Solar energy is the cheapest and most abundant source of energy on the planet. It it totally free, and is powerful enough and plentiful enough to meet the requirements of the entire world if we use only 0.1% of the energy that reaches us.

Until now solar energy was actually not cost effective enough to be used on a large scale. For example if you installed solar panels to power your home, it would take 20 yrs before it would break even on cost. This was a totally unacceptable time-line for most investors who stayed away.

Over the past few years however solar cell technology has been seeing a lot of advancements which are not only making them more efficient, but cheaper as well.

What are the new technologies?

The new technology that all solar enthusiasts are pinning their hopes on is the thin film solar cells. This thin film technology is radically different from the existing one, and is capable of making the solar cells as much as 65% more efficient. This is a tremendous advantage considering that even nuclear power stations are only 35% efficient, meaning that 65% of the energy is lost in the form of heat.

There have been a few problems though which have prevented this from happening. One is that the cost of making the panels was always too high. Although alternative raw materials that were much cheaper were starting to be used, it was the actual manufacturing process that was increasing the cost.

The material used until now was crystalline silicone, and coating the photo-voltaic cells on top took nearly 45 minutes per panel. Now researchers are experimenting with amorphous silicon which dramatically decreases the coating time by a factor of 10. This will result in tremendous cost savings.

Another problem with traditional solar cells is that the tiny micro channels that were used to interconnect the panels were done mechanically with a stylus. Since these micro channels were supposed to be only 10 or 20 nanometers deep, this was a very laborious and time consuming process.

Now researchers at the Purdue University’s center for Laser-based manufacturing, have found a way to use lasers to burn these micro channels. The lasers fire for only a few picoseconds which are one quadrillionth of a second, making sure that the silicon layers do not overheat, damaging them. They have also been found to make much cleaner and straighter micro channels than the styluses.

When will it hit the market?

Both these technologies are still under development, but initial studies have shows positive results. Already the Purdue team has received funding in the form of a three year grant of $425,000 from the National Science Foundation. The plan as of now is that there will be a solid scientific basis for these technologies within the next three years.

Want to Start Making Solar Power at Home? Check out these instructions for building your own solar power. Includes videos, ebook, diagrams, and all the plans you need to get off the power grid and start saving some green while going green.

If we listen to the nuclear industry, there is no alternative to nuclear power for the future. Nuclear power is very clean, and is also quite cheap. Although it is very capital intensive, their life cycles are also very long which means that they can produce electricity for a very long time. This was the main reason why many developing countries like China and India went in massively for capacity addition in the form of new nuclear power stations.

Yet with the recent, imminent catastrophe that is unfolding in front of our eyes in Japan, this statement has been called into question. Even if the technology is very clean, there are a number of risks inherent in a nuclear power plant, and this is not something that is often discussed. Many people think that it is the most cost effective way to generate power, and cost is a major criteria when it comes to new investments.

A team from Queen’s university have however taken up this gauntlet and set out to calculate if nuclear power is indeed as cost effective as it is made out to be. They calculated the total cost of the construction of the plant, included all the indirect public funding it receives, and added the cost of liability in the event of an accident as is happening right now in Japan.

They took 100 nuclear plants that are currently operating in the United States as the basis for their study. They then compared this to the most abundant source of energy in the world today, sunlight. They found that when all costs are included into the factor, nuclear power is actually more expensive than solar power.

As of now the only reason why solar power is not used on a wider scale is because of the high initial cost of installation. This means that the cost of the power produced too goes up. As of now the cost of  producing one KW using traditional methods is around 12 – 15 cents. Many power plants have even managed to bring this cost down to less than 10 cents. When compared to solar power that costs between 25 and 50 cents depending on the technology used, this seems logical.

The problem is that with recent advancements in solar power technology, the efficiency of photo-voltaic cells have gone up tremendously. Apart from this other new technological innovations like using solar concentrators in series have given much more efficiency than standard solar cells. This has brought down the cost of one KW to between 15 and 18 cents which is just a little more than existing costs.

