Ecos PowerCube® - world’s mobile, solar-powered generator for military and di... Ecos PowerCube® Ecos PowerCube® is the world’s largest, mobile, solar-powered generator. It runs on high power photovoltaic panels that extend from its container combined with an easy to set up wind turbine. Energy is stored in onboard batteries. Self-Sustaining As a self-contained, self-sustaining power station, PowerCube® is uniquely suited to support military and disaster relief efforts, and being housed in a standard shipping container makes it easy to transport via land, air, or sea. On Location Once it arrives on location, PowerCube® can be deployed immediately to generate up to 15KW of electricity. Onboard Systems The electricity generated can be used to power various onboard systems, including communication systems, water treatment systems as well as water distribution systems and much more.
How Rollover Solar Credits Make A Difference In California California’s solar rollover-credit program is creating quite a buzz across California. More commonly know as “net energy metering,” the solar rollover-credit program is helping Californians install solar on their homes and businesses as part of the state’s transition from dirty fuel sources to a more vibrant, clean-energy economy. The solar credit program benefits all Californians, both environmentally and economically. The program works like cellphone rollover credits for your electric bill. If you have solar panels on your roof and produce more energy than you use, you receive a credit. This credit is used to offset your energy bills for the times during the week (nighttime) when your panels aren’t generating electricity. By reducing the need for natural gas, solar net- metering programs also help clean up our air. image via Shutterstock While rooftop solar is great for our health, it also benefits the state’s economy. The most prominent benefit of rooftop solar is the jobs created.
This affordable housing complex has a solar farm on its roof In a city dotted with cranes and shiny high-rise residences, it’s easy to miss the Holiday Apartments. Located on a busy street in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, the blue-green building has a simple, rectangular design. It’s only three stories high and has a modest 30 units. A clock with a sunburst design, located on the building’s side, provides a touch of pop — and hints at the building’s cool secret: There’s a solar farm on its roof. These days, a rooftop solar array may not sound like a big surprise, even in rainy Seattle. The solar sector in particular is going off. All these projects turning sunlight into electricity will make money, by selling said electricity, collecting government incentives, or both. Clean energy on the grid is good for everyone — because, you know, climate change — but the rewards are not evenly distributed. That’s a problem. The solar farm atop the Holiday Apartments is an attempt to address this very dilemma. What gives?
A solar future isn't just likely — it's inevitable I plan to write a great deal about the short-term prospects for clean energy, both economic and political, but I want to begin life here at Vox with an imaginative exercise, a bit of musing about what energy might look like in the future — not 10 or 20 years from now, but 50, 70, even 100 years ahead. Obviously, predicting the far future is a mug's game if you take it too seriously. This post is more about storytelling, a way of seeing the present through a different lens, than pure prognostication. Here it is: solar photovoltaic (PV) power is eventually going to dominate global energy. The main reason is pretty simple: solar PV is different from every other source of electricity, in ways that make it uniquely well-suited to 21st-century needs. Solar PV is different from other electricity sources — in one crucial way A worker cleans the panels in a solar power park run by the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE). This difference sounds technical, but it is enormously consequential.
Google's making it easy for you to get solar panels onto your roof Adding solar panels to your roof can be frustrating, since it's often difficult to know if your home receives enough light to justify the investment. Google Maps, however, has satellite, navigation and sunlight data for every property in the world, so it's ideally placed to tell you how many rays hit your crib on a daily basis. That's why the firm is launching Sunroof, a database of how much solar energy hits each building in a city, helping people work out if it's worth the effort. Sunroof is intended as a "treasure map" for future green energy projects, telling you how much of a saving you'd make and how long it'd take to make back your initial outlay. To begin with, Project Sunroof will only be available in three locations: Boston, San Francisco and Fresno. If it turns out to be successful, however, then Google will roll the service out to the rest of the country and, possibly, the world.
