Solar Energy - Green Lifestyle for You

Solar-Powered Electric BlueCar soon in Europe

2009-06-30T06:28:00.000-07:00

Another exciting news concerning electric vehicles coming this time from Europe. Italian car designer Pininfarina and French battery manufacturer Bolloré have officially announced that they will release in 2010 a fully-electric, partially solar-powered car in Europe, named BlueCar. Previously unveiled at last years Geneva Show, the BlueCar is a fully-electric car that comes equipped with solar panels on the rooftop. The solar panels on the vehicle’s roof provides some power to the vehicle’s systems.

The four-seat, five-door hatchback vehicle is 3.65 meters long, 1.72 meters wide and 1.6 meters high. The 50kW electric motor and the LMP (Lithium Metal Polymer) batteries + a device for energy storage (supercapacitor) give the BlueCar a range of 250 km (155 miles) per charge. With modest demands the battery is able to run the car at a top speed of 80kph and provides enough thrust to enable the car reach 60kph in less than 6.5 seconds. If need be, the batteries can be fast-charged for five minutes, giving the car enough power to run 25km.

The two companies claim that to recharge the BlueCar, you should simply plug it into a traditional power socket at home or a public power outlet. It takes about six hours to recharge the car’s battery from a standard power socket, and only two hours on the future public fast-charging outlets.

The car will go into production in Italy at Pininfarina starting in 2010. Production on an industrial scale will take place between 2011 and 2017, with 60,000 of the vehicles expected to be produced by 2015.

Sources: Inhabitat » Solar Powered Blue Car Hitting the Streets in 2010, Eco Cars: Sun harvesting electric Bluecar gets real in France and Italy & Bluecar by Pininfarina

Solar-Powered Electrical Plug-in Station Unveiled in Chicago

2009-05-16T07:50:00.000-07:00

Last month Carbon Day Automotive announced the unveiling of the first solar-powered electric vehicle charging station in Chicago. Located and operational at the City of Chicago Department of Fleet Maintenance, it will be used on a daily basis to fuel the city’s electric vehicles with clean and renewable power from the sun.

Carbon Day Automotive’s Solar Plug-In Station(TM), built by Carbon Day Construction, was designed by the world renowned firm of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. Wanxiang America Corporation manufactured the solar panels that form a tree-like canopy built by Residential Steel.

Carbon Day Automotive envisions thousands of charging stations in key locations throughout Chicago and tens of thousands nationally by the year 2011. The construction of this infrastructure is one more step to reducing America's dependence on foreign oil.

“Without these stations, it would be like driving around in traditional cars without the availability of gas stations,” said Scott Emalfarb, CEO of Carbon Day. “The day of true plug-in electric vehicles will be here sooner than most people realize and the world needs to be ready to accommodate them. Carbon Day will build them and they will come.”

Carbon Day Automotive is a division of Carbon Day, an energy solutions organization dedicated to increasing environmental awareness. For more information you can visit the Carbon Day website, www.carbonday.com.

Sources: Gas2.org & Jetson Green

Racing Car Made of Vegetables and Powered by Chocolate

2009-05-02T15:34:00.000-07:00

This news is not related to solar energy but it is an interesting piece of green news and I think it deserves to write a post about it.

The WorldFirst team, a team of UK designers from the Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre at the University of Warwick, Britain, have created aninnovative racing car made entirely of vegetables and powered by chocolate. The car, named the WorldFirst F3, uses plant-oil based lubricants and a bio-diesel engine that can run on a mixture of chocolate and vegetable oil.

Chocolate-Powered Race Car Made Out of Vegetables

The futuristic eco car, with a top speed of 145 mph, has a body made of potatoes, a steering wheel made of carrots, and a seat made of soybeans. Car parts are produced by mixing vegetable fibres with resins and the oils in the chocolate are refined to produce fuel. It has also an emission destroying catalyst that purifies the air as you drive on.

At the moment, the engine fails to meet current regulations because of its unusual fuel. However, the WorldFirst team, hope that official racing rules will be changed so that the car can compete in championship races next season.

The WorldFirst F3 is the first Formula 3 racing car designed and made entirely from sustainable and renewable materials.The team, from World First Racing, hope that environmentally-friendly technology used in their car will be adopted by Formula 1 teams such as McLaren and world champions Ferrari.

A team spokesman said: "We hope the Formula 1 teams will see that an environmentally friendly car is not necessarily a slow car. We expect our new materials to be used by the Formula 1 cars of the future."

Sources: Inhabitat & Greener Design

Solar Pool Covers/Blankets

2009-04-30T16:06:00.000-07:00

Solar pool accessories such as solar covers or blankets can help you maintain the temperature in your outdoor swimming pool comfortable, extend your swimming pool season, and save money. Solar swimming pool covers made of heavy-duty polyethylene material are specifically designed to capture the sun’s free heat, transmit it to the pool water and prevents night time heat loss.

A solar pool cover is the least expensive kind of swimming pool cover. For about $75 - $150, it can raise water temperature anywhere from 10-15 degrees F, by absorbing sunlight during the day and retaining the heat at night. A solar pool cover can reduce heating costs by up to 75%.

