Solar Energy

For example we have enough wind power in the United States to replace all of the fossil fuel and nuclear power sources in the United States.

Athough wind does not always blow when you need it, it would seem that in a power grid you will always have wind blowing somewhere to put electricity into the grid.

The cost of wind power at 4 cents per kilowatt hour is competitive with the cost of electricity generated by coal and nuclear energy and less than the cost of generating electricity using natural gas.

What is preventing us from replacing our fossil fuel power plants and our nuclear power plants with electricity from renewable non carbon sources?

We can replace coal, and other fossil fuels.

We can't do it without using nuclear right now, at any reasonable cost. The cost you cite may be theoretically possible, but present wind farms can't match that. One problem is that you need a LOT of excess capacity to cope with no wind some places sometimes.

We can build nuclear power plants that are safe and safe from terrorism. We can dispose of the waste safely, it's just a political problem to designate a site.

A reasonable plan is to press ahead on all three fronts; nuclear, solar, and wind. The goal would be to run the nuclear plants for one "lifetime" (30-50 years) and then replace them with improved wind and solar as they wear out.

Your idea is good, but we need nuclear to make the transition away from fossil fuels right now.

I believe oil should be debased to aid the 'recovery' of humanity:

I take the starting point that many countries in the west (and east) have their economies linked with the price of oil. This is due to power demand which is used domestically and for industry.

However, this oil comes with a political edge to it and many leaders cannot ignore the huge influence that large corporations have in the form of taxation and income creation.

Bush cannot sign the Kyoto agreement due to heavy influence from Exxon whereas Blair has gigantic revenues created by BP.

This oil is a resource that belongs to all mankind (I believe that land resources cannot be owned by one entity alone - it's also a bad use of resources).

If you debase the value of oil by switching to alternative power sources, you remove the funding of terrorists, remove the polluting effects of such materials and change the future.

Is it time to build houses with solar panels and wind turbines, hydro-cell cars and clean air?

Remember that economy was once based on salt. So if it is not one thing…it's another. Taking away materialistic items is not the solution. People in general need to change their way of thinking.

I need to know how many residential homes have solar panels in Fresno, CA. Where can I find this information?

Prior to 2007, the California Energy Comission administered the rebates, and you could actually download information from them on the individual rebate applications. It would theoretically be possible to mine the information out of that by zip code, but perhaps they already have the information sorted.

Now the rebates go through http://www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov/ , I think, and maybe they have information for you.

Another way would be to contact the top 3-5 solar installers in the area, and ask how many they’ve put in.

Finally, if you have no other choice, you could always to go Google Maps, satellite view, and take a sampling of how many houses have panels within (say) a square mile, then scale up for an approximation.

I am helping my daughter with her science fair project and she has decided to go with alternative energy. From that she decided she wanted to build a model solar home or car and show how using solar energy would help decrease pollution. Her science teacher has told her to make sure she uses more than one variable..Now we are lost..What variables can be used with this type of project? Any help will be greatly appreciated…

For solar I’d use:

# of hours each day of sun (only shine the light so long)
% of transmission of sun , simulating clouds (use filters)
Angle of the sun to the panels, this affects efficency, that’s why some are made to move, perpendicular is best
Timing of use of electricty on non critical use items that could be delayed until sunny (clothes washing, dishwasher…..)
Difference between using a battery storage system and not. Using a battery will enable use in non-sunny times and store excess electricty as well that might go unused without it

Over recent years, many scientists have been designing new and expensive technologies with the aim to save the earth, or reduce the effects from global warming. One of these ideas lies in a concept of giant solar shades.

Much like ordinary sunglasses you place over your eyes in bright sunshine, the solar shades in question block out some of the suns harmful rays, only with one major difference. These shades will rest a million miles above our heads.

The logic behind this invention is to provide the global population with one giant sunshade consisting of 16 trillion outer space solar shades. These solar shades are super thin and lightweight glass discs which act like a lens on your average sunglasses to divert the suns rays.

Dr. Roger Angel (the brains behind the glass optics) is one of the worlds most renowned experts in the field of glass optics. He is responsible for designing the mirrors on telescopes, and believes glass could the answer to solving global warming.

It is predicted that only 2% of the suns rays need to be diverted in order to save the planet from increased global warming. The solar shades will have to cover a distance of 100,000km in width. The proposed area for the solar shades to orbit at is known as the “L1 point”. This is the point of zero gravity between the sun and the earth.

The solar optics will have tiny solar panels attached which can act as rudders to provide a gliding ability for the optics to change direction if needed.

A huge problem associated with this invention will be the process of transporting these solar optics into space. Dr. Angel has calculated the total weight of the tiny sunshades to be around 20 million tonnes. Presuming if this method is chosen to save the world, and the space shuttle is still the best space exploration vehicle, it will take 870,000 trips into space to deliver the entire solar shade as the space shuttles cargo weight can be only 23 tonnes a go.

