Sunday, December 02, 2007
Using Africa's sun to power Europe and provide fresh water
Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan has proposed a grand solar power scheme to the European Union. Using cheap land on the African and Middle Eastern coasts of the Mediterranean, a string of concentrating solar power stations could be constructed to generate power for local towns and Europe and run desalination plants to provide fresh water.
It's another grand scheme, and I'm dubious of grand schemes, but it has the benefit of being made up of lots of smaller components. Rather than waiting a decade for one big power plant to come online, as with nuclear or plans like the Severn Estuary barrier, saller plants can be built in shorter time periods and start making a difference immediately.
Technorati tag: Solar Power
posted by I at 11:25 am
Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan has proposed a grand solar power scheme to the European Union. Using cheap land on the African and Middle Eastern coasts of the Mediterranean, a string of concentrating solar power stations could be constructed to generate power for local towns and Europe and run desalination plants to provide fresh water.
It's another grand scheme, and I'm dubious of grand schemes, but it has the benefit of being made up of lots of smaller components. Rather than waiting a decade for one big power plant to come online, as with nuclear or plans like the Severn Estuary barrier, saller plants can be built in shorter time periods and start making a difference immediately.
Technorati tag: Solar Power
Labels: Concentrating Solar Power
posted by I at 11:25 am
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Solar Thermal Water Heater For Less Than Five Dollars
Solar thermal is far more efficient at converting the energy in sunlight and, if you follow these instructions, you can build a Solar Thermal heater for next to nothing. It's intended as a fun project, but with a little tweaking to make it more robust and control the flow properly it can be made into something practical.
via TreeHugger
Technorati tag: Solar Power
posted by I at 4:51 pm
Solar thermal is far more efficient at converting the energy in sunlight and, if you follow these instructions, you can build a Solar Thermal heater for next to nothing. It's intended as a fun project, but with a little tweaking to make it more robust and control the flow properly it can be made into something practical.
via TreeHugger
Technorati tag: Solar Power
Labels: DIY, solar Thermal
posted by I at 4:51 pm
Friday, June 22, 2007
Solar beach bag
Personal solar devices are a great way to promote solar power. This solar beach bag will recharge your phone. iPod etc. as you soak up some rays.
Technorati tag: Solar Power
posted by I at 9:36 am
Personal solar devices are a great way to promote solar power. This solar beach bag will recharge your phone. iPod etc. as you soak up some rays.
Technorati tag: Solar Power
Labels: Personal solar
posted by I at 9:36 am
Friday, June 15, 2007
Maplin launches National Solar Week
When a company that sells solar gadgets decides to have a week promoting solar energy, it looks like a marketing ploy. However, it's still positive publicity, and they are pushing a petition to have VAT removed from solar devices.
Technorati tag: Solar Power, Petition
posted by I at 10:16 am
When a company that sells solar gadgets decides to have a week promoting solar energy, it looks like a marketing ploy. However, it's still positive publicity, and they are pushing a petition to have VAT removed from solar devices.
Technorati tag: Solar Power, Petition
Labels: Petition, Solar Week
posted by I at 10:16 am
Monday, June 04, 2007
Photovoltaic costs to drop sharply
The Worldwatch Institute estimates that the cost of photovoltaic cells may drop by as much as 40% in the next few years. One factor contributing to this is the increase of manufacturing of photovoltaics in China, such as the new facility announced by Suntech, a key supplier of building integrated solar products.
Technorati tag: Solar Power, Photovoltaic, China
posted by I at 6:34 pm
The Worldwatch Institute estimates that the cost of photovoltaic cells may drop by as much as 40% in the next few years. One factor contributing to this is the increase of manufacturing of photovoltaics in China, such as the new facility announced by Suntech, a key supplier of building integrated solar products.
Technorati tag: Solar Power, Photovoltaic, China
Labels: China, photovoltaic
posted by I at 6:34 pm
Solar thermal sales on the rise
Bosch's thermal solar division has announced that it's sales for the year to date are up 60% on last year and they expect to sell 150,000 solar collector units this year.
Technorati tag: Solar Power, Solar Thermal
posted by I at 6:22 pm
Bosch's thermal solar division has announced that it's sales for the year to date are up 60% on last year and they expect to sell 150,000 solar collector units this year.
Technorati tag: Solar Power, Solar Thermal
Labels: solar Thermal
posted by I at 6:22 pm
Solar hybrids
Solar Electric Vehicles make roofs for hybrid cars that charge a supplemental battery and increase the cars' fuel efficiency by as much as 29%. Prius owners have fitted solar panels to their vehicles before, but these convex panels won't mess with the aerodynamics as much.
Solar Electric Vehicles website
Technorati tag: Solar Power, Hybrid Car
posted by I at 4:40 pm
Solar Electric Vehicles make roofs for hybrid cars that charge a supplemental battery and increase the cars' fuel efficiency by as much as 29%. Prius owners have fitted solar panels to their vehicles before, but these convex panels won't mess with the aerodynamics as much.
Solar Electric Vehicles website
Technorati tag: Solar Power, Hybrid Car
Labels: Hybrid Car, photovoltaic, Transport
posted by I at 4:40 pm
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Cheap and easy solar power
The articles are biased towards the US, but Mother Earth News tells you how to get simple solar power and how to work out if the payback will be worth the investment.
Technorati tag: Solar Power
posted by I at 1:16 pm
The articles are biased towards the US, but Mother Earth News tells you how to get simple solar power and how to work out if the payback will be worth the investment.
Technorati tag: Solar Power
posted by I at 1:16 pm
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Google goes solar
EI Solutions has provided solar power for Google's Mountain View campus in California. Output is 1.6 megawatts from 197,000 square feet of solar panelling.
via BoingBoing
Technorati tag: Solar Power, Google
posted by I at 9:37 pm
EI Solutions has provided solar power for Google's Mountain View campus in California. Output is 1.6 megawatts from 197,000 square feet of solar panelling.
via BoingBoing
Technorati tag: Solar Power, Google
Labels: photovoltaic
posted by I at 9:37 pm
