Category Archives: solar power

Solar Farm Converted To A Coal Mine -Yah, I know, that is never going to happen

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Sorry I was trying to be funny. This is actually really good news that should have happened a long time ago. You know, like when Global Warming could have been prevented. Reluctantly getting it right when it is too late is like the orchestra on the top deck of the Titanic. Ahh but that’s the cynic in me. Put on a happy face and believe.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/02/climate/coal-mines-solar-climate.html

Coming Soon to This Coal County: Solar, in a Big Way

In Martin County, Ky., where coal production has flatlined, entrepreneurs are promising that a new solar farm atop a shuttered mine will bring green energy jobs.

Credit…Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times

By Cara Buckley

MARTIN COUNTY, Ky. — For a mountain that’s had its top blown off, the old Martiki coal mine is looking especially winsome these days. With its vast stretches of emerald grass dotted with hay bales and ringed with blue-tinged peaks, and the wild horses and cattle that roam there, it looks less like a shuttered strip mine and more like an ad for organic milk.

The mountain is poised for another transformation. Hundreds of acres are set to be blanketed with solar panels in the coming year, installed by locals, many of them former miners. The $231 million project, which recently cleared its last regulatory hurdle, may well be the biggest utility-scale coal to solar project in the country.

It would be a desperately needed economic boost drenched in symbolism: Renewable energy generated from a shuttered mine in the heart of Appalachia, where poverty grinds on in the aftermath of the coal industry’s demise.

In many ways, the project is a test case for whether a region once completely dependent on digging fossil fuels from the ground can be revived by creating clean energy from the sun. As coal continues to decline — the number of jobs nationwide fell to about 40,000 last year from 175,000 in the mid 1980s — supporting former coal communities is seen as vital for what has been termed a “just transition,” in part to ward off backlash against attempts to decarbonize.

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Go there and read. More next week.

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Home Solar Power Is Cheap And Effective – Go for it now

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First off. This piece claims to be all you need to know about Home Solar Electric. It is not. But when you do all the things they TELL you to and THEN put them together. Then you are nearly there. BUT they do not include all the research you have to do on equipment manufacturers, convertors and batteries. Sigh. But they get A’s for optimism.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/what-you-need-to-know-about-converting-your-home-to-solar?utm_source=pocket-newtab

What You Need to Know About Converting Your Home to Solar

Let us be your guiding light.

Popular Science

  • Whitson Gordon

 

If you live in an area with abundant sunlight—hello, fellow southern Californians—you’ve probably thought about installing solar panels on your roof to save on your electric bill. But with so much information, it can be hard to know where to start.

Look no further—start here

Between the different types of panels, financing, inverters, and other jargon, researching solar energy can feel overwhelming at first. That’s why I recommend starting at a solar quote comparison site like EnergySage, Solar-Estimate, or SolarReviews (the latter two are run by the same people).

Both EnergySage and Solar-Estimate act as educational resources and comparison shopping tools to help you field bids. I’ve been using EnergySage, which is chock-full of articles explaining the technology involved. You can also watch videos, look at their buyer’s guide, or start getting quotes. Their Solar 101 series of articles will help you understand the basics, and when you’re done, scroll through the site’s “Learn About Solar” sidebar to read even more articles that’ll give you a feel for the process.

To understand what your home requires, though, you’ll need to look up how much electricity you use. If your bill tells you the average amount of electricity you use each month, make a note of that, or calculate a quick and dirty average yourself. The more information you have on your usage, the more accurate an estimate you can get from installers.

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Go there and read so much. More next week.

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Solar Is Cheaper Than Coal – So why do they make up all kinds of lies

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Just like the Big Energy Companies use the BIG  LIE the of Baseload. They also spread lies about Solar Power’s cheapness. They rant about government subsidies when they have gotten billions for years. When they no longer can sell in the USA because Solar is Actually Cheaper than coal. Then they demand that State build export facilities so they can sell it to unsophisticated third world countries.   Even worse they sell to countries like China and India that know better but refuse to stop. They are poison spreading around the world and they must be stopped.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/solar-power-got-cheap-so-why-aren-t-we-using-it-more?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Pocket Worthy Stories to fuel your mind

Solar Power Got Cheap. So Why Aren’t We Using It More?

It turns out there’s a lot of inertia built into the energy system.

Popular Science

  • Ula Chrobak

Many of us might assume that the reason so much energy still comes from gas and coal power plants is simple economics: those fuels are cheaper. But though it was once true, that assumption has actually been obliterated by a recent decline in solar and wind costs over the past decade.

When it comes to the cost of energy from new power plants, onshore wind and solar are now the cheapest sources—costing less than gas, geothermal, coal, or nuclear.

Solar, in particular, has cheapened at a blistering pace. Just 10 years ago, it was the most expensive option for building a new energy development. Since then, that cost has dropped by 90 percent, according to data from the Levelized Cost of Energy Report and as highlighted recently by Our World in Data. Utility-scale solar arrays are now the least costly option to build and operate. Wind power has also shown a dramatic decline—the lifetime costs of new wind farms dropped by 71 percent in the last decade.

Natural gas prices decreased over that time, too, though by a lesser amount—32 percent—but that’s due to the recent fracking boom and not a longer term trend like that seen in renewables, the article states. The cost of building coal plants stayed relatively stable over the decade.

