May 2008 Archives
Currently most solar cells only create about 15% energy efficiency in output and are thus a relatively expensive option for power production. Low efficiency creates the need for more solar panels to fully power a home or business. This inefficiency in energy conversion is compounded by the rising costs of silicon and the expense of shipping heavy glass and metal. Large solar "farms" or "arrays" could be created to reduce the shipping costs but electricity is lost as it travels over long distances, so the best solution is a distributed network of solar power stations or home mounted panels, but this leads us back to the shipping cost problem. Breakthroughs in production by companies like Nanosolar certainly help in terms of shipping and production costs (they print solar ink onto thin lightweight metal sheets), but through the application of the avalanche effect, energy efficiency of solar panels could rise to a level of 44%!
This jump in efficiency alone is enough to make solar affordable for the masses, even with the old heavy technology, but when combined with thin film technology it could create an even more rapid transition to worldwide solar use. The avalanche effect was first measured in 2004 but had been doubted and unproven until recently when Prof. Laurens Siebbele demonstrated that it can occur in lead selenide (PbSe) nanocrystals. More details regarding Professor Laurens and the Avalanche Effect can be found at the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter website. We've posted a picture of the process from the FOM website below for all you solar engineering geeks:
Here at Solar Power Authority we keep our eyes out for all sorts of environmental news and recently we had the chance to meet up with a young entrepreneur in the Bay Area to learn about a new online service that connects people who are interested in solar, wind, biomass, and all sorts of other green interests.
The company is called Envirovents and it's mission is to spread the word about green events nation wide for the common good of our planet and our people. Their platform aggregates environmentally related events and integrates elements of social networking and a unique calendaring system.
In many ways the concept of Envirovents is an old idea that is being given new life, similar to the rise and fall of solar power in the 80's and the new flurry of interest it has received in recent years. Envirovents will enable people and organizations to organize and spread their green events from one central location. The concept was derived from a need by the environmental community to centralize efforts, a need that founder Justin Link saw first hand when he worked for the Green Building Exchange (GBE) before striking out on his own. His unique platform allows people and organizations to submit their green event to a single location, which in turn is automatically deployed across the Internet through widgets, rss feeds, scripts, and applications.
When we spoke to Justin about why he started the company and how he came up with the idea he told us that he believes “the best way to learn about a subject, is to immerse yourself within it. What better way to do that than meet industry leaders at locally held events, concentrating on specialized topics.” The hope of Envirovents is to have every environmental organization spend less time inputing, approving, and finding events and more time creating environmentally friendly products to change our world for the better.
From the end user perspective the tools that Envirovents offers will allow individuals to seek green events in one location or from their favorite organization's website where widgets are being used. Envirovents allows organizations free access to posted events and even syndication services that can be deployed to their own websites! Along with the calendar, there are features that help users stay up-to-date with events through social networking, feeds, email, and phone. Users can also specify the categories and locations of their interests with mapping tools.
Beyond the general calendar, a blog is used to record announce, summarize, and record events. The blog includes photos, video, interviews, and journalism about events in order to educate those who might have missed out and not been able to attend. Envirovents offers all of these services free of charge for event planners who want video, photography, a website, or publicity for their event.
In addition to what has already been launched, Envirovents is
creating a network of freelance consultants who provide video, photography, event planning, and web design services, to provide resources for event planners as well as support freelancers. You can see some of their jobs on our Green Jobs Board today and spread the word to help get them started.
To see a full walk through of Envirovents, check out the video below or visit their homepage and explore some of the events! www.envirovents.com
Envirovents Walkthrough Video Overview
You can also subscribe to the RSS feed of this calendar of solar related events to get updates as we add more to the calendar as mentioned above. We welcome all kinds of contributions including solar conferences and trade shows, community gatherings, solar clubs, and government groups that relate to solar power such as a solar task force.
Note: Some of the events on these calendars may reference outside sources including www.envirovents.com and www.solarelectricpower.org.
Whoever killed the electric car forgot to chop down the solar tree... thank goodness :)
Benefits of Solar Energy Car Ports
These carports save energy in two ways, they keep cars cooler, thereby needing less air conditioning in the middle of the day and the feed the energy grid for local needs. Secondarily, they have great potential as a renewable energy source for buildings where people work during the day (where the most electricity is used). You can bet that more of these types of car ports will be popping up around the state of California and in other states as well.
Energy analysts have started counting the different parking lots where these solar energy carports could be installed. Some estimates say there are as much as 5 billion acres in parking lots available. Imagine the possibilities, if we equipped all of that with solar energy panels!
The Advantages
Many have suggested we put solar energy panels throughout the desert, but the advantage of using parking lots is that there are buildings nearby that use electricity. There are also nearby transformers to handle excess energy. In contrast, desert arrays of solar panels have to send the electricity long distances which causes a lot of loss and the need for infrastructure (wires, poles, etc.) to send it. The only real benefit of installing arrays in the desert is that the land is cheap... But honestly, parking lot land is usually already owned and in many cases mandated in size by local government organizations.
The Cost
While it’s true that installing solar trees requires an up front out of pocket expense, there are definitely long term benefits and opportunities for them to pay for themselves. In one example businessman Heinz Selig spent close to $250,000 to add a six vehicle carport which was equipped with solar power. In this case the federal government offered him a 30% credit, and the state also offer him a discount, plus he signed a contract to buy the power his carport generated at .15 cents per kilowatt, and that comes to a substantial savings. According to Selig, if you owe taxes, “installing solar energy panels is a no brainer”.
Just below we've embedded a time lapse video of the Google solar carport construction process at Google headquarters "the Googleplex" in Mountain View California:
Solar Resources
State Programs