The new generation of solar swimming pool covers let the sun’s rays to pass through to warm the water. They resemble giant colored sheets with tiny air pockets or “bubbles”. The absorbent coloring increases solar heating, while the tiny 'bubbles' magnify the sun. It is most popular to get clear or blue pool covers, but there are also black, silver and gold.

Solar swimming pool covers are classified by the thickness of the plastic they are made from. The thickness is measured in microns. The bigger the micron count the longer the cover will last.

Solar cover float freely on top of a pool without tie-down or anchor to hold it in place. You can remove a solar cover just by pull it off and store it. However, folding a giant wet blanket by yourself can be a difficult task, especially if you have a very large swimming pool, so a helper or the aid of a solar pool cover reel makes the task much easier. Solar covers are usually folded and stored or rolled-up on a large reel and wheeled out of the way.

Solar pool covers/blankets have some other benefits as well:

they prevent water from evaporation from the pool
reduce the amount of expensive chemicals consumed by 35 to 60 percent
they can also help to keep the water clean and reduce cleaning time

But is important to keep in mind that although any cover will reduce some of the debris that enters a pool, solar pool covers are not specifically designed for cleanliness, nor to be used as safety covers, and access to the pool must be restricted for young children and animals. And they should be completely removed before swimming because the solar covers clings to the surface and could trap a swimmer under water.

Solar pool cover/blanket are the most practical and economical way to save on your swimming pool heating costs. They might actually be thought of passive solar heating for your pool and can be used on their own as well as in addition to a pool heating system. Solar pool covers work equally as well on both above ground and in-ground swimming pools.

Types of Solar Pool Collectors

2009-04-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

Solar pool collectors are available on the market in many different types to accommodate the many different varieties of pools and conditions. Generally, there are two main solar pool collector types - unglazed collectors and collectors with a glass covering (glazing). The type you need depends on the climate in your region. Unglazed solar collectors operate only when temperatures are above freezing and they are highly cost effective for outdoor pool heating. They are generally made of thermoplastic rubber (types of solar pool collectors called flexible rubber mat) or polypropylene plastic treated with an ultraviolet (UV) light inhibitor to extend the life of the panels. Currently, the solar industry is widely using black polypropylene plastic collectors. These solar panels may be either rigid or have individual pipes running lengthwise. Individual collectors are normally 4'x8', 4'x10', or 4'x12'.

Glazed solar collectors are similar to domestic hot water heating systems but they are not normally used to heat swimming pools. Glazed collector systems are generally made of copper tubing on an aluminum plate with a sheet of glass covering to prevent heat loss but it increases their cost. They can be two to three times more expensive per panel than unglazed solar panels. In addition to high costs, high levels of chlorine, or having a salt-water pool, can be extremely corrosive to the copper piping inside glazed panels. But if you plan to use your solar pool collectors in colder climates, or they need to operate all year-round even in sub-zero temperatures, you will probably need glazed collectors.

Before you purchase and install a solar pool heating system you need to determine the size of the collectors. Basically, you should take into consideration the following factors:

your pool’s location and size
average regional temperatures
desired pool temperature
all year-round uses or uses restricted to a part of the year
the system’s type, model and efficiency

Earth Day Celebration

2009-04-22T03:29:00.000-07:00

April 22 is a day to celebrate the Earth. Founded by US Senator Gaylord Nelson, the Earth Day was first celebrated on April 22, 1970 in the United States. 20 million people and thousands of local schools and communities participated in the first Earth Day. In 1990, the first official International Earth Day was celebrated. About 200 million people from 141 nations took part in a celebration of environmental conservation.

The goal of the Earth Day is to promote environmental awareness, highlight growing concern over pollution of the air, soil, and water, and to call for the protection of our planet.

Solar Pool Heaters

2009-04-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

Roof mounted solar pool heating system
Photo credit: DOE/NREL and Aquatherm Industries

The summer season is approaching and owning an outdoor swimming pool is an important part of the family’s lifestyle. A swimming pool means not only cooling off on a hot day and a lot of summer fun, but it's also a great way to exercise and relax. However, the water to be used in swimming pools needs to be maintained at a comfortable temperature. If you are also planning early morning or romantic late night swims, a swimming pool heater is undoubtedly needed. And also, with pool heaters you can extend the swimming season by weeks or even months.

If you are concerned about the environmental impact and big expense of heating pool water you may want to consider solar heating for your pool. Solar pool heating is a great way to reduce your energy bills, protect the environment and extend your swimming season. A solar pool heater can work in conjunction with a natural gas or electric pool heater as back-up on cool or cloudy days.

Solar water heaters are simple devices that capture the sun’s energy to heat water for ordinary use. Most solar pool heating systems include the following:

solar collector(s) - the device through which pool water is circulated to be heated by the sun
filter - removes debris before water is pumped through the collector
pump - circulates water through the filter and collector and back to the pool
flow control valve — automatic or manual device that diverts pool water through the solar collector

Pool water is pumped through the filter and then through the solar collectors, where it is heated before it is returned to the pool. In hot climates, the collectors can also be used to cool the pool water during peak summer months by circulating the water through the collectors at night, when air temperatures are lower.

It typically costs between $2,000 and $4,000 to install a solar heater for an outdoor swimming pool (cost of pool heaters can vary based on the size of your pool). The advantage of a solar pool heating system is obvious - the energy of the sun is free, the price of installation is a onetime fee, payback can be as low as 2 years, very low operating and maintenance costs, and 15-25 year lifespan (depending on the panel and manufacturer).

