Tag Archives: Solar Power

Cambridge Plans Massive Energy Efficiency Retrofit

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See on Scoop.it – Green Building Design – Architecture & Engineering

This medieval English city is investing $1.5 billion for energy upgrades for the entire city.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>It’s one thing to build super-energy-efficient new homes and offices – it’s another matter entirely to bring ancient buildings up to par. But the medieval university city of Cambridge, England, plans to do just that with a $1.5 billion retrofit program.

The newly launched Cambridge Retrofit Project aims to reduce carbon emissions from buildings 30% before 2050 through a massive, city-wide retrofit scheme.  […]

While the primary goal is reduced energy consumption and carbon emissions, the program also aims to build up local businesses, create warmer homes and increase the value of properties.

Energy savings alone are expected to be worth $2.3 billion and the city’s carbon footprint, currently 830,000 tons a year, is expected to fall 1% a year, eventually reaching 500,000 tons a year as a result of the retrofit program.<

See on www.sustainablebusiness.com

World Solar PV Market To Hit 45 GW In 2014, Deutsche Bank Forecasts

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Deutsche Bank is the latest to upgrade its forecasts – for the second time in as many months – predicting that the 2014 global solar market could jump to 45 GW, after rising to 38-40 GW in 2013.

>Deutsche’s analysis is more bullish than an NPD Solarbuzz report last week that forecast solar PV demand for calendar 2013 to reach a record high of 35.1 GW, after a strong second half that would result in 20 GW being installed. In March, the research group predicted full year demand of just 31 GW.

NPD Solarbuzz analyst Michael Barker said the market was still in transition (from older markets such as Europe to newer ones in Asia), and would continue to rely on four key countries for the bulk of demand – Germany, China, Japan, and the US – which accounted for more than 60% of demand in the first half.

It said China and Japan alone would account for 45% of global demand in the second half, up from just 10% three years ago.<

 

Scientists Adding Color to Solar Panels

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See on Scoop.it – Green Building Design – Architecture & Engineering

If you have noticed the design and layout of solar panels around, you would have thought a minute or two about its aesthetics. Though not too bad, the dark

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>The Institute is developing a SIS (semiconductor-insulator-semiconductor) variety solar panel. The package consists of a silicon substrate which absorbs light and converts it into electricity.[…]

The change in color does not make solar cells less efficient. The cell’s working is also not affected by the thickness of the conductive oxide layer. The SIS cell has the same simulated efficiency of around 20%.

The technology might later on use a type of inkjet printing that deposits the oxide layer with more flexibility, which would allow complex designs too. With this, solar cells could turn out to be part of beautiful architectural designs in future.<

See on www.greenpacks.org

The 21st century data center: You’re doing it wrong | ZDNet

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Outdated designs are keeping data centers from reaching their full potential.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>One example of this are data centers that use raised floors for cooling. Many IT pundits have discredited this method of cooling as wasteful, including Schneider Electric’s territory manager for the Federal government and the ACT, Olaf Moon.

[…]

Cappuccio notes that engineering firms that are consulted to build data centers know about the newer and more efficient ways to do things. But rather than try something new, they prefer the stock standard cookie-cutter approach to creating data centers because it’s fast and easy, he said.

[…]

“I’ve seen a lot of data centers being built that are too big,” says Cappuccio. “We’re finding people with data centers that are three to four years old when they realise they have far too much space, and are still providing air conditioning to those areas. So they begin to shrink them, putting up walls, bringing down the ceiling so they don’t air condition the extra space.”

See on www.zdnet.com

The Obama Administration Proposes $8 Billion in Loans for ‘Clean’ Fossil Fuel Technologies

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As part of President Obama’s new energy initiative, the U.S. Department of Energy has proposed $8 billion in loan guarantees for fossil fuel technology projects that are able to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

> […]the U.S. Department of Energy has proposed $8 billion in loan guarantees for fossil fuel technologies to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. The proposal would fund schemes such as waste heat recovery and carbon dioxide capture, however it has unsurprisingly received criticism as it would draw focus away from green technology projects such as renewable energy and electric vehicles.

Speaking about the new proposal, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz stated:  “Coal and fossil fuels still provide 80% of our energy and 70% of electricity, and they will remain an important part of our future, as the president noted.”<

See on inhabitat.com

The Amazing Energy Race

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The United States is falling behind. To catch up, we need to reorder our priorities, find cleaner and smarter fuels and develop new technologies.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>“In reducing coal’s historic dominance, the president is formalizing a market trend that was already taking shape,” remarked Andy Karsner, who was an assistant secretary of energy in the last Bush administration. His bigger message, though, was “no matter where you find yourself on the political spectrum, it’s useful for the nation to discuss, debate and consider a strategy for climate change. The consequences of inaction are potentially greater than all the other noise out there.”<

See on www.nytimes.com

Solar Energy and Community Projects

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What does it take to cook up a community solar project? A dash of crowdfunding, a pinch of grassroots outreach, and a generous helping of persistence. That’s the word from San Francisco nonprofits RE-volv and Everybody Solar.

See on theenergycollective.com

Energy Storage Systems for Solar and Wind Power Integration Will Total Nearly 22 Gigawatts of Installed Capacity from 2013 to 2023

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June 26, 2013 More than 1,300 gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar power generation capacity are expected to come online in the next 10 years, creating an unprecedented amount of instability on the gri…

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>“Several of the major markets for renewables, including Germany, Japan, and the United States, have enacted rules or legislation encouraging the adoption of energy storage systems for the purpose of integrating variable energy sources onto the grid,” says Anissa Dehamna, senior research analyst with Navigant Research.  “These market incentives come in various forms, including outright subsidies for ESS adoption, reforms that change how variable generation is compensated, and adjustments to connection requirements for variable power plants.”

In particular, changes to the compensation arrangements for variable power generation will have significant influence on the market for ESSs for solar and wind.  Compensation mechanisms have changed drastically over the past 10 years, according to the report, and many compensation schemes have grandfather clauses—meaning that older wind and solar systems have much different compensation rates and structures than newer systems coming online.<

See on www.navigantresearch.com

Standard Solar to pioneer PV micro-grid system in Maryland – PV-Tech

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The number one source for in-depth and up-to-the-minute news, technical articles, blogs and reviews on the international solar PV supply chain.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>[…] Standard Solar chief executive Tony Clifford said: “Widespread implementation of grid-connected energy storage systems is key to solar PV becoming a mainstream energy supplier.

“As one of the nation’s first commercial micro-grids, this project can truly be a game changer for PV. Not only does it provide backup power to Konterra, it also supports grid integrity and allows for participation in ancillary markets for electricity.” […]

See on www.pv-tech.org

Research and Markets: Global and Chinese Power Energy Storage Battery – 2013 Report – WSJ.com

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DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 28, 2013–

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/nblmtd/2013_deep) has announced the addition of the “2013 Deep Research Report on Global

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>The report begins by defining the industry giving details on classification, application, industry chain, structure industry overview, international market analysis, China domestic market, Global market analysis, macroeconomic environment, economic situation analysis and influence, industry policy and plan, product specification, manufacturing process, and product cost structure.

The report then gives statistics on 21 key manufacturers including information on capacity, production, cost, price, profit, production value gross margin, products, customers, application, capacity, market position, company contact information and other company related information. […]

In the end, this report gives a SWOT analysis and discusses a 400MWh/year investment feasibility analysis project and investment return analysis and also gives related research conclusions and a development trend analysis of Chinese and Global Power Energy Storage Battery industry.<

See on online.wsj.com