Perpetual Innovation

Category: solar

  • What just happened in solar is a bigger deal than oil exports

    What just happened in solar is a bigger deal than oil exports:

    Interesting how the BIG move in solar/wind in the USA is so tied to subsidies. At least for the next 5 years. But, soon, especially with the volume of growth encouraged by the subsidies, there will no longer be a need for subsidies.

    The really big loser all around is (dirty) coal. Once the health and environmental costs of coal are factored in, coal moves from our cheapest source of electrical energy to one of our worst. As well, wind and solar are improving in performance rapidly.

    And then there are the environmental factors of coal that start to get uglier and uglier once you start to count pollution, the health and safety issues and the contribution to greenhouse gases. Other types of energy like oil and natgas are increasingly throwing coal under the bus, too.

    So, renewable electrical energy could be really booming over the next 5 years with the continued subsidies. Those subsidies are being phased out; but it all looks like an excellent plan forward toward a more renewable USA.

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  • Wind And Solar Will Soon Become The ‘Least-Cost Option’ – Yahoo Finance

    Wind And Solar Will Soon Become The ‘Least-Cost Option’ – Yahoo Finance:

    It is interesting how quickly the prices of wind and solar have been dropping and are expected to continue.

    Obviously, these must be only a part of the solution, unless batteries get to be a whole lot better, a whole lot faster. (Maybe?). The wind doesn’t always blow, and the sun doesn’t always shine.

    One savings for solar, is that it doesn’t need to be done remotely. The transport/distribution costs can be much lower. Both sun & wind do not require the massive volumes of water that conventional fossil and nuke need. (Except for the manatees, there is no real reason to heat up rivers and lakes.)

    Those folks in the coal industries, even in China, are soon going to find that they are missing the boat. Coal is not sustainable. Once people start to think harder and longer about the externalities costs of coal, it is going to continue the downward spiral from favor.

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  • First Solar Achieves World Record 18.6 % Thin Film Module Conversion Efficiency | Business Wire

    First Solar Achieves World Record 18.6 % Thin Film Module Conversion Efficiency | Business Wire:

    Wow.

    The technology is really moving up. FirstSolar’s thin film is really working its way up. That means you can produce more power with a smaller foot print. Or produce much more power with a bigger footprint.

    Very cool to see solar gaining on wind (and, of course, non-renewable sources of power).

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  • It Keeps Getting Cheaper To Install Solar Panels In The U.S. | ThinkProgress

    It Keeps Getting Cheaper To Install Solar Panels In The U.S. | ThinkProgress:

    The cost of solar is dropping and the install capacity is quietly on the rise.

    Prices are down to $.30 to $.90 per watt.

    Plus the market is starting to be healthier. China is no longer allowed to dump their (artificially cheap) over capacity on the US and EU.

    Even the White House is jumping onto sun power.

    Very cool.

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  • Taking a fresh look at solar energy’s benefits | Highlands Today

    Taking a fresh look at solar energy’s benefits | Highlands Today:

    Local article to Central Florida. It is good to see some movement on solar.

    Great. We all need to be more sustainable. Glad to see Coronado Solar getting out there and making it happen.
    Couple areas that aren’t precise. Probably lost something in the translation. Payback on solar hot water is usually 2 to 4 years. Really good ROI for pools (unless you like to polar-bear it in the winter). Payback for solar is usually 6 to 9 years; that’s probably the 6.5 years mentioned in the article.
    CO2e saved per home is about 6.68 metric tons per year based on 11.3MW per year with typical US electric power. (http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/refs.html)
    That would be about 155 trees planted from seedlings for 10 year (not 20+ years life of the solar array). (http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/calculator.html)
    It is always hard to visualize our carbon foot print. Each person in the US produces 5 metric tons of CO2 (or equivalent). Figure 2 people per household. And an acre of trees/forest takes out about 2 MTons per year (until about 30 years, then only 1MTon). So a household of 2 needs to plant at least 5 acres of new forest today to cover all of their burning of ancient forest (coal and oil) for the next 20-30 years.
    Oh well, energy-ize your house and save 15%-25% of your utilities for the change in your pocket. Get solar water heaters and save 5-15% and plan to go solar completely within the next few years. Maybe start the array and get the meter so it can easily be expanded in the future. Prices continue to drop and efficiency improve:-)
    Visit: http://www.carbonfootprint.com to calculate your own carbon footprint, individual or business.

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