In one of my next posts, I’ll write about different collector types of solar pool heaters and factors determining the size of the collectors.

Turn off lights for Earth Hour 2009

2009-03-28T08:27:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, March 28, 2009, Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – from 8:30pm to 9:30pm in their local time zone. The initiative is organized by the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) and aims to reach as many people as possible. This year, close to 1 billion people from over 2,000 towns and cities in 84 countries are expected to join, switching off their lights.

This event, known as the "Earth Hour", began in Sydney in 2007 when the city turned off its lights to highlight the world's environmental problem. In 2008, the event turned into a global campaign that has drawn the participation of hundreds of towns and cities worldwide.

The "Earth Hour" aims at arousing the public awareness of energy conservation, and cutting emissions of greenhouse gas and other pollutants, thus minimizing the negative effects of climate change.

Of course, turning off the lights for one hour has very limited effect on climate change, but its significance is not just symbolic because the event is gaining greater attention and spreading far and wide.

Solar-Powered Movie Premiere in London

2009-03-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

The world’s first entirely eco-friendly film premiere was screened in March 15, 2009 in London, England. "The Age of Stupid" is a new film warning about the negative effects of climate change. It was shown in a solar-powered cinema tent in the middle of Leicester Square and broadcast live in more than 60 cinemas all over the UK by satellite.

Every part of the event – from power sources, to transport, food, and clothing was green. Firefly Solar provided renewable power at the screening of movie.

An independent audit was carried out to monitor all CO2 emissions caused by the flagship premier and it resulted in just 1% of the usual carbon emissions seen at an average Hollywood premier.

"Obviously solar power was the main feature," said Firefly's MD Andy Mead. "We also used other methods to ensure the event had the lowest carbon footprint possible. The outside broadcast unit used for the satellite link-up was powered by bio-diesel, and all lighting on-site was the very latest in LED technology."

The 15000 lumin HD projector, all the house lighting and PA in the cinema were run entirely on solar power.

The stars arrived by solar car, bike, or rickshaw. Oscar-nominated British actor Pete Postlethwaite arrived at the premiere in a solar-powered car before posing for the paparazzi on the green carpet. In the film, Postlethwaite plays the last man alive on Earth in a devastated 2055. He looks back on archive footage of 2008 and asks why no-one acted to stop climate change.

American actor Gillian Anderson and designer Vivienne Westwood both turned up on bicycles. Britain's Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband also attended the event.

"The Age Of Stupid" took three-and-a-half years to make and had a budget of just $957,000 provided by 228 investors.

All profits from the premiere ticket sales go to the Not Stupid climate campaign, which is an initiative by environmental groups to recruit new activists to make their views felt at the UN Climate Change Conference in December 2009 this year.

Sun Jar

2009-03-21T06:22:00.001-07:00

I came upon information about this simple but very interesting and charming solar-powered gadget - Sun Jar, and decided to share it with all my readers. Voted "Gift of the Year 2007", I think that this is a wonderful gift idea for any occasion.

The Sun Jar, designed by Tobias Wong, is made from a traditional Mason jar with a frosted glass container, vacuum-seal latch lid, and energy-efficient lighting. Sun jar collects and stores sunshine so you can use it at night. Inside the jar are a highly efficient solar cell, rechargeable battery and low energy LED lamps. When the jar is placed in direct sunlight the solar cell creates an electrical current that charges the battery over a few hours. This energy is then used at night to power the three LED lamps inside. There is no switch on the Sun Jar - a clever light sensor inside automatically activates the light when it gets dark or the light turns out. The amazing Sun Jar can produce up to 5 hours of lighting when bathed in 3 hours of Sun light.

Sun Jar is beautiful, completely waterproof and it is a great for use indoors or outside as a garden or patio light.

You can buy one from Suck UK.

World's Leading Photovoltaic Companies

2009-02-06T14:18:00.000-08:00

Sharp Solar is the world's largest photovoltaic module and cell manufacturer, with an overall capacity of 600 megawatts. It manufactures in Japan, in the UK - near Wrexham, and recently opened a large manufacturing facility in Memphis. Sharp Solar produces both single and multi-crystalline solar cells which are used for many applications. Sharp began its development of solar cells in 1959, with mass production first beginning in 1963. In 1980, it was one of the first companies to introduce calculators powered by solar cells.

Established in 1999, Q-Cells is the world's second largest cell manufacturer, based in Thalheim, Germany (Q-Cells AG was the single largest producer of solar cells in 2007 according to industry data). Its core business is the development, production and marketing of high-quality (mono- and multi-) crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells.

Based in Wuxi, China, Suntech Power is the world's third largest producer of photovoltaics in 2007. Suntech Power manufactures solar cells and modules and it is a global leader in solar energy as measured by both its production output and the capacity of its solar cells and modules.

Headquartered in Kyoto, Japan, the Kyocera Corporation is a pioneer in the solar energy market and began to develop solar cells in 1975. Today Kyocera is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of solar cells and modules, with a highly controlled mastery of all the production steps from wafer and cell fabrication to module assembly.

