride this new plane because people are going to be very skeptical. I know I would not risk my life on a new invention like a plane. However for every new invention there are going to be skeptics, like Alex gave the example of the Wright Brothers. I think this plane could be a success and I am excited to see the path it takes in 2014.
Once this solar powered plane is up and running and becomes a common way to fly around the world, I think it will help cut down on air pollution in a great amounts. Considering that airplanes cause a lot of the air pollution that is in our atmosphere today. Cutting down on pollution is a serious problem because in some countries such as China and India people are actually being effected by the amount of pollution and are dying from the effects of it. I know some people are skeptical of solar power energy and they say that isn’t that effective and is very expensive to construct, but I think it’s better to do something rather then nothing. Until we can successfully come up with another type of renewable energy source I think solar is the way to go. However like Jackson said, it could be a while before the commercial airlines catch on to this idea. I really look forward to seeing this plane in 2014 because I believe that it will spark change with the flying industry.
I think that this plane is awesome! It will really show people that there actually are other ways to get energy and it works! Once this plane gets finalized and perfected it will revolutionize flying…again. Another “pipe dream” that has come to life has been the electric car that came out not to long ago many of you have seen the commercial with the car being plugged into the wall and charging up your car like you charge anything else. Both of these products wil help in the “battle” against pollution. Since cars and planes are the leading factors in pollution these both could help greatly reduce the effects of air pollution and hopefully reduce the long term dangers of pollution as well. I hope that this plane and many other “pipe dream” ideas contiune to surface and be brought to life so to speak so that air pollution can be greatly reduced and eventually go away for good. But this plane is headed in the right direction. Here is the link to the electric car commercial http://www.youtube.com/user/MitsubishiCars?v=iUyBm2KxsrQ&feature=pyv#p/u/21/iUyBm2KxsrQ
I think it’s very sad and reflects poorly on American society on a whole that we allow ourselves to believe what these big oil corporations, who have a clear interest in putting down solar energy, are saying. In my opinion news channels like Fox News should not even be considered a news channel but instead an opinion channel because of it’s obvious right-wing slant. While I do agree with Alex that for every new invention there will be skeptics, I believe this case is different because I can’t remember a case like this in which the skeptics are being fueled and led on by propaganda by someone who is invested in the failure of the new invention, which in this case is solar energy & clean technology. I really hope that come 2014 Treehugger will be able to prove all of the naysayers wrong with something so extravagant as a solar powered flight around the world.
Yikes….I don’t know about this one. This article is definitely relevant as we are learning about pollution but this idea leaves me a bit skeptical. I would not be very willing to hop on a solar-power plane. There are too many what-ifs in my mind and it hasn’t been tested enough in my opinion. But maybe that’s just me being a skeptic. If it works and companies really get people on the solar plane band wagon then it just might become the popular new trend! They would certainly cut down on bad emissions and would be a ‘green’ concept. But for right now, I think this machine needs to go through hundreds of trials before travlers feel comfortable booking flights on these new inventions.
Larson this article leaves me a bit skeptical as well. I am always willing to believe what is put in front of me such as the news, because they have a good, well most of the time, reputation. The idea is amazing and I hope that the jet will eventually catch on, but I would never get on this plane until the simulations are almost perfect. But as I said, the idea is great and since planes contribute to the majority of air pollution, this is an awesome alternative. Also as Fallon said, this might also be a great alternative for the airline companies. After all isn’t that why they charge so much? The gas of getting from one place to the next? After looking on google about solar powered airplanes, I decided to look on other major pollutants. We all know that solar powered cars are all the new rage, but what about boats? Check this out, its so cool!!
http://www.gizmag.com/tranor-planetsolar-circumnavigation-attempt/17039/
I’m not so sure that airline companies would charge less if they started using these planes. If anything, they would charge more for the “experience” of riding on one. I’m not so sure it’s the cost of the gas that is making them charge more, so much as it is just the greedy nature of the large companies. Anyway, that solar-powered boat is pretty neat, but impractical as most long-distance travel is no longer done on the high seas. Nice find though.
