The Guide To Efficient Living
When the largest economy in the European Union derives 20% of its energy from renewable sources, it is a milestone worthy of international attention. Germany’s renewable energy consumption jumped 2.5% within the last year, sending the total consumption of green power in that country to 20.8%. Since 2000, Germany’s use of renewable energy has increased… [Continue Reading]
The largest industrial investment in the history of South Carolina will soon become the home of the largest single rooftop solar array in the United States. Boeing Co., the Seattle-based manufacturer of jetliners, will install approximately ten acres of solar panels on the roof of their $750 million facility in North Charleston, SC. The solar… [Continue Reading]
The newest hybrid model isn’t a car, but the world’s first hybrid solar energy plant that went on the grid last week in Martin County Florida. The Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center is Florida Power and Light’s (FPL) latest innovation to launch Florida as the clean energy state. Working in conjunction with an existing… [Continue Reading]
Princeton University will soon be home to the largest solar field on a U.S. college campus. Scheduled for completion by summer 2012, the 5.3 megawatt system will be comprised of 16,500 photovoltaic solar panels, estimated to generate 5.5 % of electrical power to reduce campus energy costs by 8 %. The solar field will cover… [Continue Reading]
What could make bike riding even more efficient? How about a bike path embedded with solar panels to produce clean energy while encouraging people to get on their bikes? The town of Krommenie in the Netherlands, just north of Amsterdam, will be receiving the SolaRoad bike path, scheduled to open in 2012.
Efficiency abounds in China as the world’s largest building integrated photovoltaic project prepares to power the railway station where some of the world’s fastest high speed trains pass through. China Sunergy, a solar cell and module manufacturer based in Nanjing, China, has recently signed a deal with CEEG (Nanjing) Solar Energy Research Institute to supply… [Continue Reading]
Here’s another solar innovation that could reduce cost of solar energy by as much as 50%. A company in Japan has developed a novel way of making solar cells with arrays of thousands of tiny silicon spheres surrounded by hexagonal reflectors. The key advantage of the system is that it reduces the total amount of… [Continue Reading]
Here’s a video of the solar tower in Spain that has been getting a lot of press lately. Engadget describes the system: “It consists of a towering concrete building, a field of 600 (and growing) sun-tracking mirrors that are each 120-square meters in size, and a receiver that converts concentrated solar energy from the heliostats… [Continue Reading]
Recent Comments: