Posts Tagged by Solar Thermal
A Few Basics on Solar Thermal
| March 23, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Solar Thermal |
Every chance I get, I bang the drum for solar thermal. When I’m asked where the energy industry will be in 50 years, I always point out that our dependence on fossil fuels is not sustainable, that the sun showers the Earth each day with 6000 times more energy than we can possibly use, and that solar thermal is by far the best way to take advantage of these facts.
Want to learn more? Here’s Katherine Hamnett’s website that provides a few basics on solar thermal; she most definitely gets it.
[The Vector] Sahara Could Export Electricity to Europe in 5 Years
| February 22, 2011 | Posted by Aedan-Kernan under Photo-voltaics |
DESERTEC, a $496 billion project to generate solar electricity in the Sahara Desert could be exporting electricity to Europe in five years, according to European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger, following a meeting with energy ministers from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, which will each house a portion of the project. Read More
[The Vector] $1.45 Billion in Financing for Abengoa Solar
| January 24, 2011 | Posted by Kathy-Heshelow under Solar Thermal |
Abengoa Solar announced recently that it has finalized $1.45 billion in financing to build the world’s largest parabolic trough concentrating solar power plant. Called Solana, the new project will be located about 70 miles southwest of Phoenix, Arizona. Abengoa signed a power purchase agreement with Arizona Public Service Co to. buy the energy produced by Solana for a 30 year term. Arizona Public Service Co is Arizona’s largest electric utility.
About 1,700 new construction jobs are being created with the project, and more than 85 are permanent jobs. Read More
Electric Power Transmission — Technology in Flux
| January 20, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
We hear a great deal about partisan bickering in Washington, but according to a webinar I attended this morning on power transmission, the governors of each state on the eastern seaboard of the US from Maine to Virginia are all in complete accord on the imperative to develop offshore wind. “There are a couple of extremely conservative Republicans in that mix,” one speaker noted. “But let me tell you, if I showed you each governor’s statement on this subject and removed the names, I would challenge you to tell me who made which statement.”
That’s encouraging.
So is the raw potential to share power across what are now regional grids. Read More
Guest Post from Wayne Mackey: A Case for Solar Photovoltaics Today
| January 17, 2011 | Posted by Wayne-Mackey under Photo-voltaics |
Systems can last for 40 or more years. By going solar, you can lock in your current and future energy costs in at today’s lower rates.
The first crude modern solar photovoltaic Solar cells were created in the Bell Telephone Labs in 1952 – 1954 by Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and Gerald Pearson. They were trying to find a way to power telephones in remote areas of the country. They were able to produce a solar cell that was 6% efficient at converting sunlight into electrical energy.
Solar energy is not diminished by harvesting, unlike fossil fuels. The amount of energy we capture today in no way diminishes how much we can take tomorrow, or how much is left for our children and grandchildren. Every single day enough solar energy falls on the earth to supply all of the world’s energy needs for four or five years. Solar energy shows up directly in the form as sunlight which can be harvested by panels that can create either heat or electricity. Our allotment of solar energy can also show up indirectly as wind, the result of uneven heating on the earth’s surface. Read More
[The Vector] World Future Energy Summit January 17-20th, 2011
| January 17, 2011 | Posted by Kathy-Heshelow under Renewables - Business |
Secretary of State Clinton and Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, courtesy of Masdar
Held under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, the summit is hosted by Masdar, a firm devoted to energy sustainability. More than 600 exhibitors, 33 international delegations and 25,000 visitors are expected. We recently wrote about Masdar and its graduate-level institute devoted to sustainability solutions.
“Financing has always been a pivotal step, and a challenging one, for renewable energy project innovators Read More
[The Vector] Progress in Solar Thermal / CSP (Concentrating Solar Power)
| January 15, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Solar Thermal |
The Vector is pleased to see progress made in the solar thermal / CSP (concentrating solar power) space. We have always believed that solar thermal is the heavy betting favorite to be the ultimate winner in the race for a clean energy technology to replace fossil fuels – at least through the remainder of the 21st Century.
The US Department of Energy recently provided a loan guarantee that will act as the foundation for Abengoa Solar’s (Gila Bend, Arizona) Solana project — the world’s largest parabolic trough concentrating solar plant. US DoE Secretary Stephen Chu announced the project last month: a 250-megawatt (MW) project — the first large-scale solar plant in the United States capable of storing energy it generates, using large insulated molten salt tanks.
No sooner than the announcement was posted at Renewable Energy World did the detractors start in, deliberately misrepresenting the overall effectiveness of the technology, and referring to the project as Read More
Guest Blogger Wayne Mackey on Electric Vehicles
| January 14, 2011 | Posted by Wayne-Mackey under Electric Vehicles |
Craig, I’ve been reading the chapter of you book on Electric Vehicles like the New Ford Focus Electric and the new Electric Hybrids like the Chevy Volt. I was surprised to have received a correspondence from Bob Lutz at GM back in the Spring of 2007 saying that he would do everything in his power to make it a reality in 2010. I must say, he kept his word. I went to purchase one from a dealer in Washington, D.C. in late December 2010 and ran headlong into a stone wall. Yes, I could have purchased one by now if I would have been willing to pay the additional $5,000 early delivery fee…which I wasn’t and will not. I told the dealer that when they want to sell me a vehicle in the future, they will have to meet my price, not the other way around. Read More
[The Vector] Solar Gets Serious in the United Arab Emirates
| January 12, 2011 | Posted by Kathy-Heshelow under Photo-voltaics |
The Emirates Solar Industry Association was launched in early January 2011. The association is bringing together industry players in photovoltaics, concentrating solar power and solar thermal as well as those involved in supplying and subsidiary roles, like engineering or glass firms. But a goal of the industry is to aid international solar companies that want to set up business or bases in the Emirates.
The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi is behind the initiative. The Masdar Institute is an independent, graduate-level, not-for-profit, research-driven institute that works in cooperation with MIT. Its mission is to solve world problems on the issues of sustainability. The Institute is situated in Masdar City, an Read More
Guest Post from Wayne Mackey: How I Reduced Home Energy Consumption by 80%
| January 11, 2011 | Posted by Wayne-Mackey under Photo-voltaics |
On December 23, 2009 my wife Diane and I installed a 5.4Kwh PV Array on the roof of our home at 920 Cypress Street, Chambersburg, PA.
Prior to our “going solar” we had reduced our home’s energy use by 65% over the previous 3 years beginning in 2007 through energy conservation, energy efficiency and renewable energy. Had we not made these reductions in energy usage before hand, this same 5.4Kwh PV Array would have only been able to supply our home with just 27% of its energy needs. Therefore, the actual pay off on our investments would have taken perhaps as much as 20 years rather than what we now estimate to be at just over 4-5 years.
