On a perfect New Mexico winter day — with the sky almost 10 percent brighter than usual — Sandia National Laboratories and Stirling Energy Systems (SES) set a new solar-to-grid system conversion efficiency record by achieving a 31.25 percent net efficiency rate.

A national team of scientists led by experts at Durham University are embarking on one of the UK’s largest ever research projects into photovoltaic (PV) solar energy.

A new material, nano flakes, may revolutionise the transformation of solar energy to electricity. If so, even ordinary households can benefit from solar electricity and save money in the future.

A team of researchers, led by the University of Sheffield and Queen Mary, University of London, has discovered how plants protect their leaves from damage by sunlight when they are faced with extreme climates.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have successfully repaired and deployed a torn solar panel that captures sunlight to generate electricity.

A surge in investment in solar power is bringing down costs of the alternative energy source, but affordability problems still dog hopes for the 1.6 billion people worldwide without electricity.

IBM today announced an innovative new semiconductor wafer reclamation process pioneered at its Burlington, Vermont manufacturing facility.

As the quest for alternative energy intensifies, space has become the new frontier for energy security. The US Defence Department is planning to put more of its resources into developing alternative energy sources, and its latest proposal involves outer space.

Two of America's biggest power utilities have unveiled plans for a multi-billion-dollar expansion of solar power supply, backing the argument that solar energy can indeed become a viable alternative to coal-fired electricity.

At the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition this week, SunPower Corp. (Nasdaq: SPWR), a US-based manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells, solar panels and solar systems, is launching a range of solar products and systems for the Italian residential, commercial and solar power plant markets.

In collaboration with scientists from institutions in the United States and Europe, researchers from Virginia Tech have observed tell-tale signals of neutrinos emitted by thermonuclear fusion reactions that power the sun deep in its interior.

Solar energy, once regarded as costly and impractical, is now poised to play a bigger, brighter role in meeting future energy needs due to new materials and processes that offer lower costs and improved efficiencies, according to an article [insert link] scheduled for the Aug. 27 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, ACS’ weekly newsmagazine.