A ray of sunshine for solar energy

A new solar-cell system could one day make power from the sun as cheap as electricity from fossil fuels.

TYLER HAMILTON | ENERGY REPORTER

Nov 10, 2008 04:30 AM

RICK EGLINTON/TORONTO STAR

Morgan Solar founder Jean Paul Morgan, left, with his brother Nicolas, developed a lower-cost solar panel to bring cheap electricity to developing nations. (Nov. 4, 2008)

John Paul Morgan was a cutting-edge engineer at JDS Uniphase Corp., back when the optical telecom giant was a market titan and solar power was still perceived by many as a backwoods technology for off-grid tree huggers.

Seven years later, the high-tech whiz kid has become a solar hotshot. Morgan has developed a new type of solar panel that, like many other systems on the market, concentrates the sun's rays on to high-efficiency solar cells. The big difference is the simplicity of his design and the lower-cost materials used to build it could soon make power from the sun as affordable as electricity from fossil fuels.

All he has to do now is prove it. "We have to show this technology is bankable," he says.

Morgan's path from telecom to solar panels wasn't a straight line. A graduate of engineering science from the University of Toronto, he joined JDS in 2001 while in his mid-20s. Within three days at JDS he impressed higher-ups with his first invention and within three months broke the company record for most inventions in a year.

But the telecom market crashed and Morgan grew bored. As his older brother, Nicolas Morgan, explains, "developing products to make the Internet faster didn't inspire him." He quit JDS in 2003, and travelled a year through South America, Australia and Asia before heading back to UofT to get his graduate degree in electrical and biomedical engineering.

Read the entire story here.

(via. Toronto Star)

Tax credits to help solar, wind projects

Tax credits to help solar, wind projects

by Ryan Randazzo - Oct. 4, 2008 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

Arizona's biggest solar-power plant, its first wind-power plant and countless other renewable-energy projects can move ahead after Friday's House endorsement of a huge bailout package.

Tacked on to the relief bill were 30 percent tax-credit extensions for wind and solar that bounced around Congress for the past year, leaving many projects in doubt, from household solar panels to 300-foot-tall wind turbines.

The credits also will benefit homeowners who install solar panels to power their houses, substantially reducing the price of such systems, which typically run in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Among the top projects in Arizona to benefit from the extensions is the Solana Generating Station, a huge solar-power plant near Gila Bend from which Arizona Public Service Co. hopes to purchase electricity starting in 2011.

The plant developer, Abengoa Solar Inc. of Spain, said the project would not be economical without the credits.

"No question this is significant and positive," APS spokesman Jim McDonald said. "We were confident it would pass sometime this year."

Solar credits were extended eight years, while wind credits got only a one-year extension.

Wind-power proponents balanced their praise for the credits Friday with an eye toward winning a longer extension.

"We are very pleased that Congress extended the production tax credit for wind, enabling our industry to continue our rapid growth and U.S. job creation," Steven Lockard, president and CEO of wind-turbine blade maker TPI Composites Inc. in Scottsdale, said in a prepared statement.

"In 2009, we hope the focus turns to providing long-term stable policy to support continued expansion of wind energy."

Many wind projects require a year or more of monitoring to ensure the most-efficient turbines are installed at the proper height to generate the most electricity, so the wind extension benefits only projects that are near breaking ground.

Arizona is scheduled to get its first commercial wind project near Snowflake before 2010, with the entire electrical output of the farm contracted to Salt River Project.

"It's possible, had the tax credit not been extended, that the plant wouldn't have happened," SRP spokesman Scott Harelson said. "We had a contract for a product at a price that assumed the tax credit. (The developer) could have gone forward, but would have needed to find a customer, it might have been SRP, who would pay a higher price for that electricity."

Homeowners who install solar panels will benefit substantially from the credits.

For example, a medium-size system might retail for more than $42,000. But rebates from local utilities and a state tax credit can cover about $20,000 of that cost, according to American Solar Electric Inc. in Scottsdale.

The remaining $22,000 still represents a significant investment, more than what many homeowners spend on a car.

But the 30 percent tax credits are worth almost $13,000 on such a system, knocking the out-of-pocket price below $10,000, according to the company's figures.

