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A Unique Solar Powered Community in Canada
The Drake Landing Solar Community is the first solar powered community of North America. Located in the town of Okotoks, Alberta, Canada, the project sets a wonderful example of how every household can lead a sustainable lifestyle. There are 800 solar panels located throughout the community on garage roofs, and they produce 1.5 mega-watts of thermal power during a summer day and supply heat to the district heating system. The whole system meets 90% of the annual heating and hot water needs of the homes.
The 52-home solar community has installed an array of solar panels on the roofs of their houses and garages. Glycol solution runs through an insulated piping system, or collector loop, that connects the array of solar panels. The solar panels absorb the solar energy during the daytime and heat the glycol solution. The glycol solution travels through the collector loop and reaches an underground heat exchanger within the community’s centralized Energy Center. The heat is then transferred from heat exchanger to the water stored in a short-term storage tank. The glycol solution returns to the solar collector system. The Energy Center has short-term thermal storage tanks and long-thermal storage tanks (Borehole Thermal Energy Storage (BTES) system).
During the warmer months the heated water is transferred to the underground borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) system via a series of pipes. The water heats up the surrounding earth increasing the temperature to 80 degrees C (176 °F). The water returns to the short-term storage tanks to be heated again. The heat is stored underground insulated with sand, high-density R-40 insulation, a waterproof membrane, clay, and other landscaping materials. The stored heat is used to provide heat and hot water to the entire community throughout the winter.
The homes are moderately sized, ranging from 1,492 to 1,664 square feet, and have low energy demands, suitable to work with the system. The homes are located close to one another, which provides a walkable neighborhood, and reduces the lengths that the fluid for the solar heating system needs to travel. Water conservation has been made mandatory in the homes. The homes have been built using locally manufactured materials, and recycled material too has been used in construction. The homes will be certified to Natural Resources Canada’s R-2000 Standard for energy efficiency, and the Built Green™ Alberta program. The precedence set by the Drake Landing Solar Community can serve as an example for every community.
http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/07/24/a-unique-solar-powe...
link to The Drake Landing Solar Community website
http://www.dlsc.ca/index.htm The Drake Landing Solar Community is the first solar powered community of North America. Located in the town of Okotoks, Alberta, Cana... more -
Saharan sun to power European supergrid
Vast farms of solar panels in the Sahara desert could provide clean electricity for the whole of Europe, according to EU scientists working on a plan to pool the region's renewable energy.
Harnessing the power of the desert sun is at the centre of ambitious scheme to build a €45bn (£35.7bn) European supergrid that would allow countries across the continent to share electricity from abundant green sources such as wind energy in the UK and Denmark and geothermal energy from Iceland and Italy.
The idea is gaining growing political support in Europe with both Gordon Brown and Nicholas Sarkozy recently giving backing to the north African solar plan.
Speaking today at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona, Arnulf Jaeger-Walden of the European commission's Institute for Energy, said it would require the capture of just 0.3% of the light falling on the Sahara and Middle Eastern deserts to provide all of Europe's energy needs.
In addition, because the sunlight in this area is more intense, solar photovoltaic (PV) panels in northern Africa could generate up to three times the electricity compared with similar panels in northern Europe.
aeger-Walden explained how electricity produced in solar farms in Africa, each containing power plants generating around 50-200MW of power, could be fed thousands of miles across European countries by using high-voltage direct current transmission lines instead of the traditional alternating current lines. Energy losses on DC lines are far lower than AC ones where transmission of energy over long distances is uneconomic.
Scientists working on the project admit that it would take many years and huge investment to generate enough solar energy from north Africa to power Europe but envisage that by 2050 it could produce 100 GW, more than the the combined electricity output from all sources in the UK, with an investment of around €450bn. Vast farms of solar panels in the Sahara desert could provide clean electricity for the whole of Europe, according to EU scientists wo... more -
Canto Della Terra/Song of the Earth
Andrea Bocelli uplifts my soul when I am feeling weary of this world and its despair. His voice makes me believe there is hope. This song particularly (along with Sogno) uplifts my spirit and is not only a song of love, but a song to celebrate our Earth. Perhaps a positive vibe will go a bit of the way to truly changing this world. I hope so, because to be honest I have been losing hope in people of late. I hope this song uplifts you as it does me.
And just as a sidenote: We need the mighty sun to save our planet and ourselves.
Translation of the song:
Yes I know
My love, that you and I
Are together briefly
For just a few moments
In silence
As we look out of our windows
And listen
To the sky
And to a world
That's awakening
And the night is already far away
Already, far away
Look at this world
Spinning with us
Even in the dark
Look at this world
Spinning for us
Giving us hope and some
Sun, sun sun
My love, you are you my love
I hear your voice,
And I listen to the sea.