There are currently four other extraordinary ideas in play, competing against this one to be the saviour of our home on earth, it will be interesting to see whether any of these will ever make it to the production stage.

We need to look after our environment, and the use of natural energy (such as solar electricity) should be our first focus, along with any reduction of our fossil fuel intake and carbon emissions.

http://www.clean-energy-ideas.com

James Bratley
http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/outer-space-sunglasses-save-the-earth-through-a-solar-lens-120794.html

If you are seeking for a quick and easy way that’ll cut down your expensive electricity-bills, no doubt that “Diy Solar Energy Generation” Tool can help you get there. Many users already found out that this technique provides an excellent quick return-on-investment that is in average measured by weeks. Read this article right now and know more about this revolutionary technology.

Introduction

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Quick advantages

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Quick advice

Never wire the power that you produce into the AC breaker-panel by yourself! It is illegal and very dangerous, call a qualified electrician in order to do that.

Summarizing this article

Thanks to “Diy Solar Energy Generation” Tool we can dramatically ‘cut’ our monthly and annual elect. expenses to almost zero. We could probably come across other benefits provided by this exceptional idea, simply because it is innovative. At this point it would be advised to simply get it as in most cases it will take you no more than a single weekend to have it working.

Jason Gilford
http://www.articlesbase.com/diy-articles/quotdiy-solar-energy-generationquot-tool–unbelievable-invention-715472.html

In his State of the Union Address for 2007, President George W. Bush called for a 22% increase in federal grants for research and development of alternative energy. However, in a speech he gave soon after, he said to those assembled, I recognize that there has been some interesting mixed signals when it comes to funding.

Where the mixed signals were coming from concerned the fact that at the same time the President was calling on more government backing for research and development, the NREL, the National renewable energy Laboratory of Golden, Colardo was laying off workers and contractors left and right.

Apparently, the Laboratory got the hint, because soon after the State of the Union Address, everyone was re-hired. The second speech of the President’s was actually given at the NREL. There is almost unanimous public support for the federal backing through research grants, tax breaks, and other financial incentives of research and development of alternative energy sources.

The NREL is the nation’s leading component of the National Bioenergy Center, a virtual center that has no central bricks and mortar office. The NREL’s raison d’etre is the advancing of the US Department of Energy’s and the United States’ alternative energy objectives.

The laboratory’s field researchers and staff scientists, in the words of Laboratory Director Dan Arvizu, support critical market objectives to accelerate research from scientific innovations to market-viable solutions. At the core of this strategic direction are NREL’s research and technology development areas.

These areas span from understanding renewable resources for energy, to the conversion of these resources to renewable electricity and fuels, and ultimately to the use of renewable electricity and fuels in homes, commercial buildings, and vehicles. The federally-backed Laboratory directly helps along the United States’ objectives for discovering renewable alternative fuels for powering our economy and our lifestyles.

The NREL is set up to have several areas of expertise in energy research and development. It spearheads research and development efforts into renewable sources of electricity; these would include such things as solar power, wind power, biomass power, and geothermal power.

It also spearheads research and development of renewable fuels for powering our vehicles such as biomass and biodiesel fuels and hydrogen fuel cells. Then, it seeks to develop plans for integrated system enginnering; this includes bringing alternative energy into play within buildings, electrical grids and delivery systems, and transportation infrastructures.

The Laboratory is also set up for strategic development and analysis of alternative energy objectives through the forces of economics, market analysis and planning, and alternative energy investment portfolios structurings.

The NREL is additionally equipped with a Technology Transfer Office. This Office supports laboratory scientists and engineers in the practical application of and ability to make a living from their expertise and the technologies they develop.

NREL’s research and development staff and its facilities are recognized for their remarkable prowess by private industry, which is reflected in the hundreds of collaborative projects and licensed technologies that the Laboratory now has with both public and private partners.

Warren Peters
http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/government-grants-for-alternative-energy-128045.html

I wish to find employment in the renewable energy field. I am a physics graduate and wish to work in the UK preferably. Any ideas?

ask them if their force is also renewable…

get out of afghanistan and iraq ASAP. cut military and pentagon budget in half. sell or give back to countries our bases overseas. provide healthcare for all americans. begin civil engineering projects providing americans with clean energy public transportation, ie electric trains, busses and cars, build as many solar panels and windmills as we can make, putting them in public owned places to benefit all and making a viable option for homeowners to have them as well. would these options not make for good jobs benefitting all americans?

Absolutely.

Also, create a law to enforce balanced budgets.

Limit personal debt further.

I was just curious if this is possible: Charge a bank of deep cycle batteries, and use it to run grow lights, and also having solar panels in the room to recharge the batteries that are creating the light.
What about the L.E.D. grow lights?

its possible

but somewhere in the cycle, energy will be lost via heat, so there wouldn’t be any net worth in it