Those credits are even sweeter after the extension because they previously were capped at $2,000.

"(The tax credit) creates an unprecedented opportunity to own a residential solar-electric power system," American Solar Electric President Sean Seitz said.

(Via. AZcentral.com)

Toronto makes a big splash with solar energy

July 6, 2008
posted by Alexandre Malkhassiants Canada News Wire post release

The City of Toronto officially launched the heating of four indoor pools using solar energy. The solar pool heatingsystems are the largest municipally-owned installations in Canada, and areheating pools at three of the City's recreation centres.

At 312 metres squared (m2), the Jimmie Simpson Recreation Centre solarpool heating system is the largest in Canada (there are two pools at thislocation, each is serviced by its own system; the smaller solar system is 94m2). Scarborough Centennial Recreation Centre's solar heating system is 250 m2and the installation at the Agincourt Recreation Centre, where the day's eventwas held, is 241 m2.

"The City of Toronto has committed to very aggressive goals through theClimate Change, Clean Air and Sustainable Energy Plan, projects like this willpush us even closer to meeting them," noted Councillor Paula Fletcher, Chairof the Parks and Environment Committee. "These installations alone reduce CO2emissions by 103 tonnes. The plan is that all City-owned pools will be heatedusing solar energy, and I would like to see all privately-owned poolsfollowing suit." "This is a wonderful start to making Toronto a solar city," saidCouncillor Chin Lee, Director of Toronto Atmospheric Fund who helped financethe early pilot installations. "It helps show that solar energy is a viablelocal option."

"Swimming is one of the most popular recreational activities for childrenand families. Now they can also learn about and contribute to a sustainablefuture at their local swimming pool with the energy retrofit of our pools,arenas and recreation centres," commented Brenda Librecz, General Manager,Parks, Forestry and Recreation.

The costs of the solar heating systems installations were covered by theCity's Energy Retrofit Program, the Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF) and NaturalResources Canada (NRCan). TAF funding for these projects totalled $52,786,while the NRCan funding was $26,031.

The City's Energy Retrofit Program undertakes retrofit projects inCity-owned facilities to reduce their energy and water consumption. Since2004, more than 200 City-owned buildings have been upgraded through the EnergyRetrofit Program.

"Facilities and Real Estate is always looking for innovative ways toimprove our facilities, make them greener while saving the City operatingcosts. The Energy Retrofit Program allows us to do just that," explained JodieParmar, Director, Business and Strategic Innovation, Facilities and RealEstate. "At a time of budget constraints, the Energy Retrofit Program allowsus to invest in our aging, sometimes inefficient facilities, and make themoperate more efficiently."

Other projects completed as part of the Energy Retrofit Program include:the City Arenas, Civic Centres, Fire Halls, and a number of buildings atExhibition Place. Currently City staff are working on energy retrofit projectsfor Police Division buildings, Transfer Stations and Community Centres.

Toronto is Canada's largest city and sixth largest government, and hometo a diverse population of about 2.6 million people. It is the economic engineof Canada and one of the greenest and most creative cities in North America.In the past three years, Toronto has won more than 50 awards for quality andinnovation in delivering public services. Toronto's government is dedicated toprosperity, opportunity and liveability for all its residents.

For more information about Toronto and area go here - http://www.torontogreathomes.com/GTA_HOMES/page_282601.html

REC Solar Partners with MySpace to Recharge the Democratic National Convention

Collaboration between innovative energy integrator and social networking giant seeks to raise awareness about solar power initiatives.

/24-7PressRelease/ - DENVER, CO, August 29, 2008

REC Solar (www.recsolar.com), an industry-leading provider of residential and commercial solar electric systems, has teamed up with MySpace.com (www.myspace.com) to acquaint Democratic convention participants with solar energy through a solar-powered recharging station fueled entirely by the sun. Home to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Denver, Colorado proudly boasts over 300 days of sunshine per year.

Free to the public, MySpace's Solar Recharging Stations, powered by REC Solar, will allow passersby to charge their iPods, cell phones, laptops and other gadgets using solar power. While waiting for their respective technologies to recharge, kiosk visitors are encouraged to learn about solar energy, mingle with other alternative power enthusiasts and enter to win one of many REC Solar giveaways.

