This was an interesting news article about how Duke Energy will be doing a solar, battery, smart grid trial in Charolete, North Carolina.
The company is testing what it calls a “virtual power plant” at a substation in Charlotte, N.C., that it hopes will allow it to use electricity more efficiently.
The substation–where electricity is distributed to a local neighborhood–is equipped with a 50-kilowatt solar array, enough to supply at least five homes when operating. The 213 solar panels either feed electricity directly to the grid or to a 500-kilowatt zinc bromide battery.
About 100 households in the McAlpine Creek area have been equipped with a home energy management system that lets consumers view electricity consumption in real time and participate in energy-saving programs.
They have a video in the article that explains how their idea will work. Not sure what is going on with my local energy companies in Arizona, SRP and APS. SRP has been converting everyone over to smart meters - or at least meters that send in the usage everyday. That is the first step - now to provide customers real time access.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Is It Worth Making Your Own Solar Panels?
With the high cost of electricity these days every American family should be seriously considering the possibility of generating their own emergency in some manner.
In addition, as a survivalist you may want to have some means of generating power when you are at your retreat. Foremost in popularity are the solar panel that we keep hearing about on our evening newscasts. As we surf the World Wide Web it is not unusual to see advertisements that outwardly state how we can make our own solar cell.
In addition, as a survivalist you may want to have some means of generating power when you are at your retreat. Foremost in popularity are the solar panel that we keep hearing about on our evening newscasts. As we surf the World Wide Web it is not unusual to see advertisements that outwardly state how we can make our own solar cell.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Jay Leno's MagLev Wind Turbine Is Bigger Than Ed Begley's
Jay Leno may have a ton of old cars that probably get four or five miles to the gallon, but at least he's talking about wind power on television! Or. Hang on. At least he talks about wind power on NBC.com!
In the video below, he's staring at a MagLev wind turbine -- that's a turbine that works well because it's levitating on a magnetic field. Less resistance means more conserved energy and less mechanical wear. Very cool stuff, and it's the kind of toy that a mechanical geek like Leno can get into.
This baby's going on Ed Begley's house, but Leno brags that the one he'll buy is bigger.
In the video below, he's staring at a MagLev wind turbine -- that's a turbine that works well because it's levitating on a magnetic field. Less resistance means more conserved energy and less mechanical wear. Very cool stuff, and it's the kind of toy that a mechanical geek like Leno can get into.
This baby's going on Ed Begley's house, but Leno brags that the one he'll buy is bigger.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
The Global Warming International Flight Tax
As liberal environmentalists and tax-happy politicians scheme over strategies to hike international flight rates to raise funds to address alleged warming, North Dakotans are celebrating snowfalls in June. Anomalies like snow in June certainly don’t refute that the planet is warming, but there does exist a widening of disconnect between hard evidence indicating warming and the policy prescriptions designed in its name.
This new levy on international air travel, proposed by a coalition of the world’s 50 least developed nations, intends to raise money from wealthy countries in order to finance anti-climate change campaigns in those too poor to develop and implement such plans of their own. From the Guardian:
Developing countries, backed by the UN, argue that they will need hundreds of billions of dollars a year to adapt themselves to climate-related disasters, loss of crops and water supplies, which they are already experiencing as temperatures around the world rise.”
Apparently, with a little “ingenuity,” the UN climate geniuses have discovered that it’s quite easy to raise money via taxation. This brainstorming on revenue-raising has taken place in full ignorance of potential unintended consequences. Taxes such as those in question may prompt changes in corporate policies surrounding international travel. If air travel costs more, companies may choose to have their representatives instead use videoconferences.
To the extent that companies continue to use air travel internationally, the inevitable result will be cost-shifting onto consumers. Such cost-shifting will result in what is effectively a regressive tax policy, disproportionately affecting lower-income families. And faced with a shortfall in tax revenue, the warming gurus at the UN will no doubt find themselves devising yet more economically distortionary interventions to finance their agenda.
