Jun
25
Camel Portable Solar Generator
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If you're new here, you may want to clipped from solarpowerwegrant.blogspot.com
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 clipped from www.edn.com |
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“One of the monumental health projects of our time has to be the effort to bring vaccines into remote, rural regions of the world. Vaccines must be kept cool, and in remote rural regions where it’s too darn hot to begin with, a reliable source of electricity is usually not a feature.” |
A Finnish company, NAPS Systems, addressed this need in the 1980’s with this mobile camel-solar-powered refrigerator. This version evolved into a more boring, but presumably more universal system, today’s CFS49IS.
Jun
7
Multi-junction solar cells have cracked the 40% efficiency barrier. The structure of these cells means that they can absorb energy from a wider range of the solar spectrum.
“WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Alexander Karsner today announced that with DOE funding, a concentrator solar cell produced by Boeing-Spectrolab has recently achieved a world-record conversion efficiency of 40.7 percent, establishing a new milestone in sunlight-to-electricity performance. This breakthrough may lead to systems with an installation cost of only $3 per watt, producing electricity at a cost of 8-10 cents per kilowatt/hour, making solar electricity a more cost-competitive and integral part of our nation’s energy mix.”
It’s important to note here that this is for a concentrating solar cell. This means solar energy is concentrated, usually by mirrors, at the solar cell. Most domestic and mainstream solar panels are not concentrating.
Jun
6
High-tech meets Low-tech in the Thar Desert, India
I took this photo in 1999, while trekking through the Western Desert of Rajasthan , a province of India near the Pakistani border.
The young man in the foreground had a solar panel on his house roof. In a truly ironic twist, the solar panel’s purpose was to power a small fridge that kept coca-cola cold to be sold to tourists. (He could obtain a high profit margin as there was no competition.)
I had to admire his entrepreneurial spirit.
There is a real opportunity though, for solar power to truly empower those living off the grid, and in very rural locations. Solar power is valuable in that it requires no nation-wide infrastructure to work.
Solar power can be owned and administered by small communities. It is independent of fuel prices and tariffs. And it is even more useful in desert locations, where power is often obtained by burning the already sparse vegetation.
Jun
5
Solar Cells Diagram
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“In many diagrams I have found that the PV cell is wired to a load. What is a load? What is it made up of? What does it do?”
A load is a demand for energy. For instance a load would be when you turn on the toaster. If your solar panel is connected to a toaster - then it is servicing this load. For an electrical current to flow, there has to be a load. This is similar to water flowing from a high place to a low place.
So in the solar energy diagram, when it shows a load, this could be any demand on energy that the solar panel supplies.
Solar energy loads can be handled in several ways. The peak time for producing solar energy is usually from about 9am to 3pm. This is when it’s sunniest. However, this is usually when most people are away from home.
So, how to utilize your solar energy? The first way is to use a grid-tied system with net metering to sell power back to the grid. The grid tied means that if you are generating more power than you are using, the excess gets sold back to the power company, and then gets used by other people on the electric network.
Net metering is an arrangement you have with your power company. This is usually done via a special power meter or an attachment on your power meter. The price that your power gets bought back at is also part of this arrangement. This is the part where you can watch your power meter spin backwards.
The second way is to have batteries to store excess energy. This is very useful in areas of frequent power cuts. Without batteries, your solar panels only supply energy when they are making it - ie. when it’s sunny.
With batteries, your excess power is stored. As long as you don’t use up all the battery power, your will have electricity when the whole neighborhood grid goes down.
This was one reason why many Florida residents got solar panels. During the last hurricane, some folks had no electricity for six weeks. Their solar powered neighbors were enjoying hot showers….
Jun
4
Plant Dye Solar Panels
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There is a new technology emerging that uses solar panels made from plant dyes, or dye-sensitised cells.
This uses the same technology as plants to create energy from the sun. (Known as photosynthesis.)
These panels take less (coal) energy to produce than silicon cells, making them even more attractive ecologically. They are also cheaper, partially because silicon takes a lot of energy to extract.
These solar cells can take advantage of much larger range of sunlight - in the way plants do. This means they have the potential to be used in low light situations.
They are also transluscent, which gives them an interesting range of applications. Possibly windows and skylights in the future will be solar cells as well.
However, dye solar panels are less efficient (right now) than silicon solar panels. This is the challenge scientists are currently working to overcome. Solar plant dye is an interesting technology, that may in fact become a major player in the solar energy market.
Links: New Zealand People Imitate Plants to do Solar Panels on the Cheap