"We are excited to be working with REC Solar in providing clean energy during the convention," said Lee Brenner, Director of IMPACT and Executive Producer of Political Programming at MySpace.

Throughout the duration of the Democratic National Convention, the REC Solar-powered recharging portal is expected to provide over 1,000 watts of alternative energy to Denver patrons. The solar-powered recharging station will be conveniently located at the following intersection along downtown Denver's commercial hub, the 16th Street Mall: • Arapahoe Street and 16th Street, near the D&F clock tower and ESPN Zone.

"REC Solar's vision is to make solar electricity part of the mainstream energy supply. To make that shift in paradigm a reality, we recognize that we must reach out to the next generation of energy consumers in their preferred online medium," said Angiolo Laviziano, President and CEO of REC Solar. "With the assistance of MySpace, the Solar Recharging Stations are designed to not only raise awareness of alternative energy sources that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on fossil fuels, but also to encourage a sense of community, both online and offline." According to the California Solar Initiative (CSI), for the past two years REC Solar has installed more solar electric systems in the United States than any other company. With several million watts of solar installed, REC serves Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, New Jersey, and Oregon residents and business owners. Founded in 1997, the company specializes in grid-tied solar electric design and installation, offering affordable solar solutions for all residential and commercial customers. REC Solar is committed to lowering the cost of solar power through efficient processes, innovative products, and outstanding customer service.

The MySpace Solar Recharging Station will be manned with representatives from both MySpace and REC Solar between the hours of 10am and 4pm from Monday, August 25th through Thursday, August 28th. For more information about REC Solar, please visit http://www.recsolar.com or call 1-888-OK-SOLAR (888-657-6527).


_________________________________________________________________________
About REC Solar, Inc.
REC Solar, Inc. is an industry-leading solar solutions provider specializing in grid-tied residential and commercial installations. With a local presence in all major solar markets in the United States and with millions of watts installed, REC Solar is committed to lowering the cost of solar power through efficient processes, innovative products, and outstanding customer service. REC Solar is among the nation's largest solar integrators and currently operates offices throughout 5 states (CA, CO, HI, OR and NJ). For additional information on REC Solar visit http://www.recsolar.com or call 1-888-OK-SOLAR (888-657-6527).

About MySpace.com
MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular culture, and making a positive impact on the world. MySpace has created a connected global community by integrating web profiles, blogs, instant messaging, e-mail, music streaming, music videos, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups, college communities, and member forums. MySpace's international network includes more than 29 localized community sites in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Latin America, Mexico, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, India, Japan, and New Zealand. Fox Interactive Media is a division of News Corp. (NYSE:NWS)

(via. 24-7 pressrelease.com)

Cooking with solar energy can save money

By JAMES DULLEY • August 31, 2008

Sun Ovens International
The Sun Oven opens up with hinged reflectors to increase the solar cooking heat.

Much of the world uses solar cooking to prepare most of their foods. On a clear day, the heat from the sun can easily create enough cooking energy to steam vegetables, rice, etc. and even bake cakes, potatoes and roast meats.
It is not difficult to build an efficient solar oven from just scrap boxes, paper and aluminum foil. Also, ready-to-use high-quality solar ovens are available. You take them out of the box and you can start immediately.
Cooking with free solar heat saves energy, but it also lowers your electric bills in another way. By not cooking indoors and adding extra heat and humidity to the room, your electric costs for air-conditioning are lower. A solar oven manufacturer told me a woman reduced her electric bills by $40 per month by cooking with solar.
I have used a Tulsi-Hybrid solar oven for the past three years, and it works great. I just unlatch the top and tilt it up. It has a mirror on the other side to reflect more of the sun's heat into the oven. A double-pane glass top over the black insulated oven chamber traps the heated air inside similar to a greenhouse.
This is a hybrid model with electric backup heat for cloudy days. It comes with four stainless steel covered cooking pans with special black solar-absorbing painted tops and bottoms. It generally takes about 90 minutes to steam brown rice as compared with 60 minutes on the stovetop.
Most of the complete ready-to-use solar ovens are designed to collapse into an easy-to-handle unit. This makes them ideal for camping or storage. Extra reflector sides can be attached when they are open to provide additional solar heat. This is handy for emergencies if you have to rapidly boil and sterilize drinking water.
If you would like to build your own solar oven with your children, there are many plans available online. One of the simplest designs uses a large and a small cardboard box. Put the small box in the large one.
For insulation, fill the gap between the boxes with crumpled newspaper. Cover it with a clear plastic top and face it directly toward the sun. For more heat, wrap aluminum foil over stiff cardboard and position it to reflect more heat into the box. Put a cooking thermometer inside the oven to monitor how hot it is getting.

