Solar Panels For Homes

Hey guys,

Just read a great article over here about using the energy of the sun to power home brewing.  You can now make totally green beer - cool:) - well as long as it isn't actually green!!

A guy named Joseph Blair from Princeton University has created the world's first solar powered home brew kit - combining two loves of the American man - beer and DIY!!

He's used some genius home made tools and converted various other bits to achieve the feat and if you head over to the article above, you'll see some cool photos of the whole process. Lots of timber, a fridge (I think!) and even a wheel chair help pull this solar power project together.

Some of the photos from flickr:

Cheers

p.s.Mine's a pint!

Barack Obama is set to open the US's largest solar power plant on Tuesday this week (27th October 2009), with a capacity of 25MW.

It has taken nearly a year to build the plant on what was open land in Florida. This plant will be twice as big as the nxt biggest plant in the US, however it won't be the largest solar power plant in the US for long as projects in Nevada and California will quickly overtake it.

This plant cost $150 million to build and it will be able to power about 3,000 homes. 400 employees were required to build it but there will only be a few required to run it.

Cheers

p.s.The next few years are going to see a big change in how power is produced. Until I started writing this blog, I didn't realise just how many solar plants were being constructed - it is going to take time but they are going in the right direction.

Dell has just finished installing solar panels in the car park of its HQ in Round Rock, Texas. Known as a solar grove, they have worked with Envision Solar to produce this renewable energy source.

It will be expanded into a parked plug in for electric cars at some point soon.

They apparently can produce 131,000KWh a year from the 516 individual solar panels. They have the added benefit of sheltering the cars underneath them from the sunshine too!

Cheers

p.s.Interesting choice of vehicles for an HQ carpark - unless they have down graded, the execs and VPs don't appear to use the facilities shown in this photo!  Unless Porche or Ferrai do an electric car....

There have been reports in teh media lately of solar panels being stolen from people's rooftops or gardens, and then ending up as cheap sales on ebay or other online auctions sites.

A winerey in California is has lost $1000s in the last year and have been hit by theives 16 times according to this report.

1. Use one way screws to attach the panels
2. Cover all bolts with an epoxy resin
3. Link all the panels with heavy cable, locking them if possible inside the house
4. Inscribe the frame with your details making the panels easier to to trace
5. Advertise the fact that you taking these precautions to deter would be thieves.

photo credit: jasminejennyjen

Cheers

p.s.Just one thing on all of these precautions - ensure that you have the panels in the correct place first, otherwise it will be a real nightmare moving them!

I spoke a few weeks ago about the upcoming Solar Decathlon that was takeing place in October (2009) and we now have a winner.

German Uni students have got themselves a second consecutive win in this international competition.  20 teams were involved in the event which asks the teams to build a livable home that operates on solar power alone. Judging is on a variety of factors.

You can take a tour of the event (virtually) here: http://www.solardecathlon.org/virtual_tours/#

The German team were judged to have made the most attractive and efficient solar powered home.

Cheers

p.s.Looking at some of the photos on the solar decathlon site - the weather wasn't always great - not sure how they could judge solar efficiency in the rain!

DSCC (dye-sensitized solar cells) which are created by G24 Innovations has been commercialised for the first time in the shape of a solar panel in a ruck sack.

Less than 1mm thick these solar panels are eco-friendly as they don't contain solicon or cadmium.  They are ideal for outdoor types and could be incorporated into tents as well as clothing and bags.

Located in Wales, G24i's factory relies exclusively on renewable energy - 100% practicing what they preach!

The manufacturing process is bizarrely similar to ink jet printing. Called roll to roll, it transforms a lightweight roll of foil into a rugged half mile of DSSC in less than 3 hours!

Cheers

p.s.We are moving more and more to a portable society - power on the move will be the next big thing.

LG have launched their new Pop in the UK. The Pop is an ecofriendly touch screen mobile. It has a solar panel embedded in the cover of the battery which uses the sun's energy to charge the phone's battery.

The really cool thing is that just 10 minutes of sunshine will give you 2 minutes of talktime and so that you can feel really smug, software in the phone tells you how much you are reducing CO2 emissions by.

It is made with nice materials so there are no PVC, BFR or CFRs in them making it even more eco-friendly.

To finish off, the packaging is recycled paper and the battery charger (from the wall) has a neat little device to remind you to switch off the charger when the phone is fully charged.

Cheers

p.s.I can't wait till I can be solar powered but maybe that's called a tree!

LG has developed a solar panel compatible for e-book readers. These devices already have a long lasting battery solution, but when they do run out of juice, it can be incredibly frustrating as it will always happen at the worst possible moment!

The solar panel will allow the unit to be charged on the go as long as you have some sunshine.  At the moment it is only a prototype, but the one they have developed is only 10cm square, so it wouldn't be a hassle to carry.

Cheers

p.s. can't wait till a similar technology is built into my iphone - can you imagine!

A car on a test run for the Global Green Challenge (Darwin to Adelaide - Oct 24th 2009), was zooming down the motorway in Australia at the weekend. Reaching a speed of 110km/h (about 66mph), the car uses less power than the average toaster!

The car is called IVy and isn't really suitable for driving on the road as it is less than a metre high and 5 metres long.

It is built by students from the University of NSW.

Cheers

p.s. Coupled with the price - $280,000 (AUS) - not really all that suitable for everyday use!

Sanyo's recharable battery range - Eneloop took a big step forward recently.  The batteries, which can hold a residual charge of upto 75% for a year (ie do nothing with them after a charge, and they still have 75% of their power), are now being pre-charged through solar power in the Sanyo factories.

These great batteries are now coming ready to use - fixing one of the biggest annoyances of most other rechargeable batteries.

Cheers

p.s. Christmas presents for the kids, suddenly become a bit easier to manage - no more realising at 6am Christmas morning that little Jakey can't play with his robot for another 8 hours, until the batteries charge up!