Sarah, this boat that you found is pretty cool and it makes a lot of scene to apply solar power to multiple sources in order to see how well the result could be, but for the airplane and about you feeling skeptical, which I completely understand, the article did say that a non-stop circumnavigation of the world would be tested in 2014 (probably after minor tuning is complete for the journey). So the results of that should be interesting and I will look forward in the future to what the oil, gas, and fuel industries will say about the (hopeful) success of solar energy. With all of the fuel, oil, and gas industries throwing solar energy out the window in media and news as if this renewable resource didn’t exist, the public like you and me naturally, as you said, believes it. I think that this is a great success for Solar Impulse but I even more so look forward to what the fuel, gas, and oil industries have to say, if the circumnavigation is a success, to protect their own profits.
Solar Impulse is a great idea and I would love to see if it actually happens in 2014! After reading the blog post, I realized that it’s true that as Americans, we are very susceptible to what oil, coal, and gas industries tell us. We all know that solar power is the way to go but still we don’t really have faith that it could happen one day. Also, we can’t really believe things unless we can see them. But if this works in 2014, I think people will have more faith in that it is actually possible to do this on a larger scale. This would be a HUGE step towards being able to travel day and night only on power from the sun. It would be great if this actually happened since airplanes are a huge factor of pollution in the atmosphere. In the future, if we could stop that kind of pollution in the atmosphere by flying solar powered planes, it would do wonders for the world’s environment.
Also, this might be part of the solution to the problem of high fuel prices which is causing major problems for airlines.
If in 2014 the solar plane is successful in its trip around the world I believe a new revolution on environmental conservation will come into play. As many vehicles, daily electronics, and appliances could then rely on the sun. The U.S. pop culture seems to think clean energy is a pipe dream as the article above states.
Click to access renewable_energy.pdf
In this article, it says that just recently the interest of renewable energy has increased.
“Cost has been a major inhibitor to the widespread adoption of renewable energy. Over the past decade there has been a substantial decrease in costs.”
We can’t sit back and be the critics of these innovative ideas. For anything to progress we have to get involved! We are the ones that can make a difference and instead of listening to the naysayers we can be the new brains for sustainable living, solar powered transportation and preventing further depletion of the Earth.
GET INSPIRED
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/heart-of-green-local-hero-47012902
Solar energy still has a long way to go, but this is a great start. If Clean Tech Engineering can figure out a way to create solar powered Airplanes that are not worrisome or problematic, I believe that this could be the start to a Solar Energy Revolution. I agree with the article on the aspect that hybrid cars are weird and unreliable. These smart cars are not very popular because people stick large signs on them saying, “HYBRID” or “GREEN,” which in my opinion, is a great deterrent. If i’m trying to go green, I don’t need to tell the whole world about it. I posted a picture at the bottom of my comment of a 2012 SUV- check out the lettering all over the car. I would never drive this vehicle for this very reason. Also, smart cars and other green cars do not look very luxurious- they look funky and odd. You have to be a very bold person to drive one of these cars. The solar industry should work on creating normal, fuel efficient, green cars that look like what the average American person drives. I think you would see a huge increase in hybrid car sales. I went on to http://www.solarimpulse.com and found that it took seven years of studies, simulation, construction and tests to achieve the first solar day-and-night flight in history: 26 hours, 10 minutes and 19 seconds, and 3 world records. The video was also really interesting. I think what Clean Tech Engineering is doing is great. I hope that one day a majority of our vehicles will be powered from the sun and that our earth will increasingly become cleaner and more beautiful. Mother Earth deserves the best.
In response to your first comment, Olivia, I would have to agree and disagree. I do agree that solar energy still has a long way to go but I would argue that this plane being able to fly on solar energy is more than “a great start.” If we are able to fly a plane AROUND THE WORLD than I am totally confident that we could have solar electricity in millions of houses worldwide. If they trust solar energy enough to fly a plane with human lives in it than why cant we trust it to power out houses. Obviously one of the biggest reasons that solar energy is not as practical for houses is because of price but maybe its worth it. I think that if this flight is successful than other people will realize that solar energy is reliable and accessible. My hope is that car manufactures will no longer have to advertise its “greenness” because it will be no big deal. I think that once the more “odd” looking cars are proven to be successful than more luxury car companies will catch on. I think that the flight of this plane around the world will definitely spark some interest and some faith in clean energy sources.
