Apr 10
Whenever I’m asked to write a blog about solar innovation, I check out the latest gadgetry sites and find all sorts of things I’d never imagined and think, “What will they think of next?”…and then the next week comes and I find out. It’s always something new and completely mind-blowing.
The wow for this week is [...]
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Apr 10
A little friendly competition fuels the solar auto challenge and helps advance alternative energy research. The goal is to design, build, and race vehicles that are entirely powered by the sun’s energy. Solar auto races have become extremely popular around the world; Australia, U.S., Japan, Europe, Malaysia, Taiwan, and South Africa all have their own [...]
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Apr 10
People who care both for the environment and for their finances are waking up to the possibility of solar power for homes. These people, seeing the basic common sense logic of it, are opting in for solar power for homes outright.
Most people don’t care enough about the environment or their ever-increasing electricity bills. [...]
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Apr 9
How much will it cost for a working solar panel and working wind mill?
I can tell you how much my system cost. The total was $26K, but I got a $10K rebate from my utility and I'll receive a $2K tax credit. Next year the fed. tax credit will increase to 30% of the total [...]
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Apr 9
I hope you have an understanding of solar energy. If you plan on creating this solar energy by the use of solar arrays, its going to be VERY costly. For you to power household things, you'll need a big solar array because one small solar cell won't produce enough for you to really power anything. [...]
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Apr 9
… on over 52 million homes in theUnited States? Surely that would be possible at less than cost to wage the entire Iraq battle from beginning to the end of 2007?
Knowing this, would you be willing to write your Congressperson/Senator and tell them to Stop spending your tax dollars to war and start spending the [...]
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Apr 3
Photo credit: Treehugger.com
A lot of money from the economic stimulus package is dedicated to the solar industry. The only problem is that it just can’t get here fast enough for many solar companies, and the market remains volatile for the time being. As yet another example of that volatility, Energy Conversion Devices, a Michigan-based thin [...]
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Apr 3
This week’s solar links range from a corporate yard on the California coast to the golden Sahara desert. We have more breakthrough energy policy and a local government doing its part to roof America with Solar Panels. Once again these links stand above all else as a testament to the potential grandeur of solar energy, [...]
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Apr 2
Fifty years in the making, solar power cells are still flat, rigid, and ugly. But new research shows how they could be made lightweight, flexible, and transparent.
These innovations could expand solar cell use to things like solar fabrics and power generating windows.
Duration : 0:1:50
Technorati Tags: cells, energy, home solar panel, home Solar Panels, panels, Powerlight, [...]
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Apr 2
We have 2 Evergreen Solar Panels 180 watts each, Tristar 60Amp Controller, 2, 400 watt Air-x wind generators, about 8 marine deep cycle batteries from walmart now. A 250A DC breakerbox from Midnight Solar, Xantrex DR-2412 2400Watt Inverter, and a Reliance transfer switch.
So far the system has cost about $6000 with everything overbuilt to be [...]
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Apr 2
As soon as the ball can get rolling, federal stimulus funds will start rolling out to states, much of it designated for renewable energy ventures. That has created some high energy lobbying by solar power proponents. In Nevada, for example, Solar Alliance, a lobby made up of solar manufacturers and investors, went before the state [...]
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Apr 2
Even though the measure was voted down in the March 3, 2009 elections, a March 21 article in the Los Angeles Times says that Measure B proponents continue to push the solar power plan. The Certified Final Bulletin indicates that the vote was very, very close:
YES 129,925 votes 49.50%
NO 132,569 votes 50.50%
LA Times writer David [...]
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Apr 2
The above picture is of a lady called Irena Sendler. This morning a friend wrote to me including he picture. He also wrote me the following email.
There recently was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena Sendler.
During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the WarsawGhetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist.
She had an [...]
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Apr 1
In Part 1, Understanding Power, we touched on current and the fact that it will vary depending on the appliance in use. Here we will use water as an analogy to help understand ways to become more energy efficient.
Related posts:
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Apr 1
How to Cut Electric Costs by Making Your Own Solar Water Heater
Today, more and more people are concerned with money issues as well as the environment, so many are turning to alternative energy sources as a means to not only cut-back on energy costs, but to also help protect the planet. In the modern times [...]
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Apr 1
Note from Dave: I wanted to give you an overview on the Solar Panel Kits out there as many of you will need a small solar panel to get your solar hot water heater in place. Here is the best plans I’ve found for how to build a solar heat panel. You can also read [...]
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Apr 1
With the cold and stormy weather, you would surely not want to plunge into the water without warming it up. Heating up however would without question start turning your electric meter faster and jack up your electric bill. One very practical option is to start using solar heaters to heat your water. One that [...]
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Apr 1
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has signalled a national gross feed-in tariff will be high on the agenda at the next Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting.
Related posts:
Apr 1
Solar water heaters are the most scientific as well as developed way to heat water. The electric heaters are outdated and the solar water heaters will soon be taking their places, no doubt. And why not? It helps us not only in reducing our electricity bill, but at the same time, it helps us [...]
Mar 19
The shipping industry, like the airline industry, is responsible for a large chunk of greenhouse gas emissions, but it has been hard to regulate because standards would have to be approved and enforced globally. It hasn’t faced much pressure to clean up until the UN and European Union recently began calling for lowered emissions. Luckily, a Singapore firm thinks it has a solution to the problem.
Ecospec has developed a method to remove carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and soot from ship exhausts with a widely available resource for ships - seawater. The process, called CSNOX, uses electrolysis and ultra-low frequency waves to raise the alkalinity of sea water to a pH of 10 up from 8.1. Seawater is pumped into a tank, the alkalinity is raised and then the seawater is sprayed into the exhaust funnel of the ship. The dirty water is then collected, filtered and processed before being returned to the ocean.
The higher alkaline water is actually to the ocean’s benefit since the acidity of the world’s oceans has been rising as CO2 in the atmosphere rises. The water also contains sulphates, nitrates and carbonates that could benefit sea life.
The main objective of Ecospec was to create a process that wouldn’t involve chemicals or create secondary environmental issues. One existing method of removing SO2 from ship exhaust has actually been proven to create CO2 as a by-product, which just further contributes to global warming instead of helping. The high-alkalinity of the CSNOX system prevented this effect by neutralizing the SO2.
Ecospec says that the method has already been tested on a tanker and shown to remove 90 percent of SO2, 80 percent of NOx and 75 percent of CO2 from the exhaust. The results earned them the support of the American Bureau of Shipping.
If the process makes it past the testing phase, it would cost about $500,000 to $1 million to fit most ships with the system. A small price to pay for removing the cause of 4 percent of global fossil fuel emissions.
via Reuters
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