It sounds just like your breathing
And all the love you want to give me
This love
That is there, hidden
Hidden among the waves
All the waves in the world
Just like a boat that....
Look at this world
Spinning with us
Even in the dark
Look at this world
Spinning for us
Giving us hope,
And some sun, sun, sun,
Some sun, sun, sun.
Look at this world
Spinning with us
Giving us some sun,
Mighty sun
Mighty sun
Mighty sun Andrea Bocelli uplifts my soul when I am feeling weary of this world and its despair. His voice makes me believe there is hope. This s... more -
On energy, T. Boone Pickens sees bipartisan fault
When T. Boone Pickens discusses energy policy with Democrats and Republicans this week, neither side may like all that they hear.
With average gasoline prices above $4 a gallon, energy issues have come to dominate the legislative debate this summer and both parties have sought the counsel of the oilman/investment whiz/wind power promoter.
What does Pickens, a geologist before he was a billionaire, think of the debate?
“There’s nothing they are saying that is going to solve the problem,” he told The Hill.
For example, Pickens doesn’t expect much oil to be found off the coasts. That would seem to undercut the Republican push to open the areas to drilling.
“The public thinks, ‘Well, God. If we got 86 billion barrels of oil sitting out there, why don’t we go drill it and produce it and lower the price of gasoline to $2?’ That’s kind of the way it’s been characterized. Which I think is totally misleading,” he said (editor’s note: A transcription of the interview will appear in the Business & Lobbying section of Tuesday’s edition of The Hill).
That should bolster Democratic leaders who are resisting pressure to drill, although Pickens does support conducting seismic studies to get a better handle on potential resources.
What about Democratic efforts to rein in “speculation,” a push that Democrats in both the House and Senate may make this week?
Pickens doesn’t think much of that idea, either.
“It’s a waste of time. Doesn’t have anything to do with it. … Everybody tries to place the blame, and the blame is our own lack of leadership over the past 40 years on energy.”
Pickens’s main mission in Washington this week is to promote the Pickens Plan (www.pickensplan.com.), his effort to use natural gas as a transportation fuel instead of as a source of electricity.
Wind power would replace the natural gas on the grid. And natural gas would replace gasoline, saving the country $700 billion over 10 years that would otherwise go to buy foreign oil, he said.
When T. Boone Pickens discusses energy policy with Democrats and Republicans this week, neither side may like all that they hear. ... more -
The Plan To Get Away From Oil
America is addicted to foreign oil.
It's an addiction that threatens our economy, our environment and our national security. It touches every part of our daily lives and ties our hands as a nation and a people.
The addiction has worsened for decades and now it's reached a point of crisis.
Click link to read on and join the cause America is addicted to foreign oil. ... more -
Dyed Glass Taps Solar Power
"What if your windows could pull double-duty as solar panels by harvesting some of the energy in sunshine? That's the idea behind the organic solar concentrator, a new kind of solar powering device. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology coated thin glass plates with organic dyes that absorb certain colors of light while letting others pass through. The dyes redirect the solar energy by absorbing and then reemitting the light toward the window's edges, where regular (opaque) solar cells convert it into electricity. Unlike mirror-based solar concentrators, the new system, described in Science, does not have to be cooled. The researchers say they still need to improve the system's durability and efficiency—estimated at 6.8 percent—before they can think about bringing it to market." "What if your windows could pull double-duty as solar panels by harvesting some of the energy in sunshine? That's the idea behind the ... more
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Unique business aims to spread solar power
Now this is truly BRILLIANT !
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Solar Power Windows to Replace/Augment Rooftop Solar Panels
Great Solar News from TouchArt's friend Bill Brown up in Taos, NM about MIT engineers brilliant technology for solar windows to harness energy.
Awesome.
MIT guys say they can be available in 3 years.
Let's use them for the One Earth bottle house design.
_____________________
Message from Bill Brown
www.nmglobalwarming.com
Hello, All -- Here is yet another reminder of the many rapid and spectacular advances in solar power technology -- in this case technology that could begin replacing and/or augmenting conventional rooftop solar panels within the next few years.
"Imagine windows that not only provide a clear view and illuminate rooms, but also use sunlight to efficiently help power the building they are part of. MIT engineers report a new approach to harnessing the sun's energy that could allow just that."
"Because the system is simple to manufacture, the [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] team believes that it could be implemented within three years — even added onto existing solar-panel systems to increase their efficiency by 50 percent for minimal additional cost. That, in turn, would substantially reduce the cost of solar electricity."
So, I offer this fair warning to all in the business to continue to be ready for -- and participate in -- a future of unlimited possibilities for clean energy solutions to our current dirty energy problems.
