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Tag: Solar Power

  • NASA Working on Moon-Based Solar Power

    NASA Working on Moon-Based Solar Power

    NASA is working with commercial companies to ensure there is sustainable power on the moon to power any future bases.

    With renewed interest in space and colonization in the solar system, having reliable, sustainable power sources is a critical step. NASA is working with several companies to ensure they can meet any future power needs on the moon.

    Niki Werkheiser, director of technology maturation in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), told the Houston Chronicle how important the technology was to NASA’s efforts.

    “We are thrilled with the proposals received and even more excited to see the designs that result from the base effort,” Werkheiser said. “Having reliable power sources on the Moon is key to almost anything we do on the surface. By working with five different companies to design these prototype systems, we are effectively mitigating the risk that is inherent to developing such cutting-edge technologies.”

  • Apple Puts $848M into Solar Farm, the Current Largest Commercial Clean Energy Deal

    Apple has announced plans to construct a giant solar farm that it says will power all of its California operations – and then some.

    Apple is partnering with First Solar, the company behind Monterey County’s California Flats Solar Project. The company is investing $848 million in the project, which will see construction of a 1,300-acre solar farm in the area. First Solar’s entire California Flats Solar Project is about 2,900 acres.

    Apple will receive 130 megawatts from the deal, which is a 25-year agreement.

    “Apple is leading the way in addressing climate change by showing how large companies can serve their operations with 100 percent clean, renewable energy,” said Joe Kishkill, Chief Commercial Officer for First Solar. “Apple’s commitment was instrumental in making this project possible and will significantly increase the supply of solar power in California. Over time, the renewable energy from California Flats will provide cost savings over alternative sources of energy as well as substantially lower environmental impact.”

    According to Apple, the power generated from these new panels will power its new headquarters (the “Spaceship”), as well as a data center and its 50+ retail stores across the state. The power generated from the new solar farm has the ability to power around 50,000 homes.

    Speaking at a conference Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said “we know at Apple that climate change is real. The time for talk has passed and the time for action is now.”

    The new solar farm is expected to be completed by the end of 2016. First Solar says that it is “the largest agreement in the industry to provide clean energy to a commercial end user.”

    Image via First Solar, Twitter

  • Renewable Energy to Become Important For Mining

    In a possible sign of what’s to come, new signals in the mining industry indicate that renewable energy amy soon power mining operations in many places across the world.

    Market research firm Navigant Research today issued a report showing that mining companies, which use massive amounts of energy, are now looking to reduce the costs of rising energy prices. Many mine sites, especially those in remote locations, could soon come to rely heavily on renewable energy technologies.

    The report estimates that at least 5% of the energy used by the mining industry by the year 2022 will come from renewable sources. According to Navigant, less than 0.1% of the industry’s current energy consumption is from renewable sources.

    Moving into the next few years, wind power will become the most important renewable energy technology to the mining industry, making up over half of the industry’s renewable energy by 2022. Solar power will come next in popularity, supplying a bit less than half of the industry’s renewable energy.

    “A number of mines are already utilizing large-scale wind power, but these sites were chosen based on extreme needs and/or ideal wind characteristics,” said Kerry-Ann Adamson, research director at Navigant. “The industry is now at a point where it can move forward into larger and more complex deployments, potentially including energy storage technologies, which would enable a higher percentage of renewable use per mine site.”

  • Family Of 4 Lives “Off The Grid” In Desert

    In the 60s and 70s many communes were formed for groups of “hippies” who no longer wanted to be in society. Many were nudist, others were love-ins, but one thing is for sure, the majority were completely “off the grid”.

    Off the grid has become a term given to those who choose to forgo modern conveniences and live closer to nature, essentially. As of late though, it could mean many things to many different people. Some who live in big beautiful homes that use only solar and wind energy can be considered off the grid. Others can live in a cabin with no electricity or heat other than wood can also be considered off the grid. It’s all perspective and up to those who chose this lifestyle.

    This family chose to take it quite a few steps further than many.

    “I’ve always enjoyed rural life, and the thought of sustainability and home-scale energy production intrigued me,” says Abe, who grew up in New Mexico and Texas. “On top of that, I wanted to see how integrating systems to reduce waste and improve efficiency would affect the architecture and other components of this lifestyle.”

    This adventure started 12 years ago when Abe Connally left his 9 to 5 job in an advertising firm, to seek the simple life. Purchasing 20 acres of pristine desert in Brewster County, Texas was the catalyst and after he met his future wife, Josie Moores, the couple decided to start building a home for their future.

    Although living off the grid wasn’t their main motivation when moving to their desert paradise, it eventually became necessary to fulfill their dream of becoming completely self-sufficient in their wilderness home.

    Post by VelaCreations.

    “We lived 30 miles from the nearest small town and amenities, and we had little money, so whatever we wanted to have, we had to provide for ourselves,” Connally says.

    And their lifestyle, although not initially motivated by environmental concerns, taught them that conserving their resources became essential to survival, eventually bringing environmental friendliness to the forefront.

    “Once you find yourself living in a natural environment, things like sustainability and environmentalism become common sense,” Connally says.

    The energy source to the home comes from solar panels and wind turbines. Capturing filtered rainwater from their roof is their main water source.

    Connelly and Moores grow and raise their own food, and recycle and waste as little as possible. They work a little at home writing and selling their wares, but mainly their lives are pristine, as Abe describes: “Each and every day, we get to look around ourselves – in the house, when turning on a light or tap, in the food we eat – and we can say ‘I did that. It’s immensely gratifying and empowering. There’s a pride and freedom in creating your own space that cannot be described.”

