Transforming Solar Sense

Posted on November 7, 2011 by quest

You’ve heard the argument before and no doubt you’ll hear it again and again. Solar is just too expensive. But last week Secretary of Energy Steven Chu highlighted the choice America faces on whether or not to take advantage of the huge economic opportunity and compete with countries like China in the clean energy race. He said, ““Once again, there is a huge opportunity before us – a global clean energy market that is already worth an estimated $240 billion and is growing rapidly. In fact, a very reasonable estimate is that solar photovoltaic systems alone represent a global market worth more than $80 billion this year.”“China – like many countries – has learned from the U.S. how government can support critical emerging industries. Last year, China offered roughly $30 billion in government financing to its solar companies, including $7 billion to Suntech. At least 10 countries have adopted renewable electricity standards, and more than 50 countries offer some type of public financing for clean energy projects. For example, Germany and Canada operate government-backed clean energy lending programs, and in the last several months, the UK, Australia, and India have announced plans to do the same.”

On November 17, Steven Chu, has agreed to testify about the failed solar energy company Solyndra before congressional investigators on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Solyndra received a $535 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy. Chairman of the Committee Rep. Cliff Stearns said in a statement. “We hope he will finally provide answers about why DOE consciously ignored the direct warnings from their own experts that Solyndra was doomed to fail, and granted the loan to Solyndra.” Congress has issued a subpoena to the White House, with the White House refusing to comply stating it has already released over 80,000 pages to Congress.

Now New York Times Columnist Paul Krugman ways in, “We are, or at least we should be, on the cusp of an energy transformation, driven by the rapidly falling cost of solar power. That’s right, solar power. If that surprises you, if you still think of solar power as some kind of hippie fantasy, blame our fossilized political system, in which fossil fuel producers have both powerful political allies and a powerful propaganda machine that denigrates alternatives.” Read the full article: Here comes the sun.

Transforming ourselves transforming our energy

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A wet baby and change

The Challenging World Solar Challenge Race

Posted on November 6, 2011 by quest

The results of the 2011 Veolia World Solar Challenge, a prestigious international racing event that attracts the world’s best technical universities and colleges has been announced. Race officials reported,” As was stated at the awards ceremony, the near perfect weather experienced in the past three or four events lulled many experienced Solar Challengers into a false sense of security. This time there were those who were able to take on a few hours unexpected static charge while waiting for bushfire ravished roads to reopen. Others struggled under the thousands of square kilometres of smoke haze which drifted across the continent, often thick enough to blot out the sun altogether.” As reported here three US teams UC Berkeley, Stanford and the University of Michigan were strong contenders going into the World Solar Challenge. The competition aims to help discover new automotive technologies that rely on the power of the sun by engaging student teams to develop electric vehicles for a week-long, 1,877 mile vehicle endurance test across the Australian Outback from Darwin to Adelaide. In first place was Tokai University – Japan. Second place was Nuon Solar Team – The Netherlands. In third place was the University of Michigan – United States.

Teams not able to maintain a reasonable minimum speed are invited to maximise their experience in the event by running their solarcar for a few hours each day before moving their car forward in their truck or on their trailer. The rules surrounding this exercise allow a great deal of flexibility in their application to enable the particular circumstances and the conditions to be taken into consideration. The finalisation of the results was delayed mostly by the contention of one team who, so desperate to show their sponsors a clean finish, demanded recognition of a place the number of irregularities involved denied them.

A small number of teams questioned the number of solar kilometres attributed to them so the decision was taken to audit all the log books where these are recorded in the team log by the Observer (which the team manager should sign at the end of each day) and transmitted to Mission Control for incorporation into the overall results. Interesting errors such as trailered Km being substituted for Solar Km, and solar credits being given to Control Points instead of actual distance covered were discovered and the complications of this event outlined earlier led to some interesting arithmetic from some Observers! Some gained from the exercise, others not. The figures have now been checked and cross checked with the result that we are now able to verify the Official Record and present the final results.

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SRI Listening To Tech and Clean Energy Innovations

Posted on November 6, 2011 by quest

SRI International celebrates 65 years of transformational innovations on Nov. 7. Since 1946, when SRI (then named Stanford Research Institute) was established to conduct research and development and stimulate the post-World War II economy, SRI has been pioneering solutions that are part of our daily lives. From the introduction of interactive computing and the computer mouse in the 1960s to recent advances such as the Siri virtual personal assistant, minimally invasive telerobotic surgery, and electroactive polymer “artificial muscle,” SRI researchers and technologists continue to build on a rich legacy and push the boundaries of what is possible. Over the years, SRI’s innovations have been meeting important customer and market needs and have created new industries and billions of dollars in market value. To date, SRI has launched more than 40 new ventures. Four spin-offs are now publicly traded and have a combined market capitalization of more than $20 billion. SRI spun off Siri, Inc. in 2007 to bring the technology to consumers. In April 2010, Apple acquired Siri, and in October 2011, Siri was unveiled as an integrated feature of the Apple iPhone 4S.

When you talk Siri listens

“In today’s innovation-based economy, the world is limited only by people with the skills that allow development of the abundant opportunities before us,” said Curtis R. Carlson, Ph.D., SRI’s president and chief executive officer. “SRI’s many R&D successes are the result of terrific staff members with the passion to deliver on our founding mission: discovery and the application of science and technology for knowledge, commerce, prosperity, and peace. Our approach, which we call the Five Disciplines of Innovation, is designed to create high-value solutions for our clients and partners.”

Today, SRI’s 2,100-plus staff members in Silicon Valley, Washington, D.C., Princeton, NJ, and around the world work in multidisciplinary teams to address some of the most challenging problems of our time such as the need for life-saving drugs and renewable clean energy, security of physical and Internet infrastructures, and new educational methods that will develop the next generation of scientists and engineers.

