Ever wonder why the steaks cooked on a home barbecue don’t taste like the ones from a high-end steakhouse? It’s because many steakhouses use high-temperature infrared (IR) grilling technology that can sear meats evenly at 700° or hotter under the careful watch of professional chefs.

Kyocera Corp. recently announced that a solar project using the company’s solar modules has been awarded the 2012 Swiss Solar Prize: The wheelchairs of 10 inhabitants at the Quimby Huus, an institution for the physically disabled in St. Gallen, Switzerland, are driven exclusively using solar power.