    Images via Facebook

  • American Attitudes Toward Clean Energy Softening

    As renewable and clean energies have begun to proliferate across the globe, consumer attitudes toward different energy types have been a bit unpredictable. In recent years, American opinions of new and different energy-generating technologies have been dropping slightly.

    Now, market research firm Navigant Research has found that U.S. Adults are coming around on clean energy, if only for the most established technologies.

    The firm surveyed over 1,000 U.S. adults on their opinions of 10 clean energy technologies and found that opinions have begun returning to favorable levels. Overall those surveyed had a 51% favorability rating for the 10 technologies combined, the highest Navigant has measured since 2010, when favorability ratings began dipping.

    More specifically the survey found that opinions had softened on over half of the 10 technologies, and especially for solar and wind-generated power. The one technology that still saw a decline in favorability is nuclear power, which could still be suffering from the stigma of the Fukushima Daiichi incident in 2011. Navigant interprets its survey results to mean that Americans are more favorable toward more “established” clean energy technologies.

    “Between 2009 and 2012, there were steady declines in favorability for some clean energy concepts, particularly the most favorable concepts, such as solar energy, wind energy, and hybrid and electric vehicles,” said Clint Wheelock, managing director at Navigant Research. “This year saw statistically significant increases in favorability for seven of the 10 concepts, and a decline for only one – nuclear power.”

  • US Navy Uses Technology To Improve Underwater Solar Collection

    US Navy Uses Technology To Improve Underwater Solar Collection

    The capture and use of solar energy has never been about getting away from fossil fuels as much as it has been about harvesting that ever burning nuclear reactor we call the Sun. The problem we have always faced is not so much the collection of sunlight, but the conversion rate of the sunlight we collect into useable energy. The United States Navy is trying to improve the collection rate of Photovoltaic cells under water.

    The Navy has several technology platforms that are just underwater such as sensors to help improve the detection of enemy vessels. Until now these systems have had to rely on on-shore power, batteries, or solar power supplied by an above water platform. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Electronics Science and Technology Division is trying to fix the issue of the lack of penetrating sunlight and the use of solar cells optimized more towards the unimpeded terrestrial solar spectrum. So they have started using photovoltaic cells that are able to have a higher conversion rate due to the lower but more focused solar radiation the penetrates the water.

    “The use of autonomous systems to provide situational awareness and long-term environment monitoring underwater is increasing,” said Phillip Jenkins, head, NRL Imagers and Detectors Section. “Although water absorbs sunlight, the technical challenge is to develop a solar cell that can efficiently convert these underwater photons to electricity.”

    The semi-breakthrough comes from the use of High-quality gallium indium phosphide (GaInP) cells are well suited for underwater operation. Previously they were using silicon based cells which had a much lower conversion rate. The cells function at a depth of up to 29 feet and look to make things easier for energy collection moving forward.

    Photo and Graph courtesy of the US Navy

  • Google Shines Solar Power On Homeowners

    Perhaps the “G” in “Google” should stand for “green” because it’s clear the company is a big supporter of the environmental movement. The Google Green site/FAQ is an obvious indicator of said support. More recently, news about one of Google’s latest investments demonstrates the commitment. This time, however, in a more specific manner, as opposed to simply issuing a manifesto of the company’s goals.

    Another way to look at it, now that Google has functional maps of the world, the oceans, the moon and the stars, they are turning their attention to harnessing the power of the most prominent star in our collective lives, the Death Star the sun, of course. No, Google isn’t buying Britain’s ever-popular gossip mag/newspaper, although, the contextual ads for Page 3 would be fun. Instead, Google is investing in a company that specializes in harnessing the power of the sun, as they further the drive to reduce the footprint, as well as the cost of living, for homeowners who are actively seeking alternate methods of providing power to their dwelling.

    To facilitate the push for cleaner energy, Google has partnered with SolarCity, a company that, like the name suggests, focuses on bringing solar power to the people. Google’s contribution comes in the way of financial support, to the tune of $280 million. For comparison’s sake, President Obama pledged $250 million to the smart grid project, 30 million less than Google’s investment into solar power. Do with that knowledge what you will.

    Google’s blog entry has more on their partnership with SolarCity:

    Today, we’re announcing that we’ve investing $280 million to create a fund that will help SolarCity finance more solar installations across the country. This is our largest clean energy project investment to date and brings our total invested in the clean energy sector to more than $680 million. We’ve also launched a partnership to offer SolarCity services to Googlers at a discount.

    A Google engineer, Michael Flaster, was apparently the inspiration for Google’s interest into SolarCity. According to the information provided, Flaster, an active solar power user/SolarCity customer, stands to save $100 a month on his energy bills. Over the life of Flaster’s lease of SolarCity’s equipment, he could save an estimated $16,000, an idea I’m sure most homeowners would get behind.

    As indicated, SolarCity offers an equipment leasing program, of which, Google has more details:

    In SolarCity’s innovative financing model, the company covers installation and maintenance of the system over the life of the lease. You can prepay, or pay nothing upfront after which you make monthly solar lease payments.

    There’s also a promotional video leading this post, highlighting some of the benefits of solar energy. Does anyone think it’s telling that Google invested more in this particular project than the U.S. Government did in updating the country’s aging energy grid?