LED Street Greening

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Solar Powered Education On the Move In South Africa

Posted on November 6, 2011 by quest

Samsung recently unveiled its first Solar Powered Internet School in South Africa to help students in their studies without having to worry about electricity or Internet connectivity. The environmentally-friendly, transportable classroom is a perfect fit for Africa as it addresses one of the region’s biggest challenges – providing stable supply of electricity in rural areas.Despite differing views on the industry’s outlook, Samsung continues to believe solar energy can always be put to good use – not just generating electricity for residential or commercial utilization, but also for something really meaningful that can positively impact people’s lives.

A prime example of this is the use of solar power in education. Of course, solar-powered calculators, notebooks or other educational resources all contribute to improving the learning environment for young students. But what about an entire school or classroom that’s powered by solar energy? The 12-meter renovated container has solar panels installed on the roof that can generate nine hours of electricity a day, powering the electronic equipments inside the classroom. The classroom is equipped with a 50-inch electronic board, Internet-enabled solar-powered notebooks, Samsung’s Galaxy tablet computers as well as Wi-Fi cameras – all of which help enrich the learning experience. Up to 21 students can use the classroom, and the entire curriculums until grade 12 are stored in a central computer server enabling two-way learning by connecting to the Internet. The school can also be moved easily with a truck so that students in even the remotest of areas can continue their education.

The Solar Powered Internet School is just one of Samsung’s efforts to contribute to the local community with its innovative technologies and plans to expand these schools to other regions throughout Africa. Samsung last year identified solar as one of its new growth businesses, aiming to invest 6 trillion won ($5.4 billion) until 2020 to generate 10 trillion won in annual revenue by that year. Samsung SDI Co., which makes rechargeable batteries for mobile devices, is responsible for their solar business, currently has a capacity to produce 150 megawatts, with plans to increase production to 3 gigawatts by 2015.

Recycling for elegant floors

Solar Energy Leader SunPower Reorganizes

Posted on November 4, 2011 by quest

Silicon Valley solar manufacturer SunPower Corp. today announced a reorganization to align its businesses and cost structure with expected market conditions in 2012 and beyond. These changes will be effective immediately. Several of the company’s longest-tenured executives will adjust their areas of responsibility, including Howard Wenger, who will assume the title of President, Regions and Jack Peurach, who will assume the title Executive Vice President, Products, and Marty Neese, will remain Chief Operating Officer with expanded responsibilities. In addition, the company announced today on its earnings call that its Chief Financial Officer, Dennis Arriola, will be leaving the company in March of 2012 and that Jim Pape, its President, Residential and Commercial, will be leaving the company later this month. Earlier this year SunPower partnered with French oil producer, Total in a transaction that gives Total a $2.3 billion equity stake in SunPower. The companies announced that the broad strategic relationship would shape the future of the solar industry.

New Solar Global Power Makers

“SunPower’s differentiated technology and vertically integrated, diversified channel strategy has established our company as a leader in the industry and positioned us well to address the challenges of the current solar market environment,” said Tom Werner, SunPower CEO. “As we look to 2012, we plan to align our business structure “Everybody loves the sunshine”

to accelerate our product and technology innovation, increase the efficiency of our processes and reduce our costs. We are reorganizing the company to a regional business focus, a products group with product line profit and loss responsibility, and we will extend the responsibility of our upstream group to incorporate the research and development of our world-leading efficiency solar cell and panels.

“I thank Howard, Jack and Marty for stepping up to new or expanded roles at SunPower,” continued Werner. “Over the last three years, Dennis has established a culture of strong controls, continual process improvements and high quality standards in the finance and accounting teams, and built up a strong set of leaders around him. After the recent successful series of financings and credit facilities that he and his team have completed, I accepted his request to transition out of the company to pursue new opportunities and thank him for his leadership and contributions during tremendous growth at SunPower. Similarly, Jim Pape has grown the residential and commercial business in scale, footprint and efficiency during his tenure and we thank him for his contributions and leadership.”

Solar Powered Mobile School

Floating Solar Project Announced In Singapore

Posted on November 4, 2011 by quest

The Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) and national water agency PUB today announced Singapore’s first floating photovoltaic (PV) pilot project at Tengeh Reservoir. The S$11 million pilot is estimated to have a system size of 2 mega-watt (MW), and will be the first of its kind in the region.The pilot project aims to assess the feasibility of installing floating solar PV systems on water, as an alternative to rooftops. In partnership with private sector companies, EDB and PUB will examine the cost effectiveness of these floating PV systems and ascertain the improvement in performance of the solar modules, due to the expected cooling effect from the water. PUB will also study potential secondary benefits of these installations, such as reduced water evaporation and algae growth in our reservoirs.

Said Dr Beh Swan Gin, Managing Director of EDB, “This pilot project exemplifies Singapore’s continuing efforts to overcome our resource constraints through innovative renewable energy solutions. The project also enables cleantech companies to address a sophisticated need, which if successful, can be scaled up and commercialised globally.”

The announcement was made at the Solar Pioneer Awards Ceremony, held at the inaugural PV Asia Pacific Expo, as part of the Singapore International Energy Week 2011. At the ceremony, the inter-agency Energy Innovation Programme Office (EIPO), co-led by EDB and the Energy Market Authority (EMA), awarded a third wave of five private sector projects with the Solar Pioneer Award. The award recognises solar installations in Singapore that are pioneering in terms of system design, size and installation techniques, and help to build solar system integration capabilities.The five projects are Keppel DHCS’ District Cooling Systems Plant at Changi Business Park, Hyflux’s Innovation Centre, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals’ plant, OUB Centre Limited’s One Raffles Place Tower 2 and UOL Group’s Upper Pickering Hotel & Office Development.