http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png http://io9.com/tag/solar http://io9.com/tag/solar

We tend to hear a lot about the importance of pushing to seek out sources of renewable energy, but how many people know what the biggest sources of this energy actually are — let alone what regions of the globe are working to incorporate them? For example, where do you think North America stands, relative to Europe and Asia, when it comes to generating electricity via renewable energy sources? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5859402&view=rss&microfeed=true

Plants use photosynthesis to turn sunlight into energy every single day. This ability appeared to be completely unknown in the animal kingdom, leaving the living solar battery that is Superman as the only animal to ever harness the sun's rays for power. But now we've discovered that a type of hornet is doing its own homegrown photosynthesis, absorbing sunlight and turning it into useful energy. It's the first animal we've ever discovered that possesses this ability...and we might be able to harness our own version of it for alternative energy. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5759323&view=rss&microfeed=true

Over at Treehugger, they have a clip of a BBC show, in which they use a solar oven made out of mirrors to melt a rock. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5702558&view=rss&microfeed=true

Eco-friendly structures don't have to look like ugly gray boxes. In fact, saving the enviromment can inspire some of the best design out there. Here are five ways biomimetics takes the elegance of nature, and makes it work for us. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5646126&view=rss&microfeed=true

If Ian McEwan's Solar isn't on the Hugo ballot next year, it'll be a miscarriage of justice. The two-time Booker Prize winner does something few literary darlings have done before: treat science with respect, as central to the story. Spoilers... More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5517330&view=rss&microfeed=true

The trend of literary authors veering into science fiction shows no sign of slowing down, as science fiction remains the best way to talk about our weird era. Ian McEwan and Rick Moody both have SF books in the pipeline. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5483066&view=rss&microfeed=true

These days, SF thrillers in which natural disasters end human life as we know it are mainstream fare. But long before M. Night Shyamalan and J.G. Ballard flirted with disaster, the authors of SF's Pre-Golden Age (1904-33) speculated wildly, and sometimes presciently, about the possible causes of dire biospheric transformations. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5259366&view=rss&microfeed=true

Check out the eruption on the left side of this picture — that's a shockwave plowing through the sun's atmosphere. Could this be the early warning sign of a Solar Katrina? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5243166&view=rss&microfeed=true

We're sending not one, but two probes to the sun in the next few years. Hopefully making first contact with the super-hot aliens who have been watching us from inside the solar coronas. Gallery below. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5233089&view=rss&microfeed=true One of the most well-respected climatologists in the world, James Hansen was pissed off about global warming way before it was cool to be 'green' — like, 1988. He's such a baddass that in 2006 he took on his employer, NASA, and the Bush Administration, publicly accusing them of supressing his research, which provided damning evidence that humans were causing global warming. But he's far from finished. Today marks the 20th anniversary of his climate crusading, and in a speech before Congress today he's planning to ask lawmakers to send the CEOs of oil companies to jail for spreading lies about climate change. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5018841&view=rss&microfeed=true

Need to get some quick-and-pretty solar energy to your house, but don't want to mount a bunch of heavy solar panels on your roof? Now you can start powering up with these gorgeous, lightweight solar balloons. As long as you've got a helium tank handy, says inventor Joseph Cory, just one or two of these balloons made with photovoltaic solar cells could power your whole house. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=378537&view=rss&microfeed=true

Sunspot 982 flared up over the weekend, and it looks totally awesome. Not only is it humongous, but it has these two cool-looking dark filaments sticking out of it. Photographer Greg Piepol took this picture using a regular Coronado SolarMax 90 Ha telescope. Another awesome sunspot pic after the jump. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=352580&view=rss&microfeed=true NASA channels Warhol in these ultraviolet images of the sun, posted today. The non-artistic reason for the differing color spectrums is to show off a reversed-polarity sunspot, on the left. This sunspot marks the end of another cycle of waxing and waning solar flares, meaning the sun will begin climbing towards Solar Max, which it will reach in 2011 or 2012. Sidenote: wouldn't Solar Max be a good superhero name? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=340915&view=rss&microfeed=true

No, these photographs weren't taken by an astrophysicist or whipped up in a special-effects lab. Photographer Larry Alvarez takes these pictures of the sun in his backyard using a camera, a telescope, and some homemade gear. With some tips from Alvarez, you can build your own solar telescope camera, too.

More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=325082&view=rss&microfeed=true

Newly-discovered x-ray jets literally blanket the face of the sun, launching continent-sized blobs of superhot gas outwards at 200 million miles per hour. Which is just about 5% of the speed of light, and makes us second-think the chances a spaceship like the one in Danny Boyle's Sunshine might have of getting close to that sucker, even for a quick flyby. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=337157&view=rss&microfeed=true