Sun for Rent – Leasing Solar Panels
Installing solar panels to heat your home is beyond the means of many Americans. However, Bill Whitaker (CBS News) shows us how to get the benefits of solar power without paying for the panels up front.
Germany nabs second Solar Decathlon win
By Paul Courson, CNN.com
A university team from Germany has won the U.S. Energy Department’s Solar Decathlon for the second competition in a row, officials declared Friday. In second place was Team Illinois, and third place went to Team California.
Team Germany’s submission is covered in panels that produce more than enough energy for the house.
Twenty universities began constructing solar-powered homes October 1 on the National Mall, between the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument. The competition was judged in 10 categories.
The judges said Team Germany’s strongest advantage was the amount of energy their house put back into the power grid.
The structure, a large, dark rectangular cube with wood trim, is nearly entirely covered in solar panels.
“OK, I’ll be totally honest; I did not prepare a speech. It’s supposed to be my job, but I didn’t, because we did not expect to win again,” Sardika Meyer said in accepting the award along with her teammates from Germany’s Technische Universitat Darmstadt.
The school won the previous competition in 2007.
Meyer later told CNN that her colleagues were concerned they might lose this time because their engineering design did not seem as strong as that of other schools, and she was worried the dark cube lacked what is popularly called “curb appeal.”
Officials judged the 20 schools not only on aesthetics and solar power generation but on consumption of energy and ability to maintain a “comfort zone” between hot and cold for the home’s inhabitants.
Team California’s design ranked among the highest for curb appeal. But the home’s ability to be energy self-sufficient was not as strong as Germany’s, and its overall ranking fell behind that of Team Illinois.
Nonetheless, the California team declared the results a great reason to start a party at the house, and as judges and spectators had one last look at the homes before they are dismantled, the sounds of California-themed music played loudly from the house’s entertainment electronics.
The system appeared to have adequate power from the home’s solar panels, despite the overcast, drizzly weather on the National Mall.
Up the promenade, the University of Illinois team quietly enjoyed their success in a home of modest, understated cosmetic design.
Mark Adams, a mechanical engineering student at the school, said it was a “nail-biting” close competition.
During remarks accepting the second-place trophy, he said his team proved that a “simple, cost-effective design does not have to compromise in aesthetics” and that “this is the future, and this is the way houses are going to be designed.”
New World: New light on solar energy
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH, Jpost.com
A new type of glass cell that absorbs solar energy and concentrates it so it converts into electricity more efficiently than conventional solar panels by taking only the radiation without the heat has been developed by Prof. Renata Reisfeld, longtime expert in sol-gel glasses at the Hebrew University’s inorganic chemistry department. It can absorb solar energy even on a cloudy day without direct sunlight – albeit less efficiently than on a sunny day.
Reisfeld, who is chief technology officer of the GreenSun company that is working to commercialize the product, developed it in her Jerusalem laboratory. The glass cell panels, made in bright colors, concentrate the light in the center of the glass plate and thus is cheaper than conventional ones because it needs silicone only there rather than on the whole panel. The plates absorb specific parts of the light spectrum of the sun, Reisfeld says, adding that they can lie on a roof and absorb dispersed light without facing the sun most of the day.
The heat from solar radiation in fact damages the cells, says the inorganic chemist, so the new technique intentionally causes the heat to be dispersed. Walls and windows could be made out of the glass to turn a building into a power generator on the outside. However, some experts say that using the technology will hike construction expenses, as it is more expensive than conventional building materials. In addition, the panels’ efficiency is not yet high enough to be used routinely.
Teenager invents £23 solar panel that could be solution to developing world’s energy needs … made from human hair
From dailymail.co.uk
A new type of solar panel using human hair could provide the world with cheap, green electricity, believes its teenage inventor.
Milan Karki, 18, who comes from a village in rural Nepal, believes he has found the solution to the developing world’s energy needs.
The young inventor says hair is easy to use as a conductor in solar panels and could revolutionise renewable energy.