The Phoenix, Ariz.-based First Solar is a leader in the development and manufacture of high quality thin film solar modules. They manufacture photovoltaic solar modules developing advanced, thin film semiconductor deposition and high volume manufacturing processes, based on Cadmium Telluride (CdTe).

Motech is the largest manufacturer of photovoltaic cells in Taiwan. For over 25 years, Motech Industries, Inc. (Motech) has been creating high quality products, from testing and measuring instruments to solar cells. Motech has now become one of the top 10 producers of solar cells and the 6th largest crystalline solar cell manufacturer in the world (2007).

SolarWorld is headquartered in Bonn, Germany, and purchased Shell Solar's crystalline silicon activities in 2006. SolarWorld is one of the three largest solar energy groups in the world. The SolarWorld Group of companies is involved in every step of the solar value chain from raw silicon to turn-key solar power systems and is active in growing solar markets around the world.

Japanese company Sanyo Electric has been manufacturing solar cells and panels since 1970s. In 1992, Sanyo Electric started the practical application of installing the first PV generation systems on individual houses in Japan. SANYO HIT (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer) solar panels are a leader in cell and module efficiency with models up to 16.2 Watts per sq. foot (17.4% module efficiency). On July 29, 2008 the company announced, that it achieved a cell conversion efficiency of 22.3% at the research level.

China-based Yingli Green Energy is one of the world's leading vertically integrated PV product manufacturers. Yingli Green Energy sells PV modules under its own brand name, Yingli Solar, to PV distributors located in various markets around the world, including Germany, Spain, China and the United States.

SunPower Corporation is a Silicon Valley based solar company, and is one of the largest in existence.The company designs and manufactures high-efficiency silicon solar cells and solar panels based on an all-back-contact "All-Black" design. They install them through their subsidiary PowerLight. Their Nellis Solar Power Plant is currently the largest PV installation in North America

Schott Solar Germany is among the world's leading fully integrated manufacturers of PV wafers, cells and modules. The company has more than 40 years of experience and offers reliable PV solar electricity modules for almost any kind of application. Schott Solar is also one of the leading companies in thin film technologies.

Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) is based in Norway, and was established in 1996. Over a relatively short period, REC has become the world's largest producer of poly silicon and wafers for PV applications. The company has seven production plants in three different countries and customers all over the world.

Mitsubishi Electric is one of the world’s largest manufacturers and providers of solar power technology, including PV cells, modules and inverters. The company’s eco-friendly photovoltaic systems are used throughout the world to bring clean, reliable energy to residences, business, power generation plants, schools, and factories.

BP has been involved in solar power since 1973 and its subsidiary, BP Solar, is now a major worldwide manufacturer and installer of PV solar cells, with production facilities in the United States, Spain, India and Australia. Headquarters for BP Solar are located in Frederick - a city in west-central Maryland, United States.

Isofoton is a Spanish company, the biggest solar panel manufacturer in Europe. The company designs and manufactures high-efficiency mono crystalline silicon cells (also the most expensive), and it is currently the largest mono crystalline producer worldwide.

Nanosolar was started in 2002 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Nanosolar is a maker of thin-film solar panels and is a global leader in solar power innovation. Nanosolar Powersheet, a very thin film solar panel has won the Popular Science Innovation of the Year award. The company manufactures Powersheet by printing a solar absorbing “ink” onto a thin rolled metal sheet in a low-cost, fast, continuous process. The company has manufacturing operations in Silicon Valley, California, and the Berlin capital region, Germany.

Solar PV Power in Cold Climate

2009-01-13T14:29:00.000-08:00

Many people interested in generating solar PV power for their household power needs are also interested to know how PV solar panels operate at colder temperatures or in cloudy conditions. Actually, PV solar panels work better at colder temperatures - some of the best efficiencies ever recorded were at the South Pole! This is because the solar cells in the panels are electronic devices that generate electricity depending on the amount of sunlight they receive, not heat. In cold climates, PV panels will generate less energy in the winter than in the summer, but this is due to the shorter days and less sunlight, not the colder temperatures.

Photo credit: altenergy.blog-city.com

PV solar panels continue to work even in cloudy conditions, although they do produce less electricity. On days with cloud cover or windblown snow, the PV panels' output power is reduced significantly. With sun angles approaching the highest limits and visibility being high, the PV panels reach their rated output power.

Many countries in the northwestern region of Europe, including Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia, make extensive use of solar power. Germany is the world's leading installer of photovoltaic (PV) solar cells, although its climate is mostly temperate. Japan is also a major installer of solar PV panels, and their climate is temperate.

An example of integrating PV technology in the daily life are solar powered parking meters which are fairly common in Germany and the Netherlands. The electricity which runs them is supplied by small solar panels on top of the parking meters, right there in the streets.

Canada is another cold-weather country where PV technology is quickly gaining ground. PV cells have been used in Canada over the last 20 years or more for many applications. Photovoltaic modules were used as standalone units, mainly as off-grid distributed electricity generation to power remote homes, telecommunications equipment, oil and pipeline monitoring stations and navigational applications. Over the last few years PV technology has also started to be introduced into urban areas, incorporated into the roofs and facades of homes, offices and factories. And the largest solar PV energy park in North America will be located on approximately 300 acres of land in the Township of Stone Mills, Lennox & Addington County, Ontario. The 19-megawatt project, known as First Light, is being built by SkyPower Corp and SunEdison Canada. The construction is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2009 and local communities will benefit from clean renewable energy sufficient to power more than 2,000 homes annually.