-- Bill Brown
Go to link for more
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=5...
_____________________________
From TouchArt.net and OneEarthBlog.blogspot.com
where everyday, always has, and always will be Earth Day.
Love your Mother.
Great Solar News from TouchArt's friend Bill Brown up in Taos, NM about MIT engineers brilliant technology for solar windows to harnes... more -
MIT spinoff dyes glass to make solar 'windows'
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology detailed a technique that can boost solar cell output and turn colored windows into solar panels.
Published in Science magazine on Friday, the researchers have developed a way to use dyes painted on glass to redirect light.
By pushing light to the edges and filtering it, they can concentrate the light and squeeze more electricity from photovoltaic solar cells.
The cells are placed on the edges of the glass, rather than across the flat surface of glass, which would allow panel manufacturers to use less costly solar cell material.
It's a technique that was pursued in the 1970s but abandoned because not enough redirected light made it to the cells on plate edges.
By borrowing laser technology, the MIT researchers said they adequately direct and concentrate light to the point where they can boost solar cell output ten-fold.
The technology, which uses off-the-shelf dyes used in car paints, promises to be cheaper than traditional solar concentrators because it eliminates the need for mirrors, lenses, and trackers, said Marc Baldo, an MIT professor of electrical engineering who led the work.
Participants in the research are starting a company, Covalent Solar, to commercialize and improve the technology. MIT said that they expect to have a product available in about three years.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology detailed a technique that can boost solar cell output and turn colored window... more -
Solar powered refrigerator
A solar powered refrigerrator sounds like a great idea another great future
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Want to understand how solar works? Need help finding a solar product? Solar stuff...
Really neat solar products!
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Cost effective solar energy roofs!
These will be neat, and plus you get a skylight as a added bonus!! :)
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See-thru solar panels could double output
If there's one thing most people know about solar cells, it's that they are too expensive.
Now, MIT researchers think they may have found a way to double the performance of solar arrays with cheap dyed glass and some tricks borrowed from fiber optics.
Their so-called solar concentrator could be placed on top of existing solar arrays. It could capture some wavelengths of visible light and guide them to high-voltage solar cells on the edges of the array, while still allowing the infrared light that largely powers current solar systems to pass through.
"If you stick one of these on top of existing solar panels, we think we could nearly double the performance of these systems with minimal added cost," said Marc Baldo, the lead researcher on the work.
The new research, published tomorrow in the journal Science, is another major advance in solar energy, a field that's received renewed interest due to concerns about climate change and rising fossil fuel prices. The new MIT technology marries the science behind two of the most promising ways of harnessing solar energy: light concentrators and thin-film solar cells.
Companies like SolFocus, which has raised $95 million, are using mirrors to concentrate sunlight on small amounts of photovoltaic cells. They can generate a lot of power, but rely on expensive sun-tracking mirrors. Another hot research area of solar research is thin-film solar, which uses dyes to print solar cells on cheap plastic. Putting the two technologies together could be a new way of making solar power cheaper. Current PV generation costs about 20 cents per kilowatt hour, several times more expensive than coal, wind and natural gas power generation.
If there's one thing most people know about solar cells, it's that they are too expensive. ... more -
India's Temples Go Green
The Tirumala temple, in the south Indian city of Tirupathi, is one of Hinduism's holiest shrines. Over 5,000 pilgrims a day visit this city of seven hills, filling Tirumala's coffers with donations and making it India's richest temple. But since 2002, Tirumala has also been generating revenue from a less likely source: carbon credits. For decades, the temple's community kitchen has fed nearly 15,000 people, cooking 30,000 meals a day. Five years ago, Tirumala adopted solar cooking technology, allowing it to dramatically cut down on the amount of diesel fuel it uses. The temple now sells the emission reduction credits it earns to a Swiss green-technology investor, Good Energies Inc.
Like Tirumala, dozens of holy places across India are moving quietly towards green energy. Muni Seva Ashram, in Gujarat, which combines spiritual practice with social activism, is working to make its premises entirely green by using solar, wind and biogas energy. A residential school for 400 students is already running exclusively on green energy. Starting this year, the ashram will also sell three million carbon credits. A similar movement is afoot at the revered Sai Baba Temple in Shirdi, Maharashtra. "Our aim is to avoid pollution in every way," says Raghunath Aher, the temple's chief engineer. "A holy place should be pure and completely in harmony with nature."
It's not surprising that religious groups are in the vanguard of India's green movement: India is the birthplace of four of the world's largest religions — Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, all of which revere nature and preach conservation. But the country's environmental practice hasn't always matched that preaching, leaving its air and water woefully polluted. According to the World Bank, emissions increased 57% in the decade following the India's economic liberalization.
