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May
10
Solar shingles
Click here to teach yourself all about Solar Power
Solar shingles are an incredible breakthrough in the solar energy market. They appear to be regular shingles but they contain thin film photovoltaic cells which harness solar power. These shingles are not only attractive but they are extremely powerful. They are more effective than solar panels because of the incredible amount of engineering that has gone into their design.
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Solar Power: New World Record For Solar-to-grid Conversion Efficiency Set
On a perfect New Mexico winter day — with the sky almost 10 percent brighter than usual — Sandia National Laboratories and Stirling Energy Systems (SES) set a new solar-to-grid system conversion efficiency record by achieving a 31.25 percent net efficiency rate. The old 1984 record of 29.4 percent was toppled Jan. 31 on SES’s “Serial #3” solar dish Stirling system at Sandia’s National Solar Thermal Test Facility.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080213172955.htm
“ In the United States, new solar power installations rose from 49 megawatts in 2002 to 314 megawatts last year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. One megawatt is enough to power 778 average homes, according to the Energy Department.
First Solar results spark industry rally
Wed
Sep
19
Lively video about the photo voltaic solar system installed on residential house by the Technicians for Sustainability who all arrive by bicycle.
Mon
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10
“ Key advantages of AVA Solar’s technology that will enable one of the lowest costs of production in the industry include:
- Simple manufacturing process - fully automated and continuous production with no batch processing yielding high throughputs or production rates;
- High yields - enabled by tightly controlled process parameters;
- Low waste - less than 2 percent of the materials used in production need to be recycled
- Inexpensive, efficient raw materials - because they convert solar energy into electricity more efficiently, cadmium telluride solar panels require 100 times less semiconductor material than high-cost crystalline silicon panels. North Denver News - Low-cost Solar tech developed at CSU enters mass production
- Simple manufacturing process - fully automated and continuous production with no batch processing yielding high throughputs or production rates;
- High yields - enabled by tightly controlled process parameters;
- Low waste - less than 2 percent of the materials used in production need to be recycled
- Inexpensive, efficient raw materials - because they convert solar energy into electricity more efficiently, cadmium telluride solar panels require 100 times less semiconductor material than high-cost crystalline silicon panels. North Denver News - Low-cost Solar tech developed at CSU enters mass production
Fri
Aug
31
“ Over the past 20 years, the price of solar power has fallen dramatically and is expected to continue to fall to levels competitive with other sources of electricity. Current systems provide power at approximately $.20 per kilowatt hour and are expected to fall to approximately $.10 per kWh by 2010. These rates are very competitive with average 2005 national retail electricity price of $.08 per kWh and well below many average 2005 regional retail electricity prices such as New England ($.1179 per kWh), the Mid-Atlantic ($.1083 per kWh) and California ($.1131 per kWh). Average residential and commercial electricity rates are even higher, making installing PV systems even more competitive at homes and businesses where solar power would replace electricity purchased from the grid. Additionally, solar power provides consistent, low maintenance electricity and insulates owners from price spikes, blackouts, and market manipulation. Furthermore, excess solar power from a home or business can be sold into local electricity grids, further reducing a building’s electricity costs. The sum of these savings over time will pay often surpass a solar power system’s installation and maintenance costs - in essence earning money for it’s owners.
25x’25 - Why Renewables: Solar Power
Mon
Aug
27
“ It makes more economic sense for customers to buy 30 years worth of clean energy up front than to rent energy from a utility company for the next 30 years,” Cinnamon said. A solar-power system also increases a home’s resale value, according to the Chicago-based Appraisal Institute, which noted that selling prices increase by $20.73 for every $1 decrease in annual electric bills.
mydesert.com | Solar energy industry heats up in Palm Springs
“ The solar industry is expected to triple in the next three years, from about $13 billion to $40 billion in revenue, says analyst Jesse Pichel of Piper Jaffray. Turbocharging sales are government incentives in countries such as Germany and Japan. In the USA, generous customer rebates in California and New Jersey — by far the largest U.S. solar markets — along with a federal tax credit have trimmed system prices by a third or more. Most states don’t offer solar rebates, but prices still have fallen about 90% since the mid-1980s — 40% annually the past five years — as surging sales have led to cost efficiencies, says Rhone Resch, head of the Solar Energy Industries Association.
Forecast for solar power: Sunny - USATODAY.com
Fri
Aug
24
Teach Yourself All About Solar Power
Wanted to switch to solar power or wanted to find out if solar power is the right thing for you? Solar power design manual is an easy-to-follow guide to generating power from the sun, anywhere. You can build your own self-contained solar power system.
With the Solar Power Design Manual you will learn:
- How solar power works, with simple diagrams
- How to make the most of the power available
- How to choose the right components
- The best way to estimate the available solar energy
- How to decide when solar power is not the answer
- How to make sure that the system continues to work for years to come