Solar-Powered Ski Jacket by Ermenegildo Zegna

2009-01-08T16:15:00.000-08:00

It is winter time here - time for chilling temperatures, snow, but also white beauty, skiing and much fun. So, news like this could be interesting for all environmentally-conscious and geeky skiers. The first "ecological" luxury solar-powered ski jacket designed by Italian designer Ermenegildo Zegna is able to recharge your cell phone, iPod and other gadgets on the go. Italian clothing manufacturer Ermenegildo Zegna, has joined hands with a German company called Interactive Wear, a firm that specializes in "smart" textile technology, to develop the world’s first ski jacket that gets its juice from solar energy.

The jacket uses Microtene material that makes it water resistant and has integrated discreet solar cells placed in neoprene collar, which converts sunlight into renewable power to charge your electronic gadgets while you're outdoors. An hour of direct sunlight will charge up a phone for about 35 minutes of talk time. The battery requires four to five hours for a full charge. Good thing is also that you can take off the collar anytime, so you can use it to charge your gadgets even when you are back at home.

Although this jacket doesn't seem to be very innovative, since it looks like they’ve just stitched a couple of solar cells into the jacket’s collar, I think that all trials in the field of "intelligent" clothing deserve our attention and should be admired. And it is one more opportunity to promote your green ideas to the world, well... if you can afford it - Zegna Sport Solar Ski Jacket retails for about $1,350 at all Ermenegildo Zegna boutiques.

www.zegna.com

Beginning the New Year with a Blog Award

2009-01-05T11:07:00.000-08:00

Happy, Prosperous and Green New 2009 Year to all my readers! I wish you also many sunny days throughout the year ;)

It is good to begin the New Year with something encouraging and inspiring, so I decided to start my first post for this year with another blog award which I received from Barbara at GoalForTheGreen some time ago (goalforthegreen.com/2008/12/wowanother-award) but just didn't find the right moment to post about it so far. Again special thanks Barbara!

These are the rules for “I Love Your Blog" award:

1). Add the logo of the award to your blog.
2). Link back to the person who gave you the award.
3). Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4). Add those links to your blog.
5). Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

And these are the 7 blogs I’m passing this award to:

Green Not Mean
Save the Earth
Endangered Spaces
Simply Abundant Living
Birding in the Falkland Islands
Strawbale House
Blog Appetite

Happy New Year!

Solar Christmas Lights for a Greener Christmas

2008-12-20T13:05:00.000-08:00

In accordance with the Holiday Spirit this post is all about having an environmentally friendly and green Christmas just by purchasing a set of outdoor solar Christmas lights to illuminate your home.

Solar Christmas lights can help you save electricity and money, and they are convenient to use because they don’t have to be plugged in and there are no wires to worry about. Solar Christmas lights use LED or Light Emitting Diode technology instead of filament bulbs, which not only saves power and creates vivid light, but also stays cooler than typical bulbs and thus eliminate danger of fire.

When buying Solar Xmas lights you should be aware of charging times and lighting times. On average the outdoor solar lights will illuminate for about 7-8 hours while a few brands tout 12 to 15 hours of illumination time. Keep in mind that illumination time is affected by how fully the solar panel is recharged during the day. Also, an exceptionally cloudy, dark day will reduce the nightly illumination time.

Solar Christmas lights are becoming very popular, which has led to increased availability and design choices. They are available in many different shapes such as stars, bells, hearts, snowmen, snowflakes, Santa designs, and more.

If you want to impress your friends and neighbors you may look for some really impressive solar Christmas lights - those that come with a remote control and with options that allow you to create your own light show. Some solar Christmas lights even let you change the level of light output or change the color of the lights with the remote control.

So, buy a set of cool energy efficient solar Christmas lights and enjoy a Greener Christmas with your family and friends!

Estimate Your Roof's Solar Potential with RoofRay

2008-12-19T05:34:00.000-08:00

Speaking of useful online tools, I should mention also a solar array modelling service, provided by RoofRay on their homepage. They use Google Maps and various other information to help you estimate the solar potential of your home or business before taking the financial plunge to invest in solar energy.

Using the site's modelling tools, you can evaluate how much solar energy your home could capture and how that would affect your monthly bills based on past weather conditions, current electricity bills, the slope of your house, as well as how many panels your roof can hold.

With Google Maps you can calculate the square footage of your roof and build virtual panels. Then RoofRay estimates the output potential of the roof, costs of installation, and ROI. Another section shows existing installations that have already been completed by other people, including specifics of the roof used and total peak power.

Of course, RoofRay does not replace solar experts, but undoubtedly could answer some of your basic questions, and generally it is a quite interesting online service that deserves our attention.

Website: www.roofray.com

Solar Power Calculating Tools Online

2008-12-15T05:43:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of online solar power calculating tools that can help you size your solar power installation. These tools are great in order to find out how much energy approximately your household consume every day and to determinate how much solar power you'll need to run your home appliances.