(via. freep.com)

Saving Electricity And Saving Money

Electrical Engineers Create Money-saving Light System
By Science Daily

A photosensor paired with a dimming ballast controls fluorescent lighting and adjusts lights all over the user's home. A microcontroller automatically calibrates amounts of daylight and adjusts electrical light accordingly.

Lighting an office building can cost a lot of money, and sometimes those lights are left on even when natural sunlight is pouring through the windows. Now, an easy solution, called DaySwitch, makes the most of those sunny days at work and soon, at home.
"Lighting has a big impact on our lives but we pay the price because it uses a lot of electricity," says Andrew Bierman, M.S., a lighting research scientist from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. Lighting makes up 25 percent of energy consumed by businesses. However, businesses could soon lower their electric bills.
Bierman developed the DaySwitch; it uses natural light to conserve electricity. "DaySwitch is an automatic device that will simply shut the lights off when there is plenty of daylight available," he explains. The DaySwitch is a tiny sensor that measures sunlight in an area and then it sends a signal to turn lights on or off as needed.
Bierman told DBIS about the inspiration behind the invention. He says, "You don't have to have the electric lights on when they are really not providing any more useful light than you already have with daylight."
Unlike typical lighting controls, the DaySwitch is easy to install and costs less than $25 per system. After it's installed, an easy-to-use remote control can reset the sensor to your desired level, so there is no need to call expensive electricians. When natural sunlight brightens the space, the lights go off, which cuts the lighting needs of a building in half, therefore saving on energy costs.
DaySwitch could be available for homes within a year.
The Optical Society of contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.
show background -->
BACKGROUND: Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lighting Research Center have developed a simple, cost-effective, energy-saving device designed to harvest daylight automatically. Unlike traditional systems where one sensor controls many lamps at once, the Dayswitch controls light fixtures individually, providing flexibility for on/off control and simple installation.
ABOUT DAYSWITCH: The Dayswitch eliminates wasted or unwanted electric light by sensing when enough daylight is available to take the place of electric light, and then responds by turning off the fixture. When daylight decreases, the device turns the light back on. A built-in microcontroller automatically calibrates the Dayswitch, allowing for easy installation and maintenance. Although it's made for office buildings with large sunlit spaces -- such as at the concourse of a mall -- the Dayswitch system can be installed anywhere, including private homes. It can even be more energy-efficient in homes, since most homes use incandescent lamps, which require more energy than fluorescent lamps.
LET THERE BE LIGHT: Typical daylight harvesting systems include a photosensor paired with a dimming ballast -- a device that regulates the electricity supplied to a lamp -- to control fluorescent lighting, dimming or brightening the lights according to the amount of daylight entering the workspace. However, full-dimming ballasts are expensive, and photosensors are difficult to program and install. Dayswitch works with all conventional fluorescent ballasts, and has simple circuitry and on/off operation, making it less expensive than similar daylight control systems.
SENSORY FEEDBACK: A sensor is a type of transducer: an electronic device that converts energy from one form to another. For instance, microphones convert sound waves into electrical signals, while speakers receive the electrical signals and convert them back into sound waves. There are many different kinds of sensors, but most are electrical or electronic. A photosensor is an electronic component that detects the presence of various wavelengths of light: visible, infrared, or ultraviolet for example. The electrical conductance will change in response to the intensity of the light being detected, and this change is recorded by a computer.

(via. Science Daily)

Converting Sunlight To Cheaper Energy

Converting Sunlight To Cheaper Energy
ScienceDaily (Aug. 25, 2008)

Scientists are working to convert sunlight to cheap electricity at South Dakota State University. Research scientists are working with new materials that can make devices used for converting sunlight to electricity cheaper and more efficient.

