Causes Of Land Pollution And Recycling Facts

Current info about the causes of land pollution is not
always the easiest thing to locate. Fortunately, this report
includes the latest facts about solar energy available.

Solar energy is energy from the sun. When the sun is shining
solar energy is being produced as it sends the heat
radiating to the earth. Solar energy is as plentiful as
daylight, as limitless as organic life itself, a fuel that
comes free of charge and replenishes itself every time the
earth rotates on its axis. Almost all energy, after all, is
ultimately stored solar power: Oil, gas, and coal were born
of the ancient sunlight that fed prehistoric animals and
plants, the wind is set howling by the sun's unequal heating
of the atmosphere, and even a campfire draws its warmth from
solar power trapped long ago through photosynthesis.

Wind and water have been used to power mills for centuries.
Wind power is a totally renewable energy source with no
greenhouse gas emissions, but due to its unpredictability,
has problems integrating with national grids. Combined
together, wind and hydrogen can cancel out their inherent
defects and be an effective tool in the battle against
carbon dioxide and global warming. Winds are rated in seven
classes; higher class numbers indicate stronger winds.

It seems like new information is discovered about something
every day. And the topic of solar energy is no exception.
Keep reading to get more fresh news about the causes of land
pollution.

Wind forecasting played a significant role in enabling
large-scale wind power penetration and we believe that
forecasting PV production is less complex and will have
similar results for enabling industry growth. Wind energy in
Spain has now entered a dynamic phase where the serious
challenges that arise when wind energy becomes one of the
main energy supply technologies need to be met. Current
policy direction signals how an intermittent power source
can be integrated into the electricity market in significant
quantities.

Solar energy research is expanding rapidly, with many new
ideas being explored - some using exotic nano-materials
combined with ingenious engineering approaches. PVs look set
to contribute significantly to future power generation.
Solar energy use accounted for 129 kilo tons of oil
equivalent (ktoe) in 2000 and is projected to be 431 ktoe
and 828 ktoe in 2010 and 2020, respectively.

Renewable energy provides more jobs per unit of output and
per dollar spent than conventional energies do. Economic
woes and high unemployment rates influenced Spain's 94
decision to invest in renewable energy. Renewable energy is
no less reliable than energy generated from more traditional
sources and using it does not mean that you have to change
your lifestyle or your appliances. Using renewable energy
can be as simple as using the sun for drying clothes or can
mean taking advantage of more sophisticated renewable
technologies, such as photovoltaic cell systems, which
use the sun's heat and light to generate energy, wind
turbines or ground source heat pumps which extract energy
from underground. Renewable energy is important for the
environment as it produces little or no greenhouse gases.
The exception is biomass which is considered as being
'carbon neutral'.

Now you can be a confident expert on the causes of land
pollution. OK, maybe not an expert. But you should have
something to bring to the table next time you join a
discussion on the facts about solar energy.

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Can I Really Heat My Pool From Solar Panels?

Would you like to heat your pool with solar energy? Because, there’s good news! Installing solar panels to heat your pool won’t cost you much. You can even construct them yourself for under 0 in materials and less than a weekend’s worth of your time. An added benefit is that, after the initial installation cost, you won’t be paying an ongoing fuel bill.

Why Not Discover the Advantages of Building Solar Energy Here?

But before you go forward, you’ll need to take some things into consideration. First, would the system receive ample sunlight throughout the day? The solar panels best for heating pools are simple passive collectors. They usually consist of plastic, water-filled coils encased in shatter-resistant glass. As water collects in the coils, it becomes heated by the sun, then pumped into the pool.

If your property has a lot of shade trees, there might not be sufficient sunlight for a passive solar water heater. However, an unshaded south- or west-facing rooftop is an ideal spot for solar panels to get the full benefit of sunlight.

Building Solar Panel is Much More Simple

Next, think about the difference between how warm you want your pool to be and the temperature outside. For example, if you’re thinking about heating an outdoor pool in Minnesota to 80 degrees during a freezing winter, stay with pool covers and a powerful gas heating system. On the other hand, if you want to heat your outdoor pool in Texas to 80 degrees in 50-degree weather, then a solar heating system would be ideal.

When you do install a solar heater, you’ll still want to cover your pool for such times when the air is cooler than your pool’s water temperature. Any time you notice steam rising from the pool’s surface, it’s best to use the pool cover to retain the heat.

