2012年12月29日星期六

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.

2012年12月27日星期四

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."

2012年12月24日星期一

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.

2012年12月19日星期三

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!

2012年12月18日星期二

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.

2012年12月12日星期三

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.

2012年12月11日星期二

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.

2012年12月5日星期三

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.

2012年12月4日星期二

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.