Fact Check: How Much Water Does Solar Power Really Use? | Solar | Rewire There's an infographic going around lately that claims to show the relative amounts of water used by four different sources of electrical power: coal, nuclear, natural gas and solar. The graphic claims that solar comes out the clear winner in terms of water conservation, using no water at all to generate power. But is the claim correct? Not quite. The graphic, produced by the "Climate Reality Project," is making the rounds of social media. On Facebook, the graphic's creators share the news breathlessly, saying "Whoa - you probably know that solar power plants produce electricity without producing carbon pollution, but did you all realize they also save so much water? Here's the infographic in full: A few things jump out at us in looking at this graphic. First, we have no idea who actually did the work of compiling the figures. Without any indication of what assumptions went into calculating those figures in the graphic, it's hard to gauge their accuracy. Close enough to zero?
Overhanging Solar Panels - Bullitt Center The photovoltaic array spreads out like the canopy of a tree to capture solar power for the building.230,000 kilowatt hours per year is the expected total energy generation by on-site photovoltaic array.There are 575 solar panels in the Bullitt’s array. A Living Building must generate as much electricity as it uses on site. In Seattle, this problem is a two-sided equation in which production must be maximized and usage must be minimized, so that production equals consumption over the course of a year. In thinking about the way the site was once energized by the solar power when it was a Douglas fir forest, the designers placed a large canopy of solar panels on top of the building. The 14,000 square foot array, comprised of 575 individual panels, is fastened to a steel substructure that parallels the western slope of the site. Normally panels are set to face south, at the angle of the latitude so that they can collect sun in the winter.
Using Solar Energy to Improve Desalination Process A new process to decompose waste desalination brine using solar energy, which neutralises ocean acidity and reduces environmental impact, has been proposed by an Aston University (UK) academic. Although turning salty ocean water into fresh water is important to benefit poverty-stricken populations, desalination has a very damaging ecological footprint. Many environmental advocates see it as a last resort for retrieving fresh water, but fast growing populations mean it is becoming the only viable option. The amount of fresh water produced by desalination is predicted to double within the next decade to meet global demand. Dr Philip Davies, of Aston's School of Engineering and Applied Science, has devised a system using solar energy that could allow desalination plants to act as a sink, rather than a source of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and help to neutralise ocean acidity.
2015 Northwest Solar Summit | October 9 & 10 The 2015 Washington State Solar Summit The Future of Solar in Washington State: Caution: Curves Ahead Click here to register as an attendee Click here to learn about becoming a sponsor or exhibitor Solar industry personnel kept a close watch on the 2015 legislative session which resulted in the continuation of the status quo. A lot may happen beginning in January 2016 with the forthcoming short legislative session. Click here to review the 2015 Washington Solar Summit Agenda
Solar Energy FAQ These FAQs are not a technical guide for design or installation. For design or installation assistance we recommend that you contact an engineer, designer or contractor with solar electric experience. A solar electric system can be a substantial investment and careful planning will help ensure that you make the right decisions. Are you thinking of buying a solar electric system for your home or business? More City Light customers are showing interest in solar electric systems for their homes and businesses. Why should I buy a solar electric system? Benefits of solar electricity: No fuel (no price risk) No water No noise High reliability Low maintenance Long life Modular and expandable Short lead times What equipment is needed? Commonly used components are described below. The basic building block of solar electric generation is the solar "cell." In addition to solar modules (not shown), a solar inverter, solar meter and AC & DC disconnect switches complete this solar electric system.
America Will Add 1 Gigawatt of Solar Every Month The solar rush in America is on. With every company moving as quickly as possible to finish projects before federal tax credits get slashed at the end of 2016, U.S. installation figures aren't going anywhere but up -- at least for the next year and a half. Yet again, the latest quarterly figures from GTM Research and SEIA show unabated growth for utility-scale and small-scale PV projects. Residential deployment in the second quarter was up 70 percent over last year. Those are the conventional ways to think about the numbers. 1 gigawatt per month Over the next 18 months, GTM Research expects the solar industry to complete 18 gigawatts of new projects. Three-quarters of capacity In the first half of 2015, three-quarters of all new electric generating capacity came from solar and wind. 40 percent competitive with natural gas More than 6 gigawatts of utility-scale contracts have been signed outside of state-level renewable mandates. Solar owners make up a large city 10 for 10