Featured Articles
New Map Shows Solar Jobs Still Growing Faster Than the Economy
05/16/13, Chris Meehan, SolarReviews
Thanks to The Solar Foundation (TSF), individuals can now learn more about the solar industry in their backyard, their neighboring states and across the country. On April 18, TSF introduced a new interactive map that showcases the nearly 120,000 jobs in America’s booming solar industry in 2012. This is the first time that the public can easily access the data on a state-by-state basis, and explore what parts of the solar industry are biggest—including manufacturing, installing, sales, project development and associated jobs.
Case Study: Thomonde Hospital In The Central Region of Haiti
05/16/13, Contributed by, Trojan Battery Company
The Thomonde battery bank was designed for 40 percent depth of discharge and only one day of autonomy due to the large loads of some of the medical equipment and the availability of the diesel generator.
Making the Switch: From Fixed to Solar Tracker
05/16/13, Rich Nicol, AllEarth Renewables
I compared the cost per watt to install a standard pole mount, such as a DPW, and found it cost the same as putting up a standard tracker. And of course by tracking you get the additional power.
Data Loggers Bring More Light to Remote Medical Clinics
04/25/13, Contributed by, Onset
The WE CARE Solar team required a better way to log system performance data and monitor usage patterns to ensure that correctly-sized PV power systems were being implemented in the medical clinics.
Energy Management System with Certificate and Certification Mark
04/25/13, Volker Wöhl, TÜV SÜD Management Service and Klaus Gerspacher and Eric Schönel, SIMONA AG
SIMONA AG is one of the first companies in the plastics industry to have introduced an energy management system in accordance with EN ISO 50001. Energy management systems (EnMS) offer a systematic approach to recording and assessing energy demand and improving energy efficiency. Third-party assessment and certification by TÜV SÜD offers further opportunities.
Case Study – Home Solar Panel Installation Leads to 115% Savings!
04/25/13, Contributed by, Solar Energy USA
The photovoltaic home solar panel array was installed in October of 2011. The system was designed to offset approximately 77% of the annual home power bill with an average savings of around $200 dollars per month over the 40 year expected life of the system.
Overview of Carbon Capture
04/15/13, Len Calderone for, AltEnergyMag
Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage is a transitional technology mitigating climate change as we implement proven alternative energy technologies.
Fuel Cells Backup Critical Infrastructure
04/15/13, Chris DeArmond, Fuel Cells 2000
Fuel cells help reduce grid dependency and mitigate financial losses from power outages while keeping critical infrastructure up and running. No longer an environmentalist’s pipe dream, fuel cells’ reliability, scalability and wide range of fuel sources are saving money for companies in a variety of industries, and making dependable access to emissions-free power a reality.
Lithium-Ion Energy Storage Safety
04/15/13, Sean Hendrix, Chief Engineer , EnerDel, Inc.
Energy storage systems, like any energy or power system, carry some degree of risk. With today’s technology, these risks are largely understood and can be effectively reduced or mitigated.
Potential risks of smart grids are underestimated
04/15/13, Contributed by, TÜV SÜD Industrie Service
According to the study 'Security & Safety in a Smart Energy World', presented by TÜV SÜD at the opening of the 2013 Hannover Messe, the energy and manufacturing sectors are underestimating the potential risks involved in modernising power grids; awareness of the vulnerability of smart grids is negligible and protective action is rare.
Lessons Learned: Collaboration, Empowerment and Vigilance Key to Sites’ Successful Safety Culture
04/01/13, Bryan Stewart and John Valerius, Suzlon Wind Energy Corporation and Duke Energy Renewables
It takes more than perfunctory “safety moment” sharing and hard hat stickers to ensure employees and contractors make safety their top priority. In creating a viable safety culture, site leaders first identified the unique strengths of each company and exchanged lessons learned at other power generation facilities.
CHINA FACES $243BN CLIMATE FINANCE “GAP” PER YEAR BY 2020
04/01/13, Contributed by, The Climate Group
Series of reforms being explored as China seeks to expand clean tech investment
A New Class of Rogowski Coil Split-core Current Transducers
04/01/13, Pierre Turpin, LEM Renewable Energy and Automation
Until now Rogowski coils have delivered at best a 2% positioning error. With this improvement, the error due to the positioning of the conductor is specified at a maximum of 0.65% of the measured value for a 15mm diameter conductor irrespective of where it is positioned, even if it is adjacent to the coil clasp.