Experts say that if the size of power plants could be increased, and two or more plants constructed close to each other so that they would be able to share resources like control rooms and spares, the cost would come down to around 11 cents, which is quite good. With advancements in technology, this can even come down to under 10 cents which is considered the holy grail of power generation.

The Queens team found that comparing all costs together, having solar power plants actually gave a savings of over $5.3 trillion over a 100 yr life cycle for the plant, which is quite a bit of money saved, not to mention, quite a bit of environmental damage prevented too. Read the rest of this entry

Want to Start Making Solar Power at Home? Check out these instructions for building your own solar power. Includes videos, ebook, diagrams, and all the plans you need to get off the power grid and start saving some green while going green.

At the World Mobile Congress that concluded in Barcelona, Spain Umeox unveiled the latest in their line of phones, a solar powered phone that costs only around $100 but looks really great. The manufacturer, a little known Chinese company called Umeox has partnered with the Dutch company, Intivation to bring out their phones. Intivation supplies the solar cells and Umeox makes the phones.

The Umeox initiative

Umeox has actually been making phones for long. They do not sell their phones under their own name but resell it to other makers who retail the phone as their products. This means that apart from the different models that Umeox has announced, there will be a few other manufacturers who will be bringing out solar powered phones in the near future.

The specifications of the Apollo as the phone is named after the Greek God of the Sun, is not that great, but at only around $100 it makes good value for money, especially if the solar recharger works as the company says it can. It has a 3 mp camera, 3.2 inch 320 X 480HVGA touch screen, 512 mb ram, a mediaTek processor, bluetooth, microSD card slot, 3G ability, wifi, 1 GB flash memory, and an audio jack.

This is however not the only model that Umoix will be bringing out. They have a total of three models, all with solar power capabilities. The Bing solar is a music phone, and the V206, is a very rugged model for those who are looking for a really durable kind of phone.

Apart from these models from Umeox there are other phones by Vodafone, ZTE and IAC, all carrying solar cell backs made by the same company, Intivation. There is also a solar charger that is in the pipeline to be brought out by XPAL.

These solar cells in the phones are enough to power the battery sufficiently so that you can extend your battery time almost indefinitely. There’s one catch though, if you allow the battery to run dry, it takes 17 hrs for it to reach full charge just using solar power. Research into typical usage characteristics of the majority of phone users however show that the phone can be recharged fully if placed in the sun face down for around 2 to 2.5 hrs a day.

Solar Phone Charger

The XPAL charger on the other hand is a charger pack that gives you the advantage of charging any phone using the sun. XPAL comes out with a number of mobile, rechargeable battery packs that can be used to recharge any device. Their latest product is their SP2000 which incorporates the Intivation solar cells to charge up the internal lithium polymer batteries.

It has a three panel, foldable solar panel that you can close and lock into place into a 7 oz package. It has a universal adapter so that you can pretty much charge any device including digital cameras, and gaming consoles.

Recently Apple too has been granted a patent for solar powered electronics showing that the trend towards using solar power for electronic devices is catching on really fast.

Want to Start Making Solar Power at Home? Check out these instructions for building your own solar power. Includes videos, ebook, diagrams, and all the plans you need to get off the power grid and start saving some green while going green.

SolarTron is a Canadian company that has been making energy saving products for a number of years and marketing in throughout Canada, USA and Latin America. It has further entered into the alternative energy market by bringing out the SolarBeam solar concentrator to be used as a hot water heating system.

The SolarBeam solar collector works on the principle of the parabolic curved reflector, which has been found to be the most efficient in collecting solar energy. The curve of the reflector catches and concentrates the rays of the sun on to a specific spot increasing the performance of the reflector by a big margin. The SolarTron water heater that uses this technology has estimated that it is more than 262% more efficient than hot water panels and 98% more efficient than evacuated tube technology.