An Informative Instruction on How To Join Solar Cells Cheaply

Here’s a word of caution if you’re just learning about solar heating systems. Some people think they may be able to save even more money by using their pool’s solar heater for hot water in their house. But unfortunately, the two systems don’t mix well. The water in your pool is being conditioned with chlorine and muriatic acid. It won’t do any harm to swim in it or to swallow a little, but you really don’t want to mix it with your home’s drinking water system. Installing a solar water heating system for your home is an entirely separate project.

Suniva solar cell technology powers India’s first large-scale solar project

Suniva®, Inc., a U.S. manufacturer of high-efficiency monocrystalline silicon solar cells and supplier of Suniva-branded solar modules, today announced the completion of its collaborative project with Titan Energy Systems Ltd. to create India’s first large-scale project in Jamuria, West Bengal. Suniva’s cells power the 1MW solar electric power plant which is expected to expand an additional 250kW early next year.

“High-efficiency solar technology presents significant advantages in terms of land use and balance of system costs, and Suniva is our key partner for delivering the high power and volumes needed to keep projects reliably moving forward,” said Sankar Chodagam, Managing Director of Titan Energy Systems Ltd.

The Indian government recently approved a National Solar Mission, which includes a target of deploying at least 20GW of solar projects by 2020, as part of its national strategy to provide power to millions of citizens and combat climate change. Over the next five years, Titan plans to develop a series of large-scale projects and installations in Andhra Pradesh, India. Suniva fully supports and looks forward to continuing its collaboration with the fast-growing Indian market.

“As India pursues its significant goals for solar power, innovative solar cell technology will be just as crucial as new system designs and deployment strategies,” said John Baumstark, CEO of Suniva. “We maintain a close and open dialogue with Titan in order to provide them with the best possible technology solutions and look forward to partnering with them in the recently announced 1 GW project in Andhra Pradesh. Our collaborative projects in India, the United States and throughout the world will help shape the future of renewable energy.”

Worldwide interest in solar technology made in the United States continues to grow. Suniva’s technology is currently being integrated into a variety of installations throughout the United States, including a 550kW solar farm in North Carolina and a 10MW development in Georgia.

Solar Power 50% Cheaper By Year End

By the end of 2009, there will have been a 50% drop in the levelized cost--i.e. the lifetime cost per kWh before subsidies--of solar power, and a 10% reduction in the levelized cost of other sources of renewable energy sectors compared to the end of 2008, according to new analysis by New Energy Finance.

“So far this year, the steady decline in the cost of equipment in sectors like solar and wind has been largely offset by the increasing costs of financing,” said Michael Liebreich, chairman and CEO of New Energy Finance. “By the end of this year, however, as capital markets loosen up and equipment prices continue their decline, we will see the levelized costs decline, finishing the year 10% below the end of last year across the board and far more than that in solar.”

Photovoltaic (PV) module prices across the board have continued their downward trend, although the rate of decline has tapered. Thin-film remains the low-cost leader in solar with projects as cheap as $3/W, making thin-film projects 25% less expensive than crystalline silicon systems on a levelized basis.

PV projects with tracking systems have seen the least reduction in costs due to the fact that costs for single- and double-axis trackers have remained buoyant relative to panel prices.

Although new transactions have been few, turbine prices have fallen to their lowest levels in several years at 18-20% below early 2008 levels. To date, this drop in equipment prices has mostly been offset by higher costs of financing.

In the offshore market, costs continue to rise with projects moving into deeper waters, facing increasingly complex construction and capital costs. As capital markets begin to recover, both onshore and offshore projects should begin to see falling levelized costs.

Levelized geothermal costs are particularly sensitive to fluctuations in capital markets and drilling stage debt and equity has been in scarce supply through this year. Drilling costs fell by nearly 50% as drilling rigs flew into excess with a falling oil price, but these have recovered in the last quarter in step with oil. In the past quarter levelized costs have risen by 8-10% but should remain flat at year end.

Reprinted with permission from SustainableBusiness.com

Castle Drogo wins award for biomass boiler

Castle Drogo on Dartmoor has won an award for being one of the best examples of sustainable energy in the South West with its new biomass boiler.

