All The Reasons To Get Solar Lights Today

Besides being ornamental, solar lights can serve as your main source of out door light during the night hours. If placed properly they may be able to run for at least eight hours on a single charge. Since they are powered by the sun they require little installation time or maintenance. The primary requirement is that they be placed is full sun during the day for maximum charge at night.Though we have come a long way in solar power, these lights still do best in outdoor settings. The exception to this may be if you have a room with a light of constant sunlight during the day. Lights powered by solar energy for indoor use still tend to be expensive and impractical.
Outdoors you couldn't ask for a better product. I love having them just for safety purposes. They save spot lights that have motion sensors and they are great. Mine is nice and bright enough to scare away intruders if needed. Since they only come on when triggered then conserve energy for when they are needed. You can also see well enough to know if there is an actual threat of just a stray animal in your yard.They also serve as path lights. These are not quiet as bright and you may need several to light China Solar Mp3 player and charger Suppliers path and they are usually low to the ground. These make for nice accents in your garden as well. They can prevent trips and falls and also allow you to see where you are going. These again may be enough to keep away potential prowlers or attackers.
The deck and porch lights are nice to have. Some of these come with motion sensors to conserve energy as well. These come with a mounting kit for a wall or porch or some have a wedge design for tight areas. They can be wonderful for finding your keys and with the easy set up installation won't be a problem.They also have path lights that are higher off the ground than the traditional path lights. These often come on poles that are made to look like lamp posts. These come in a variety of styles to compliment your yard, garden, and home. They are very ornamental while still providing the light you need.My mother bought some garden gnomes and a bird feeder that has solar lights in them. These are really cute but they don't provide much China Solar laptop charger Suppliers. These are usually just for ornamental purposes and if you want light to see by then you should go with one of the others.One of the best benefits of solar power is that you can easily move the lights from one location to another. As long as they are in full sun during the day then they will work fine at night. This is wonderful for me because I am always deciding I want them somewhere else.Solar lights may also be of huge benefit if you live in an area where you lose power often. Consider buying some of these lights today and experience the benefits for yourself.

Solar farm proposal doesn't sit well with property owner

A proposal to construct a 5-mega-watt solar plant at 273 W. Gibbons Ave. in southeast Porterville will have to wait due to one property owner's objection.Jerry Evans, son of Porterville resident Juanita Baldo, told the Tulare County Planning Commission that if the project was approved as proposed, it would wipe out a water well used to irrigate two acres of orange trees on his mother's property.The project is being proposed by ImModo Solar, a Spanish-owned renewable energy firm that plans to develop a dozen other solar plants in Tulare County within the next year, including a 4.6-megawatt plant on the west side of North Main Street, between North Grand and Linda Vista avenues"Have you considered the loss of the water to water the orange groves?" Evans asked commissioners at their regular meeting Dec. 12. "She depends on that income on an annual basis. It's not a lot, but it is enough to sustain her."
Evans said project applicants do not have legal access to the property. He explained that his mother granted access to her step children, who sold the grove (minus the two acres) to a buyer who agreed to water his mother's trees in exchange for granting him access for Baird-Neece Packing Corporation to harvest his fruit. The two-acre harvest yields anywhere from $3,500 to $4,000 annually for Baldo, Evans said.He told commissioners that the blight on the property was also of concern."As much as we appreciate the fact that the Walmart Distribution Center, which was approved and put across the street from the property years ago, has increased jobs in Porterville, I can tell you these bloodshot eyes are not from drinking last night," Evans said. "Adding to that, with this construction back here and her bedroom window, which is on the second floor facing south, as opposed to getting up and looking out at trees she will be looking at steel, concrete, fiber glass, whatever else these panels are made of."
Evans said Baldo was willing to sit down and talk about the possible loss of income."We're open to negotiation, but if it is approved, our position is that we're not going, we'll put up a locked gate," he said.Don Watson, vice president of ImModo Solar, said at the meeting that his firm was not aware of any access issues."That's new information to us. We understood that property put for sale has to have legal access. We will certainly look into that," Watson told commissioners.He went on to say that the company "certainly and absolutely" wants to keep the well productive and would have his farm manager talk to neighbors in the area to see if they could have a productive use for the well."We were going to be contacting neighbors a little bit later, that's what we're doing on our other properties, too," he said. "We want to be good neighbors for the long term."

Car wash owner sees payback from solar technology

A Vermilion County business owner is adding solar technology to the Super Wash car washes in Tilton, Catlin and Georgetown.Richard Nevels, the Super Wash franchisee for those locations, is adding a solar voltaic system to the Tilton car wash and installing solar voltaic and solar thermal systems to the Catlin and Georgetown locations.When completed early next year, the solar thermal systems will heat the floors, heat the soap and polish and keep the overhead hose and rail from freezing up, he said.The solar voltaic systems will collect solar energy that will be fed to the Ameren Illinois network, cutting Nevels' bills from Ameren.Nevels figures the systems will trim 40 percent to 50 percent of his utility costs."My payback will be four to five years on the investment. From then on, it will be savings," China Lighting Africa Offers said.
Nevels embarked on the projects after winning federal and state grants totaling about $100,000.One grant came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Energy for America Program; the other, from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.He also expects to get a $50,000 federal tax credit for the project. So his own investment in the approximately $200,000 project will end up being about $50,000, he said.This is the second time Nevels has embarked on a solar project. The first came in 2010 when he installed a solar thermal system in the newly built Tilton car wash."We were probably the first car wash in the Midwest to use solar technology to do that," said Nevels. "We had such favorable results that we started investigating retrofitting our older car washes in Georgetown and Catlin."
China Solar Light Suppliers and his wife Shannon had acquired those in 2007.The general contractor for the current project is 360 Sun Solutions of Fort Wayne, Ind. That company will install the solar thermal systems, and a contractor from Indianapolis, Alternate Source, is expected to install the solar voltaic system."The whole project should be completed in less than a month," Nevels said.Nevels said the Super Wash chain, which has about 400 car washes across the United States, "is looking carefully at what's happening with me.""Everyone is excited about the early returns," he said, adding that if the project is successful, similar installations might be done at as many as 100 other car washes.Nevels said because commercial car washes have drains, they stand to have a smaller impact on the environment than the washing of cars in driveways. He figures the addition of solar technology will further reduce Super Wash's carbon footprint."It's not just good for business, it's good for the environment, and at some point, it will make good economic sense, too," he said.

Light Up Your Life With Solar Garden Lamps

Solar garden lamps are the best and cheapest way to light up the exteriors of your house and beautify them. Solar garden lighting not only is trendy, but also has numerous functional benefits. Some of them are listed below:Beauty: Garden lighting certainly adds beauty to you house and its surroundings. The moment the sun sets, the lights go on and your house begins to glow like a pearl. You can light up almost everything. You can light up the deck with solar patio lights. It gives a beautiful view while you stroll in the garden. You can also use a solar fountain in the garden and fix solar lights around it. The benefits of using solar lights in place of the usual lights are that they are considerably cheaper. You have absolutely no electricity bills or maintenance costs.The beautification is perpetually sponsored by the nature itself!
Lifestyle: After coming back from work, you have little to do in the evening. Maybe your evenings are boring because you are within the confines of a building during the entire day. When you come back, you still are indoors. With solar garden lamps, you can light up your garden and, in turn, your life. A well-lit garden can support numerous activities. For instance, you can build a shed in the garden, light it up using a solar shed light, and then call your friends, neighbours, and family for an evening get together. You can even start your activity club about what you are passionate. Let's say music, you can launch a band along with your friends in your beautiful garden, which practices in the midst of nature. Or you can simply put up a reclining chair, open your favourite book and read it, with the birds chirping and cool breeze blowing around you. Your daily life can be a lot better than you imagine. This will also keep you rejuvenated at work and lead to better performance. Solar garden lighting can also help you create a small play area for your kids.
Safety: A house well-lit up with solar garden lamps is last on the list of thieves. They do not want to be zeroed in on by the home owner, neighbours, or police robbing in, what can almost be called, broad daylight. The solar security lights can be put in strategic locations to prevent thieves from taking advantage of the dark and breaking in your house.Avoid Accidents: Having a well-lit up house can also help avoid a number of accidents. Let's say you park your car in your house. So when you move it into the house, sometimes because of the dark surroundings, you may not be able to see an object clearly and might end up damaging your car. Such accidents are a common household occurrence and cost a lot in the form of increased insurance premiums. All you need to do is put up some solar garden lamps, light up your house, and forget about any bills. It will also reduce your insurance premium.Ecofriendly: The best part is that in the process of lighting up your house, you are not destroying the bigger house that we all stay in, the world. Solar garden lamps use solar energy that is sustainable and ecofriendly. You do not always have to spend too much money to go green. Small initiatives can work wonders!

Homeowners get lit up to see in Christmas

The question Bronwyn Walker most often gets asked is where she hangs her washing.With the clothesline swathed in lights and dripping with icicles there doesn't appear to be much room for anything else.However, the washing is still getting done at her Annesbrook Dr home where about 100,000 lights illuminate the house and garden."It looks like the clothesline is all covered in lights but there is still room on the inside lines for the washing," she said.She and partner Dick Fleming and China Solar bag Offers began putting up the lights at the start of November and flicked the switch on December 9.This year Ms Walker has spent another $1000 on LED lights to add an extra brightness.Three arches span the garden, and her favourite is the blue and white area.She overheard one man telling new arrivals that they might need sunglasses.
Her peony bushes are lit up with solar lights, on the bank there's Santa and his sleigh with three reindeer in red and white, and the nativity scene has been re-done after rats chewed through it in storage earlier in the year.In Tory St, Nelson, Terry Sutton, who previously worked as a television broadcasting electronic engineer, has a 24-minute sequence of nine Christmas songs matched to his light show.The music plays softly for onlookers standing to watch, and those who pull up in their car can tune to 87.9 LPFM to hear songs such as the Christmas Can-Can and Blessed is the Child. The audience favourite is the 1953 song I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.This year Mr Sutton has added an extra 8000 lights, bringing the total to 40,000. It's a project he has worked on since March getting all the hardware behind the scenes to work and it takes between 100 and 150 hours to sequence each scene.
Mr Sutton just likes that others enjoy his China Remote Controlled LED Offers."You've got to celebrate Christmas, that's what it's all about," he said.Seventeen houses are entered in the Harcourts Light Up Nelson contest, with public online voting closing midnight tomorrow and the winners will be announced on Friday.The Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems has been selected to receive project funding from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SunShot Initiative, a collaborative national effort to make solar energy cost-competitive with other forms of energy by the end of the decade.The center's 5-year, $11.7 million research project focuses on the development of "plug and play" solar photovoltaic (PV) systems that can be purchased, installed, and connected by homeowners without the need to engage outside consultants or contractors.

