“Thermos Bottle” Technology Delivers Solar Hot Water in Cold Weather
 by Tina CaseyA lunch box staple is the core idea behind solar technology that could bring cost effective solar-heated hot water to cold climates. Solar Panels Plus has come up with a solar hot water heater based on evacuated tubes similar to those popularized by Thermos. Last year two of the company’s models were certified as eligible for Canada’s ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat program, but the real test will occur in southeastern Idaho, where Solar Panels Plus has installed a solar hot water system at the Homestead Family Restaurant in Blackfoot.If the installation keeps the solar hot water coming in cold weather, it’s another big step forward for the ability of solar energy to compete with fossil fuels. Restaurants are hot water gobblers, and a low cost solar installation that works in cold weather would have a relatively short payback for high volume users - especially if it receives solar energy incentives from its utility, as was the case here.Solar Panels Plus and Thermos-style Solar EnergyLike a Thermos bottle, Solar Panels Plus uses double-walled glass tubes to retain and concentrate heat, helped along by an optical coating. The tubes passively track the sun due to their curved shape, which helps boost efficiency. The five SPP-30 model solar collectors installed at Homestead each contain 30 of the tubes and the owner estimates a savings of $500 monthly on electricity bills for the 130-seat restaurant. Though the solar collectors operate effectively under cloudy, cold or even freezing conditions, the company recommends that for maximum reliability and return on investment, the system should be used to marginalize the use of conventional fuels rather than replacing them completely.Utilities, Incentives, and Clean Energy ChampionsThe Homestead system was installed under an incentive program offered by the local utility, Idaho Power Company. It was the first commercial installation under the utility’s clean energy program and according to a recent press release it illustrates, “a commitment to energy efficiency and sustainability - something we champion.” Well, join the party. Utilities are emerging as the knights in shining armor of the clean energy scene by promoting clean energy innovation and pushing for small scale, on-site installations. A recent survey revealed that most utility companies believe that by 2050 small scale clean energy will become an important part of the national grid, and within that group 13% believe that the small scale clean energy “electranet” will actually surpass conventional centralized generation.Nuclear Power and the Clean Energy FutureThe clean energy juggernaut keeps rolling along, picking up investment power and the support of corporate giants including utility companies. Even the nation’s top sports industries are on board the sustainability train, including golf, the ski industry, Major League Baseball and the National Football League. If this keeps up the future doesn’t look good for the promotion of nuclear power as called for by the Obama administration’s current energy package. The fact is that nuclear energy is neither clean nor sustainable, it is simply expedient. It is rapidly becoming obsolete as a fuel for electrical generation, and if the utility industry survey cited above is any indication, its large scale centralized model is out of place in the electrical grid of the future.Reprinted with permission from Cleantechnica |
Abound Solar Keeps It In-House
 by Bruce Haring Mark Chen is the director of marketing at Abound Solar, a Colorado-based manufacturer of thin-film cadmium telluride solar modules. Cleantechies sat him on the hot seat for three questions:CleanTechies: Unlike many photovoltaic (PV) companies, you are manufacturing in the United States. Tell me about the company’s decision to do that.Mark Chen: Abound Solar was founded in Colorado in 2007 based on research conducted at Colorado State University for over 15 years. Abound Solar’s manufacturing technology features a continuous semiconductor deposition process on a fully-automated production line. Our geographic roots and low labor content allow us to be competitive despite higher hour wages in the United States.CleachTechies: Can the United States compete with China’s photovoltaic industry? What advantages do you offer?Mark Chen: Chinese manufacturers are highly competitive in the global market. Their growing production scale, cost advantages and domestic market place pressure on U.S. and European manufacturers alike. U.S.