What makes the SolarBeam better

The SolarBeam solar concentrator is so efficient for two reasons. One is that it uses a high quality, durable metal for the reflective surface that is both long lasting and anti corrosive, being able to tolerate both salt spray as well as acid rain. The other is that it uses a patent pending celestial tracking technology so that the concentrator is always perpendicular to the sun’s rays. This ensures that the concentrator works at top efficiency the whole day, and even in different seasons when the position of the sun can change by a large margin.

The concentrator is basically a large parabolic reflective surface that concentrates the sun’s energy on to a small area called the concentrator. This concentrator is only 10′x10′ in size, but because there is so much of solar energy concentrated on to such a small area, it is able to generate 13 kw of energy or in other words 44,000 BTU per hour.

Just behind the concentrator is the heat exchanger that transfers the heat from the concentrator to the water. Because the concentrator is so efficient, it is able to heat water from 4 °C to 90 °C in a very short while. There is an internal safety mechanism that causes the SolarBeam collector to change direction, not allowing the water to get heated to more than this temperature, ensuring the safety of your heating equipment.

Not only is it more efficient, it is also quite cost competitive when compared with existing solar water heaters and ROI has been calculated at just over 6 yrs. Because the parabolic curve design is so good, it is also quite efficient in low sunlight levels, and can heat water to a comfortable temperature, while existing hot water panels and evacuated tube designs cannot.

The device is also very safe, being constructed so that the concentrator is 12′ above the ground to keep it away from people and animals. It can also withstand winds up to 140 kph. Whether it is for residential use or for industrial use, this device makes good sense, especially in those locations that have good sunlight year round. It can also be used for cooling purposes if used in tandem with an absorption chiller.

Want to Start Making Solar Power at Home? Check out these instructions for building your own solar power. Includes videos, ebook, diagrams, and all the plans you need to get off the power grid and start saving some green while going green.

Imagine how great it would be if you could claim all of your personal saved energy on your tax returns? Well, this is slowly becoming the case with efficient energy users. Persons who have been efficient with their energy usage over the past year or so will be able to receive tax incentives for saved energy. This is a profound concept as it highlights the new focus on saving energy in America.

 

Most persons save energy for one reason: it makes their energy bill a lot cheaper. This is great because not only does it result in a low energy bill, but it also allows another person to have access to energy. With America becoming increasingly critical on energy issues due to the apparent and slowly growing lack of renewable energy sources, the nation has decided to give tax incentives for saving energy.

This new innovation is very attractive to homeowners because not only do they get to keep their electricity bills low, but they also get to make more money as a result of the money they have saved by receiving tax breaks. Just recently, the government issued a new decree that says that individuals who purchase energy efficient products or a renewable energy system for their home may be eligible to receive a tax break on their next tax return. Around April 15 every year, parents scurry to claim children on their tax returns in order to get more money. With that being said, it is very possible and logical that the idea of tax breaks will indeed force or coax more persons to go out and buy these items and begin to save.

One challenging barrier is that these energy-saving machines usually have a high initial starting price. These prices may prove to be too steep for average Americans leading them to bypass them during their daily shopping rounds. However, studies have shown that through the purchase of these energy efficient items, the money saved will eventually surpass the money spent, or in other words the input costs. This does not even include the tax incentives that these persons receive. It also helps to think of it in a way like this. The more items that are bought to make a family more efficient and help lower bills will also have positive effects elsewhere. Therefore, it is wise to invest in such energy-saving systems, so that you can receive tax breaks on your next tax return. Furthermore, your monthly bills will be significantly reduced.

There are many different reasons why some people avoid buying energy efficient products or systems. One may be because a person lacks the input costs. That is a plausible reason, however, for those that can afford the input costs it makes all the difference to become energy friendly due to the number of tax incentives that are offered. Besides personal benefits, people saving energy will help reduce the use of fossil fuels and help improve the environment which is essentially the goal of these tax incentives.

 

Author Info: This article is contributed by Haliyma B. who is a professional freelancer living in New York. Haliyma has keen interest in environmental issues, and regularly contributes articles on various energy technologies.