Significantly Reduce Energy Consumption With Commercial LED Lighting

Businesses are one of the top consumers of energy in our society. Entire office building can use a lot of electricity specifically in their lighting. This is unavoidable since offices need light so that their employees can work effectively. It is impossible for office workers to go about doing their jobs when they cannot see clearly due to the lack of proper lighting. Even during the day, offices have the lights turned on and as a result of this commercial offices have extremely high electricity bills. In this tough economy, the rising cost of running a business can really put a strain to any business owner. Any kind of business will surely benefit if they are able to significantly lower their electricity bills. The amount of money that they save on electricity may be utilized in other aspects of the business.
On average, the lighting cost of a commercial office makes up 40 percent of the total electricity bill. The use of lighting may be unavoidable in the commercial setting but the cost can be greatly reduced with the use of commercial LED lighting. The lighting cost of a commercial office can be reduced by as much as 60 to 80 percent just by the simple act of replacing all their incandescent light bulbs with commercial LED lighting.Commercial LED lighting also creates brighter illumination than the regular light bulb so this means that fewer light bulbs may be used inside the office. There is no longer any need to turn on all the lights inside the office to properly illuminate the entire room. Commercial LED lighting is also known to be very durable and can last for as much as 50,000 hours. This means that they do not have to be replaced very often. The office management will also save a lot of money because they do not have to buy replacement bulbs that often if they use commercial LED lighting. The cost of buying commercial LED lighting may be a little steep but it can be considered as a long-term investment. In a year or so, the cost of buying the commercial LED lighting will be overshadowed by the amount of money that is saved on electricity bills.
Any business owner should also share in the responsibility of taking care of the environment. Using commercial LED lighting is a great way for businesses to do their share in saving the environment. Commercial LED lighting consumes less energy and it leaves a smaller carbon footprint. It is easy to find suppliers of LED lighting solutions today as this type of lighting product is getting more popular. There are many LED lighting companies and distributors in the market today offering great lighting solutions for brightening any home, office or environment.

The Opportunity In Utility-Scale Projects Despite Ongoing Risks

For over three months, First Solar (FSLR) has benefited from a lack of bad news. When FLSR announced on August 30th that it would halt deliveries of solar panels to its massive Agua Caliente project, the stock tanked 18.7% in one day, ending a sharp rally ignited by earnings on August 1st. Construction at Agua Caliente was way ahead of schedule and the palpable concern at the time was that FSLR had pulled forward a lot of panel demand from future years into 2012 to meet near-term revenue and earnings targets.When I wrote three weeks later that FSLR's rally was losing momentum, I figured that the stock would soon experience follow-through to that selling. It took another two weeks for the stock to trade back down to levels from August 30th, but the stock has yet to look back since.
Since the post-earnings break out in early August, the 50-day moving average (DMA) has held as solid support for China Solar chargers for Iphone Suppliers. For example, a post-earnings decline on November 2nd ended promptly at the 50DMA (an 8.9% loss on the day). FSLR's rally continued from there.The chart above shows that the 50-day moving average (DMA) has served FSLR well as support since the summer. When the stock broke above the 200DMA in mid-October, it was the first time FSLR had traded above that critical resistance since early 2011 when the stock was trading around $140. Although the stock is now barely trading at $30, it is breaking out in what has become a strong counter-trend rally.
First Solar bears finally started backing off First Solar in mid-August, likely contributing somewhat to the stock's steady push higher. However, the last time shares short dipped significantly in FSLR was in mid-February - that was the end of a short but strong rally that began at near four year lows in December 2011. Short interest in FSLR remains an incredibly lofty 51.5% of the float - a powder-keg waiting to explode one way or China Solar radio and charger Suppliers.In FSLR's 3Q12 10-Q, we find further evidence of system pricing trending <$2.00/W that suggests margins and EPS are headed lower. With $5.3b in revenue expected from its 1.4 GW-AC pipeline balance, we estimate 50% of the project MWs were sold <$2.00/W. With higher ASP projects likely to fall from ~50% of shipments in 2012 to 36% in 2013 and 21% in 2014, we expect gross margins to come under pressure and for FSLR to guide to a decline in EPS Y/Y in 2013. We lower our estimates accordingly and maintain our Sell.During the last earnings conference call, FSLR answered a pipeline-related question by stating that the company has recognized revenue on 626MW of its 3GW pipeline. I found it telling that no analyst directly asked about Agua Caliente. Instead, analysts were trying to get a handle on things like FSLR's international mix of business, competition, margins, and the bankability of the backlog.

Solar Startup Silevo Scales Up, Even as Others Shut Down

The global solar panel industry is struggling—major manufacturers have posted continued losses this quarter, mainly due to a saturated market that's left them unable to charge enough for their panels. But one startup, Fremont, California-based Silevo, is bucking the trend of plant closures and bankruptcies by planning to build a new factory next year.Silevo says the 200-megawatt factory will let it make solar panels at costs similar to those made by solar-panel manufacturers in China, even though those manufacturers have far larger, 1,000-megawatt factories and the economies of scale that go with that.Silevo has one key advantage—its solar panels produce significantly more power than conventional solar panels do. They generate roughly 30 percent more power than conventional ones, and hold up better at high temperatures, which could further increase their electricity production. The combination of low-cost manufacturing and high efficiency is why the company now has an order backlog of 270 megawatts, says Chris Beitel, Silevo's vice president of business development. The company currently produces solar panels at a small 32-megawatt factory in China, and says it hopes to close financing for the new plant early next year.
In the push to make solar competitive with fossil fuels, some startups are developing novel types of solar cells that promise higher efficiencies but also require new manufacturing methods.Silevo is taking an incremental approach, finding ways to improve conventional solar cells using manufacturing equipment already used in the solar industry, combined with equipment from other industries, such as flat-screen display manufacturing. Its founders come from Applied Materials, a large equipment supplier for the semiconductor, display, and solar industries. "We see ourselves as an evolutionary-type technology that can be put into mass production in a capital-efficient way in the near term," Beitel says. Companies that rely on new manufacturing techniques "need a lot of time, and a lot of capital to do that."
Silevo's cells begin as silicon wafers, as in conventional solar-cell manufacturing. To those wafers, Silevo adds a layer of metal oxide, a technique borrowed from the chip industry, and a layer of amorphous silicon, something borrowed from flat-panel displays. These layers help decrease the number of electrons that get trapped within a solar cell while increasing the cell voltage, boosting the total power output. Adapting technology developed at Applied Materials, the company also replaces the silver used to collect electricity from the solar panels with copper, which is about 70 percent cheaper.The efficiency improvements put Silevo's solar cells in the class of high-efficiency silicon solar cells, but the company says its process is simple enough that it will compete with middle-of-the-road-efficiency solar panels on cost. Because the panels are more efficient, fewer are needed for a given system, reducing installation costs.

Solar panel tree installations at California General Motors dealership

According to Solar Love, it reported on Dec. 1, 2012, that Envision Solar will install its first solar panel tree technology at a GM dealership in California.GM promotes its own renewable energy program in order to tone down the impression made with its own carbon footprint while maintaining a positive public image.Also, Envision Solar, the company that's installing the solar trees, will be further updating its product to make it be more easily installed. That being said, there will be no dealing with long delays in construction nor interruptions to the services where the solar equipment is being China Solar Light Offers. A typical installation of solar trees in even a complex environment can take just over four days.
Solar trees by definition are decorative means by which to provide solar power to an environment, but also have a functional and aesthetic appeal. So not only it's good as a sustainable source, but also as a sustainable design as well. Some actually appear like trees in the fact they can also serve as street lamps. It's laid out with a staggered, multiple-panel design.Envision Solar array products are ideal for a distinguished piece of property. The features the ability it provides like creating shade for vehicles, bringing down the carbon footprint while producing renewable energy, and moving forward the infrastructure for electric vehicles. "Additionally there is an accelerated depreciation program ... which makes it more attractive," Horrigan said. "Investors are very interested in that with the prices of installs coming down ... (and) the federal incentives there as well as state incentives for renewable development, it makes these solar projects viable.
"We can then take advantage of negotiating a rate that is beneficial to our customers and control those cost increases," he said. "We provide a revenue stream and our customers benefit and China Outdoor Offers are able to get their projects financed and get them developed."Horrigan added that "there is a whole area of environmental benefit," in terms of saving energy and accomplishing global warming-related initiatives. Horrigan said the way it works with large-scale solar installations is TMLP signs a 20- to 25- year contract with the business that owns the solar farm. Horrigan said it's also important to foster more solar energy because it can help ease strain on the power grid during peak summer hours.In addition to the large-scale solar projects that have sprouted up, there are many smaller commercial solar projects and residential solar fixtures that the TMLP has partnered with.The TMLP currently has 23 residential solar net metering projects in place, along with 10 small commercial systems, said Bill Strojny, an administrator for the utility company. The solar projects allow homes and businesses to be powered through solar energy, with any extra solar energy that is collected sold back to the TMLP.