Assistant professor Qiquan Qiao in SDSU’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science said so-called organic photovoltaics, or OPVs, are less expensive to produce than traditional devices for harvesting solar energy.
Qiao and his SDSU colleagues also are working on organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs.
The new technology is sometimes referred to as “molecular electronics” or “organic electronics” — organic because it relies on carbon-based polymers and molecules as semiconductors rather than inorganic semiconductors such as silicon.
“Right now the challenge for photovoltaics is to make the technology less expensive,” Qiao said.
“Therefore, the objective is find new materials and novel device structures for cost-effective photovoltaic devices.
“The beauty of organic photovoltaics and organic LEDs is low cost and flexibility,” the researcher continued. “These devices can be fabricated by inexpensive, solution-based processing techniques similar to painting or printing."
“The ease of production brings costs down, while the mechanical flexibility of the materials opens up a wide range of applications,” Qiao concluded.
Organic photovoltaics and organic LEDs are made up of thin films of semiconducting organic compounds that can absorb photons of solar energy. Typically an organic polymer, or a long, flexible chain of carbon-based material, is used as a substrate on which semiconducting materials are applied as a solution using a technique similar to inkjet printing.
“The research at SDSU is focused on new materials with variable band gaps,” Qiao said.
“The band gap determines how much solar energy the photovoltaic device can absorb and convert into electricity.”
Qiao explained that visible sunlight contains only about 50 percent of the total solar energy. That means the sun is giving off just as much non-visible energy as visible energy.
“We’re working on synthesizing novel polymers with variable band gaps, including high, medium and low-band gap varieties, to absorb the full spectrum of sunlight. By this we can double the light harvesting or absorption,” Qiao said.
SDSU’s scientists plan to use the variable band gap polymers to build multi-junction polymer solar cells or photovoltaics.
These devices use multiple layers of polymer/fullerene films that are tuned to absorb different spectral regions of solar energy.
Ideally, photons that are not absorbed by the first film layer pass through to be absorbed by the following layers.
The devices can harvest photons from ultraviolet to visible to infrared in order to efficiently convert the full spectrum of solar energy to electricity.
SDSU scientists also work with organic light-emitting diodes focusing on developing novel materials and devices for full color displays.
“We are working to develop these new light-emitting and efficient, charge-transporting materials to improve the light-emitting efficiency of full color displays,” Qiao said.
Currently, LED technology is used mainly for signage displays. But in the future, as OLEDs become less expensive and more efficient, they may be used for residential lighting, for example.
The new technology will make it easy to insert lights into walls or ceilings. But instead of light bulbs, the lighting apparatus of the future may look more like a poster, Qiao said.
Qiao and his colleagues are funded in part by SDSU’s electrical engineering Ph.D. program and by National Science Foundation and South Dakota EPSCoR, the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research.
In addition Qiao is one of about 40 faculty members from SDSU, the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and the University of South Dakota who have come together to form Photo Active Nanoscale Systems (PANS).
The primary purpose is developing photovoltaics, or devices that will directly convert light to electricity.


(via. Science Daily)

Solar for Home

Here is why you should start thinking about Solar:

Starting Investment of Solar Panels for Home Use
by Solar Panel World

Residential solar panel systems admittedly have beginning costs that are much higher than when power for everyday use originates from the local utilities or gas. This seemingly less expense brought about by the latter makes most home owners and builders decide on siding on the conventional power source.Still, it should be clearly explained that the solar panels for home use of today are not competitive with regards to costs and expenses. Right now, most solar power proponents not only fight for the home solar panels because of their environmental benefits, but it can likewise be an economical reason.





As years go by, conventional fuel as well as electricity is becoming more expensive; this makes solar panel systems more advantageous. And not only the solar panels for home use are cost-effective but solar water heaters likewise offer great savings for the users. It is shown that the water heaters’ expenses and costs are at least 50 percent lower than the electric heaters.Besides the possible savings, there are likewise local and state financial incentives as well as tax credits which will sharply decrease the cost in the end. Solar panel systems indeed are the best alternative when comes to finding ways to replace the conventional power source.