Earth Day brought the environment some much needed relief. IBM announced that they are collaborating with scientists to develop an affordable photovoltaic system that can concentrate the power of 2,000 suns and convert 80 percent of it to useful energy. Usually, solar collectors can concentrate only limited energy for safety reasons. But the IBM-led group is working on a solar collector whose coolant, inspired by the human body's blood supply system, maintains the chips at a consistent temperature for a solar concentration of 2,000 times as well as 5,000 times. The cooling solution was previously successful with the supercomputer Aquasar. According to the company, the solar energy will be designed based on a low-cost, large-dish like concentrator and micro-channel cooled photovoltaic chips that will help deliver electricity, be filtered to fresh water and converted to air conditioning in remote locations. A prototype of the same is currently being tested out at the IBM Research lab in Zurich, Switzerland with the promise of a couple more prototypes.
For such a high concentration of energy, IBM took some load off our minds by claiming that the project will radically slash the cost of energy.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.