One of eight winners, England’s last castle took home a highly-sought after Green Energy Award for its biomass boiler, in the category of ‘Best Renewable Energy Scheme’.

The new biomass boiler has reduced the Castle's annual carbon emissions by 150 tonnes and generated 1,000,000 kilowatt hours of renewable heat per year. It is easily accessible to 125,000+ visitors a year, and is included in visitor tours that further promote renewable energy. The fuel for the installation is supplied by a local woodchip supplier, with 50 per cent coming from the estate itself with 100 per cent by June 2010. Many members of the local community, other businesses and charities have also visited Drogo to have a look at the new boiler to see if our success can be replicated elsewhere.

The winners were chosen from a high-quality shortlist of entrants from across the region by an independent panel of judges who have expert knowledge in sustainable energy.

David Bailey, Castle Drogo Property Manager said: “We are thrilled at receiving this award; it’s a real credit to everyone who has been involved on this project. Our aim is to be free from fossil fuels by 2016 through using hydro and solar power and by reducing our energy requirements. Our new solar boiler has already reduced our fossil fuel needs by 50 percent. We not only want to be the last castle built in England but also the greenest!”

DIY-Solar-Air-Heater

Make a DIY solar air heater from soda cans for next to nothing.

Pictured below is a simple small passive solar heater made from recycled aluminium drinks cans and used to heat a room.

If the building to be heated is well insultated, a solar heater such as this can lift the temperature by a significant number of degrees. A larger heater or a number of similar heaters can be used to heat larger spaces, or to heat smaller spaces to a higher temperature.Offcuts of 2 x 4 and a sheet of plywood were used to build a box to tightly hold 5 rows of 10 black-painted aluminium drinks cans.

The inside of the box was then sealed using silicone to prevent hot air from escaping.

Cold air is drawn in from a hole at the bottom of the box, and the heated air emerges from the top passing through a pipe into the room to be heated. A perspex sheet was glued to the box to let sunlight in but not let the hot air escape.

Cloud Over India's Solar Power Plans

India is betting big on abundant sunshine to feed its growing power needs, but funding costs and feeble solar panel manufacturing capacity are clouding its ambitions to harness the non-fossil fuel.

In July 2009, India unveiled a $19 billion plan to produce 20 GW of solar power by 2020, with this increasing to 100 GW by 2030 and 200 GW by 2050.

It's a hugely ambitious project--solar now accounts for only a tiny proportion of India's energy mix. The need for more capacity is clear--apart from environmental imperatives, India's inability to meet power demand now has for long crimped its economic growth.

Rules governing the sale of solar power to India's national and state grid companies are vague, solar equipment makers don't yet produce enough to benefit from economies of scale and bring down prices, and financing costs make it difficult to expand output rapidly.
Of India's installed generating capacity of 152.36 gigawatts, there are just two megawatts of solar capacity connected to the grid. There is no data available for off-grid generation.
However, things are moving. On Saturday the government is to unveil a roadmap on how India can achieve its target, which includes provision for surplus solar power made in the domestic sector to be fed into the grid for a fee.

It will also include the role of the federal and provincial governments, funding issues and what sort of financial supports will be made available.

Grid companies aren't obliged to buy solar power but the "Solar Mission" announcement may change this.

Solar power in India costs 15 rupees ($0.32) per kilowatt hour, compared to 3.5 rupees per kilowatt hour power drawn from the national grid, government officials say.
Other parts of the roadmap may call for government buildings to be fitted with solar panels by 2012, and for the promotion of microfinancing to encourage nearly 20 million households to start using solar power by 2020.

"The solar push will not come easy. After all, we are talking about the world's second most populous nation transitioning from fossil-fuel energy, which accounts for nearly 60 per cent of our electricity generation, to solar power becoming a substantial part of the country's energy mix," Rajiv Arya, chief executive officer of Moser-Baer (India) Ltd.'s photovoltaic business.
Photovoltaic cells, are usually made of silicon, collect solar energy and convert it to electricity.
Moser-Baer will invest $5 billion over 10 years to build new photovoltaic cell manufacturing capacity, in plants in Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi, Chairman Deepak Puri said Tuesday.
Only two other local companies--Tata BP Solar and Webel-SL Energy Systems Ltd. -- make solar panels.

The government recently invited bids from companies to set up photovoltaic cell making plants, and offered a range of supports for this.