BMW Unveils The FULL Details On Its i3 Concept Coupe

The study presented at the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show has been brought out in parallel to the ongoing development process for getting the first ever all-electric model from the BMW i brand ready for series production, and demonstrates the potential for conceivably extending the model range. The state-of-the-art, clean-cut and open design showcased by the BMW i3 Concept Coupe represents a pioneering form of urban mobility that makes sustainability awareness an intrinsic part of the premium profile. Beyond this, the three-door model employs the design idiom that has been created especially for the BMW i cars to convey an undeniable sense of dynamism and driving pleasure.
The carbon-fibre body's visual impact is largely shaped by the gracefully flowing coupe roof line and the fresh interpretation of the BMW i "stream flow" design that can be seen in the side window styling, and gives an instant impression of lightness, transparency and streamlined aerodynamic qualities. On the inside, the sense of spaciousness typical of the BMW i brand is combined with an exclusive lounge-style ambience in the two individual rear seats. The BMW i3 Concept Coupe furthermore assumes the title of the world's first fully networked electric vehicle. Thanks to the inclusion of innovative BMW ConnectedDrive functions that have been devised by BMW i for use in production vehicles, operation of the navigation system as well as the information transfer between the vehicle, the outside world and the driver's smartphone has been geared towards the specific requirements of e-mobility.
The BMW i3 Concept Coupe sharply focuses the spotlight on the dynamic performance that can be achieved with the purely electric version of the BMW eDrive technology. Like the BMW i3 Concept, the Coupe is also propelled by an electric motor developed by the BMW Group, which develops a maximum output of 125 kW/170 hp and peak torque of 250 Newton metres (184 lb-ft), and channels its instantaneous power delivery to the rear wheels via a single-speed transmission. The electric motor draws its energy from the lithium-ion storage cells under the floor. Positioning the battery units here has the effect of lowering the centre of gravity considerably, which further adds to the vehicle's sensationally agile handling.The LifeDrive concept for the BMW i vehicle architecture is instrumental in enabling a brand new vehicle character to be married so harmoniously with BMW eDrive, a technology that is already nearing production standard. The horizontally split construction consisting of two self-contained elements intrinsically focuses on the technical requirements of the electric drive train, and helps to produce a design concept, sense of spaciousness and driving experience that are unique to BMW i cars.

Harnessing Power By Funneling Solar Energy

The concept is a simple one, borrowing from some very elementary principles. For instance, everyone knows the best way to capture and contain the most of an element or substance is with a funnel. These cones make it easier to put oil in our cars or fill small glass shakers from a larger bag of sugar.Now, some MIT engineers have worked out a computational model which shows how solar energy can be more or less funneled before it's captured, ensuring an efficient and effective solar energy capturing mechanism.This new concept places highly specialized materials under "elastic strain," which allows the materials to first capture the China Solar laptop charger Suppliers and then collect it at the center.
"We're trying to use elastic strains to produce unprecedented properties," explains Ju Li, a professor at MIT and author of the paper which describes the research behind this solar funnel idea. This paper has been published in the journal Nature Photonics.The common funnel used in auto repair or food service works thanks to gravity: The conical tube gathers the material downward to a smaller, central hole, all while gravity guides it along its intended path.The solar funnel, on the other hand, works by electronic forces. As explained by the research authors, electrons and holes are guided to the center of the material under elastic strain by electronic forces. Though they refer to a funnel only as a metaphor, the resulting shape does resemble a household funnel.
To create this funnel, Li and team worked with a material which can be used to form a film only one molecule (or 6 angstroms) thick. This material, known as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), is also a natural semiconductor and can be used to make solar cells or integrated circuits.As it stands, silicon is often used to make solar cells. The problem with silicon cells, however, is the way in which the electron-hole pairs (called excitons) move within the material. These China Motion Sensor Lights Suppliers move randomly throughout the silicon once generated by photons, says Xiaofeng Qian, a postdoctoral student in MIT's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and co-author of the paper.In their computer model of the solar funnel process, the center of this MoS2 film is indented with a needle, placing it under elastic strain. When the material is placed under this strain, it undergoes a characteristic change, causing certain parts of the material to respond to different colors of light. These different colors of light are then gathered at the film's center, making it easier to collect.According to Li, this research is only possible thanks to the convergence of 4 trends in field of elastic strain engineering.

Trina Solar Shifts Strategy in Fight Against Low Prices

Trina Solar Ltd. (TSL), China's third- largest maker of solar panels, is shifting its focus to profitable orders and away from deals aimed primarily at gaining market share, in an effort to curtail "irrational" pricing."We see profitability as number one and the focus for now," Chief Financial Officer Terry Wang said during a conference call yesterday. "Market share is going to be secondary."Wang said the Changzhou, China-based company won't continue to cut prices to chase sales even with its factories running at half-speed. Overcapacity and a global supply glut have driven down the industry's average panel price by 21 percent in the past year, and Trina is among the first to take steps to impose a floor. Others may follow suit, said Mark Bachman, an analyst at Avian Securities Inc. in Boston.
"It's the first hint of rational behavior we've seen from a Chinese manufacturer," Bachman said yesterday in a telephone interview. "We could see more manufacturers wake up and follow Trina's lead." Trina reported third-quarter sales of $298 million, down 38 percent from a year earlier, according to a statement yesterday. Solar-panel shipments fell 9.2 percent from the prior quarter to 380 megawatts as the company opted to focus on profitable contracts. Shipments in the current quarter will be unchanged or will increase as much as 5.2 percent to 400 megawatts. The company said its panel price declined sequentially without giving the figure. That was due in part to "the irrational pricing practices by some competitors," Chief Executive Officer Gao Jifan said in the statement.
Solar panel prices are starting to rise. They averaged 79 cents a watt on Nov. 5, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, up from 67 cents on Sept. 24, the lowest since the London-based research company began tracking the market in November 2010. Trina may find it difficult to unilaterally hold its pricing ground, according to Gordon Johnson, an analyst with Axiom Capital Management in New York."The idea that somehow they're going to determine pricing is just funny," Johnson said in an interview. "They've said this before and they were wrong."It will be hard for the company to convince the rest of the industry to fall in line, he said."A cartel works when you have three or four guys," Johnson said. "When you have 50 guys, it doesn't work. Cartels don't work in oversupplied, commodity markets." Jinko, based in Jiangxi, China, shipped 280 megawatts of panels in the quarter, up 28 percent from a year earlier, while revenue fell 22 percent to 1.39 billion yuan ($223 million), according to a statement yesterday. It reported a net loss of 54.8 million yuan, compared with net income of 68.1 million yuan. Shipments in the current quarter will be 250 megawatts to 300 megawatts.

Issues at Rocky Mountain Innosphere hinted to Abound Solar's collapse

In the gleaming lobby of the new Rocky Mountain Innosphere building in Fort Collins, a large television tells you in real time how much electricity the solar panels outside are generating.Funded in part by the city of Fort Collins and CSU, the 2-year-old Innosphere is a place for Northern Colorado's best and brightest to collaborate and create, particularly in the fields of biotechnology and alternative energy. The building was designed as a showcase for that work, and the dozens of solar panels above the parking lot help drive the point home.
But while the television in the lobby at 320 E. Vine Drive will tell you how much power the panels are generating today, it won't tell you that the entire installation had to be ripped out and replaced after only a year. Why? Because the China Solar Chargers Wholesalers manufactured only 35 miles away by homegrown Abound Solar stopped working properly.Court records and federal filings show that faulty panels just like those installed at the Innosphere played a significant role in Abound's spectacular and ongoing collapse that's left thousands of creditors and hundreds of employees wondering what happened and American taxpayers out $70 million.
"That was the problem — unrealistic expectations for their product," said Jim Welch of Bella Solar, a leading installer of residential and commercial systems that is based in Louisville, Colo. "It had a lot of risk and it was the wrong technology."Abound spun out of Colorado State University in 2007 after university researchers developed a way to make a new type of solar panel. Instead of using an established technology, the researchers were making what are called thin-film panels, which could have been cheaper to manufacture.
Welch, who has decades of experience in solar panel installations, served as an unpaid consultant during Abound's early years. He said he repeatedly warned Abound executives about the challenges they faced.Other solar panel manufacturers faced the same problems when they got going in the 1980s, Welch said."It took them 20 years and half a billion dollars worth of investment before they came out with China Solar Mp3 player and charger Suppliers product," Welch said. "I said, ‘It's going to be very hard to meet your goals and have a commercially available product in a few years.' "Abound pushed ahead, drawing in about $200 million in private-sector investments. The company abandoned plans to build a massive manufacturing facility in Fort Collins and instead rented a building near Longmont, then pursued an even larger facility in Indiana.In late 2010, around the same time it was making and installing the faulty panels at the Innosphere in Fort Collins, Abound received a federal loan guarantee worth up to $400 million. Within months, however, the company alerted federal overseers that it was having problems making reliable panels.