Catherine, I think that flying a solar-powered plane around the world is a little more feasible than powering millions of houses in the next few years. It might not sound like it at first, but if you think about it, this is one solar airplane. Yes the technology is new and not fully tested, but I think it will work. It is the same concept as a solar car, except with the added dangers of being high in the sky. Powering millions of houses would require large scale investments in solar panels and configuring them into already overloaded power grids. The price is a lot, so I feel like people would not necessarily want to spend it in their houses right away, but for many, this plane would be almost like a science experiment and it would draw interest. As for the test subjects, I mean come on, who wouldn’t want to be the first to ride on a solar-powered plane? Okay, maybe I’m a little bit of a daredevil, but I bet people would be lining up if they were given the opportunity.
The power of the media is really incredible. Its true that ” conventional wisdom in U.S. popular culture says clean energy is still a pipe dream. Wind and solar “aren’t there yet”, electric cars are weird and unreliable, and without coal, gas and oil, why, the lights would up and go off in much of the country!” For example today on Yahoo! News, the headlining story was “Woman looses 282 pound in 3 years,” while an article about homeowners wanting sustainable homes was story number 45 out of 50, coming behind at countless articles about Apple products, football, and a cat that inherited $13 miliion dollars. Green energy is often put on the backburner, hidden behind all of the other daily stories that often just serve as entertainment. Important issues should have more focus by the media, as interesting as a cat that inherited a forune is, it maybe should not be headlining news.
I think this idea is in the process of becoming something great. Like some other people said when this plane is ready to be flown hopefully with 100 passengers in 2014 I think it will be a beginning to a new way to fly. This idea lowers the price of gas to nothing and that in turn helps the price of the ticket, which would help the economy. Something that was not mentioned in the video was how much this plane cost compared to a normal plane and how that would affect plane ticket prices. On the topic of pollution, I find this plane the most efficient idea I have heard in awhile. Wind power was big like solar power and electric cars; however, none of these ideas I believed fixed a problem as a whole. If the pollution from planes are taken out of the picture that amount of pollution would go down dramatically, lowering air pollution. In the same sense as the electric car solar powered plane will only become totally efficient when everyone uses one. These small steps are a great start and I look forward to where they go, who knows there might be a solar powered boat next.
In 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright forever changed the world with their manned flight of the first airplane. The flight lasted all of 12 seconds and the plane had an airspeed of less than 7 miles per hour. However, a man had flown a motorized aircraft and the world would never be the same again. The aviation industry exploded and in the next 70 years, airplane travel quickly took over as the preferred method. Here we are in 2011, more than a century after the famed Wright brothers flight, and another breakthrough in aviation technology is taking place. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that airplanes use a lot of fuel and cause a lot of pollution, so a solar-powered plane seems logical. There are limitations, however. As was explained in the video, the battery that the solar cell charges does not last as long as some would like it to and also the plane does not generate much power, so its airspeed is pretty slow. However, everything has to start somewhere and I believe that this is a monumental technological breakthrough. There are skeptics, just as there were on that December morning in 1903, but I truly hope that those skeptics are wrong like they were back then and that this airplane works well. I can’t wait to see the around the world flight in 2014.
The idea of a solar-powered plane is innovative and on the right track to creating a world that runs off sustainable energy sources. However, the limitations that arise are quite a concern. What would happen in places like Seattle, where the weather is constantly gloomy and overcast? I know the article says the planes could fly at night, but how would they collect enough energy during a cloudy day to sustain a night-time flight? Also, the prototype is fairly small, it seems that a commercial airliner would be impossible to power by pure solar energy, due to the copious amounts of energy necessary to power turbine engines. The article fails to mention the costs of building a solar-powered plane, would companies really invest in this idea if it is extremely expensive? Speed is another factor that comes into play. Most of the videos I looked up show the solar energy being converted into propellers, so it seems as if pure solar-powered planes would be inefficient for commercial travelers. Although the idea of a solar-powered plane is a great start to creating a world that runs on sustainable energy sources, there are still too many questions left unanswered.
This is a truly innovative idea, however, there are a lot of “If”‘s used in this video. As they say in the video, when flying at night, if the technologies are not optimized, if they cannot save the energy, if the pilot wasted too much energy by flying unsustainable at night, then plane will come falling out of the sky. Hearing that part alone would turn me away from even thinking about flying on this airplane. I would imagine many other people would react the same way after watching this video. I think it is much more reasonable to start with perfecting the electric car before we worry about an electric airplane that is going to be flying thousands of feet above the ground. Again, it’s not impossible that this could be a way of transportation one day, I just don’t believe that day is coming anytime soon with where we are at right now.
