San Diego Zoo Goes Solar

"It's kind of a no-brainer.  What took you so long?"

"The parking lot at the San Diego Zoo has been converted into a showcase for solar energy technology.

Unveiled on Tuesday, an overhead canopy of solar panels allows zoo visitors to charge five electric vehicles at a time. Cantilevering out across 50 parking spots, the tree-like installation also stores electricity overnight in highly efficient lithium-polimer batteries and can feed power to the local San Diego grid on demand."

North County Times

Solar Power | Not All Roofs Are Equal

Southern-facing surfaces are prime in
the northern hemisphere.  

The Five Basics:

• Orientation
• Age
• Space
• Obstructions
• Shade

GetSolar.com

The Few and The Proud Go Solar

"The United States Marines are already using solar panels to reduce their reliance on fuel generators, but by 2025, the few and proud hope eliminate the diesel-chugging monstrosities entirely. The Office of Naval Research has announced new partnerships with Raytheon, Battelle and Emcore to develop a transportable hybrid system that would leverage solar energy, heat and biofuel to power a Marine outpost for up to 15 days. Not only would these systems run much quieter, but they'd also reduce the need for fuel supply convoys, which are prime targets for attack in battle settings."

engadget

More Warehouses Switch to Solar

Your Local Walmart

"Just about any property is the United States would benefit from a solar energy installation, and that is especially true for warehouses considering how much energy an average facility uses. According to the utility company Madison Gas and Electric, the average U.S. warehouse requires approximately 7.6 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually to run, with energy costs typically responsible for about 15 percent of a warehouse's yearly budget. To reduce yearly electricity bills, warehouse operators across the country have adopted photovoltaic modules to power their facilities."

GetSolar.com

Solar Energy | Servicing Rural Communities in Haiti

"The program entailed the installation of solar electric systems at 20 schools, a fish farm and a drip irrigation system supporting agricultural production throughout Haiti’s Central Plateau region, through collaboration with the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), a nonprofit organization.

This project helps to improve the quality of education for more than 6,000 Haitian students by providing the electricity needed to power lights, communication systems, laptop computers and other school equipment in a remote area of the country."

Haiti Libre

OPEC'S Worst Nightmare: The Sun Plus Modern Technology

Dependence 

Independence

       
     


"Qatar aims to raise the share of solar power in electricity generation to 16 percent by 2018, an official said on Saturday in a rare example of an OPEC nation embracing renewable energy.

Qatar, the world's top exporter of liquefied natural gas, has the world's highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions. Like other OPEC nations, it has been wary of a global shift to renewable energy, fearing it will hit demand for oil and gas."

FC Note: The fast-rising adaptation of solar energy as highlighted throughout this blog is the game-changer that will help to relieve all consumers of a dependent, 100-year-old way of supplying energy, maintained by what is now outdated, inefficient technology. 

Reuters

Solar LA - 1.5 Mil Rooftops Doubling as Generators of Clean Energy

The Perfect Marriage: Environmental Plus Financial Conservation

"Close to 1.5 million rooftops throughout Los Angeles County could potentially be doubled as renewable energy generators. That's according to a report released last week by UCLA's Luskin Center for Innovation. The Los Angeles Solar Atlas contains over 40 maps breaking down potential solar density in cities, utility jurisdictions and political areas like the 15 L.A. city council districts. All told, there is enough plausible rooftop space, mostly on single family homes, to spawn over 19,000 megawatts."

KCET - Solar Focus

Strange Solar Bedfellows -- Why?

"Once billed as the odd couple when it came to energy policy, Ted Turner and a subsidiary of Southern Co. have been making headlines by investing in large solar projects over the past few years.

In this case, the anomaly is not that Turner, a longtime environmentalist and philanthropist, and Southern, owner of the nation’s three largest greenhouse gas-contributing coal plants, are working together. It’s that all but one of these solar projects are in the Southwest, far away from Georgia and the Southeast where Atlanta-based Southern’s utilities operate.

This means Georgians won’t benefit directly from Southern’s investments in solar, a non-polluting source of electricity that is fast becoming cost-competitive with traditional sources of fuel such as coal and natural gas. Southern-owned Georgia Power has slowly shifted away from using coal to provide electricity, but environmentalists say the use of cleaner, renewable sources of fuel such as solar remain a long way off in this state because of legislative and regulatory boundaries."

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Funneling Solar Energy

"The concept is a simple one, borrowing from some very elementary principles. For instance, everyone knows the best way to capture and contain the most of an element or substance is with a funnel.  These cones make it easier to put oil in our cars or fill small glass shakers from a larger bag of sugar.

Now, some MIT engineers have worked out a computational model which shows how solar energy can be more or less funneled before it’s captured, ensuring an efficient and effective solar energy capturing mechanism."

Red Orbit

Larry Hagman - Real Life Trumps Fiction

"Larry Hagman may have played television’s most famous evil oil baron, J.R. Ewing, but in real life the “Dallas” actor was a fierce proponent of solar energy.

