Off-The-Grid | Solar-Powered Mansions

Melody Key Island, Summerland, FL

Forbes

Pizzeria Goes Solar | Utilities Second-Largest Cost After Labor

"The Pizza Oven, a longtime neighborhood pizzeria in Lockport, on Monday became the first private business in the city to win Planning Board approval for a major solar power project.

Owner John Rinaldo said 37 solar panels will be mounted next Monday on the just-replaced south side roof of his business at 54 Vine St.

Rinaldo said the $53,000 project, about $10,000 of which is being funded by a grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, will allow him to use solar power for up to 60 percent of his pizzeria’s electrical needs.

'My accountant says in six years, I’ll have a 14 percent return [on his $43,000 investment],' Rinaldo said. 'I don’t know why more people don’t do it. Utilities are your second-largest cost after labor.'”

The Buffalo News

Rooftop Solar | New York

Kawasaki Rail Car

"City officials will unveil a massive new solar-panel installation atop the downtown i.Park Hudson commercial complex Wednesday.

The $5 million rooftop installation is one of the largest in the state, featuring 3,700 solar panels covering a space the size of two football fields. It will generate up to 15 percent of the power for the office-and-industrial complex, where tenants include heavy electrical users like Kawasaki Rail Car, Inc."

lohud.com

Navy Completes Largest Solar Energy Project in Virginia

"The $21 million project was part of President Barack Obama's stimulus package. Obama and former President George W. Bush both signed executive orders for the Department of Defense to pursue alternative energy. One mandate calls for each base to be using renewable sources for 50 percent of its power by 2020."

WSLS 10

Why Cell Phones Are Driving Off-Grid Solar Revolution

"There are now over 6 billion cell phone subscriptions in the world and cell phone penetration in developing countries is over 80 percent. There are more cell phones out there in the world than there are toothbrushes!

However, there are 600 million people with cell phones that have no access to electricity. To charge cell phones, people often have to walk hours to charging stations where they can plug their phone into a car battery. While kerosene may be a very poor lighting source, it is a source of light. For cell phone charging, there is often no local option.

Simply put, charging cell phones is emerging as the the number one reason people with no electricity want solar energy."

Read more how creative entrepreneurs are making it happen @ GIGAOM

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