‘First I wanted to provide electricity for my home, then my village. Now I am thinking for the whole world,’ said Milan, who attends school in the capital, Kathmandu.
The hair replaces silicon, a pricey component typically used in solar panels, and means the panels can be produced at a low cost for those with no access to power, he explained.
In Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world, many rural areas lack access to electricity and even in areas connected to power lines, users face shortages of up to 16 hours a day.
Milan and four classmates initially made the solar panel as an experiment but the teens are convinced it has wide applicability and commercial viability.
‘I’m trying to produce commercially and distribute to the districts. We’ve already sent a couple out to the districts to test for feasibility,’ he said.
The solar panel, which produces 9 V (18 W) of energy, costs around £23 to make from raw materials.
But if they were mass-produced, Milan says they could be sold for less than half that price, which could make them a quarter of the price of those already on the market.
Melanin, a pigment that gives hair its colour, is light sensitive and also acts as a type of conductor. Because hair is far cheaper than silicon the appliance is less costly.
The solar panel can charge a mobile phone or a pack of batteries capable of providing light all evening.
Milan began his quest to create electricity when he was a boy living in Khotang, a remote district of Nepal completely unconnected to electricity. According to him, villagers were skeptical of his invention at first.
‘They believe in superstitions, they don’t believe in science. But now they believe,’ he said.
He first tried to use water currents hydro power on a small scale, but said the experiment became too expensive.
‘I searched for new, other renewable, affordable sources. People in these places are living the life of the stone age even in the 21st century,’ he said.
Milan, whose hero is the inventor Thomas Eddison, describes himself as lucky because his family could afford for him to receive a proper education while many other villagers are forced to work from an early age. Most of those from his village are illiterate.
He was originally inspired after reading a book by physicist Stephen Hawking, which discussed ways of creating static energy from hair.
‘I realised that Melanin was one of the factors in conversion of energy,’ he said.
Half a kilo of hair can be bought for only 16p in Nepal and lasts a few months, whereas a pack of batteries would cost 50p and last a few nights.
People can replace the hair easily themselves, says Milan, meaning his solar panels need little servicing.
Three years after first coming up with the idea, Milan says the idea is more important than ever because of the crucial need for renewable energies in the face of finite power sources and global warming.
‘Slowly, natural resources are degrading so it is necessary to think about the future,” he said.
‘One day we will be in a great crisis regarding this fuel so it is a good thing to do today.
‘This is an easy solution for the crisis we are having today. We have begun the long walk to save the planet.’
It’s time to ride on solar energy wave
By Shelley Singh, ET Bureau, IndiaTimes.com
Charles F Gay has spent over three decades in the solar energy industry. His work has spanned developing solar panels for satellites to creating individual solar systems for rural homes. Dr Gay, president, Applied Solar, the solar energy business focused arm of the $8 billion Applied Materials Santa headquartered in Santa Clara, California, sees an opportunity in both areas in India. In an interview with ET, Dr. Gay talks about the trends that could help increase adoption of solar energy technology in India.
Excerpts:
Applied Materials makes equipment that helps make semiconductors, flat monitors, TV display screens and so on. What is the focus of Applied Solar?
Applied Materials has been doing that for 42 years and about three years back started the solar business, Applied Solar. I joined when the solar business started. Globally, Applied Materials employs 14,000 (that includes over 1,000 in India) and the solar business is part of the business that helps make solar photo-voltaic cells and energy related products and services.
Solar has been talked for very long as a clean alternative to bring electricity to rural areas. But it just doesn’t seem to go beyond pilot projects.
A good part of my life has been spent working in rural areas that have no electricity or might have had some wires but there are no electrons in those wires. Today, individual solar home systems are really an ideal solution whether you are in India or any other part of the world that does not have a grid source of reliable electricity. What’s exciting now is that the cost of solar has come down.
How much will it cost?
It takes about 70 watts of electricity to power a rural home. With this people will be able to run lights five hours a night, TV and fans. One 70-watt solar panel, a truck battery, a controller (to regulate the charge going in and out of the battery) and sometimes an invertor (that takes DC electricity from solar panels and converts to AC) is all you need. The average selling price of a solar panel is less than $2 per watt.