Power Consumption and System Voltage Free Online Calculators

Discover Your Solar Energy Potential - This calculator will help you determine what kind of system you need. Enter your location, average electricity bill, and desired return, and the calculator will recommend a system size as well as automatically generate the cost of the panels in your area. And it even pulls up rebate information in your area. (US)

Solar Equipment Calculator - This tool is designed to provide an estimate of the quantity of solar power required to run a certain set of appliances. Here you can find also a Peak Charging Hours calculator. (US)

Solar Power Calculator - Use this great solar power calculator to determinate the cost and size of a solar energy system in your area. (US)

SunPower Solar Calculator - Another very complete and comprehensive solar calculator. (US)

Solar Estimator - Estimate the size and calculate the cost to install a solar energy system for your home or building. Besides solar electric (PV), technology options also include solar water heating, pool or spa heating, and space heating & cooling. (US)

Solar Panel Calculator - This calculator will help you calculate approximately how much energy you use every day. (UK)
Solar Panel Table - The table will help you decide which Solar Panel to choose (UK)

Amp & Watt Hour Calculator & Solar System design Tool - This Amp & Watt Hour Calculator is provided to help you make some basic electrical calculations and design your own solar power system. (AU)

Solar Power Calculator - Enter the desired or current power requirements of your appliances into this solar calculator, and the correct solar panel sizes and battery capacity of the system will be determined. (AU)

Sharp USA - The "Solar Calculator" provided by SHARP uses your zip code and current electric bill to create a solar system simulation. Estimate system cost, monthly savings, and payback using this solar calculator. (US)

Kyocera Clean Power Estimator - Use this solar calculator to estimate the energy output, pollution prevention and cost of your grid-connected photovoltaic system. (US)

PV Watts - Created by researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory this online tool calculates electrical energy produced by a grid-connected photovoltaic system. (US)

Keep in mind that the above calculators are useful as a general guide for sizing your solar electricity system and you probably will also need advices and help from professionals.

Calculating Your Solar Power Requirements

2008-12-11T16:47:00.000-08:00

One of the most important thing you have to figure out when planning a solar power installation is the size of the solar system you’ll need.

First of all you need to calculate how much power you use on a daily basis. Your electric bill will be of help for this or you can make your own calculation. The power consumption of appliances is given in Watts (eg 21" fluorescent light, 13W). To calculate the energy you will use over time, you have to multiply the power consumption by the hours of use.

The 13W light fitting, on for 2 hours, will take 13 x 2 = 26WH.

Repeat this for all the appliances you wish to use, then add the results to obtain your daily power consumption.

You have to determinate also how much energy your battery can store. Battery capacity is measured in Ampere Hours (Ah). Convert this to Watt Hours by multiplying the Ah figure by the battery voltage: for a 20Ah, 12V battery the Watt Hours figure is 20 x 12 = 240WH.

The more energy you take, the faster the battery discharges. Keep in mind, however, that deep cycle batteries which are usually used in solar power systems, should not be discharged beyond 50% of their capacity. i.e. 50 % capacity remaining. Discharging beyond this level will significantly reduce the life of the batteries.

To calculate the energy your solar panel can supply to the battery, multiply Watts by the hours exposed to sunshine, then multiply the result by 0.85 (factor to allow for normal system losses).

For example, the Solar 40W panel in 4 hours of sunshine, 40 x 4 x 0.85= 136WH. This is the amount of energy the Solar panel can supply to the battery.

On the basis of all these calculations you'll determinate the size and number of solar panels you'll need, the number of batteries, power inverter size, etc.

Basic Things to Consider Before Buying a Solar Electric System

2008-12-02T15:44:00.001-08:00

Installing a solar electric system requires very careful initial planning. First of all, you need to know exactly how much electricity your home uses each month. You may look up in your old electricity bills but also you should think about how your electricity needs will change over the next 10 years.

Solar photovoltaic panels can be installed on the roof, along a wall of the property or as standalone systems. If you are planning to install them on your roof, you need to make sure that the roof is strong enough to hold a solar panel because some of these panels can be quite heavy. A roof inspection (and any necessary repair) is recommended prior to a PV installation. Another thing you need to know is that the more sunlight modules collect, the more electricity they produce, thus the more energy your home will receive. Make sure that the roof (or wherever you intend to install your solar panels) is clear of any obstacles, such as trees or buildings, especially during peak production hours between 10am and 2pm.

Ideally, a solar system will go on a south/southwest-facing roof, although east and west facing roofs are good candidates, as well.

You should decide whether your system will be grid-connected or off-grid.With a solar PV system connected to an electric distribution system (grid-connected) you can receive back-up power from it when your system doesn’t produce enough energy for your needs. When your solar PV system produces excess power, that electricity can be send back into the grid, and your local utility is required to buy it from you.

Picture: apps1.eere.energy.gov

A grid-connected solar power system is easily integrated into the existing electrical infrastructure of a house and the system can provide decades of reliable and environmental friendly electricity production.

A stand-alone (off-grid) solar PV system is independent of an electricity distribution grid operated by a utility. The electricity is provided by solar power alone and stored in a battery for later use. Such systems typically make sense in remote locations.

The average solar PV panel last approximately 30 years and many manufacturer warranties last for up to 20-25 years. Solar PV panels are designed and installed to be low-maintenance. However, it is very important to have your solar panels cleaned regularly because they benefit from being hosed off with water twice a year, especially after long periods without rain. Dust or dirt may cause a 10-15% reduction in their efficiency.