 

Want to Start Making Solar Power at Home? Check out these instructions for building your own solar power. Includes videos, ebook, diagrams, and all the plans you need to get off the power grid and start saving some green while going green.

The cost of motoring is going up all the time. The recent Libyan oil crisis has meant the price of fuel has continued to skyrocket, despite protests from consumers. Well fuel prices were always going to go up, it’s a finite resource. The Libyan oil crisis just gave them an extra push, or an easy excuse for the fuel companies to push their prices higher, depending on how cynical you are.

Car insurance is going up as well. In fact if you’re a woman living in the EU it might be going up by a lot, depending on the postponed ruling. Even if you’re not however, the cost of premiums are continuing to rise year on year.  
Essentially, it’s getting more and more expensive to own and drive a car. The solution which many are looking into now, is eco-friendly cars.

Eco-friendliness and fuel efficiency generally go hand-in-hand. The focus of an eco-friendly car is to use less fuel per mile where possible and to reduce the harmful carbon emissions. These cars generally have smaller engines than average as well, which should have an effect on the cost of your insurance premium.

Things are beginning to move this direction, but it isn’t necessarily always the case says onlyinsurance.com. Naturally a smaller engine will mean your car is cheaper to insure than a fuel guzzler, but finding premiums specifically for eco-friendly cars can take a bit of work. The growing consensus, onlyinsurance suggests, is that eco-friendly drivers are also more considerate with their driving and less likely to get involved in an accident. With this in mind some insurers are now offering cheaper premiums.

Don’t confuse these policies with carbon offsetting policies, which ensure a portion of the premium paid by the customer is put into carbon offsetting products. It’s possible that this could be a feature of an eco-friendly car insurance policy, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re buying a premium specifically for an eco-friendly car. Life can be so confusing at times.

Buying a fuel-efficient car doesn’t necessarily mean a Prius, if this is what’s concerning. There are a growing number of fuel-efficient models out there, which don’t immediately draw up connotations of daisy-chains and Hands Across America.

Not only that, but the Prius is quite an expensive car to buy, particularly as it’s so new. Thankfully, Webecoist have listed a number of more affordable options, which you can trade your current model in for.

So while eco-friendliness might not automatically mean cheaper car insurance, insurers are starting to treat these cars differently – it’s worth shopping around to see what kind of deals are out there. And, even if you don’t see immediate savings on your premiums, there are plenty of savings to be had on the cost of fuel.

Jennifer is a part of the digital blogging team at alwritenow.com who work with brands like LV =. For more information about me, or to keep up to date with the latest in lifestyle news, check out my posts at alwritenow.com or visit my Twitter account, @awnow

Want to Start Making Solar Power at Home? Check out these instructions for building your own solar power. Includes videos, ebook, diagrams, and all the plans you need to get off the power grid and start saving some green while going green.

 

 

 

This article was written by Housework Heroes. Get in touch to learn about their house cleaning services and their cleaning franchise opportunities.

 

 

Want to Start Making Solar Power at Home? Check out these instructions for building your own solar power. Includes videos, ebook, diagrams, and all the plans you need to get off the power grid and start saving some green while going green.

The old fashioned 60 watt light bulb has bestowed light upon billions of people for more than a century. They are reliable, inexpensive, and familiar, and when they first came on the market, they were a godsend, replacing candles and dangerous kerosene lamps. But as time has moved on, these once fossil fuel-efficient bulbs have become the hare whereas Compact Flourescent Lights (CFLs) have become the tortoise of illumination. CFLs cost more up front, but the savings over time makes them a very worthwhile investment for any home owner or renter.

When evaluating the upfront cost of CFLs versus old fashioned incandescent bulbs, the older technology wins. CFLs cost $37 for a pack of six at Staples, which is $26 more than a six pack of incandescent bulbs, but over time the new technology will save you hundreds of dollars, which is why you should not wait until the old bulbs burn out to replace them as replacing them all right away will lead to more savings faster.

