MakeHeat

While not heat related, this is a prime example of cutting down your energy bill one room at a time, and doing it without taking out a loan.

My Solar Power Set Up – Part 1 BASIC SYSTEM – DIY Cheap, Free Power.

-Ed. note:  What I believe would make a big difference would be a DIY system that you could plug into the grid. While a small system like this would not “spin your meter backward”, it would give you the best of both worlds: an inexpensive DIY system that would at least slow down your electric bill, and the convenience of not having to rewire your whole house.  Current regulations mandate that you have an electrician vet out your system, which means there’s a lot more research, phone calls to local authorities, etc. before you can just do a plug and play system.

A new company called Clarian has announced that it will have a plug ‘n’ play home solar kit ready by next spring. The “Sunfish” is essentially a sun visor that you can hang over a sunny, south-facing window.

The device uses the company’s 250 W micro-inverter to feed energy directly into your home through any standard outlet. You plug it into the wall, and in another convenient location you plug in a circuit monitor that uses software to sync the inverter to the monitor, reducing the amount of electricity you pull from the grid.

Forbes.com

Also, from grinzo.com:
“…Oh yeah — cost per unit of energy produced. A quick look at the Clarian web site finds this page with some specs on the panels involved. Said page says:

There will be two sizes of module, 200W and 1,000W.
Expected prices are $799 for the 200W unit…
“… The 200W unit produces 30kWh of energy per month, while the larger model is good for 150kWh/month.
The units will have a “payback in 3-4 years or less”. …”

Success greets the research team of National Research Council’s National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) and the University of Alberta. The plastic solar cells have now an operating life of 8 months instead of mere hours. And they are low-cost, environmentally efficient, unsealed plastic dollar cells – a green energy source. Developing economically viable plastic [...]
Posted in: Industry, PhotoVoltaics, Solar Power

The San Jose Credit Union has partnered with the San Jose Solar America City program to offer a program to city employees in which they can join together to negotiate betters costs for solar electric and solar thermal installations on their homes no matter where they live.

Via Renewable Energy News

“Ben Franklin’s saying, “Out of adversity comes opportunity” seems to characterize the energy sector in US Northeast. Electricity rates are among the nation’s highest. Population density leaves scant room for new power plants and transmission lines. And the region has little indigenous generation fuel.

So what’s the good news?

“This is why a very large and well spent push for energy efficiency and energy conservation has taken place in the Northeast,” says Ron Tabroff member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and former chairman of its Power & Energy Society, Boston Chapter. …”
via RenewableEnergyWorld

“… The SolarEdge distributed power harvesting PV system includes PowerBoxes which are power optimizers that are integrated into each and every solar module, and enable performance of each module at its own optimum at all times. PowerBoxes perform constant tracking of their respective module’s Maximum Power Point (MPP), so no module is dependent upon performance of neighboring modules. Unlike PV systems with a centralized inverter, in a SolarEdge system modules with low performance do not drag down the performance of other modules in the same string, and in fact have no effect on the performance of other modules. In addition, PowerBoxes maintain fixed string voltage, so that the inverter’s input voltage is always constant and equals the optimum inversion voltage. For this reason, the system can have strings that differ in length and other properties. …”

via http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2010/08/solaredge-makes-impossible-installations-possible?cmpid=rss

Used more for new construction, Building Integrated PhotoVolaics (BIPV) is slowly gaining ground.  Rather than poking a panel on a pole and sticking it in the dirt where there’s no shade, or racks of panels on the roof, BIPV integrates solar electric, energy efficient design and archetecture:

“…Whenever you approach an industry from a different perspective, that’s when you produce very interesting products, said JD Albert of SRS Energy.  SRS produces curved roofing tiles made of PV that are designed to fit into the mission-style architecture of the southwestern region of the U.S.  Curved red clay roof tiles there are modeled after the Mediterranean roof styles found in Spain and elsewhere. …”

BIPV Market Gaining Traction | Renewable Energy World.

Graphene organic photovoltaics: Flexible material only a few atoms thick may offer cheap solar power

If you could plug your windows into the grid AND get the infrared solar gain for either space or water heating, you’d have a win-win situation.

“…A critical aspect of any OPV photo-electronic device is a transparent conductive electrode through which light can couple with active materials to create electricity. The new work indicates that graphene, a highly conductive and highly transparent form of carbon made up of atoms-thick sheets of carbon atoms, has high potential to fill this role. …”

via Graphene organic photovoltaics: Flexible material only a few atoms thick may offer cheap solar power.

Photo: Flickr, CC

Part of the State’s 25% Renewables by 2025 Plan
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has signed two bills into law yesterday (House Bill 6202 and 5429)) that will mandate the state’s utility companies to buy more solar power and protect the right of homeowners to set up solar panels on their homes, provided “certain guidelines” are followed. Read on for more details….Read the full story on TreeHugger

Best Solar LED Lawn And Garden Lights

Since LEDs are an efficient light source and draw far less power than traditional bulbs, they are perfect for off-the-grid applications where solar cells charge a battery that powers the lamp. Large-scale applications of this concept include LED road lane markers, but smaller-scale projects like lighting your lawn or garden are perfect uses for them as well.

Keep in mind that most solar LED lights simply won’t be as blazingly bright as a wired halogen lamp, but they can be an efficient and convenient way to illuminate your outdoor spaces – especially in areas where you want to avoid the hassle or expense of wiring.

(more…)

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