Meghan’s point of reducing air pollution with these solar powered planes is correct. With these new solar power planes coming into play, definitely means air pollution will be decreased because of the amount of coal, oil, and fuel being burned, none. From research, I have discovered that solar will never replace the power of jet engines, but will have the edge in endurance. Solar powered planes comes completely from natural sunlight which brings the questions, how do you fly at nights? With the air of batteries, I have learned the solar impulse will fly for five days. Still there can be doubts with these project because of all the fractures that can occur. Personally, I would be nervous about getting into a solar powered plane without the energy sources of coal, oil, and gas. Air pollution is a global problem today and this solar experiment is one step closer to reducing that factor. We should stay with this renewable resource until another one is figured out.
Great! It is super cool to know that there are a lot of people working on a solar powered plane. I suppose this is just the first of a possibly new line of air travel. After reading this article, I asked myself, “aren’t there better things that people can be doing with their time, like creating world peace?” And then it hit me, creating environmentally friendly planes is much more important. If we don’t save the environment, we won’t have a world to even worry about peace in. So, great job scientists, keep up the good work. One plane at a time!
Not gonna lie, if they can pull this off that would be pretty impressive. If they do, maybe then people will realize clean energy, net zero carbon, and a nearly pollution free environment is not that far fetched and perfect to attain. hopefully more people will open their eyes and come to realize that we have the intelligence, equipment and the resources possible to achieve greatness. this could be a huge step towards reaching this goal. This is more than just a cool plane, this is epic in terms of what is to come.
If anyone has seen the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” they would know that the fossil fuel industry will stop at nothing to prevent clean methods of powering vehicles.
We need something like this plane to show people that solar power is a viable means of powering transportation so that more people will put more effort into this cause. No, solar power isn’t all that it needs to be right now. It needs people backing it to start a movement, which will get it where it needs to be.
I think that this is a very interesting topic, because we are soon going to run out of Fossil Fuels and are going to have to lean to a more efficent way of producing fuel. This airplane is the Future and it will make it more affordable for people to fly than drive because the airline wont have to raise the price based on the cost of fuel because the sun is a renewable source of energy. This being so it could change the world as we know it!!!!!!!
If hybrid cars are unreliable and weird, what makes people think that a solar airplane would be any different? Sure having solar planes would be a great idea and could reduce the usage of gas, coal and oil but no one is going to want to be in a plane when people aren’t so sure how it will fly at night. In my opinion, all we have to do is make sure that these planes are guaranteed to be able to fly at night and this would be a dream come true to Mother Nature and Biologist. Depending on the air plane, it can hold up to 57,285 gallons of fuel in one fill up. Imagine how many cars that could fill up if all air planes were solar powered and were able to fly at night without any ifs. Looking forward, all we have to do is to find a solution to guarantee safety to people about flying in the night time but until then I don’t think this will grab people’s attention and won’t work.
I think that is a really good point. Hybrid cars have been called “unreliable and weird” and how would this be any different. But I feel like this will be, I truly do. A solar powered plane makes a lot of sense from a saving the environment side of the fence. Dallas is right, we need to make sure this plane works and most importantly, safe for all future travelers.
I liked this article a lot! While I was impressed by the idea of a solar powered airplane, it was a side note to the fact that going green isn’t inconvenient and “not there yet” like we have been conditioned to think, which is what I think the author was trying to get across. By giving the article such an eye-catching title, many of us (like myself), upon first glance, probably read the title and began to doubt the likelihood and legitimacy of a solar powered airplane altogether, when, in reality, it’s possible! Why then, do we constantly have a negative and skeptical outlook when it comes to improving the environment? Treehugger says that we have this outlook because we have been fed propaganda by all of the major corporations and big time leaders who would much rather shove the ”truth” under the rug rather than suffer personal financial losses. Therefore, only a small percentage of the population (the readers, researchers…etc.) have an accurate view of what is actually happening with the environment and environmentally friendly products.
After reading this article I was astounded at how news organizations with an obvious bias use propaganda to try to dissuade their viewers from using innovative technologies such as solar power. Once so called “News Organization” known as Fox News has a history of a conservative bias and thus takes the side of big oil companies and thus are against solar power. The world would be a better place if news was never biased and thus didn’t hinder scientific progress but unfortunately I do not see this ever happening.
This video has proof of Fox New’s bias against solar power: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97Zi9va5BY4