The solar crescents continue to grow wider as the moon slowly moves away

This heralds the moment when the diamond ring is finally extinguished and the sun is fully obscured by the moon. Total eclipse begins. Simultaneously, the dark lunar shadow that has been growing in the west rushes in and engulfs everything. You are now standing in the shadow cast by themoon a quarter of a million miles away. The moon's inky disk set against the sun's pearly white corona appears like an eerie black hole in the sky.During the brief period of totality, the full extent of the sun's corona is displayed in all its glory. Take note of the solar prominences and the overall shape and size of the corona, which vary from eclipse to eclipse. Try to discern fine details in the corona's structure — such as long wispy streamers as well as delicate brushes, loops and arcs — which are delineated by the sun's powerful magnetic field.
The daytime darkness during totality doesn't really get as black as at night. It resembles more of a deep twilight. While the sky surrounding the eclipsed sun is dark, all along the horizon the sky remains bright, bathed in a vivid yellowish orange glow. It's like being surrounded by a 360-degree sunset.The brightest planets and stars typically come out in the minutes leading to totality and remain visible throughout the total eclipse. On Nov. 14, Venus should be fairly easy to spot west of the eclipsed sun. Mercury to the east and Saturn in between Venus and the eclipsed sun might be more challenging.Keen-eyed observers can also try to glimpse the stars Arcturus to the north and Alpha Centauri to the south.
If you have a thermometer in the shade, you can measure how much the  temperature has decreased since first contact. Depending on the duration of totality and how high the sun is in the sky, the air temperature can dip by as much as 2 to 8 degrees Celsius (4 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit).You'll know that the show is almost over when the western side of the corona begins to brighten, and the chromosphere and prominences become visible again.After a few minutes of totality, as the moon begins to uncover the sun, observers will see a single bead of sunlight burst forth in slow motion from behind a deep lunar valley, forming a magnificent diamond ring. The total eclipse is over, and another round of loud cheering and applause erupts from the crowd.
Over the next hour, the various stages of the eclipse repeat themselves, this time in reverse order and on the western side of the sun. The moon's shadow races to the east as Baily's beads reappear. The corona as well as the planets and stars fade from view.Daylight returns very quickly, as if somebody had turned off the celestial dimmer switch. As the razor-thin sliver of the sun grows larger, shadow bands briefly come into view. Everything goes back to normal, including plants, animals and humans. The solar crescents continue to grow wider as the moon slowly moves away from the sun's disk.

Abengoa Begins Construction On 150 MW Concentrating Solar Power Plants

Abengoa has started construction on South Africa's first two utility-scale concentrating solar power (CSP) plants, to be equipped with the latest technology designed specifically to meet domestic operating conditions and power needs. Both the Khi Solar One and KaXu Solar One CSP plants will be able to store solar-generated energy and generate power after sunset, as well as employ advanced dry cooling technology to significantly reduce water consumption.Khi Solar One is a 50 megawatt (MW) concentrating solar power tower, while the 100 MW KaXu Solar One is based on solar parabolic trough technology. Abengoa on Nov. 6 signed long-term power purchase agreements with South Africa's state-owned power utility Eskom, and also concluded project finance agreements with a group of South African and international financial institutions, according to a company press release.
South Africa has set ambitious targets for Best Custom Lighting Africa and renewable energy growth as part of a broader sustainable development strategy. The SA Dept. of Energy expects to bring 17,800 MW of renewable energy online by 2030. SA's Energy Minister recently announced approval of $5.4 billion for 28 solar, wind, and geothermal energy projects that are to add 1.4 gigawatts (GW) of clean, renewable power to the nation's grid.Partnering with Abengoa on the CSP projects is state-owned development finance institution Industrial Development Corp. (IDC). With a 51% equity stake in Khi Solar One and KaXu Solar One, Abengoa is building and will operate the plants. IDC holds a 29% equity interest, and domestic Black Economic Empowerment program owns the remaining 29%.
Aiming to minimize water use, both CSP plants will employ advanced dry cooling technology, which Abengoa says reduces water consumption by around 2/3 compared to other CSP plants (historically, one of CSP's weaknesses compared to solar PV and wind power). The plants will also include energy storage capacity — about two hours' worth for China Portable Exporters and three hours for KaXu — which means Eskom will have greater flexibility and control over their power supplies, including being able to draw on and dispatch power from the plants to meet intermittent power demand after sunset.US development finance institutions Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC) on Sept. 17 announced it has approved up to $250 million in financing that will enable US-based solar photovoltaic (PV) cell and module manufacturer MEMC Electronic Materials and its solar installation and project development subsidiary SunEdison to build and operate a 60 MW solar PV facility in South Africa's Free State.

Ghana Seeks $1 Billion for Renewable-Energy Resources

Ghana is seeking investment of as much as $1 billion to develop renewable-energy resources over the next eight years, according to the Energy Ministry."Policies are in place to exploit the country's energy potential in solar, biomass, wind, as well as mini-hydro," Seth Mahu, deputy director at the ministry, said in an interview in the capital, Accra, on Nov. 2. "We are looking at both Ghanaian and non-Ghanaian private-sector operators partnering government to develop these resources."Ghana, which has the second-biggest economy in West Africa, has experienced more than three months of electricity cuts after a natural-gas pipeline off the coast of Togo was damaged by a ship. The pipe supplies gas for power from Nigeria to Benin, Togo and Ghana and the outage is expected to continue until December, according to the West African Gas Pipeline Co.
The renewable-energy investments will add 500 megawatts of power to the nation's capacity and help expand electricity provision to all parts of the country, "especially in isolated areas," said Mahu.The country's current 2,443-megawatt capacity reaches 72 percent of the population, according to figures from the ministry. The failure on the gas pipeline curbed power supplies by about 300 megawatts, Energy Minister Joe Oteng-Adjei said in September. President John Dramani Mahama, who is vying to win a second term in office for his ruling National Democratic Congress party in an election next month, pledged electricity for the whole country by 2016. Both Mahama and his main opponent, Nana Akufo- Addo of the New Patriotic Party, promised to boost production to 5,000 megawatts.
Ghana has almost 10,000 solar-panel installations in communities that don't have access to the national power grid, Edward Bawa, a spokesman for the ministry, said yesterday. "We are doing a test run of wind-energy installations in the Central region," he said, referring to the southern area that borders the capital city region.A hydroelectric plant on a dam at Bui, in the central-west Brong Ahafo region, is expected to add 400 megawatts of power in the first quarter of 2013, said Mahu. Ghana derives 1,180 megawatts from two hydro plants on the Volta River in eastern Ghana, including Akosombo, which was opened in 1965 by the country's first president, Kwame Nkrumah.Ghana is developing its own natural-gas reserves and will supply 150 million standard cubic feet each day for thermal power generation, Mahu said."This will provide cheaper fuel for energy generation from December," George Sipa Yankey, head of the Ghana National Gas Co., said.

Solar cells provide mobile electrical power for defense and commercial applications

MGLTs revolutionary thin-film solar panels capture a larger section of the light spectrum from the sun using relatively inexpensive materials like flexible substrates and various coatings. Perhaps this is one of several reasons why MGLT has a long and prosperous history of collaborating with the federal government. Earlier this month, MGLT received a $750,000 Phase II award from the United States Air Force as part of the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. The goal of this two-year program is to develop ultra-high efficiency, thin-film solar cells that provide mobile electrical power for defense and commercial applications in space as well as on the ground. The work on this contract complements the work on high-efficiency solar cells previously funded by the Air Force and announced in November 2011.
Dr. Ashok K. Sood, President and CEO of Best Custom Solar laptop charger, stated, "We are working to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic devices via novel materials combined with innovative device designs. Quantum dot structures with excellent structural and optical properties were demonstrated during the Phase I program and are intended to be incorporated into advanced photovoltaic devices during the Phase II effort. These structures have the potential to enable photovoltaic devices to reach new levels of performance for power output efficiency."Current approaches are reaching practical limits due to the complex design and hefty cost of multi-junction solar devices. With that shot in the proverbial arm from the U.S. Air Force, MGLTs developing nanostructured solar cells have the potential to deliver ultra-high efficiencies in single-junction devices -- efficiencies that can potentially approach 50 percent in un-concentrated sunlight. This would mean a less complex, more efficient and ultimately cheaper source of energy for China Remote Controlled LED Offers.
"This means devotion to solar with heart and soul, providing assurance for solar energy technology and being able to lead others in offering the most satisfying service to customers in the market. Katavi district council can testify this," says Mmasi. In Mpanda alone, says Mmasi, his company has already provided 98 kilowatt hour power in different schools, dispensaries and in some residential houses.Under a new agreement to be signed soon between Katavi District Council and Baraka Solar specialist, more schools and council's offices will be installed with solar power. Called Service Level/ Warrant Agreement, Baraka Solar specialist is set to take care of all solar panels installed in that place. That will be a 20-year agreement after the phase one agreement that was aimed at installation.

Meijer Brightens Produce With LED Lighting

Meijer here completed a one-store LED spot-lighting pilot in the produce department last month that has brightened product displays while delivering improved energy results."We're getting a good ROI and energy results on this," said Mitch Boucher, manager of energy and engineering for Meijer, during a session last month at the Food Marketing Institute's Energy & Store Development Conference in Phoenix. In his presentation, Boucher said that Meijer would "validate results and make adjustments" in what he called a "2013 pre-rollout."Meijer's current ROI for most lighting projects is three to five years, Boucher said. "They are all coming in very well for us." Meijer asks all potential suppliers to use the same ROI formula so that the chain can make "apples to apples" comparisons, he added. In addition to produce spot lighting, Meijer is considering applying the directional, focused lighting characteristics of LED (light-emitting diode) to gas station canapé lighting and to other areas where "there is a good fit between the technological capabilities of LED and our applications," Boucher said. The chain, which operates 197 stores, is not looking at using LED for "volumetric" — or more diffuse — lighting applications in stores. LED lighting for refrigerated cases, a common LED application in supermarkets, is also "not on our radar," he added.
LED's lighting capability "has changed tremendously" over the past five years, said Chip Israel, president, Lighting Design Alliance, Long Beach, Calif., who spoke with Boucher at the conference session. He said LED as a directional lighting source could be used now at a distance of 12 feet, double the distance attainable a few years ago.In Meijer's pilot store, lighting levels on produce racks "came up a little bit" with LED spot lighting, said Boucher. "We were below 80 foot-candles and we're trying to hit 80 to 100 foot candles. Floor lighting in between the aisles came down a little, which was good."
In assessing lighting technology, retailers should consult with a store designer to bridge the gap between the technical specifications and the lighting goal in the store, Boucher advised. "There's a whole list of things that are not designed to get you to your goal, and that's where you need a good designer to bring the technology to the application."Boucher cited heat management as an operational challenge for retailers installing lighting that needs to be seen in context. "Every LED manufacturer talks about how they manage heat," he said. "That's good but we really just want to light produce appropriately. Heat is not the most important thing up front." Characteristics Meijer is seeking in produce spot lighting included warm product colors, high color rendering index (CRI) and low UV (ultraviolet) index.