That’s very expensive for a rural household. Also 70 watt would barely light a bulb.
Actually, there’s a whole lot you can do with it. With 70 watts solar panel you could run 3-4 energy efficient lights for 6 hours a night, a TV set for 3-4 hours a night and a fan. Even if you put a 70 watt solar panel where there is just five hours of sunlight you get 350 watt hour of energy to run the house. At $2 per watt, that’s $140 for solar panel and equal amount for the other stuff — charge controller, wiring, fuses, invertor and switches. So, for less than $300 I meet electricity needs of a typical rural home where there was no electricity at all previously.
Where you don’t have electricity (in India 86,000 villages have no electricity at all) people spend on kerosene — about $5-8 a month. With the kind of financing available now, for less than $5 instalment a month, a rural household can have solar panel powered electricity.
Do you have a workable model in India?
In Andhra Pradesh, about 125 km outside Hyderabad, we put power into a panchayat at Mehboobnagar village. We also got internet to the village, thanks to the solar panel power. And this experiment, done via a foundation I run, Greenstar, has gone beyond just providing electricity and internet. We recorded the music of the area and via the internet marketed it to companies like Disney in the US! Companies who buy the music pay a licence fee. There is royalty going back to the village.
But what about long term viability of solar power, beyond the models?
Now is the time to catch the solar energy wave. Not because climate change is a hot topic, but because solar is already cost effective for meeting peak power requirements like running air cons in hot summer afternoons or electrifying rural areas. Solar panels come with 25 year warranty that they will generate at least 80% of what they did 25 years ago when you use it in the future. That’s a significant accomplishments that solar industry has been able to do. Government policy should ensure stable, long term predictability of the market.
USA’s Largest Rooftop Solar Array
From EnergyMatters.com.au
The records keep on tumbling in the world of solar power as companies vie for the positive press coverage of having the “biggest” solar array in various categories.
The latest contender is Fedex in the USA, one of the world’s largest freight companies. Fedex announced last week the construction of the nation’s largest rooftop solar power system at its distribution hub in Woodbridge, New Jersey.
The 2.42 megawatt solar farm will cover approximately 3.3 acres of roof top space with approximately 12,400 BP solar panels.
The new solar farm will produce around 2.6 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year and could provide up to 30 percent of the hub’s annual energy needs. In an increasingly common arrangement, BP will install and operate the solar farm and FedEx will purchase the power generated.
Construction is scheduled to commence in August and expected to be finished by November this year. When the system is fully operating, the combined environmental benefits based on a projected annual reduction of approximately 1,867 metric tons of CO2 emissions is equivalent to 259 households’ electricity use for one year or over 340 passenger cars not driven for one year.
This project isn’t Fedex’s first foray into solar power. Last year, the company installed a 282 kilowatt system at facilities in Whittier, California and another 269 kilowatt solar array at in Fontana, California that meets up to 80 percent of the facility’s peak energy demand. FedEx is currently constructing its Central and Eastern European gateway at the Cologne/Bonn airport in Germany, which will include a 1.4-megawatt solar power system.
Weak economy makes solar panels more affordable to homeowners
From LATimes.com
If you’re searching for a bright spot in a dismal economic climate, look no farther than your roof. The downturn is helping to make solar panels more affordable.
Manufacturers are cutting prices to move inventory. Uncle Sam is helping too. As part of the economic stimulus package, the federal government this year boosted tax credits to homeowners who switch to solar power. Together with state incentives, those subsidies could slash the cost of some systems in California by 50% or more. Some homeowners are banding together into buying groups for even bigger savings.
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Inexpensive Solar Cells: Low-cost Solution Processing Method Developed For CIGS-based Solar Cells
From ScienceDaily.com
Though the solar industry today predominately produces solar panels made from crystalline silicon, they remain relatively expensive to make. New players in the solar industry have instead been looking at panels that can harvest energy with CIGS (copper-indium-gallium-selenide) or CIGS-related materials. CIGS panels have a high efficiency potential, may be cheaper to produce and would use less raw materials than silicon solar panels.
