Polo Club Home and Green Features
September 11, 2010 | Comments Off
Please rate this home form a green energy point of view by clicking on the stars. Comment on green features. This home is located in a hot climate. The location is in Boca Raton, Florida. By looking at this Polo Club home, please comment on what could be done to make this home more energy efficient, more green.
Solar Power — More Reliable Than You Might Think
September 10, 2010 | Comments Off
Wind and solar power are intermittent — we can rely on them to make power only when the wind blows or the sun shines. And it can cost a lot (in terms of dollars and the environment) to fill in the gaps with conventional power sources. That’s why the development of energy storage is so important.
As the story goes, if you think wind is unreliable, just look at the sun. While winds can gust and ebb, the sun can be hidden behind clouds one minute, shining brightly the next. A new study from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory explains the problem, and offers a solution. If the skies are clear, the sun in any given location provides energy that can be graphed along a smooth arc. Add clouds to the variable, and the graph looks like evidence of a violent earthquake. Together, they look like this:
Clear Skies and Clouds LBNL 2010
Andrew Mills and Ryan Wyser at LBNL considered what happens when the output in a number of different locations is pooled together. Read more
Hans Willemsen chosen as new CEO for Scheuten Solar
September 8, 2010 | Comments Off
Hans Willemsen will be officially inaugurated as the new CEO for Scheuten Solar on September 15, 2010, as he takes over for Frans van den Heuvel who previously held the position before stepping down. Willemsen oversaw Shell Solar from 2004 until 2007 and was recently active as VP for Shell Clean Coal Energy in Asia.
Exclusive: PV in the USA, Part II—NREL’s PDIL helps propagate solar process technologies
September 8, 2010 | Comments Off
Brent Nelson is unlikely to underestimate the limitations of science. “I’m always quick to not say, ‘something can’t be done.’ Because people are clever and will always figure something out….Never say nothing will ever happen.” As manager of NREL’s Process Development and Integration Laboratory (PDIL), one of the planet’s leading photovoltaic research facilities, he gets a steady dose of innovation in crystalline and thin-film silicon, CIGS, CdTe, organics, measurement technologies, and variations therein to support his optimistic outlook. But the long-time solar advocate and proficient quipster is no wide-eyed dreamer, noting that renewable energy is “basically at the Model T stage in terms of displacing conventional fuels.” When solar and the rest of the clean energy crew finally start to push the carbon cartel aside, a more than piddling amount of credit will go to collaborative R&D centers like PDIL.
New Product: MEECO offers solar-grade gas moisture monitor for fixed gas applications
September 8, 2010 | Comments Off
Product Briefing Outline: MEECO has introduced the first mini P2O5-based moisture monitor, the ‘M-i’, which is specifically designed for solar-grade gas moisture monitoring.
New Product: Festo launches servo-pneumatic handling system for vacuum applications
September 8, 2010 | Comments Off
Product Briefing Outline: Festo has developed the Sliding Fork, an innovative way of transporting glass. This unique servo-pneumatic handling system is particularly suitable for vacuum applications and is totally leak-proof, dynamic, with extreme torsional rigidity.
New Product: Manz Automation’s OneStep selective emitter system boosts cell efficiencies 0.5%
September 8, 2010 | Comments Off
Product Briefing Outline: Manz Automation has developed the OneStep selective emitter (SE) system for crystalline silicon solar cells. Among competing SE processes, the laser process consists of only one single process step, without any consumable usage. Investment payback is said to be less than one year, while the small footprint allows easy retrofit of existing production lines. The tool is claimed to enable cell efficiency gains of up to 0.5%.
New Conto Energia III reveals multi-stage FiT cuts in Italy
September 8, 2010 | Comments Off
According to the new Conto Energia III, Italy will reduce its funding for solar electricity in three phases starting from 2011. The cuts, which were first provisionally announced back in July, come in line with the current market conditions, which are forcing countries all over Europe to follow suit. However, despite these changes, EuPD Research remains positive that the Conto Energia III still offers a high degree of investment security.
Order Focus: Singulus Technologies to deliver Singular inline coating systems to China
September 8, 2010 | Comments Off
Singulus Technologies has received further orders for its Singular inline coating systems from several unnamed customers in China. The company is to ship one of these Singular machines, which are used both for processes in the manufacturing of silicon solar cells and for refining new solar concepts, by the end of September 2010.
Order Focus: Comtec Solar will deliver over 600MW monocrystalline solar wafers in 2011
September 8, 2010 | Comments Off
Comtec Solar Systems, together with its subsidiaries, has signed new wafer supply framework agreements, with price subject to negotiation, to provide major customers Gintech Energy, Jetion Solar, CHINT Group and Neosolar Power with a total of approximately 200MW in monocrystalline solar wafers. These orders are thus added to the existing agreements between Comtec and China Sunergy, JA Solar, Suntech and Canadian Solar.