Apple Store Sells Wi-Fi Enabled Philips Light Bulbs

The idea of making ordinary household objects extraordinary with the addition of Wi-Fi isn't a new one. The Nest thermostat, for example, works with a home's Wi-Fi set up to enable wireless and remote control operations. Instead of getting up to turn the air off, you only have to reach as far as your iPhone.The light bulb has also seen its day in the glow of Wi-Fi greatness. The LIFX bulb, one example of many, will enable users to control energy efficient LED bulbs remotely and even change the bulb's color, all via a smartphone app.Today, Philips is announcing their entrance into the Wi-Fi-enabled light bulb market and, just like the Nest thermostat before it, China Solar chargers for Iphone Offers will be able to pick it up at any Apple store across the nation. Actually, the new Philips system will be available at Apple stores only in the beginning, starting October 30th.
Called "Hue," Philip's smart bulb system is built on top of the ZigBee Light Link standard. Philips' competitors, such as GE and Sylvania are also working with the same standard.
While placing such energy efficient LEDs in the Wi-Fi halo is already a fine idea, these bulbs are often only as good as the apps that run them. This is where Hue looks to excel. Each bulb can be controlled separately, meaning each bulb can change into different colors. What makes Hue stand out is the way in which these colors can be changed. Rather than pick a color from a spectrum wheel, the Hue app lets you choose colors from pictures. It's a feature which Phillips is touting as a way to recreate the special moments in your life. For instance, if you've taken a picture of a candle lighting ceremony, you'll be able to pick which oranges and yellows you'd like your bulbs to take on.
The app even allows users to place China Solar radio and charger Offers bulbs on timers, dimming and lighting up at specific times. This feature is not only handy for those with kids, but it could also make waking up a little more pleasant. Imagine waking up to a soft and warm light as opposed to a loud ringing alarm and the harsh rays of a fluorescent bulb. These timers can also add another important piece to the home-automation puzzle, with lights turning on and off in perfect cycle. All you have to do is simply live in the house and move from room to room.These settings are the result of research conducted by Philips to help facilitate different moods. For instance, users who have just come home from work can select "relax" for a soothing glow. Those who need to spend some time studying can choose "concentrate" to change their room into a well-lit area conducive for work.

Major retailer in Liberty goes green with solar panels

The crowds who come to the Walmart in Liberty Township have little clue about the work being done just above their heads.For the last three weeks, workers have been installing 1,927 solar panels on the roof of the business, said Steve Fife, from Joe Dickey Electric, job foreman for the project.This is the largest solar project so far within the Mahoning Valley, say those involved in the work. Nearly the entire roof of the store is covered with panels that will convert solar energy to electricity and be used to help power the store.In total, the panels will provide up to 455 kilowatts of energy per hour, said Dave Dickey, president of Joe Dickey Electric. The project will be completed in the next week."On a good bright day it will provide about half the power needed for the store," Dickey said. "On an average day it will be about 30 percent."
The panels are designed to last 25 years, about the same time as a roof. Based on the amount of power the panels will produce combined, it will take a couple of years for them to pay for the cost of the panels and installation, Fife said.There won't be any type of battery to collect power; it will just go straight into the grid, he said.It just makes good business sense to put up the panels and reduce energy costs if you have the roof space, Dickey said."If you look at how much power they're saving, it makes a huge difference in their carbon footprint," he said.
Walmart has completed eight similar projects in Cincinnati and two in the Columbus, said Matt Giles, project manager from The Romanoff Group, a Gahanna, Ohio-based electric, heating and cooling company. Romanoff has overseen all the projects.The panels work better in the winter, he said. They can continue to operate effectively when covered by as much as 2 inches of snow."We were very fortunate when we called the union and said we needed 16 guys to do this job, they were already trained," Dickey said.Both the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers unions in Warren and Youngstown have trained workers in solar and wind energy through their apprenticeship program.In the 1970s when solar technology started to become available, it simply would not work in this area, Dickey said."It was just too overcast here. In the last couple of years, the technology has improved to the point where it works even if it's overcast," he said.Ohio has the same number of overcast days as Oregon or Washington, which use a lot of solar power, Fife said.Solar-panel technology continues to improve as panels are being designed that produce more energy, Fife said. In addition the cost is about 75 cents per watt for the panels plus installation.

University celebrates 50th anniversary of Holonyak's LED

You may not know his invention, but you use it every day. From the iPhone and iPad, to laptops, flat-screen TVs, traffic lights and alarm clocks, this invention has been prevalent in modern life: the light-emitting diodes, better know as LED.Fifty years ago this month, the work done by alumnus Nick Holonyak Jr. at General Electric transformed the science of light as we know it.Although most know Thomas Edison as the inventor of the incandescent light bulb, Holonyak now stands on his shoulders with his invention of this solid-state device that can emit visible red light without generating heat like a lightbulb. While other groups have developed light-emitting devices, Holonyak's device was the first practical one to emit light in the visible range, rather than the invisible, infrared light."It is the ultimate lamp,"  China Solar Light Offers said. "You can maybe rival it, but you can never improve on it. If I know how to build mine right, it will have 100 percent conversion of electrical energy to light energy without any loss. It's just a little heat loss of moving electrons that I'm paying the price for ... but that's it."
The LED 50th Anniversary Symposium starts Wednesday at the I Hotel and Conference Center to honor Holonoyak's work, achievements and other developments over the past 50 years. Brad Petersen, associate director of external relations in the department of electrical and computer engineering, said many lectures will be held about the history and the future of LEDs, solid-state lighting and related work. Many people who are considered pioneers in the field will speak about their work, including multiple Nobel laureates in physics from around the world."It's particularly a celebration of Nick and his initial development of the LED, but it's also much broader than that," Petersen said. "The event is intended to celebrate all 50 years of the development of the China Outdoor Offers... from Nick's first invention to the work people are still doing today."
Holonyak's story shows the power of knowledge and research that come along with hard work. Born to immigrant parents from Ukraine, he came to the University and received his bachelor's, master's and doctorate in electrical engineering. He developed a background studying under John Bardeen, a two-time Nobel laureate who co-invented the transistor. Now Holonyak holds the title of his mentor: He is the John Bardeen Endowed Chair in electrical and computer engineering."I was Bardeen's student. He came in 1951 when I was already a grad student. We set up a lab in 1952, and for two years I'm ... learning about semiconductors and transistors," Holonyak said. "Then I went to Bell Labs working on electric switches and silicon material, the same stuff that later went into making Silicon Valley that became Intel and all the chips used in phones and computers nowadays."

Mapping the Potential for Solar Power On Every Roof

 Within the borders of Cambridge, Massachusetts, are 17,000 rooftops, or 17,000 individual surfaces on which it might make sense one day to install photovoltaic cells. Of course, these roofs are not all equally fit for solar power. Some of them have weird chimneys or sloping architecture or tree shade. Some buildings are oriented in the wrong direction (for the sun's purposes, at least), or they're boxed in by even taller structures that block out natural daylight.
From the sun's point of view, all of this means that Cambridge looks about like the aerial image above. The gold dots are the solar sweet spots, the brown ones are more or less untouchable. The image comes from a new mapping tool built by MIT's Sustainable Design Lab and the Boston design firm Modern Development Studio. They've mashed together some pretty remarkable datasets about Cambridge to model the solar potential of just about every square meter of rooftop space in the city (literally, each of those dots represents one square meter). And the model they've developed could potentially give us the same information about every surface on the planet.
 "When an owner uses the map, they get a very good evaluation of how good the solar potential of their roof is," says Christoph Reinhart, an MIT associate professor working on the project. Modern Development Studio's web platform can even translate that solar potential into a financial cost, a payback period, a carbon emissions reduction and equivalent calculations for how many trees you'd have to plant or fewer miles you'd have to drive to achieve the same effect. "But we'd like to now say, what does it mean for the city?" Reinhart asks. "Where should we support putting photovoltaics on roofs?"
This project assumes that we will one day be making decisions about where to put this stuff at the community level rather than the household one. "Right now it's a bit about me, me, me," Reinhart says, light-heartedly. "How do I get the most money?"This map illustrates that just because you want to be that guy on the block with solar panels doesn't mean your house is the best place to put them.MIT came up with all of this leveraging a couple of giant datasets with fine-tuned algorithms. The model relies upon hourly solar radiation data collected at nearby Logan International Airport (data that measures, in effect, how much sun the city gets in this climate), as well as on Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data previously collected in an aerial flyover of the city. LIDAR data, which captures how far each treetop or roof is from the ground, is commonly used to make three-dimensional models of cities (or to measure things like tree cover).