But unfortunately, manufacturing of CIGS panels on a commercial scale has thus far proven to be difficult.
Recently researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed a low-cost solution processing method for CIGS-based solar cells that could provide an answer to the manufacturing issue. In a new study to be published in the journal Thin Solid Films on July 7, Yang Yang, a professor in the school’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and his research team show how they have developed a low-cost solution processing method for their copper-indium-diselenide solar cells which have the potential to be produced on a large scale.
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Obama Announces $467 Million For Energy Programs
From CleanTechBrief.com
U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced the availability of $467 million in stimulus program funding for two alternative energy programs.
Money from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act will fund the development and deployment of solar energy and geothermal energy technologies across the country. The president made the announcement at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nevada, exactly 100 days after the signing of the stimulus package.
The base is home to America’s largest solar photovoltaic array, with over 72,000 solar panels providing 25% of its power.
“The program we’re announcing … is something that we expect will create more jobs, it will create more businesses, and more affordable electricity for the American people,” said Obama.
“We’ve got a choice, we can remain the world’s leading importing of oil sending our money and our wealth away or we can become a world’s leading exporter of clean energy.”
The Recovery Act allots $350 million for new investment in geothermal technologies, which breaks down as follows:
* $140 million for geothermal demonstration projects
* $80 million for enhanced geothermal systems technology research and development
* $100 million for innovative exploration techniques
* $30 million for the National Geothermal Data System, Resource Assessment, and Classification System
Another $117.6 million has been earmarked for solar energy technologies, as follows:
* $51.5 million for photovoltaic technology development
* $40.5 million for solar energy deployment
* $25.6 million for concentrating solar power research and development
The funding will be managed through the Department of Energy.
“These technologies represent two pieces of a broad energy portfolio that will help us aggressively fight climate change and renew our position as a global leader in clean energy jobs,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a statement.
Utilities move on distributed solar power plants
by Martin LaMonica, cnet.com
Some utilities are thinking small when it comes to solar power.
Utility Arizona Public Service on Monday submitted a proposal to install and own solar power systems on customers’ rooftops in Flagstaff. Customers will pay today’s electricity and hot water heating rates for the energy those systems produce over a 20-year period.
Duke Energy last Thursday gained approval for a $50 million project in North Carolina with a similar model. The utility will install and own solar electric panels at 100 to 400 locations and pay a rental fee to property owners.
By owning the systems and the power produced, the utilities can treat the distributed solar resources as a power plant that they can control.
The electricity production of solar panels tends to coincide with peak times of electricity demand. Instead of building a new power plant, or turning on costly and polluting auxiliary plants, utilities can partially meet peak load with the distributed solar systems.
Customers, meanwhile, can get solar energy systems without having to pay the large upfront cost, something that a number of solar start-ups are also doing with varied financing options.
“The project eliminates upfront costs of more than $10,000 to each customer, which we know from our experience has been a major deterrent to distributed solar systems here and elsewhere,” Arizona Public Service CEO Don Brandt said in a statement. “We want to make solar energy affordable to everyone.”
The $14.7 million pilot, called Community Power Project, is expected to generate 1.5 megawatts from 200 to 300 participants in Flagstaff. The plan also calls for about 50 solar hot water systems to be installed.
The electricity from the panels will be fed directly into the grid and be part of the utility’s smart-grid technology program to efficiently manage the flow of energy across the grid. Arizona Public Service already has a few utility-scale solar power plants in the state, but distributed solar power could help the utility meet state mandates for renewable energy production, it said.
The solar panels from Duke’s program, which had been scaled back from the initial $100 million proposal, are expected to collectively generate enough electricity to supply 1,300 homes. In a statement, Duke CEO James Rogers said that it’s part of the utility’s long-term strategy to diversity its power generation.
“We believe the future is a low-carbon world. The 21st century mission of our company is to decarbonize our energy supply and provide universal access to energy efficiency,” Rogers told shareholders in a meeting last week.