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Interviews
Wind Industry in the USA
05/16/13, Jukka-Pekka Mäkinen, The Switch
The debate of the PTC just took too long and put the players to uncertainty. Installations were pushed in 2012 to record level of almost 13 GW. This year will be a big dip to estimated 4 GW or so and midterm the installations should level on 7 GW level.
Interview with Sophie Parker of The Nature Conservancy
05/16/13, Sophie Parker, The Nature Conservancy
In areas of the Mojave that are ecologically intact, renewable energy development poses a major problem for plants, animals, and other species. Some major issues include: habitat destruction and fragmentation, water use, and bird mortality.
The End to the California Solar Initiative (CSI)
04/25/13, Alan H. Lee, Chief Executive Officer at, ecoSolargy
Decreasing incentive over time will help build resilience and not inflate the market. It is also important to offer varying levels of incentives for residential, commercial, affordable housing, and non-profit in order to ensure equality for the benefits of solar, and help those who need it most.
Leading Edge Erosion on Wind Turbines
04/15/13, Contributed by, 3M Wind Energy
Awareness is growing in the wind industry about the severe impact that blade leading edge erosion can have on wind turbine output. Recent research shows that erosion can lead to a loss in annual energy production (AEP) of up to 20 percent, costing thousands of dollars.
Impact of Smart Grid on Connected Homes
04/01/13, Ron Zimmer, CABA
The study investigated the current and future direction of the market and the opportunities smart grid represents for participants in the value chain.
Reducing the Cost of Solar Energy
03/15/13, Jesse Morris, The Rocky Mountain Institute
It used to be that solar costs were dominated by one thing: the cost of the actual panel. But now, things are quite different. Solar panels comprise less than 40% of the cost of a rooftop solar system on average across the U.S.
Cloud Based Energy Management
03/15/13, Ted Fagenson, EcoFactor
EcoFactor builds cloud-based analytics software that powers multiple residential energy saving services. We process massive amounts of data, including physical household characteristics and consumer behavioral interactions.
Inverter Innovation and Overall System Cost-reduction
03/15/13, Tucker Ruberti , Advanced Energy
By differentiating between a true utility outage (where anti-islanding is necessary) and a grid disturbance (during which the PV system could actually help support grid stability), inverters can stay online during grid disturbances and produce responses to stabilize the grid.
More Articles
Tidal Energy Overview
03/15/13, Len Calderone for, AltEnergyMag
People are becoming aware of the importance of ocean energy, which will lead to a new era of alternative energy. Because of this knowledge, tidal energy has great potential and bright prospects in future.
Fuel Cell and Green Technology - SSFTV
03/15/13, Gowtham.p, Gowthamachdran.s, Kumaraguru College of Tecnology
SSFTV means Solar used hydrogen production, Solid state hydrogen storage, Fuel cell (PEM), Tornado power generation and finally Vapour absorption refrigeration cycle. This is a group of Green Technology ideas which can be used in corporates, industries and houses.
Extreme Cold Climate Emergency Lighting for Wind Turbine Towers/Nacelles
03/15/13, Chris Gilbert, Moltec Windpower Products
It is highly recommended that turbine OEM’s consider thermostatically controlled heater elements for their florescent lighting fixtures as a standard item when considering their lighting systems for use in extreme cold climate applications.
Solar Portfolio Continues Outperformance by Close to 10X
04/01/13, Peter Lynch for , InvestorIdeas.com
At the current time the market is overbought at a level which historically results in a pullback in the market closer to the 50 day moving average. As a result of this I have been setting our stop loss points very conservatively in order to make you that when a correction or pullback comes we will still lock in healthy profits.
Corrosion Control for Wind and Solar Equipment
04/01/13, Rick Grant, Russell Corrosion Consultants, Inc.
Coatings are the first preventative measure for all of these assets. Since most are being deployed in desert areas or mountainous areas or along the coasts, or sometimes in the water, choosing the right coating is imperative to achieve design life.
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