Germany Posts Record Solar Installations (Reuters) – Germany will add a record of up to 3 gigawatt (GW) of photovoltaic capacity this year due to unexpectedly strong demand in the final months of 2009, the head of Germany’s BSW solar industry association said on Monday. Carsten Koernig told Reuters the late surge would take the [...]
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How Home Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Works Interested in a small solar photovoltaic (PV) project for your home, cottage or camp ground? Here’s a quick overview of how it works and how to setup your own small solar PV system. Solar PV vs Solar Thermal Solar Photovoltaic systems use sunlight to produce electricity. You can then [...]
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2009 Solar Decathlon The U.S. Department of Energy’s 2009 Solar Decathlon brought 20 teams from colleges and universities around the world together on Washington D.C.’s National Mall, pitting them against one another in friendly competition to see who’s solar-powered house would rise to the top. The technologies and architectural styles of the homes vary greatly [...]
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OPA Announces Feed-in Tariff Start of October 1 September 24th – the Ontario Power Authority OPA today announce an October 1st start date to accept applications for a Feed-in Tariff (FiT) contract. With FiT rates as high as 80.2 cents per kwh, demand is expected to be very high for the contracts. A new website [...]
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DIY Solar Pool Heater Extend your POOL season. Your two best options for adding a few extra weeks to your pool season: 1) Solar Blanket, 2) Solar Heater. Adding a solar blanket is usually the first step – it’s easy and not too expensive for the saving you get. After the solar blanket is in [...]
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Residential Solar Photovoltaics – a Primer As more municipalities, cities, states, and provinces get into the renewable energy stream, interest is growing. Time for a quick primer on residential sized photovoltaic (PV) systems. What is Photovoltaic? Solar can be used to heat water, or generate electricity. If you use solar to heat water, it’s called [...]
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Evacuated Tube Solar Panels and Snow Evacuated tube solar panels are very efficient at heating. You take a glass tube, add a copper pipe filled with liquid and a heating surface – usually coated copper. Then you pump all the air out. The sun shines on the heating surface, transfers the heat to the tube [...]
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Gainesville Florida to consider solar feed-in tariffs Gainesville Regional Utilities has attracted the eyes of environmentalists across the nation for a trail-blazing plan to encourage solar energy production by agreeing to buy the electricity above market value for 20 years. Ontario, Canada has had a solar feed-in tariff for a number of years and this [...]
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