Solar

Upcycled mini-Trombe wall

sites/greenknowe.org/files/trombewall_0.jpgI hate to see anything go to waste.  I also hate to see my life cluttered up with useless crap.  After we had the exterior of our house redone in Certainteed Fiber Cement board, there was lots left over.  Lots and lots.  We found several small

CO2 payback of solar panels and an electric car

sites/greenknowe.org/files/SunPowerMonitoringSystem.pngThere have been a lot of studies and comparisons on the savings of CO2 emissions when pv solar panels are used in place of electricity from a utility company; however, since different solar panel manufacturers use different manufactur

California approves molten-salt solar plant for construction

We blogged about molten-salt plants a few months ago here on greenknowe.org, and now we have some good news to go along with that. California has approved a molten-salt solar plant, and construction is expected to begin sometime late in 2011. Hopefully the cost and efficiency will play out as expected, and more of these plants will be built in the future.

Solar trackers

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According to conventional wisdom, tracking the sun with solar panels took more energy than was gained by optimizing the angle to the sun -- or so I thought.  Meca Solar is selling solar trackers that they claim offer a 35% increase in yield over fixed installations.

Neat!

     - Greg

Nuclear vs. renewable energy

Lately there seems to be a lot of talk about using nuclear energy to reduce our petrolium and coal consumption.  The arguement usually involves a comparison of the volume of nuclear waste per unit of energy produced compared to coal, coupled with an assertion that neither solar nor wind can provide baseline power.

 

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