Category: Photo-voltaics
Solar Photovoltaics in Small Model House
| May 19, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Photo-voltaics |
Tomorrow my daughter and I will spend the afternoon on a project for her science class at school: building a model house whose electrical power is delivered with solar photovoltaics. I have a small solar panel that (I believe) will put out about 5 Watts in the full sun, and a couple of flashlight batteries of different types. I think I’m going to have to experiment with series vs. parallel circuits, different bulbs, etc., before I get this right. Should be fun.
The Value of the NegaWatt
| May 16, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Photo-voltaics |
I had a lovely phone chat last evening with a young lady, a high school senior who was working on a paper for school and wanted to ask a few questions about solar energy. In particular, she wanted to know the cost of converting her entire town (Arcadia, CA — 56,000 people, let’s say 20,000 households) to 100% solar.
Understandably, she hadn’t thought through some of the implications. Read More
The Health of the Solar Photovoltaics Industry
| May 15, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Photo-voltaics |
Here’s a good article on the solar photovoltaics industry by consulting giant McKinsey and Company. Not to give anything away, but they share my belief that the PV industry is in a momentary lull, not a swan song. Best of all, they defend this belief in an extremely cogent and well-reasoned way. I hope you’ll check it out.
True Environmentalism Means Making Tough Choices
| May 9, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Photo-voltaics |
I just got an email from the Sierra Club, wanting me to get on board for a piece of environmentalism that goes like this:
This year, Assembly member Felipe Fuentes has a bill that would allow the Calico Solar Project, a solar project in California that will cover 4,613 acres—four times the size of the Golden Gate Park- within an area key to the survival of the desert tortoise- to bypass the environmental review process that almost all other projects are subject to.
I see no reason that anyone or anything should be exempt from the standard environmental review processes. Having said that, it’s always struck me as inflexible to refuse to make tough choices. Imagining 4,613 acres as all PV, we’d have about a gigawatt (after using a capacity factor of 0.2) , a replacement for a coal-fired power plant. I hate to sound insensitive, but considering the larger ecological and health-related issues of burning coal, I would think that the savings would justify exiling some desert tortoises.
From Guest Blogger Mary Alice Khatcherian: How to Utilize Green Energy In Your Life
| May 9, 2012 | Posted by MaryaliceKhatcherian772 under Photo-voltaics |
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When you are preparing to install a solar energy system, ensure that the power storing batteries are located nearby to the cells. This prevents power from getting lost in the cables. It also reduces shading of the solar shells. Shading reduces solar panel energy generation.
Replace any leaky windows with weather-sealed efficient ones. There are several benefits in using these windows, including a decrease in energy bills and less condensation on the windows. Read More
Where We’re Going In Clean Energy
| May 2, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Photo-voltaics |
Here’s an article that gets to a couple of important points that are illustrative of where we are and where we’re going in clean energy.
• Financing solar photovoltaics. There is no doubt that homeowners would be more likely to invest in solar if the PV on their roofs could be integrated in their mortgage, just like their plumbing, HVAC, or electrical system.
• Integrating electric vehicles. My friend Paul Scott has enough PV on his roof that his Nissan LEAF very rarely has to plug in to the grid; thus the carbon footprint of his transportation is limited to the manufacturing of the vehicle (and the PV) itself. Not bad! Obviously, he’s an early adopter, but this concept is likely to go mainstream over the coming years.
Using Photovoltaics to Rebuild Coral Reefs
| April 30, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Photo-voltaics |
Here’s an article on the creation of “biorock,” coral reefs that grow extra quickly when an electrical current, generated with photovoltaics on the ocean’s surface, is applied to steel girders on the seabed.
Proponents argue that the replacing of the huge number of reefs that have been damaged by pollution is an extremely important task. They note that more than a quarter of the world’s reefs have died in the past few decades and that at least another quarter will perish within the coming twenty years.
However, environmentalists are mixed on the idea. A reader from Costa Rica who wishes to develop an eco-friendly way to raise oysters writes: “scientists and ecologists here are too conservative and ambientalista (“environmentalist”) lobbyists are against it.”
Solar Energy and Shellfish Farming?
| April 26, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Photo-voltaics |
When I was much younger I recall telling a friend that if I had to live the rest of my life on exactly three foodstuffs, I would select oysters, mangoes, and beer. Of course, that was before I developed a love for renewable energy.
Where could I possibly be going with this?
Check this out: a project submitted by Chris Rene, a terrific contributor to what we’re doing at 2GreenEnergy, that combines solar energy and shellfish farming, using solar energy to grow oyster seed that will then sequester ocean CO2.
That’s a lot of goodness rolled into one. Onshore, just add a few mango trees and a microbrewery, and I think you’ve nailed it.
Seriously, if anyone’s interested in speaking with Chris, please let me know and I’ll arrange a conversation.
More info here:
www.condofish.com
http://hermosa-bay-oyster.yolasite.com/links.php
http://condofish.wordpress.com/about-2/committee-members/
http://condofish.wordpress.com/
Subsidizing Solar — Both Sides of the Coin
| April 19, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Photo-voltaics |
A reader from Savannah, GA and I spoke on the phone the other day and became fast friends. In response to my piece on subsidies for solar, he writes:
I keep going back and forth on this very difficult issue. On balance, I’m against photo-opp seeking politicians and their bureaucrats (pol-crats) picking winners and losers.
Still, the last decade’s big gush of subsidy bucks (grants, credits, feed-in-tariffs) may be cited as birthing a gold-rush style ramp-up of solar PV production that maybe would not have otherwise happened. Read More
Subsidies for Solar — Getting It Right
| April 12, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Photo-voltaics |
Here’s an interesting piece by super-blogger Marc Gunther, suggesting that subsidies for solar have been misapplied and have created weird market conditions. No argument from me there. Handing people money to do a certain thing is a guarantee that they’ll do exactly what you’ve asked them to do – and no more. Thus the imperative to be very sure you’ve been precise in that request. I’ll be the first to admit Read More