California Solar Beats Wind For Several Days This Autumn

As California heads into the slightly less windy days of autumn with more solar power generating capacity than it's ever had, something interesting is starting to happen -- there are days when solar provides more power to California's grid than wind does.For at least three days this fall, the state's solar power generators pumped more total power into the grid than all the state's wind turbines, which usually provide more power than any other form of renewable energy. And it looks like we're on track for the same thing to happen today.On September 27, according to figures from the California Independent System Operator (CaISO), which operates most of the state's grid, solar power facilities pumped a total of 8,257 megawatt-hours into CaISO's grid. That's enough power to keep a 100W incandescent Best Custom Solar laptop charger burning for 9,419 years and seven months. On that day, wind turbines -- which usually feed somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 megawatt-hours into the grid each day -- provided only 6,914 megawatt-hours to CaISO.
ReWire contacted CaISO's Steven Greenlee the next day for an explanation, and he might just as well have told us to open a window:The weather pattern we had yesterday was very similar to a hot summer day where there is ridging over California and low pressure off the coast, which keeps the pressure gradient from building up along the coast. This pressure gradient along with a thermal gradient is the main source for wind production during summer conditions. (The pressure gradient is stronger from west to east and you have temperatures hotter from east to west, which causes air to move from the coast to inland.) Thus, we had low amounts of wind and nice sunny weather.
The same thing happened on October 1, when China Motion Sensor Lights Exporters output 7,333 megawatt hours to wind's 5,424, and on October 14, with solar and wind providing 7,364 and 5,712 megawatt-hours, respectively.That's not to say that solar outpaced all other forms of renewable energy on those days. Even on October 1, when solar beat wind by 1909 megawatt-hours, the state's geothermal power plants -- which run 24/7 unless they're being repaired or upgraded -- put a reliable 20,869 megawatt-hours into the grid.And for perspective's sake, the three days mentioned here -- and possibly October 15, from the looks of CaISO's preliminary figures -- are unusual even for autumn. On October 5 wind produced nearly ten times the power solar did in California, at 52,340 and 5,509 megawatt-hours, respectively.But still, this is an indication that the state's solar capacity -- most of it PV -- is growing by leaps and bounds. And it's a reminder that -- despite what your in-laws in Ohio tell you -- California actually does have seasons.

Ease of use is further supported by the long lifespan of agricultural LED lightbars

The operating ease, longer lifespan and ease-of-installation of the new LED lightbars also provide significant performance enhancements compared to alternative technologies. The SunBrite Agricultural LED Lightbar can be easily incorporated into programmable, digitally controlled systems that allow for red and blue light arrays to be zoned and controlled in order meet the specific light requirements of different types of plants and different stages in the growing process (that respond better to blue or red light, respectively). Also, unlike emerging technologies such as Light Emitting Plasma (LEP), LEDs also offer instant turn-on for greater operating ease.
Ease of use is further supported by the long lifespan of agricultural LED lightbars which can last up to 4x longer than HID technologies and reduce maintenance time requirements by up to 75%.The SunBrite Agricultural LED Lightbar also comes with three unique mounting clip options and optional transformer for easy plug-and-play performance.These efficiency and ease-of-use performance enhancements allow the SunBrite Agricultural LED Lightbar generate up to 80% cost savings compared to some HID technologies. Though initial up-front investment is higher, these efficiency and ease-of-use savings allow for ROI often within one to two years.
"Agricultural is one of the fastest growing application sectors for LED technology," explained Kay Fernandez, Product Design Engineer at Lumex. "The SunBrite Agricultural LED Lightbar is a powerful new tool in that it combines significant performance benefits and cost savings."The RoHS and CE compliant SunBrite Agricultural LED Lightbar (SSP-LB24 series) is available in both red and blue for a wide variety of agricultural applications.Transformers are available for easy plug and play performance.Pricing for the SunBrite Agricultural LED Lightbar is dependent on size and quantity ordered and is approximately $75 per unit in production volumes.  Production lead times range from eight to ten weeks. Stock is available through Digi-Key, Future Electronics, Mouser Electronics and Newark Electronics. To ensure long LED life, a heat sink must be adequately dimensioned and consideration must be given to the conducting materials, often aluminum or copper. Alternatively, forced convection can be used, with air pushed through the heat sink using a fan or an air jet. Even a relatively low air velocity of 2 m/s can cut the overall thermal resistance of a heat sink by half. Using a mechanical air mover to cool the LED, however, is also a more costly solution than the standard extruded heat sink. Another downside is noise, and the mechanical construct can also eat into the reliability overhead. Similarly, liquid cooling via pipes can transfer heat away from the LED assembly but it, too, comes with a cost and weight penalty.

Chelsea Sexton forming Advisory Board to help Nissan learn how to market the Leaf

The Nissan Leaf battery pack capacity loss controversy has exposed a weakness on Nissan's part in communicating openly with Leaf owners, and a new Advisory Board being formed by EV Advocate Chelsea Sexton aims to help Nissan learn how to communicate.In the wake of revelations about Nissan Leaf premature driving range, Nissan agreed with Chelsea Sexton to start an independent advisory board. The advisory board was first announced in an open letter Nissan published last month via the MyNissanLeaf discussion board (MNL). Yesterday, Sexton disclosed, a long posting on the MNL discussion board, some details about the purpose and scope of this advisory board.
While the advisory board was not, according to Sexton, "convened specifically to address the Arizona battery issue" the context for this board is strongly influenced by that issue. The issue is that Nissan Leaf owners in Arizona, and some other states, are suffering from overly rapid loss of battery pack capacity and a loss of driving range. A growing chorus of China Motion Sensor Lights Offers are documenting battery pack capacity loss, including a massive test convened in Phoenix independently by Leaf owners. Nissan has made two public responses, in June and in September, and it's clear that Nissan has on its hands a product quality controversy. Most of Nissan's responses have been in the form of downplaying the issue, minimizing the number of Leaf owners affected. Nissan did bring in seven Leaf's for intensive study, and have since suggested that rather than Arizona's famously hot climate ("at least it's a dry heat") the problem exists with Leaf owners who drive an above-average number of miles per year.
Rather than convene this advisory group to address the battery issue, Sexton says "it was conceived to help Nissan learn how to better communicate and engage with the EV community, both current drivers and potential ones." One way to interpret the controversy we just summarized, is difficulty within Nissan's marketing of holding a two-way conversation with the public Best Custom Remote Controlled LED. This sort of difficulty is facing marketing departments all over the world, because normal traditional marketing methodology is a one-way dissemination of "messaging" from a corporation. Corporations rarely do a good job of responding to individual customers, but with the rise of social media and other interactive services on the Internet, corporations are having to learn new ways of communicating with their customers.Beyond this focus on teaching Nissan how to communicate with the public, Sexton says "they're pretty open-minded on the group's focus" and goes on to detail the broad brush strokes of the advisory board's role.

Last Week for Personalized Golden Gate Bridge Light Show

Inspired by windows reflecting light across the bay, Solar Beacon is an interactive art exhibit set atop the twin towers of the Golden Gate Bridge.Computer controlled mirrors atop the towers can reflect a beam of light to almost anywhere in the Bay Area. Placed in celebration of the Golden Gate Bridge's 75th Anniversary, the installation is the product of collaboration between London based artist Liliane Lijn, Aeronautical Engineers from the Space Sciences Laboratory at U.C. Berkeley, and Golden Gate Bridge Engineers.To activate the beacon, visitors to the Solar Beacon website specify a time for their show, a location, and a height above ground level.  Computers at the Space Sciences Laboratory calculate the precise angle between the sun and the location, and send a control message to the top of the towers. 
The mirrors rotate on command, reflecting a pleasant and twinkling light, far brighter than any artificial spotlight. For a preview of the coverage area, you can visit a speical page. To learn more about signaling long distance using lights, read up on the Scouting project Operation On Target, which aims each year to send messages from the Mexican Border to the Canadian Border, using mirrors alone.
One advantage to lumens is that consumers can get a wider range of brightness. Instead of having to choose between a 100-watt or 75-watt lamp, bulbs using lumens run the gamut, offering a much finer brightness gradient.Energy savings from efficient lamps are also an advantage. An LED lamp is five times more energy efficient than an incandescent lamp.According to the DOE, the operating cost savings a consumer can achieve by switching to an energy efficient bulb is dramatic. For example, the operating cost per year for a 60-watt incandescent bulb is $4.80, a halogen incandescent bulb costs $3.50, a CFL bulb is $1.20 and an LED light is just $1.Beginning this year, on average, light bulbs sold in the U.S. will use 25% to 80% less energy as manufacturers begin flooding the market with new, compliant products.According to the DOE, upgrading 15 inefficient incandescent bulbs could save a homeowner about $50 per year. Since most of the bulbs also have longer life spans, the savings continue into the future. Nationwide, lighting accounts for about 10% of home electricity use. With new EISA standards, U.S. households in total could save nearly $6 billion in 2015.

Gadling Gear Review: Solar Chargers For Travel

Keeping all of our electronic gadgets charged while traveling can be a real challenge, particularly if you're visiting a remote part of the world where electricity is at a premium. But just as the gizmos we carry with us have gotten more sophisticated so have the options for keeping them powered. One of those options is taking a solar charger with us when we hit the road. A solar cell provides clean, efficient and, in theory, limitless power for our tech toys.Here are two distinctly different solar chargers aimed at very different types of travelers. Both are excellent for what China Outdoor Offers do, and while they each use light from the sun to create electricity, their similarity pretty much ends there.
The Classic2 is Solio's second-generation, travel solar charger, replacing their older Classic model, which was one of the earliest compact chargers on the market. The Classic2 improves on its predecessor in some key areas making it a much more efficient option to have in your pack when you travel. Those improvements include doubling the battery capacity and adding a full-size USB port integrated into the device. The previous version came with a number of special adapters, which were incredibly inconvenient to carry along on a trip. Since most devices, including smartphones and cameras, now charge via USB, this was an evolutionary, but very welcome, change.
The Classic2 features three small China Solar chargers for Iphone Offers, each embedded in its own arm. When collapsed the device is small, lightweight and compact. It weighs just 10.1 ounces and easily slips into a backpack, carry-on bag or luggage. When ready to collect energy from the sun, it opens up like a flower, exposing all three cells for maximum efficiency. The energy is then stored in a 3200-mAh internal battery, which in turn is used to charge our devices via the built-in USB port.Solio says that it should take 8-10 hours to charge the Classic2's internal battery from the sun, but in my testing it was definitely closer to the high side of that estimate, if not longer. Cloudy days and the amount of exposure to direct sunlight can impact that charging time dramatically. Fortunately, the internal battery can also be topped off from a wall socket or from a USB port on a computer. In both cases, it takes roughly six hours to charge the battery.The built-in USB port on this charger provides up to 1 Amp of power, which puts it on par with a typical wall charger. That means it can charge a smartphone or MP3 player in fairly short order. Solio claims charging an iPhone takes about 90 minutes, although again I found it took a bit longer.

