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30 May 2016

Using Nanotechnology for Solar Power

Researchers at MIT have developed a new experimental solar cell which could possibly improve and enhance solar power efficiency. By placing the cells one on top of another, researchers are able to reduce energy loss which is a common problem with most solar cells.

However, when we talk about heat, it has nothing beneficial to offer solar cells. The solar cells have nano-tubes built into them that conver heat to visible light. This light is then used by the solar panels.

More research is still needed and researchers are still testing these cells. For more information, please visit thehackednews.com

09 May 2016
Floating Solar Panels

New Floating Solar Panels To Generate Green Power

Floating solar panels located in the Yamakura Dam reservoir in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture are stirring up environemental interest world wide. Renewable energy developers are planning to have almost 60,000 panels floating on top of the reservoir. That’s enougloatih solar power to genergate around 5,000 homes.

Floating solar panels are not just popular in Japan. They are spreading accross the globe with operations in Austrailia and the United States.

Not only do these solar panels produce green, renewable energy, but they also have other benefits. They help keep the water in the reservoir from evaporating, and the water cools down the solar panels making them more efficient than land-based panels.

For more information on this new technology, visit www.nytimes.com

20 Apr 2016
Fossil Fuels

Renewable Energy Out Ranks Fossil Fuels

We are seeing for the first time that renewable sources of energy, such as solar power, are becoming a majority of new electricity-generating capacity added around the world. This great news came from a study from the United Nations saying that more than half the $286 billion invested in wind, solar and other renewable energy occurred in emerging markets like China, India and Brazil — also for the first time. These numbers come as great news for the future of renewably energy as it seems we will be able to replace highly carbon-intensive coal and other fossil fuels.

Not only does switching to renewable energy sources help the planet, but it will also have extraordinary health benefits to people and animals around the world. An analysis by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that widespread solar adoption would significantly reduce nitrous oxides, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter emissions, all of which can cause health problems.2

For more information, please read more from our friends at nytimes.com

 

Sources: www.nytimes.com
2 www.energysage.com

29 Feb 2016

Solar Myth Mondays: Solar Doesn’t Work in Cool, Cloudy, or Foggy Climates

Many people have questions about how the operation of solar panels on cloudy or rainy days and are afraid that these devices do not work on days like this. However, this is not a significant concern since the solar cells have ways to work around this problem.

FACT: Solar panels work just fine in ambient light and will produce significant energy in the fog or on cloudy. In fact, solar panels are actually more efficient at cooler temperatures than hot ones. Although this might seem counter-intuitive, consider that solar panels on a rooftop in cool, foggy San Francisco produce only one percent less electricity than one in nearby Sacramento, where it’s sunny and hot. Consider too that Germany leads the world in residential solar right now, and doesn’t have a sunny climate.

Read more from our friends at sciencealert.com about a new technology that a team of European researchers have announced.

01 Jan 2016
Space Solar Power

The Promise of Space-Based Solar Panels

Dreamy-eyed physicists have effused about the potential of stellar power, also known by the more prosaic name of space-based solar power, or SBSP, since the 1960s. They have sketched out preliminary designs that would bring that power from orbit to the grid — a giant engineering challenge, to be sure, but one that now has plausible solutions. What they haven’t been able to do is make it affordable.

Space scientists have roughed out designs for several different kinds of stellar power plants. Some look like an orbiting version of a terrestrial solar farm, with flat photovoltaic arrays stretching for miles. A design for NASA called SPS-Alpha, by former NASA physicist John Mankins, instead arranges thin-film mirrors into a bell shape that can redirect sunlight from almost any angle onto a smaller photovoltaic array.

The electrical current generated by an orbiting array can be sent to Earth in one of two forms. It could be converted into a broad infrared laser beam, or it could come down as a wider cone of microwaves, which, as Mankins notes, pass through clouds unimpeded. In either case, the satellite would focus its transmitter on a large receiving station on the ground. (See next page.) To ensure safety, the beam would be no more intense than the noonday sun, and a feedback signal would keep it from straying from its target.

For more information on these spectaculat advancements, please visit our friends at discovermagazine.com

06 Nov 2015

Learn Facts About Our Sun

FACTS ABOUT OUR SUN

Let’s face it, without the Sun there would not only not be human life on Earth but there would be no solar power either. The Sun is the central figure in our solar system and the source of all light and heat billions of miles outward. The Sun is an exciting and massive ball of gas that is studied intensely by scientists and we’ve learned a great deal about our host star over the last couple of decades. Here are a few fun facts related to the Sun.

JUST HOW BIG IS IT?