Leaving aside these problematic considerations, the new proposals carry within them several familiar implicit assumptions. For instance, warming is not only man-caused, but caused in fact by the past industrialization of the West in particular. Therefore, the West is responsible for the ecological catastrophes wrecked by its legacy of pollution and exploitation.
Never mind the highly arguable nature of such claims, particularly the question of whether the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) recommendations upon which all of these plans are based are as rock-solid as warming alarmists claim it to be.
The most prominent of these recommendations was a statement in 2007 that human activity is “very likely” causing warming. But a conference hosted last week by The Heartland Institute and attended by over 250 scholars and analysts from all over the world casts some healthy skepticism on the IPCC’s apparent confidence.
For example, Dr. Roy Spencer, a professor at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, pointed out that the IPCC failed to consider such major factors as the role of cloud cover in affecting climate change. Cloud cover reduces the amount of sunlight that reaches the earth surface and therefore plays a significant role in the affecting temperature. Needless to say, it is significant factor to consider in any realistic assessment of warming. Oversights such as this, Spencer contends, draw into question the comprehensiveness of the IPCC’s findings as well as its heavy reliance on computer-based models. He writes:
Even though they never say so, the IPCC has simply assumed that the average cloud cover of the Earth does not change, century after century. This is a totally arbitrary assumption, and given the chaotic variations that the ocean and atmosphere circulations are capable of, it is probably wrong. Little more than a 1% change in cloud cover up or down, and sustained over many decades, could cause events such as the Medieval Warm Period or the Little Ice Age… As far as I know, the IPCC has never discussed their assumption that average cloud cover always stays the same.”
This new levy on international air travel, proposed by a coalition of the world’s 50 least developed nations, intends to raise money from wealthy countries in order to finance anti-climate change campaigns in those too poor to develop and implement such plans of their own. From the Guardian:
Developing countries, backed by the UN, argue that they will need hundreds of billions of dollars a year to adapt themselves to climate-related disasters, loss of crops and water supplies, which they are already experiencing as temperatures around the world rise.”
Apparently, with a little “ingenuity,” the UN climate geniuses have discovered that it’s quite easy to raise money via taxation. This brainstorming on revenue-raising has taken place in full ignorance of potential unintended consequences. Taxes such as those in question may prompt changes in corporate policies surrounding international travel. If air travel costs more, companies may choose to have their representatives instead use videoconferences.
To the extent that companies continue to use air travel internationally, the inevitable result will be cost-shifting onto consumers. Such cost-shifting will result in what is effectively a regressive tax policy, disproportionately affecting lower-income families. And faced with a shortfall in tax revenue, the warming gurus at the UN will no doubt find themselves devising yet more economically distortionary interventions to finance their agenda.
Leaving aside these problematic considerations, the new proposals carry within them several familiar implicit assumptions. For instance, warming is not only man-caused, but caused in fact by the past industrialization of the West in particular. Therefore, the West is responsible for the ecological catastrophes wrecked by its legacy of pollution and exploitation.
Never mind the highly arguable nature of such claims, particularly the question of whether the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) recommendations upon which all of these plans are based are as rock-solid as warming alarmists claim it to be.
The most prominent of these recommendations was a statement in 2007 that human activity is “very likely” causing warming. But a conference hosted last week by The Heartland Institute and attended by over 250 scholars and analysts from all over the world casts some healthy skepticism on the IPCC’s apparent confidence.
For example, Dr. Roy Spencer, a professor at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, pointed out that the IPCC failed to consider such major factors as the role of cloud cover in affecting climate change. Cloud cover reduces the amount of sunlight that reaches the earth surface and therefore plays a significant role in the affecting temperature. Needless to say, it is significant factor to consider in any realistic assessment of warming. Oversights such as this, Spencer contends, draw into question the comprehensiveness of the IPCC’s findings as well as its heavy reliance on computer-based models. He writes:
Even though they never say so, the IPCC has simply assumed that the average cloud cover of the Earth does not change, century after century. This is a totally arbitrary assumption, and given the chaotic variations that the ocean and atmosphere circulations are capable of, it is probably wrong. Little more than a 1% change in cloud cover up or down, and sustained over many decades, could cause events such as the Medieval Warm Period or the Little Ice Age… As far as I know, the IPCC has never discussed their assumption that average cloud cover always stays the same.”