Before buying and installing the panels it is also essential to make sure that you understand the installation regulations in your local area. In most cases it is wise to check with the local authority before installing your solar electric system.

Lemonade Award

2008-11-27T17:29:00.000-08:00

I was nominated with an award - the Lemonade Award and this is my first award as a blogger (well, this is also my first blog). So, I would like to thank Eco Mama, Its all about our home, the Earth! and Goal For The Green for awarding me with it, and assure you that I really appreciate this acknowledgement! I think that making lemonade out of lemons can be an interesting endeavor, and besides, I like both lemons and lemonade :)

The Lemonade Award is passed to bloggers for showing great Attitude and/or Gratitude and now it's my turn to pass it to ten other blogs.

And here are my nominations :

SolReka
Environmental Chaos
Passionate Green
Chasing The Wind
Green not Mean
Eco-Blogical
Bulgarian Slivatree
Newton's Ocean
Life on a Southern Farm
Teddy Tour

The rules of this award for recipients:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.

2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!

3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.

Solar Energy and Solar Power

2008-11-16T04:58:00.000-08:00

Solar energy and solar power are two terms that are often used interchangeably but actually they are not the same thing. They both mean to receive and use solar rays, but more specifically solar power refers to electricity generated from solar radiation.

Solar energy is a more generic term and it describes all the uses of solar rays. That includes solar power generation, but also solar thermal for water heating, space heating and cooling, and heat for industrial processes. Solar energy includes also passive solar energy that uses building orientation, design and materials to heat and cool buildings.

Solar PV (photovoltaic) technology uses energy from the sun to create electricity to run appliances and lighting. The electricity created by the solar system is direct current (DC), and the electricity we use in our homes is alternating currents (AC). Thus solar systems need an inverter which changes the DC current into useable AC current.

In my next few posts, I will write about producing your own solar electricity by installing solar PV panels on the rooftop of your house, and what basic information householders need to know at the beginning.

Solar Heating Panels on the White House Roof

2008-11-11T14:51:00.000-08:00

Still under the impression of the USA 2008 Presidential vote (although I am not an American) I found this information interesting to be published now.

Did you know that way back in 1979 (during the second US oil crisis) the American President Jimmy Carter installed solar heating panels on the roof of the White House West Wing? I personally didn't know that curious fact! And it seems that the Nobel Prize winning President Carter was quite a visionary.

In July 1979, President Carter outlined his plan for achieving energy independence and improving energy efficiency in his "Crisis of Confidence" speech. In an effort to set an example for the nation, he installed solar panels on the White House roof. They were more as a symbol of a new strategy to reduce America’s dependence of foreign sources of energy and a move designed to support Carter’s solar institute, which he had “created to spearhead solar innovation.”

Carter called for 20 percent of American energy to come from solar power by the year 2000. He even had very generous tax reductions implemented for people who installed solar panels at home.

The solar-energy system that President Carter installed consisted of 34 solar collectors which were used to heat water for the staff eating area and some other areas of the White House.

At the time, President Carter warned "a generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people; harnessing the power of the Sun to enrich our lives as we move away from our crippling dependence on foreign oil." (It turns out Carter's warning was at least partially correct: One of his solar panels is now museum piece.)

In 1986, President Reagan had the solar panels removed during a roof in repair and put them into a federal storage facility. Actually, the solar panels were supposed to be reinstalled but they never were.

In 1991, the environmentally-minded Unity College of Maine, found the panels in a government warehouse in Franconia, Va., bought them for peanuts and installed them to use for the generation of hot water in the student dining hall.

By 2004, the solar panels had worn out. Unity College kept one of the panels for “historical significance,” donated another panel to the Smithsonian Institute and offered the rest for sale.

Even a documentary film has been made about the solar panels, using them as a backdrop to explore American oil dependency and the political lack of will to pursue alternative energy. Swiss directors Christina Hemaner and Roman Keller follow the route of the panels in the hour-long film "A Road Not Taken."

In 2003, the National Park Service, which manages the White House complex, installed a nine kilowatt solar electric or photovoltaic panels, on the roof of the main building used for White House grounds maintenance. Solar thermal systems were also installed to heat water: one for landscape maintenance personnel, the other for the presidential pool and spa.

Cellular Base Stations Powered by the Sun

2008-11-02T06:13:00.000-08:00

It seems that the mobile industry is another technology field where solar power soon can play an important role in reducing costs and ensuring a reliable power supply.

In a new study ABI Research analysts predict that the future mobile phone base stations will be sun powered. They say that over 335,000 base stations worldwide will be using sun power by the end of 2013, with around 40,000 of those being completely autonomous and off-grid. The research firm explained that improvements in photovoltaic cells have meant that solar energy is now a viable option for supplying power to base stations.

"The market for autonomous solar powered cell sites looks set to grow from extremely modest levels today to over 40,000 renewable energy sites by the end of 2013. A further 295,000 base stations are expected to supplement on-grid power usage with solar," said Stuart Carlaw, vice-president of ABI Research.

Still, the majority of these cellular base stations will use diesel or mains electricity to supplement their solar panels, especially in areas where population density and less solar energy require it.

Probably the developing countries will be the biggest winners as remote communities will receive phone coverage and Internet connections for the first time. According to some UN figures half of the world is still not able to make a phone call.