The actor had already installed the world’s largest residential solar array, a 94-kilowatt system, on his estate in Ojai, Calif., and served on the board of the Solar Electric Light Fund, a non-profit that brings solar systems to the developing world.

He struck a deal with German solar manufacturer SolarWorld to shoot the commercial in exchange for a donation of photovoltaic panels to the Haiti relief effort following the devastating 2010 earthquake.

'The thing is, these solar panels are manufactured domestically and can provide a lot of jobs for soldiers returning from all those wars we have fought.'"

Forbes

The Land of the Rising Sun Goes Solar

"According to a new report from the Japan Photovoltaic Energy Association, domestic shipments of solar cells and modules have risen by 80% in the July-September quarter of this year. This is on the heels of the Japanese government enacting an ambitious solar energy incentive initiative, a feed-in tariff (known as net energy metering in California) that aims to help support the adoption of solar energy throughout the country.

The feed-in tariff was introduced in the wake of the Fukushima disaster of 2011, when a powerful earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear crisis in Northern Japan. After the disaster, the government made moves to abandon nuclear power. While moving away from nuclear energy has proven to be a slow and laborious process, the country has been keen to aggressively replace nuclear with other forms of alternative energy that are considered safer. Solar energy has, thus far, become one of the country’s most favored forms of alternative energy for this purpose."

Energy Tribune

Solar Innovation in Arizona

Concentrating Solar Power Technology with Storage

"The technology generates power from sunlight by focusing energy from a field of sun-tracking mirrors called heliostats onto a central receiver. Liquid salt, which flows similar to water when melted, is circulated through the receiver, collecting the energy gathered from the sun. The heated salt is then routed to an insulated storage tank where it is stored with minimal energy losses. When electricity is to be generated, the hot salt is routed to heat exchangers to produce steam used to generate electricity in a conventional steam turbine cycle. The salt is then sent to the cold salt storage tank, ready to be reheated by the sun and reused the following day. The salt storage technology was demonstrated successfully at the U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored 10-MW Solar Two project near Barstow, California.

The Crossroads Solar Energy Project will:

• Help meet growing demand for clean, renewable energy sources.
• Incorporate energy storage, which provides operating stability for the electricity grid and a cost effective way to meet Arizona’s peak electricity demand profile.
• Deliver up to 150 MW net nominal output, producing approximately 450,000 MWh annually.
• Boost the local economy by creating up to 450 construction jobs at peak and about 45 permanent operating jobs, and also significant property tax revenues that will benefit the local community and region"

Crossroads Solar Energy

California's Current Power Mix

FC Note:

Electricity diminishes as it travels thus it is notably expensive that California currently imports from out of state as much as 29% of what it needs to keep the lights on for a population of over 37 million.

Califorina ISO

Google Green

Greening our power

Currently, very little of the world's power is from renewables like wind and solar.  We're working on changing that by buying electricity directly from wind farms near our data centers.  We get clean energy at competitive prices, the wind farm owners get the money they need to finance new clean energy facilities and together we make the grid a little bit greener.

The Big Picture - Google

Solar Leaders Pull Away From The Pack

"As system installed costs become competitive with retail electricity rates and new markets develop, these companies may be well positioned for more sustainable and profitable growth.  As we watch this industry evolve, we believe the PV Sustainable Growth Index will continue to shed light not only on the most successful players, but on the fundamental changes that emanate within this maturing market."

Forbes

2012 PV Sustainable Growth Index 

Rank	Name	Country	Score	2011 Rank	2011-2012 Change
1	First Solar	US	56.5	2	Up 1
2	Trina Solar	CN	61.5	1	Down 1
3	Trony Solar	CN	72.0	New
4	JinkoSolar	CN	74.5	10	Up 6
5	Yingli Green Energy	CN	79.0	6	Up 1
6	Canadian Solar	CN	82.5	15	Up 9
7	Suntech	CN	88.5	12	Up 5
8	JA Solar	CN	89.0	5	Down 3
9	REC ASA	NO	96.5	9	Same
10	ReneSola	CN	100.5	2	Down 8
11	SunPower	US	107.5	14	Up 3
12	Hanwha SolarOne	CN	120.0	13	Up 1
13	Neo Solar Power	TW	126.5	11	Down 2
14	SolarWorld AG	DE	127.5	17	Up 3
15	Motech Industries	TW	129.0	8	Down 7
16	Risen Energy	CN	132.5	New
17	LDK Solar	CN	133.0	2	Down 15
18	Green Energy Tech	TW	141.0	19	Up 1
19	aleo solar AG	DE	142.0	16	Down 3
20	Gintech Energy	TW	150.0	7	Down 13
21	Centrosolar AG	DE	158.5	22	Up 1
22	Conergy AG	DE	160.5	22	Same
23	China Sunergy	CN	164.0	18	Down 5
24	Delsolar	TW	183.0	21	Down 3
25	E-Ton Solar Tech	TW	187.0	24	Down 1