New law means road lighting in Nova Scotia must be LED

Energy Minister Charlie Parker finalized amendments to the Energy-Efficient Appliances Regulations today, Sept. 12, that require all road and highway lighting in Nova Scotia must be converted to LED."With LED road lighting, Nova Scotia will save millions of dollars by using about half the energy of current lighting, and improve our air quality while reducing our carbon footprint," said Mr. Parker. "This only serves to strengthen Nova Scotia's position as a leader in combining fiscal and environmental responsibility."The regulations require Nova Scotia Power to complete its conversion by Dec. 31, 2019. Municipalities will have until Dec. 31, 2022, and now have one year to outline the conversion.The regulations are expected to save Nova Scotians about $5 million a year in energy costs alone after all the lights have been converted. Nova Scotia Power is proposing a new rate plan for streetlight customers which will not increase annual costs for seven years and offer a rate reduction if they use Nova Scotia Power-owned lights. Depending on maintenance, there could be additional savings. Municipalities that choose to own their own lights could also benefit from lower financing costs.
"Many of our municipalities have already switched over to LED roadway lights and are reporting operational savings," said Mr. Parker. "The province is also making low-cost financing available so more municipalities can take advantage of these savings sooner."The regulations were drafted by the Department of Energy after public consultations and meetings with the LED Working Group that includes Halifax Regional Municipality, Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities, Efficiency Nova Scotia and Nova Scotia Power.Nexxus Lighting (NEXS), a maker of LED replacement lamps based in Charlotte, NC, has announced that it will be receiving a $6 million investment from a private equity firm Aston Capital LLC. When the deal is finalized, the firm will own 73% of Nexxus' common stock. Robert LaPenta, chief executive officer (CEO) of Aston, will become Nexxus's new chairman.
The closing of Aston's investment is scheduled to be finalized by September 24, at which time Nexxus' current board members will resign.Aston has agreed to purchase 600,000 shares of convertible preferred stock at $10 per share. The preferred stock will be convertible into shares of the company's common stock at a conversion price of $0.13 per share. Upon conversion of the stock, Aston is expected to own about 73% of Nexxus' outstanding common stock. Aston will also initially have the right to appoint four members to its board, with the board not to exceed seven members.

A Saltwater LED Lantern Shines

Keeping track of the news concerning science and technology is always exciting because you'll never know what will catch your eye next. When something catches my eye, the knowledge that something interesting and/or helpful can already be done or be done in the near future is always a thrill.While all the news about high tech processes and engineering can be exciting, the idea of something simple doing interesting things catches my eye even more. As I have mentioned before, simple solutions to the world's problems are always interesting.It's a fact that there are areas in the world that do not have access to electricity. This is especially true in developing countries like our own Best Custom Solar bag. One of the things we probably take for granted while living in the city is access to the kind of electrical lighting that we have, something that these areas would love to have but do not. The answer might be a simple electric lantern that doesn't run on batteries but something a lot simpler.
The company Green House Co. Ltd. developed an LED lighting system called the GH-LED10WBW LED Lantern. The interesting part is that runs on nothing but water and salt. The saline water is placed inside a special mixing bag and acts like the electrolyte while a magnesium rod and a carbon rod act like the cathode (negative electrode) and anode (positive electrode), respectively, in this makeshift wet battery. According to instructions provided by the company, 350 cc of water should be mixed with 16 grams of salt. Perhaps the system could run on other saline liquids like actual seawater or even urine? Unfortunately, it's not clear whether either of those would actually work because I can think of instances where seawater or urine might be used instead of directed solution.
This setup generates 1.5 volts of direct current power to run the 10 LED white lights, producing 55 lumens of light that can run for 8 hours until the saline solution needs to be replaced. The magnesium rod can last for 120 hours before it gets consumed by the Best Custom Remote Controlled LED that happens to generate the electricity and needs to be replaced. If a lantern that runs on salt and water isn't good enough for you, this device also includes a USB port that you can use to charge or power devices you might need at 4.5 volts.I was thinking that this device could also come in handy when faced with natural calamities or other instances when power is not available and emergency lighting is needed. This device can not only help in providing emergency lighting in affected areas but can also be used to power or charge important devices like cell phones and others needed to coordinate relief or rescue operations. On a lighter note, I think this lantern could also be helpful to bring along on camping trips especially because it's both a light source and a charging station.

Baja Designs at the 2012 Sand Sport Super Show

At the 14thannual Sand Sports Super Show Baja Designs will be celebrating 20 years of innovation and racer proven off-road lights. Many of you have been hearing "buzz" about BDs new OnX LED light bars. These are the light bars that Baja Designs racers have been excitedly testing and they are all saying the same thing: "this LED light bar really gets out there and it's small enough to significantly reduce wind drag!". The SSSS is your chance to finally see them for yourself. Baja Designs will be releasing the OnX LED light bar and also the SII LED light to the public at 5:00 pm September 14 at the opening of the SSSS. Their new OnX LED Light Bar is the only light bar on the market that has the distance of an 8" HID with the smooth spread of an LED. The OnX will be sold in 8" increments ranging from 8" all the way to 51". If you're looking for the guaranteed farthest projecting LED light on the market, look no further. On the other hand, if you need a light that will fit in the smallest of spaces, then you should check out the new SII LED light. This 3"x1.75" light produces 1,800 lumens and will outshine any other 2, 3 or 4 LED auxiliary light on the market. Not only that, but its small size means it can be mounted virtually anywhere.
Come out and see BD at the Sand Sport Super Show September 14th-16th at the Costa Mesa Fairgrounds. The BD booth is located in the Parade of Products between buildings 10 & 12 – Just look for the beautiful Vildosola Racing Trophy Truck featuring the new OnX LED Light Bar. Now is the time to get yourself the best off-road lights available. BD lights are made right here in California and carry a lifetime warranty.
Emmily Sj?lander, environmental programme manager at Tesco, said that if the store proves effective at delivering promised energy savings, the company could deploy LEDs across its 2,700 UK stores and incorporate them into its new-build programme."We have recognised that through the use of LED light fittings we can dramatically reduce energy usage, particularly at Express stores due to their smaller size and lower ceiling height," she said."If this delivers the energy savings we have estimated, it is likely that we would replicate this lighting system at other stores."Tesco has a target of becoming carbon neutral by 2050 and has opened a string of flagship "Zero Carbon" stores in Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Powys, and Dublin to trial new energy efficient technology since 2009. Its latest Zero Carbon store opened in Cefn Mawr near Wrexham in March.

Solar energy innovations show California is generating success

Anyone watching the Republican Convention would think that entrepreneurship and innovation have been squashed and squandered by the Obama administration. Like most impressions coming out of political conventions, this one is also wrong and slanted toward making the president look bad.Setting aside the Solyndra loan guarantee that went south, the stimulus package launched in the first year of Barack Obama's presidency has gone a long way toward advancing various clean energy technologies and improving traditional ones.State energy officials marked a milestone of sorts in adding more solar power in the state. They hailed this achievement during a stakeholders' meeting this last week in Sacramento hosted by the state electric grid operator.
In the recent heat wave, California broke a record by generating more than 1,000 megawatts of Best Custom Solar bag, equaling two average-size natural gas-fired generation plants. State officials are calling it historic.Separately, there is a lot of solar not yet hooked up to the grid or existing in small rooftop installations on homes and businesses that isn't even counted in the state's milestones. (Rooftop solar has quadrupled in the city of Los Angeles in the past two years, for example.)So, the combination of California's emphasis for the past 10 years on developing more alternatives and federal stimulus package incentives have produced more private-sector jobs and megawatts as the result. It is true this power is not priced as low as traditional forms of electricity, but it makes sense for the long term if we as a society are going to seriously reduce carbon emissions that are choking the Earth's atmosphere. The added costs of over-reliance on Best Custom Remote Controlled LED are too much.
There are three large-scale solar plants now under construction in deserts of Southern California, totaling nearly another 1,000 megawatts. Each of them has been the recipient of the much-maligned Obama administration federal loan guarantees through the U.S. Department of Energy.A project near the California- Nevada border off the Interstate 15 highway leading to Las Vegas, BrightSource Energy's Ivanpah solar development, is a $2.2 billion undertaking that has attracted more than a half-billion dollars of private equity, a $1.6 billion DOE loan guarantee and passed the halfway point in its construction early in August.While the Obama administration stimulus has gotten criticized for increasing the federal deficit with few tangible results, Ivanpah has created more than 2,000 construction jobs, and promises to provide more than $400 million in local and state tax revenues and another $650million in wages and benefits over the 30-year expected life of the 370 megawatt power project.