Looking up into the sky one can easily determine that the Sun is much larger than the Earth. Figuring out how much larger however can be difficult for the layperson. To put things in perspective size wise, try to remember that if it were possible to do so one could place over 1 million Earth’s inside of the Sun and still have room left over. When trying to determine just how much larger the Sun is than the Earth it’s also important to remember that Sun’s surface area is nearly 12,000 times that of the Earth’s.

HOW LONG WILL THE SUN LIVE?

When looking up at the Sun one also thinks of how old our star is and just how long it will “burn”. In truth the Sun isn’t burning anything at all but rather fusing atoms together and in the process creating heavier elements through nuclear fusion. That said the Sun will eventually run out of hydrogen which it’s converting now. Once that happens it will begin fusing helium into even heavier elements like carbon and oxygen. Once the Sun has converted all of it’s hydrogen into helium the Sun’s outer layers will both cool and expand a great deal. As these the outer layers of the Sun grow our star will eventually consume Mercury, Venus, and even Earth. This is known as the red giant phase in the life of a star like our own. This phase follows the main sequence phase of all stars and in a star like the Sun this phase will last for millions of years.

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE SUN AT THE END OF ITS LIFE?

So what happens at the end of the Sun’s red giant phase? Our star is a yellow dwarf and therefore does not have the mass necessary to explode as a supernova. Instead near the end of its red giant phase the Sun will begin pulsating and shed its outer layers off into space creating a planetary nebula. One can look into the night sky with a telescope or even strong binoculars and view planetary nebula like the crab nebula or the cats eye nebula to get a good idea of what the Sun’s nebula will look like it approximately 7 to 8 million years. Once the Sun has shed its outer layers only the core of our star will remain. This core is known as a white dwarf and will steadily cool over billions of years eventually becoming a black dwarf, a very heavy and dark solar remnant.

NEARLY A PERFECT SPHERE

The Sun certainly looks round to the unaided eye and it actually is very close to a perfect sphere, unlike the Earth which is an oblate spheroid. Some stars bulge get their center and some are egg shaped but our Sun is the closest thing to a perfect sphere we have observed in space. In fact there’s only a 10 km difference in its polar diameter when compared to its equatorial diameter.

THE SUNS DISTANCE FROM EARTH

Many people are shocked to learn that the light we see is actually eight minutes old. The Sun is, on average, roughly 93,000,000 miles away from the Earth and it takes like eight minutes to travel from its surface to our planet. This means you’re seeing the Sun as it was eight minutes ago and this should help put distances in space and perspective. Nothing travels faster than light which moves at about 186,000 miles per second which from our perspective is a great distance though for light its a hop skip and a jump.

AROUND THE MILKY WAY WE GO

Most of us know that the moon revolves around the Earth and that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Few people however are aware that the Sun actually orbits something as well. The Sun and our entire solar system orbits the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy every 225 to 250 million years. Our Sun and all the planets are moving around the galaxy at an incredible 485,912 miles per hour.

(Photo credit goes to nasa.gov)

24 Oct 2015

SolarGem Launches Made in America Campaign

In today’s business world many business owners and managers look to buy cheap and sell high. This is especially true of those who own solar power companies. At SolarGem however the company prides itself on delivering solar products that are made in America and never outsources any of its work. Whether you’re buying solar panels or some other solar components from the company and/or you’re having their talented staff install a new solar power system you can be certain that all work and products are being handled by people within the United States. While there are many owners of solar power companies who believe outsourcing products and services keeps costs low, SolarGem keeps everything in-house while managing to keep things affordable and satisfy its customers.

One need only visit SolarGem’s website at www.solargem.org to see just how dedicated the company is delivering products and services that are made in the USA. In fact by digging a little deeper into their website one will easily see how this approach to business has helped build and maintain their decades long success. Serving both Orange and Riverside counties, SolarGem not only provides products and services that are made in the USA but aims to build a solid rapport with each and every client they work with. The company is not content than just selling products and services but rather strives to treat customers as family.

SolgarGem owner Joe Johnson had this to say when asked about his company’s approach to solar power. “Only the highest quality solar panels and systems are capable of meeting the needs and high demands of modern households and businesses. SolarGem has just one goal and that goal being the sale and installation of quality solar products that people can trust and have confidence in.”

Solar energy is a renewable and more recently an affordable type of power that helps homeowners and businesses cut the costs associated with power consumption. It is also an extremely environmentally friendly type of power that generates electricity for homes and commercial structures without leaving any pollution behind.

ABOUT SOLARGEM

SolarGem is an Orange County based solar power company dedicated to providing residents all over Southern California with unbeatable American-made solar products alongside unmatched customer service and care. By refusing to outsource any of their work or purchase products from other countries, SolarGem ensures both quality and customer satisfaction.