Physicists at Rutgers University in New Jersey have discovered new properties in a material that could result in efficient and inexpensive plastic solar cells for electricity production. The discovery, posted online and slated for publication in an upcoming issue of the journal Nature Materials, reveals that energy carrying particles generated by packets of light can travel on
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photovoltaic
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) report that they have used carbon nanotubes to concentrate solar energy 100 times more efficiently than regular photovoltaic cells. The researchers, reporting in the journal Nature Materials, said that the nanotubes — hollow tubes of carbon atoms — could form antennas that effectively capture and focus light energy,
TD Canada Trust is doing what it can for Canada’s green economy. The bank recently commissioned a poll of Canadian house owners to determine Canadians’ awareness of and attitudes toward green energy. The survey, conducted at the end of July and into August, looked in particular at attitudes toward solar panels and found, among other things, that although a third of
Late last month, Toronto-based Atlantic Wind and Solar Inc. announced an encouraging step forward in the transition to a greener economy. The firm is planning to launch a brand new financing program designed to help organizations develop large-scale wind and solar energy projects. The Renewable Energy Finance program will focus on helping companies complete
President Obama took the occasion of Independence Day to announce that the federal government will authorize $2 billion of Recovery Act funding to support the solar industry. Administered by the Department of Energy, the funds will target two companies: Abengoa Solar and Abound Solar Manufacturing.
Abengoa – an international solar firm with its roots in Spain—plans to build the world’s largest concentrating solar power plant in Arizona. The company says the facility, dubbed the Solana Project, will produce enough energy to power 70,000 households. The plant will use thermal storage equipment to parabolically recover energy for a 280 MW output capacity. The administration says the project will create 1,600 construction jobs.
Solar companies and the provincial government are working diligently to transform Ontario’s power grid into an environmentally friendly green system. Hay Solar and Mann Engineering recently announced that they are looking to offer farmers free barns, promising to furnish the sloped roofs with solar panels. Once operational, these photovoltaic panels will go to work, generating enough clean, free energy to pay for themselves in approximately 20 years. The companies believe
Morgan Solar Inc. will receive a substantial financial contribution from the Ontario government to facilitate the launch of its commercial activities in the province. The young Toronto-based company has developed a unique photovoltaic (PV) panel characterized by its lightness, sturdiness, and unparalleled sunlight-concentrating capacity. With the $1.86 million in funding it received from the government, Morgan Solar will soon begin manufacturing its patented technology for market.
Construction of a new production facility will undoubtedly create many temporary employment opportunities, but
Solar Energy (both photovoltaic and solar hot water, aka solar thermal) are great resources to have at your disposal. In the case of photovoltaic, you can substitute the power from your utility grid by harnessing the sun’s power and converting the sun’s rays into electricity. With rising electricity prices, photovoltaics (aka solar electric) is a great hedge against ever expanding utility bills. The photovoltaic industry is growing by leaps and bounds. You may want to get into the action.
Many are aware of the subsidies, tax credits, and grants available to property owners and utilities to install and utilize alternative energy (i.e., wind, solar, biomass, etc.). Unfortunately, many forget that these technologies need to be manufactured somewhere. The majority of the panels that go into a photovoltaic array and the large blades that make up wind turbines are currently being manufactured overseas, often in China. This directly contradicts President Obama’s plan to spur green job growth with the passage of the Stimulus Bill. Enter the Security in Energy and Manufacturing Act (SEAM Act).
Clean energy is the “in” thing. You’re cool, literally and figuratively, if you can help save the earth by being a little more efficient in your energy use. You’re even “cooler” when you’re able to harness natural, renewable resources for your daily energy needs. Solar power is one such energy resource that meets these criteria, as it is both 100 percent natural and infinitely renewable.
Most of the energy on earth comes from the sun one way or another, including wind, oil, gas, coal, biomass, and biofuels. However, many of these indirect byproducts of solar energy, especially the fossil fuels, are non-renewable. Once used, they cannot be replaced. More important, energy sources like oil, gas, and coal also release huge amounts of heat and carbon into the atmosphere. If you can harness the power of the sun through more direct means, then you minimize this pollution without depleting precious resources.
Solar Energy on the Rise Globally
For many, solar power still seems like an alien concept. The idea of receiving boundless energy from the sun somehow doesn’t jibe with our understanding of how “free lunches” are often in short supply. However, in countries such as Canada, solar power production is becoming increasingly popular among governments, businesses, and homeowners. Ontario’s aggressive Green Energy Act has helped make sustainability and solar power central to the province’s economic recovery program. While solar energy is still an unfamiliar concept for some, it is gaining traction as people around the world begin paying greater attention to green technologies and sustainable growth.
Here are four things about solar energy that you probably didn’t know, and that may prompt you to become more involved.
The belief that jobs in the solar industry are limited to working on the roof or chasing after sales leads is not really accurate today as other opportunities are available and increasing, according to solar career expert Liz Merry.
Merry, owner of Verve Solar Consulting in Davis, Calif., has been sharing insights and advice about the solar industry since 2001 through numerous courses, articles and blogs. Promising no hype and no panaceas, she offered solid advice for career seekers in the solar photovoltaics (PV) industry at a recent workshop at the California Center for Sustainable Energy in San Diego, Calif.
Merry outlined four major steps every solar job seeker should follow to understand where he or she may fit into the industry:
U.S. investors have invested $129.4 million in a promising solar technology that uses plastic lenses to concentrate sunlight onto small but highly efficient solar cells.
The so-called multijunction cells, developed by California-based Amonix, generate more electricity than conventional photovoltaic panels and require fewer costly semiconducting materials, such as silicon.
The company has successfully tested the technology at small solar farms in Spain and the United States.
Solar power is supposed to be clean and green, but what happens to the dirty ingredients involved to make and dispose of solar equipment?
Two years since the Washington Post first reported that a maker of polysilicon for solar panels was dumping toxic waste into Chinese soil, a U.S. nonprofit has ranked the “green” aspects of 25 photovoltaic module makers. The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition launched the Solar Scorecard (PDF) on Tuesday.
Installations of solar modules rose by 42 percent in 2009, according to SolarBuzz. If this growth continues, rooftop modules that wear out within two to three decades threaten to add toxic bulk to landfills, just as yesterday’s computer monitors and cell phones have created unwieldly piles of consumer electronics waste.
Thanks to a new TXU Energy and SolarCity partnership residents of Dallas, Texas will soon have the option to lease a photovoltaic solar array to offset high-energy cost. Similar programs are in place around the world, but in Texas where sprawling suburbs are common and air conditioning in the summer means sky rocketing fuel costs the potential savings for consumers could be astronomical.
After tax incentives the average owner of a three to four bedroom house can expect to pay 35 dollars a month in energy costs. $35 is a far cry from the $26,000 it could cost to buy the same solar system outright.
As the owners of the solar arrays SolarCity will be responsible for all maintenance.