Solarve by Sanyo

Solarve (Solar Vehicle), the first solar-cell-equipped public bus in the world, recently announced by Sanyo in Japan. The bus was revealed to memorialize the 100th anniversary of Ryobi, a Japanese transportation and logistics company.

The Solarve is basically a city bus with solar cells on top that generate power for its interior LED lightings.

Sanyo says the bus solar panels generate total power of 798 watts (420 watts through crystalline silicon cells, and 378 watts through amorphous silicon cells). Power will be supplied by storage batteries inside the bus about nine hours for a long winter, or extended periods of time without sunlight.

The Solarve expected to be first used as a beginning September 1 (in Okayama City in southern Japan).

Night Owl by Edan Kurzweil

Edan Kurzweil has come up with Solar Path Lighting known as the Night Owl.

Paths and street lighting units are illuminated through a high-output LED clusters that rely on batteries charged by large flexible polymer solar film established on the top of the lamp. Lights will also be hardwired into the electricity network in the city to return the extra solar energy back into the city or to attract a minimum charge for a long winter, or extended periods of time without sunlight. Solar module is covered within the transparent sphere that reduces the accumulation of debris, which in turn reduces maintenance costs.

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Solar Powered Street Lights at Angkor Wat

NOTHING dESIGN GROUP, a Korean design studios and Asiana Airlines, a Korean airlines company, together with Korea International Cooperation Agencies (KOICA) have collaborated to develop and install Solar Powered Street Lights to the world cultural heritage sites designated by UNESCO in the Angkor Wat, Cambodia. The lights installed there to protect and provide security for tourists visiting the area.

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Transparent Photovoltaic Glass Window by Rainbow Solar Inc. (RSI)

Rainbow Solar Inc. (RSI) has produced a transparent, photovoltaic glass window producing power 80-250 watts. Although this is not the “first solar window,” it seems that the RSI has taken a big step forward.

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Solar Powered Deck Lights

This Solar Deck Light adds accent lighting to your deck, front steps or along dark pathways using solar power and cord-free. On sunny days, solar cells collect and store free energy of the sun into included rechargeable NiMH batteries. When the sun sets, four super-bright LEDs activate lighting for about 5 hours with full charge.

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Solar Powered LED Pathway Lights

With a new sleek low-profile Solar LED Pathway Lights you can easily light up lanes, fences, steps, garden, driveway and more. Only need two hours of sunlight every day to fill the built-in solar cells to provide all-night lighting and because they are also photo-sensitive, they will turn on automatically at night and off at dawn. They make a great decorative accent light and perfect solution to safely illuminate the dark path. They come in sets of two. Visit brookstone.com for price information.

The Moon-Leaves by Marta Laudani and Marco Romanelli for Plust

The Moon-Leaves designed by Marta Laudani and Marco Romanelli for an Italian design firm, Plust. The Moon-Leaves are maxi stylized leaves in luminescent polyethylene and finished by photoluminescent.

They harness the solar power during the day, and loads of energy to offer a soft glow at night, making an unusual decoration or a sign useful to guide guests to your front door.

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Solar Garden Lamp by Emma Caselton

Emma Caselton designed Solar Garden Lamp that charges itself during the day and shine in your garden at night. The solar garden lamp, with six illuminating petals, is suspended by use of its cable give the appearance of falls butterfly wings that are illuminated. Made of transparent solar cells and each one embedded with LED, making the solar panels as a decorative element and also the environmentally friendly power source for illuminate your grass, garden or pond side.

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Blossoming Garden Solar Light

If you are looking for some unique accent outdoor lighting for your garden, check out this cool new Blossoming Garden Solar Light. By day, the motorized translucent petals bloom open such as flower to direct sunlight, and collects the sun’s energy into a rechargeable battery. At night, petals shut automatically and the internal LED accents lights began to illuminate. They come in white or pink and features metal stem with a bronze finish.

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Solar Parking Meters from Portland

Parking meter has become a mandatory tool in several countries to control parking on the roadside. In Portland, they have used parking meter that powered by the sun as a source of energy. In addition to use it without electricity, metered parking is also provide more flexibility in making payments that can use a coin, credit cards or smart cards. This tool also can “recharge” your smart card when you want to purchase more parking time. [Via]

Wild Grass Solar Garden Lights

If you are searching for something a little different as far as the solar lights go you can take Wild Grass Solar Garden Lights. You can jam the stakes into the soil and make it look as if you have a random clump of grass glowing in the dark.

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Solar Powered Toothbrush by Dr. Kunio Komiyama

Dr. Kunio Komiyama, a dentist at the University of Saskatchewan College of Dentistry in Canada, designed a new “solar-powered toothbrush” that cleanses the mouth without using toothpaste. When the light strikes wet titanium dioxide head more electrons being released, which are negatively charged fluid inside the mouth that can remove hydrogen ions from the plaque, making it easier to break down. No toothpaste is necessary. Currently, Komiyama is back with a newer model, Soladey-J3X, which he said pack twice the chemical punch than the original.

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Solar-Powered Clock by Vandasye

Vienna-based design studio Vandasye produces Solar-Powered Clock. A prototype of solar-powered clock by designer.

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Solar Powered Digital Tire Gauge

Do you have a tire gauge for safety reasons? If you have a Solar Powered Digital Tire Gauge, cool! Car tire gauge gadget built-in digital LCD screen settings can be selected from the pressures Psi, Bar, Kpa, kg/cm2 for the push of a button, and with a built in extendable depth ruler. The gauge can be turned off automatically after a few seconds. Made in China, this product is available directly from Chinavasion for less than $ 12.

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Solar Impulse

Solar impulse took the first flight lasted 87 minutes with the peak altitude of 1200 m above the Switzerland skies. Prototype plane is a project led by the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in order to circle the world non-stop using only solar power. The successful test flight exhibit viability of plane and piloted by Markus Scherdel. The plane only has one seat and able to take off and land on his own. If all future test runs according to plan, the plane can round the earth in 20-25 days while attempts the feat in 2012. The plane used in this first flight is slightly scaled down version of the final design is in progress.

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