Other alternatives to normal electricity for base stations being considered are wind power, fuel cells and even compressed air.

Source: Market Watch

Thin-film Photovoltaic (PV) Cells

2008-10-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

In some of my previous posts I have mentioned thin-film photovoltaic cells and in this article I'll give a brief overview of them.

Solar panels based on the photovoltaic effect have been used for more than thirty years and have traditionally been built using wafers of crystalline silicon, which requires expensive processing and results in ridged, heavy and fragile solar panels.

Crystalline silicon PV cells are still the mainstream products in the PV cell market because they have high conversion efficiencies. However, their output is increasingly being bogged down by shortage of raw material, high production cost and difficulty of processing. These factors have given rise to rapid development of second generation PV technology known as thin-film PV technology.

Thin-film solar cells are generated by coating a substrate (glass, thin flexible metal or plastic substrate) with layers of conductive and semi-conductive materials of a few micrometers in thickness. The individual layers of material are deposited by various processes.

The key materials for the thin-film solar cells are semiconductor elements such as amorphous silicon (a-Si, still silicon, but in a different form), cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium (gallium) diselenide (CIS or CIGS).

Amorphous silicon (a-Si) was the first thin-film material to be commercialized, although, the PV cells built from amorphous silicon are invariably less efficient than crystalline PV. These PV cells have low efficiency and limited lifetime (approximately 10-15 years). Initially, a-Si was mostly used in consumer items such as calculators. Amorphous silicon is the most widely used for the creation of thin-film solar panels. It has a sun energy conversion rate as high as 9%.

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) is a highly useful material in the making of solar cells. Cadmium telluride PV (CdTe PV) is the first and only thin-film photovoltaic technology to surpass crystalline silicon PV in the marketplace in terms of lower system price for a significant portion of the PV market – large (multi-kW) systems.

CdTe PV cells structure includes a very thin layer of cadmium sulfide that allows most sunlight to pass through to the CdTe layer. These characteristics provide the potential for high-efficiency modules with low-cost manufacturing processes. CdTe cell efficiencies are over 16% in the laboratory; commercial module efficiencies are likely to be in the 9% range in the first manufacturing plants.

Copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) cells create more electricity from the same amount of sunlight than does other thin-film PV and therefore has a higher "conversion efficiency". Besides that, CIGS conversion efficiency is very stable over time, meaning its performance continues unabated for many years.

CIGS cells use extremely thin layers of semiconductor material applied to a low-cost backing such as glass, flexible metallic foils, high-temperature polymers or stainless steel sheets. They are of interest for space applications and the portable electronics market because of their light weight. CIGS cells are also suitable in special architectural uses, such as photovoltaic roof shingles, windows, siding and others. CIGS thin-film solar cell recently reached 19.9 percent efficiency, setting a new world record for this type of cell.

Thin-film PV technology has attracted a lot of interest in the recent years. The main reason for this interest is that thin-film PV cells are less expensive than other PV systems. Rather than being manufactured laboriously piece by piece, thin-film can be mass-produced in cheap rolls like packaging - in any colour. Thin-film PV cells also can harvest as much energy from the sun with far less semiconductor material. They can be made with flexible substrates which allow them to be used in more locations than silicon cells, such as clothing and sails. A number of applications are being pursued using thin-film PV technologies, including roof-top applications (such as rooftop shingles, roof tiles), building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), the glazing for skylights or atria, and utility-scale applications.

Thin-film PV cells represent the most promising technology for providing more affordable solar cells for residential and other uses in the future. According to NanoMarkets, the thin-film photovoltaics (TFPV) market will produce 26GW by 2015, generating over $20 billion in revenues.

Silicon-Based Solar Cells for Flexible and Transparent Solar Applications

2008-10-15T15:41:00.000-07:00

Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed new high-efficient silicon-based solar cells that are flexible enough to be incorporated on a curved surface or fabric, and transparent enough to be used to tint windows on buildings or cars.

The finding, reported in the journal Nature Materials, offers a new way to process conventional silicon by slicing the brittle wafers into ultra-thin layers and carefully transfers them onto a flexible surface.

"We can make it thin enough that we can put it on plastic to make a rollable system. You can make it gray in the form of a film that could be added to architectural glass. It opens up spaces on the fronts of buildings as opportunities for solar energy.” said John Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who led the research.

Many international companies are making thin-film solar cells, but they are usually less efficient at converting solar energy into electricity than conventional cells.

Rogers' team uses a special etching method to slice very thin solar chips off the surface of single crystal silicon wafers which are highly efficient but, in their current form, rigid and fragile. The sliced chips are 10 to 100 times thinner than a normal silicon wafer, and the size can be adapted to the application. Once sliced, the bits of silicon chips are picked up by a special device and deposited on the target surface "like a rubber stamp".

“These silicon solar cells become like a solid ink pad for that rubber stamp. The surface of the wafers after we’ve done this slicing become almost like an inking pad,” said Rogers. “We just print them down onto a target surface." "The final step is to electrically connect these cells to get power out of them," he said.

Adding flexibility to the material would make the cells far easier to transport. Rogers envisions the material being “rolled up like a carpet and thrown on the truck.”

The technology has been licensed to a startup company called Semprius in Durham, North Carolina.

Sources: Reuters & Energy Efficiency News