Now, however, religious groups, keen to marry spirituality with sustainability, are leading the push to reverse that trend. Deepak Gadhia, founder of Gadhia Solar Energy Systems, which provided solar cooking technology to Tirumala temple, says more and more religious organizations have approached him in recent years. "With most businesses, the first question is of economics," he says, "But spiritual organizations look at larger issues. They want energy that is spiritually positive."
Art of Living, for instance, a 25-year-old spiritual organization that claims nearly 30 million followers in India, focuses on returning to "the way of life espoused in the ancient Hindu scriptures," according to spokesperson Mamta Kailkhura. The group is working with the government of Uttaranchal state to clean up the Ganges River and devise a waste disposal system for the holy city of Rishikesh. In the villages near Art of Living's ashram in Bangalore, a program to teach farmers organic methods and ancient water harvesting techniques is afoot. The ashram itself uses biogas for part of its lighting requirements, and recycles all of its water. Of course, it all makes sound economic sense: with the government subsidizing up to 50% of the costs of installing green technology, temples like Tirumala can make steady returns selling the resulting carbon credits.
And India's faith-based organizations are also helping spread the gospel of green. The UK-based Alliance of Religions and Conservation, which works with the UN to involve religious groups in environmental outreach, is working on a conservation campaign in the holy city of Vrindavan, as well as pushing India's 28,000 Sikh temples to convert their kitchens to green technology. The combined potential of such efforts is limitless. India's religious groups have sizable incomes, own vast amounts of land, and have enormous influence on public opinion through their educational institutions. Indeed, with 99% of Indians professing to one faith or another, the country's green movement might not have a prayer without them. The Tirumala temple, in the south Indian city of Tirupathi, is one of Hinduism's holiest shrines. Over 5,000 pilgrims a day visit this... more -
U.S. Lifts Moratorium on New Solar Projects
Public pressure wins! Now it's time to build some solar plants.
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Toyota's Prius to Go Solar
Environmentalist's ride is set to get even greener - Toyota revealed that they are developing a new version of their hybrid car, the Prius, with a solar-panelled roof.
The solar panels aren't set to power the car itself however - instead, they'll be used to power the air-conditioning. Environmentalist's ride is set to get even greener - Toyota revealed that they are developing a new version of their hybrid car, the P... more -
Solar panel'd Prius in 2009
Toyota plans to install solar panels on its next-generation Prius hybrid cars, becoming the first major automaker to use solar power for a vehicle. Toyota would equip solar panels on the roof of the high-end version of the Prius when it redesigns the gasoline-electric hybrid car early next year, and the power generated by the system would be used for the air conditioning.
Hopefully they plan on expanding the solar panels to power the whole car. Its a start, right? Toyota plans to install solar panels on its next-generation Prius hybrid cars, becoming the first major automaker to use solar power f... more -
Solar powered golf carts
"Smart Energy Stuff offers a variety of solar-powered golf carts, from $6,000 to $9,000. The costs are on par with those of regular electric-powered golf carts, but they come with the added sweetener of one-time state and federal tax credits of up to $990.
"Things are tight," said Njoku, a Nigerian-born New York City transplant who has lived in Fayetteville with his wife for the past three years, "and tight people are holding onto their money. What we're trying to do is give them products that will save them money and also be very green."
Smart Energy Stuff sells other solar-powered products, such as a sun-powered water heater, electric panels and outdoor lights.
A self-professed "solar geek," Njoku said he is a civil engineer and architect by trade with a natural affinity for cars and all things solar."
Just saw this and I think it's great! "Smart Energy Stuff offers a variety of solar-powered golf carts, from $6,000 to $9,000. The costs are on par with those of regular el... more -
Solar not "clean coal"
My view on clean coal not being safe and to reiterate that if we truly want to bring ourselves into the 21st century, solar power is the answer. My view on clean coal not being safe and to reiterate that if we truly want to bring ourselves into the 21st century, solar power is t... more
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McCain's latest ad obscures his record on voting against clean energy
This ad is as phony as his photo-op earlier this year. McCain has repeatedly opposed a renewable electricity standard that would have set a minimum requirement for utilities to generate part of their power from sources like wind.
Check out the link for more ammo on McCain's energy record -- he consistently votes AGAINST renewable energy like solar and wind.
"The real 'purpose' of John McCain's ad is to rewrite the history of how he has repeatedly stood in the way of responsible efforts to make America less dependent on foreign oil and create green jobs," said DNC Communications Director Karen Finney. "In his 25 years in Washington, Senator McCain has been a part of the problem, not the solution on energy independence." This ad is as phony as his photo-op earlier this year. McCain has repeatedly opposed a renewable electricity standard that would have ... more
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