To calculate the savings that will be gained by using CFL bulbs, all you have to do is count the number of light bulbs in your house. If your house has 24, then the upfront loss of buying CFLs will be approximately $100 compared to opting for the cheaper product alternative. But each bulb will save about $30, creating a net benefit of roughly $620 for using them.

The numbers work like this:

Cost of 24 cheaper 60 watt incandescent bulbs: $44
Cost of 24 more expensive 13 watt CFL bulbs: $148
Cost difference between the two: $104

Savings per bulb using CFL technology: $30
Savings for using 24 light bulbs: $720
Energy savings minus cost of product difference: $616

The reason the energy cost savings is so great is because CFL bulbs emit the same amount of light using about 25% of the energy. Part of the reason for this is because incandescent bulbs burn up a lot of energy merely creating heat, which is why older bulbs get so hot and newer ones do not. With all of the heat coming off of incandescent bulbs, they also create problems for those living in hotter climates as they unintentionally compete with the air conditioner unit that is attempting to regulate the temperature in the home.

When making the choice of which light bulbs to buy it might seem expensive at the register when you are buying enough bulbs to light your entire house, but where it is expensive up front, it is much cheaper for years to come. And the money saved using newer CFL light bulbs can be applied to paying off debt (not more loans) going out on dates, making donations, or anything at all. When you use CFL bulbs, you win.

 

Firespin Jay is commineted to saving money the Eco way from simple life changes to rapid life chages check out his other stories so you can learn the green saving way. Catch up with the conversation on Twitter  @FirespinJay

Want to Start Making Solar Power at Home? Check out these instructions for building your own solar power. Includes videos, ebook, diagrams, and all the plans you need to get off the power grid and start saving some green while going green.

South Korea looks to be a prime opportunity for entrepreneurs involved in green technology. The South Korean government has announced that it plans to spend $7.18 billion over the next twenty years to build the world’s first nationwide smart grid system. This includes spending $358 million each year till 2016. South Korea has already made significant investments in green technology, so this confirms that the market is solid. One of the issues that South Korea faces is that they use a lot of electricity.

The primary way of meeting the demand for electricity is via power plants that use fossil fuels and natural gas. Even though the country has taken steps to be more “green”, they are still considered a high carbon polluter within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Part of this investment will be applied to a newly planned 2,500 megawatt offshore wind farm. The European Union is currently the world’s leader in offshore wind farm technology. Many of their wind farms are in the 300-400 MW range. So this planned wind farm is six times larger than what is commonly in current operation.

South Korea has pledged to reduce greenhouse gasses by 30% by the year 2020 and has mandated that at least 10% of its electrical power from its major power plants come from renewable sources, such as wind and solar, by the year 2022. For entrepreneurs involved in wind, solar, and battery technology, this could be a very lucrative market. Both the Samsung Group & the LG Group are already involved with this project.

The other key component of this smart grid system is the creation a revolutionary system of meters, regulators, and appliances to control the system. An efficient smart grid will contain sensors throughout the system that send information about power usage and distribution in real time to monitoring stations. This will allow the power companies to monitor and watch the areas that use the most power as well as taking appropriate action in those areas. For entrepreneurs involved in smart grid applications, this also will provide some interesting opportunities.

Other energy conservation projects that the South Korean government has been involved with include creating hydrogen generators from landfills, rooftop gardens, and utilizing electric scooters for local law enforcement. These provide hope to innovators marketing their new ideas that are on the cutting edge. With South Korea allocating billions of dollars to fund an energy revolution, opportunities abound for the savvy entrepreneur.

 

S. M. Combs blogs for residential solar energy blog, her hobby blog centered on ideas to aid home owners find solar contractors and learn how to save energy with solar power.

Want to Start Making Solar Power at Home? Check out these instructions for building your own solar power. Includes videos, ebook, diagrams, and all the plans you need to get off the power grid and start saving some green while going green.