-based PV manufacturers can compete with innovation and customer intimacy.Manufacturers, including Abound Solar, SunPower and First Solar are leading in their respective market segments through cutting-edge products that offer higher performance, higher quality and lower cost. Sometimes this includes strategic use of offshore production, but all have hundreds of key employees based in the United States. Abound Solar’s unique advantage is in producing at lower cost while also partnering with our customers to ensure high-performing PV installations are designed and constructed.CleanTechies: What are the barriers to PV that you’re encountering with commercial installs?Mark Chen: The primary barriers to widespread penetration of commercial PV that we face are lack of financing, complexity of regulation and permitting and lack of understanding of various PV technologies.With banks reducing the amount of credit made available, particularly to owners of large property developers (i.e., retail stores and commercial real estate developers), sources of finance for large-scale systems can often be the single, most important barrier to greater usage of PV.Secondly, a highly-fragmented and heterogeneous system of incentives and regulations increase the complexity of any system design and installation. Owners often misunderstand the wealth of incentives available to them. Project developers can also be held up by local permitting and utility interconnect regulations.Lastly, many PV system buyers still do not buy from a basis of knowledge and experience. There is no Consumer Reports of solar. Instead, they tend to buy either solely on upfront cost or efficiency, neither of which are good measures on which to depend. They should be looking at the full system, the quality and reputation of the component manufacturers and calculating the full long term cost of the electricity that will be produced.Reprinted with permission from Cleantechies |
Algae turned into high-temperature hydrogen source
In the quest to make hydrogen as a clean alternative fuel source, researchers have been stymied about how to create usable hydrogen that is clean and sustainable without relying on an intensive, high-energy process that outweighs the benefits of not using petroleum to power vehicles. New findings however, show that photosynthesis may function as that clean, sustainable source of hydrogen. |
Chicago Ventures Into Distributed Solar Energy
 by Zachary ShahanCreating a revolution in the way energy is produced and shared, distributed solar energy is one of the top clean energy topics of the day.Chicago utility company ComEd (an arm of the energy giant Exelon Corporation) has a new pilot project in this field that will outfit 100 Chicago-area homes with solar photovoltaic panels and “at least 50 of those with ’smart’ meters, net metering, battery backup and a grid-tied status that enables them to send unused electricity from their solar energy systems back to the grid.”ComEd Environmental and Marketing Vice President Val Jensen says that the aim is to turn each of these homes into a “mini-utility”. But the project goes far beyond that.The selected homes will be part of a pilot program to make people into better energy consumers, teaching them how to plan electrical usage to avoid “peak” loading (i.e. using electricity when nearly everyone else is in the mornings and evenings). Doing this can help individuals to reduce their energy bills and can also help to reduce the need for expensive utility upgrades for transmission and distribution.The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 is providing most of the funding for this project ($5 million), while ComEd and its technology vendors are providing an additional $3 million.The smart grid is supposed to be extended to 131,000 homes eventually, with 8,000 being used to evaluate “advanced metering capabilities”. Advanced metering capabilities include “two-way smart metering that tests consumers’ ability to use the technology to change energy use behaviors.”This pilot program is said to be the largest in the country “to focus on retraining electrical consumers to change their habits to reduce stress on America’s aging electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure” and will last for 12 months.Participants will be given a range of different gadgets to help them out with all of this: “The smart-use rollout will include about 3,100 customers using a basic energy-use display meter; 1,500 ratepayers getting a larger, touch-screen device that allows electricity monitoring and Internet access; and 400 ComEd users getting programmable thermostats that allow programming and remote control of heating and air-conditioning units.”The program is also “the first in the world” to offer a tiered pricing approach to its pilot participants, “offering one of six electric rates; the current flat rate; rising rates based on more-than-average consumption; hourly rates based on day-ahead wholesale rates; rates sharply rising based on peak demand; a rebate for those who reduce use during peak demand; and a time-of-use rating based on peak loading and non-peak periods, like midnight to 7 a.m.”Looks like an exciting pilot program in Chicago. Something to keep an eye on.Reprinted with permission from Cleantechnica |
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