Teach Me Solar!

Solar Powered Christmas Lights

theken2k — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 15:29:43 +0000

When I attended my Boots on the Roof training on Solar Photovoltaic systems we were taught how to do energy assessments to see how much power the home owner users. Based on the information gleaned from the assessment an appropriate solar system is then designed to fit the users consumption needs. The easiest way to determine this is to look at their power bill for the last year. The last few years would be even better!

Obviously there is more power consumed during the summer months where air conditioning is being used to beat the heat. But for most solar assessors it can be easy to see what religion the potential customer is by their consumption in December. Christians who celebrate Christmas by adorning their homes with holiday lights often use just as much energy in December as they do in the dog days of summer.

So if you do celebrate the holidays by decorating your house with lights, using solar powered lighting systems can be a way to generate significant financial savings during a time of the year when you really do want to spend money on other things.

I did a cursory Google search and came up with some relevant websites for your solar holiday lighting needs:

You can also go to Amazon.com for more detailed consumer reviews on the different holiday lighting products available.

Germany generates more power via solar than the Fukushima complex in Japan

theken2k — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:29:07 +0000

Interesting article on how Germany generates more power via Solar than what was being generated by the Fukushima Nuclear complex.

STILL NUCLEAR POWER, BUT THE REACTOR IS 93 MILLION MILES AWAY

Germany’s solar panels produce more power than Japan’s entire Fukushima complex

This article is good for thinking about possibilities of solar power. But do keep in mind that we’re talking about the entirety of Germany’s Solar infrastructure in relation to one Japanese nuclear plant. Also, Japan is an island nation with a land mass smaller than Germany.

From what I’m learning about solar, I believe it is to be way we’ll be powering our technology for the rest of our lives. But that does not mean it will be easy to implement and will have limitations.

For more information on how to donate to the Red Cross Click Here

Samsung Unveils Solar-Powered Zero Energy Transparent TV

theken2k — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:27:31 +0000

As a home theater enthusiast I just find this to be so cool.

100% Renewable Energy by 2030. A study in feasibility.

theken2k — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 23:11:50 +0000

In the last post we talked about how New York City doubled it’s photovoltaic power generation last year. However, the 8.5 megawatts being generated only supplies .01% of the power required by the Big Apple. So how much infrastructure would it take realistically to power our world with 100% renewable resources. According to a study published on ScienceDirect it would require:

3,800,000 5 MW wind turbines

49,000 300 MW concentrated solar plants

40,000 300 MW solar PV power plants

1.7 billion 3 kW rooftop PV systems

5350 100 MW geothermal power plants

270 new 1300 MW hydroelectric power plants

720,000 0.75 MW wave devices

490,000 1 MW tidal turbines

That is a very tall order. This makes me think of how 100 years ago 60% of the US workforce was dedicated to agriculture. In order to meet this goal, it’s going to require an enormous diversion of human resources. Perhaps the implementation and ongoing maintenance of this infrastructure will be the impetus that will eventually make green technology a large and thriving industry for the 21st century.

Why Solar?

theken2k — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 19:56:12 +0000

One thing I do find very interesting about solar is what feels like it’s inevitability. There’s a movie out there called Collapse (available for streaming on Netflix). The film’s subject spends it’s 80 minute length detailing the end of our society as we know it. Be warned, for it is quite a dire piece. However, when he breaks down how the different green efforts of today won’t help tomorrow, his take on solar just isn’t that terrifying. He states that there would be an immediate benefit but the problem would be that said benefit would be highly localized to the solar plant generating the energy. Anything long distance, requiring high tension wires or copper cabling would be too resource intensive to make it worth while.

He does not address the great many homes and business currently harvesting their own energy on their own rooftops. And that number seems to be on track for exponential growth. According to this Con Edison press release, New York (including West Chester county to the north) has more than doubled the amount of photovoltaic-generated electricity on its system. That’s 8.5 megawatts in 2010 compared to 2009′s 4 megawatts.

Sometimes optimism is hard to find but I find it hard to not be optimistic about generating society saving power via solar.

What do I need to know?

theken2k — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 22:52:55 +0000

The green movement first caught my attention back in 2007. I joined several meetup groups and networked with whoever would have me. In the end, I had to agree with a scientist I was speaking with who described the overall movement as having a bake sale mentality. Real change needs to be implemented and handing out flyers or raising “hundreds of dollars” selling hemp handbags at flea markets isn’t being as impactful at all.
Then Obama got into office, citing renewable energy as a critical part of his platform. Green collar jobs by the millions are promised and I revisit my interest in renewable energy. I looked at several aspects of green tech but it’s my interest is space science that is what draws me to solar tech. So here I am. A Wall Street refugee who wants to learn more about photovoltaic (I even know how to properly pronounce it – PHOTO-VOL-TAY-IC). I want to know what’s important in the day to day of the Solar industry.

Years back, when I was new to IT I took my first job at a local Internet service provider. My first week was dedicated to training. A nice young man talked of basic UNIX commands, global network topographies, and the company’s place in the market. The following week I was taking live calls. Although I did get some use out of the training, I would say that 70% of the calls I took were users asking how to connect their computers using Windows95. Something that was never touched on in training.

So I guess my first question is what’s is most critical in the solar industry? Is there a Dow Jones type indicator for the photovoltaic market? What commonalities do both senior engineers and boots on the roof installers share?