"The investment required to set up a 3000 megawatt manufacturing capacity will be around 180 billion rupees," said Rajiv Jain, associate director at India Semiconductor Association. "It is not the money but the cost of finance that will be critical." Industry players such as K. Subramanya, chief executive at Tata BP Solar, expect the targets can be met and funding won't be a hurdle.

"This is entirely possible and we have in front of us examples of telecom and internet revolutions that have happened in less than a decade," Mr. Subramanya said.

Wrapping Solar Cells around an Optical Fiber

Dye-sensitized solar cells are flexible and cheap to make, but they tend to be inefficient at converting light into electricity. One way to boost the performance of any solar cell is to increase the surface area available to incoming light. So a group of researchers at Georgia Tech has made dye-sensitized solar cells with a much higher effective surface area by wrapping the cells around optical fibers. These fiber solar cells are six times more efficient than a zinc oxide solar cell with the same surface area, and if they can be built using cheap polymer fibers, they shouldn't be significantly more expensive to make.

The advantage of a fiber-optic solar-cell system over a planar one is that light bounces around inside an optical fiber as it travels along its length, providing more opportunities to interact with the solar cell on its inner surface and producing more current. "For a given real estate, the total area of the cell is higher, and increased surface area means improved light harvesting and more energy," says Max Shtein, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Michigan who was not involved with the research.

Fiber-optic solar cells could also be used in ways that aren't possible currently. Zhong Lin Wang, professor of materials science and engineering at Georgia Tech, says fiber solar cells would take up less roof area than planar cells because long lengths of the fibers could be nestled into the walls of a house like electrical wiring.

Dye-sensitized solar cells use dye molecules to absorb light and generate electrons. The Georgia Tech group first removes the cladding from optical fibers and then grows zinc-oxide nanowires along their surface, like bristles on a pipe cleaner. Next, the fibers are treated with dye molecules, which the zinc-oxide structures absorb. The advantage of coating nanowires, rather than a smooth surface, with the dye is that the wires collectively have a very large surface area. The more dye molecules there are over a given area of such a cell, the more light it can absorb, says Wang. The dye-coated fibers are then surrounded by an electrolyte and a metal film that carries electrons off the device.

Cash Incentives for Solar Energy in California

It seems the California Governor is making an all-out effort to encourage people to switch over the renewable source of energy. Assembly Bill 920, authored by Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-Marin, and signed by the governor of California, requires utilities to pay solar customers who produce more energy than they use.

Currently homeowners that produce more solar energy than they produce can zero their bills but they’re not paid for the extra energy they feed back into the grid. The payment for producing extra energy is known as “feed-in tariffs” and such an incentive has seen great success in European countries like German and Spain.

Under the new law, the California Public Utilities Commission is required to set the rate for the paybacks by Jan. 1, 2011.

The idea aims to utilize the empty and unused lots like rooftops, water house roofs and parking areas for the purpose of producing solar energy. Aside from these there remain many unused private properties that can be easily converted into solar power generating units, bringing in extra cash for the home owners.

Ausra wins solar steam boiler contract for 100MW Jordan thermal project

California concentrated solar developer Ausra has been awarded a contract to supply a solar boiler supplier for the JOAN1 100MW concentrated solar project under development in Ma’an, Jordan by German developers MENA Cleantech.

Expected to be operational by 2013, JOAN1 will be the largest concentrated solar power in the world using direct solar steam generation, and will be fitted with a back-up fossil fuel boiler to guarantee 24 hour coverage. Ausra is to install a manufacturing facility in Jordan to supply the plant with solar steam boilers. According to the company, the project is scheduled for financial close at the end of 2010, with construction beginning in 2011.

Samer Zureikat, managing director of MENA Cleantech, said ‘Ausra’s robust and cost-effective solar boiler technology, its team of experienced power industry veterans, as well as its OEM business model make it the most suitable solar steam boiler company to provide equipment for this landmark project.

Regarding the choice of Ma’an as the site for the world’s first large-scale direct steam CSP plant, Zureikat noted that, “Jordan’s modern investment laws and progressive regulatory climate coupled with its unparalleled solar resource make Ma’an one of the best locations in the world to build a Concentrating Solar Power plant.’

In late 2008, the Ausra launched a 5MW solar plant in California, the first in the state for nearly 20 years.