Monorail-Riding Robots Could Continually Rearrange Solar Panels to Follow the Sun

Fleets of battery-powered robots could zip along monorails installed in solar arrays, tweaking individual panels' angles so they follow the sun across the sky. This could be cheaper than installing actuators on every solar panel so they track the sun, according to a new robotics startup. Robots can make everything easier!A company called QBotix aims to make solar panels more efficient and more affordable just based on their infrastructure, which is one of the technology's main challenges. Stationary solar arrays don't gather as much sun as possible because, well, the sun moves. They can instead be designed to follow the sun's path across the sky like sunflowers, harvesting light all day long as opposed to the few hours when the sun beats down at the right angle. But this is more expensive.Moving panels with the utmost efficiency requires moving them on two axes — tilting forward and sideways to follow the sun exactly. But it's difficult and expensive to install huge, heavy solar panels that can move on two axes. You need motors and controls, unless you want workers to nudge them all day long.
Qbotix says it can build a two-axis solar array for the price of a single-axis one, and improve energy capture from solar panels by 15 percent, all by using robots instead. The concept rests on a pair of autonomous robots called the Solbot R-200.The pair (one main robot and one backup) can maintain solar panels sufficient to generate 300 kilowatts of electricity. They would be mounted on simple monorails, which can be installed in any solar array, including on uneven surfaces or rolling hills. The robots would adjust each panel throughout the day to ensure it tracks the sun. One robot can adjust up to 200 panels every 40 minutes, which is how long it takes the sun to move 10 degrees across the sky. The other robot will recharge while its twin is working.The system also comes with software that can track plant performance, the company says. QBotix lined up funding this spring and says it already has its first customer, which will begin installation later this month. You can read more about the company here.
Chinese retaliation against European wines could be more politically feasible in Beijing. Tales of lavish spending on expensive wines by the wealthy and by government officials periodically surface on the Chinese Internet, and feed public anxiety about the wide gap between rich and poor. China exports over 90 percent of its solar panels. It has done so to tap into billions of dollars in subsidies from government agencies and other electricity users in the United States and Europe for homes and businesses to install solar panels. W.T.O. rules have discouraged Western countries from banning the use of their subsidies for the purchase of Chinese solar panels.

LED driver aimed at 100W incandescent bulb replacements

Power Integrations has unwrapped the DER-323, a reference design for an 18W, 88 percent-efficient, non-isolated A19 LED driver based on LNK460VG, a low-profile IC from the company's LinkSwitch-PL family. According to the company, the design is geared for a 100W incandescent bulb replacement and is optimized for low-line (90-135VAC) operation. The circuit is low-cost, requiring only a simple single-sided board and 25 components. No potting is necessary and the transformer is replaced by a low-cost inductor.DER-323 uses a simple buck-boost converter topology that fits easily inside the A19 bulb. The design is EN61000-3-2 (C) compliant and has a high power factor of over 0.98, easily satisfying commercial and consumer compliance requirements, stated the Best Custom Solar chargers for Iphone. Because LinkSwitch-PL ICs combine both PFC and CC converter functions in a single-stage topology, no electrolytic bulk capacitor is required, resulting in a very long operational life.
"The lighting industry typically asks for 80 percent efficiency for drivers targeting 60W A19 bulb replacements. To achieve viable LED-based replacements for 75W and 100W bulbs, much higher efficiency is needed in order to reduce the heat dissipated by the driver. The 88 percent efficiency of DER-323 satisfies this need and makes the thermal design of the bulb straightforward and inexpensive. DER-323 is also compact, reliable and easy to manufacture thanks to its low component count, single-stage architecture and use of a low-cost inductor rather than a transformer," noted Andrew Smith, product marketing manager at Power Integrations.
A ban on the usage of Best Custom Solar radio and charger in Europe that is to come into effect on Sept. 1 is expected to negatively affect the Turkish market because of the country's dependency on imports of the product.Tekfen, the one-time sole producer in the country, closed its bulb plant in 2002, replacing it with imports from China. Global players such as General Electric and Philips also closed their Turkey plants in the early 2000s.The ban is designed to protect the environment as Edison-style lightbulbs release carbon dioxide and are not considered to be energy efficient. As part of the measures, the production, sale and export of 100- and 75-watt lightbulbs will be prohibited. As a result of the ban, the price of energy-saving LED lightbulbs, the latest technology, is expected to go up in Turkey as the country, which has a $350 million-400 million lightbulb market, imports most of its lightbulbs.

Vicky Sanderson: Solar-powered light bulbs now shine in Canada

Long, blisteringly hot summer days have been the silver lining for those farmers who, along with more conventional crops, harvest the sun for energy. But city slickers who invest in solar-powered products can also profit from long stretches of sun-soaked days.Outdoor solar lights have become increasingly popular over the past few years. A new entry is a cute and clever solar LED unit from Paradise Lighting.Shaped like a conventional incandescent bulb and made out of durable plastic, it has a coated string to turn it on and off. There's also a clip that can be easily attached, for example, to the belt loop of a little person making his or her way to a campground privy after dark.
The possibilities for these bulbs, which take AA batteries, are endless. At the cottage, we hung several on branches gathered in an old milk can — an eco-friendly way to provide soft lighting at the dock after dark. I also keep one by a sunny window to use in case of power failure.Regular readers will recall that I was enthusiastic about these bulbs earlier in the season. At the time, however, they were only available through Camping World, a U.S. website that, as it turns out, charges Canadian consumers exorbitant shipping and handling fees. Someone at Home Depot must have a good eye for great product, because the lights are now available in packs of four for $35. Shipping to my north Toronto home would be about $5.
Many farmers in parts of Ontario and farther east would have been happy to see the sun dip behind the clouds and give way more often to rainy skies over the past few months. The extreme dryness has not good news for those who grow corn and grains, and it has compounded the effect of a late frost, which put a serious dent in such crops as pears, peaches and plums.Consumers can still take advantage of the harvest by pickling, canning and preserving. Plenty of information, along with recipes, can be found at the website for Bernadin, a well-known maker of canning supplies available at food retailers. More jam and canning recipes are available from Foodland Ontario, which also publishes a seasonal online brochure with recipes that focus on fresh, local produce. There are also good tips for buying and storing fruits and vegetables.Another upside to hot dry weather has been the slow growth of grass. Still, many find even infrequent mowing of grass to be a bore. For them, there's the Husqvarna robotic Automower — an energy-efficient, electronic mower that its makers say uses less energy than any conventional mower, which makes it cost-effective to run — once you get past the price tag of $2,900, that is.

Solar farm plan to mix sheep and electric cells

A DONCASTER village is being targeted for a ￡10 million solar power generation scheme.TGC Renewables is drawing up plans which would use around 50 acres next to Tudworth Road, Hatfield, to develop a solar farm made up of dozens of photo-voltaic cells which turn the suns light into electricity.The site the company is investigating is three fields of agricultural land. The intention is for it to be dual use - solar farm and potentially sheep grazing.
The firm has yet to apply for planning permission for the project but says the project has the potential to produce up to nine megawatts of energy - enough to power around 2,000 homes.Spokeswoman Justine Hackney said: "The solar farm would be ground-mounted and south-facing with 5m gaps between the rows. Obviously, what can be seen depends on where a person is standing in relation to it. If the project did progress into planning, we would produce visualisations as part of a broader community consultation."We think it is a great opportunity for the area to be part of the UK’s renewable energy generation efforts.
"Solar farms offer clean, safe and Best Custom Solar Light. Their environmental impact is minimal - they are silent, non-polluting and, installed at ground level, have limited visibility. The land they utilise is returned to original state at the end of the project life which is between 25 to 40 years."They are far safer than other conventional energies, some of which have already demonstrated their capacity for long-term damage on a catastrophic scale. Any energy produced in the UK also offers security of supply and supports the UK economy, providing local business and employment opportunities."
It would generate power during daylight hours with or without direct sunlight. The construction process usually takes about three months, subject to planning consent.It is the second solar farm plan to emerge in Doncaster this month, following proposals for a 100 acre scheme at the former Askern Colliery site, on Norton Common Lane, which is out for consultation.The solar consignments will be delivered to them this week following the shipment of these Best Custom Outdoor systems to the province yesterday.The 28 solar consignment included panels ranging from 10watts to 20 watts with their batteries, panels, connections and bulbs.The assistance came under the Western provincial government livelihood fund project which was made possible by the provincial ward member to assist the villagers improve their lives.In the past the villagers depended much on kerosene which is very expensive to buy in order to light up their homes during the night.

EBHS student raising funds to send solar-powered lamp kits to Indian people in need

This summer, while other kids are playing video games or cooling off at the beach, one township teen is spending his time raising money to light up the lives of others half a world away.Suchir Karmarkar, 14, launched the New Jersey-based nonprofit initiative LightUpIndia last September to bring solar-powered lamp kits to households with school-going children in rural India that lack electricity. So far he has raised more than $2,500, in part through candy, water and soda sales at Little League games and Indian cultural events. Friends and family members who heard about his project have also donated.
At a cost of $80, the solar kit comes with a solar-powered lamp, a solar candle and a cable that connects the lamp to a solar panel installed on the roof of the house. The sun charges the panel and powers the lamp for up to five hours, Suchir said, noting that it even works on cloudy days."It's much more convenient and safer than a kerosene lamp, which could be hazardous to operate. It lasts much longer as well," he said.Through research, Suchir learned that more than 275 million people in India are without electricity and nearly 100 million more are affected by extremely unreliable access, according to the International Energy Agency. By some estimates, 100 million schoolchildren do not have access to dependable electricity or face severe power shortages at home.
In April, Suchir's mother, Manisha, took time off from her job as an analyst to accompany Suchir to the western Indian state of Maharashtra to purchase and install the first kits. With help from Suchir's grandfather and uncle, a social worker was hired to locate needy families in nearby villages to receive the kits.Each morning, Suchir and his mother rose before dawn to beat the sweltering afternoon heat and set out for their destination. Even Manisha, who grew up in the nearby city of Akola, was shocked by the poverty they encountered — two parents living with four or five children in oneroom houses made of tin."It was 110 degrees there, and in that hot weather they live without electricity. And once it gets dark, it's completely dark. I can't tell you how bad it was," Manisha said.In seven days, Suchir was able to provide solar kits to 25 families in 15 villages."When I showed them how the solar kit charged and I hit the button, the light switched on and their faces were immediately blanketed with smiles," he recalled, noting that some people shed tears and others saluted his grandfather for such a useful gift from his grandson.