Monday, June 1, 2009
Patented Method for Improved Solar Cell Efficiency Expected to Lower Solar Energy Costs
Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (NYSE: YGE) ("Yingli Green Energy"), one of the world's leading vertically integrated photovoltaic ("PV") product manufacturers, the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands ("ECN"), a leading solar research center in Europe, and Amtech Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASYS) ("Amtech"), a global supplier of production and automation systems and related supplies for the manufacture of solar cells, today announced a three-party research collaboration agreement to develop next generation high efficiency solar cells.
The joint project under the agreement endeavors to develop and implement high efficiency N-type silicon solar cells, named PANDA, at Yingli Green Energy's pilot production line in Baoding, China. The high efficiency cells will utilize the cell design of ECN, the solar diffusion technology and dry PSG removal expertise of Tempress Systems, Inc., Amtech's solar subsidiary ("Tempress"), and Yingli Green Energy's leading cell process technology. The construction of the pilot production line does not require significant capital expense, as it only makes moderate changes on the current production lines.
"Yingli Green Energy always strives to be at the forefront of the latest technological developments in the PV industry," said Mr. Liansheng Miao, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Yingli Green Energy. "To that end, we are very pleased to be entering into a cooperation that combines our strong commercialization capabilities with the strengths of a global research institution and a leading equipment supplier. We look forward to playing a crucial role in the introduction of the next generation of high efficiency solar cells. PANDA aims at significantly raising the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells and at commercializing the new technology quickly on our production lines."
"We are very happy that ECN's technology for N-type crystalline silicon solar cells is going to be industrialized in cooperation with these ambitious partners with a long operating history in the PV industry," said Ton Hoff, Chairman of the Board of ECN.
J.S. Whang, President and Chief Executive Officer of Amtech, commented, "We are excited about this joint agreement with leaders in the industry and its potential to contribute to significant improvements in solar cell efficiency and bring solar energy closer to achieving grid parity. PANDA is true validation for our Tempress' in-depth diffusion expertise and our capability for supplying reliable diffusion and automation equipment to the solar industry."
The joint project under the agreement endeavors to develop and implement high efficiency N-type silicon solar cells, named PANDA, at Yingli Green Energy's pilot production line in Baoding, China. The high efficiency cells will utilize the cell design of ECN, the solar diffusion technology and dry PSG removal expertise of Tempress Systems, Inc., Amtech's solar subsidiary ("Tempress"), and Yingli Green Energy's leading cell process technology. The construction of the pilot production line does not require significant capital expense, as it only makes moderate changes on the current production lines.
"Yingli Green Energy always strives to be at the forefront of the latest technological developments in the PV industry," said Mr. Liansheng Miao, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Yingli Green Energy. "To that end, we are very pleased to be entering into a cooperation that combines our strong commercialization capabilities with the strengths of a global research institution and a leading equipment supplier. We look forward to playing a crucial role in the introduction of the next generation of high efficiency solar cells. PANDA aims at significantly raising the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells and at commercializing the new technology quickly on our production lines."
"We are very happy that ECN's technology for N-type crystalline silicon solar cells is going to be industrialized in cooperation with these ambitious partners with a long operating history in the PV industry," said Ton Hoff, Chairman of the Board of ECN.
J.S. Whang, President and Chief Executive Officer of Amtech, commented, "We are excited about this joint agreement with leaders in the industry and its potential to contribute to significant improvements in solar cell efficiency and bring solar energy closer to achieving grid parity. PANDA is true validation for our Tempress' in-depth diffusion expertise and our capability for supplying reliable diffusion and automation equipment to the solar industry."
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