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Go there and look at the pretty graphs. More next week

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Advice On Saving Energy At Home – Not from me mind you, someone who creates content for CIELOWiggle

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I know it has been awhile since I did a residential post. I know this started out as a blog about residential energy needs and services. You know, energy efficient roofs, HVAC equipment and other such stuff. But years ago, I got off on energy related environmental stuff and then eventually Global Warming. Then anti-Nuclear stuff. Finally just raw Environmental stuff like obnoxious polluting and horrible deaths. Well today a gentleman named Chris Winters reached out and touched me so I am touching him back, so to speak. As always, I can vouch for his tips because they are somewhat general, but anything specific he is pitching I can not (For instance AC controllers – which his company sells). Also I may have put up this as an addenda to any earlier piece, so if i did forgive me.

https://www.cielowigle.com/blog/energy-saving-tips/

No matter what the season, energy usage tends to increase one way or another. With long running air conditioning and increased wash cycles of sweaty laundry in summer, to high heating usage and wash cycles of bulkier laundry in winter, we simply cannot operate without electricity.

We can be extremely energy efficient and follow energy saving tips and tricks to ingrain some environmentally friendly habits.

Following energy saving tips is essential to lower your costs, but it is also important to decrease your ecological footprint.

With millennials and Gen Z nicknamed “generation green”, there is a strong focus on energy saving, and rightly so. However, global warming is rising more rapidly than ever, and the term ‘climate emergency’ is being used rather than climate change to highlight the situation’s intensity.

All industries such as HVAC are revolutionizing their technology to act on climate change. Since home appliances and devices are a major contributor to our energy consumption, utilizing smart devices such as smart thermostats or smart controllers for air conditioners can make a huge difference on your bills!

Let’s get right to it. Here are 21 energy saving tips that can easily help you decrease your energy consumption:

1. Use Energy Efficient Appliances

Energy efficient appliances are specially designed to consume minimum energy to complete the same tasks that you’d perform with normal appliances.  In addition, some

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Good there and read. More next week.

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Joe Biden Is Turning Out To Be My Kind Of President

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Do I need to say more?

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/business/energy-environment/biden-solar-energy-climate-change.html

From 4% to 45%: Biden Offers Ambitious Blueprint for Solar Energy

The Energy Department analysis provides only a broad outline, and many of the details will be decided by congressional lawmakers.

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Go there and read. More next week.

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People Don’t Think NonCarbon Fuels Can Power The World – Well they can

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Again, I rarely publish Videos. Because this is a print blog. But this is a good one and it makes the point, that if you structure the infrastructure right you can power the world with Solar and Wind.

https://digg.com/video/heres-what-would-happen-if-you-covered-the-entire-sahara-desert-with-solar-panels

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HERE COMES THE SUN

Here’s What Would Happen If You Covered The Entire Sahara Desert With Solar Panels

RealLifeLore

With our climate crisis and other problems with fossil fuels, what if we attempted to cover the Sahara Desert with solar panels? Could we power the entire planet?

 

Solar Street Lights Are Amazing – Its been awhile since I did nuts and bolts

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I used to detest Streetlights. I know it is weird. I hate waste and after the all night lights at the Stratton Building in downtown Springfield, IL streetlights are the worst. They do not help people drive better and they do not deter most crime. Plus they are immense light polluters that prevent us from seeing the stars. But if they are emission controlled and solar powered, I guess I could at least get mellow on them.

https://cleanenergysummit.org/best-solar-street-lights/

The Best Solar Street Lights for 2021

by

If you’re looking for the best solar street lights, you have come to the right post. Today, your friends at Clean Energy Summit highlights the top picks that have the solid and reliable features as well as the factors to look into when buying these products.

Finding the right one, you’ll be certain of using the right lighting solution you need for places like the parking lots, streets, transits, outdoor areas, civil and military security areas and so many more.

To help you pick the right one that suits your needs, check out the following for reference. We do hope you could choose your streetlights after reading today’s guide.

1. TENKOO LED Solar Street Lights

  • IP65 and waterproof
  • Integrated design
  • With motion sensor
  • Ideal for garden path, patio, gutter and street
  • 5-Years after-sale service

The TENKOO LED Solar Street Light is the best solar led street light for many users worldwide, and for reasons. The top of the line solar powered lights are energy efficient and solid in performance. If you’re looking to improve lighting in the patio or gutter, you can think of installing the streetlights.

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Go there and read. More next week.

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The Latest In Residential Solar – I love the “solar skin”

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I have not talked about Solar for awhile. We plan on getting some Solar Panels on our roof this year and they have exploded in our neighborhood. This is all good. Like I said, it may not be commercial yet, but I love the concept of solar skin. Just saying solar skin, makes me happy.

https://www.solarreviews.com/blog/solar-panel-technologies-that-will-revolutionize-energy-production

Which new solar panel technologies will revolutionize energy production?

Updated

In this post, we take a detailed look at 5 solar technologies that will have the biggest impact on the solar industry over the coming years.

#3 Solar skins

Solar skins are a novel PV technology to integrate custom designs into solar panel systems. The solar skin technology is similar to the ad wraps displayed on bus windows.

Solar panel skin

A comparison of a standard solar panel installation (L) and solar skins on top (R). Image Credits: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) News

Sistine, the manufacturer of solar skins, is testing the technology at the United States National Renewable Energy Laboratory to increase its efficiency. Solar thin-film skins maintain high efficiency due to its selective light filtration advancements. The sunlight falling on solar skins is filtered to reach the solar cells beneath it. As a result, it simultaneously displays the custom image and provides solar energy.

These imprinted custom images, embedded into solar panels, can exactly match your grassy lawns or rooftops of your homes.

Solar skin panels can also be beneficial for businesses or government offices. They can be customized to display business logos, business advertisements, a country’s flag, and so on.

Moreover, solar skins utilize rail-less racking systems, sit lower, have a sleek finish, and hide metal components, giving the panels a super cool look. If panel aesthetics stops you from going solar, Sistine’s SolarSkins might be the solution you are looking for.

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Go there and read. More next week

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Solar Waste, What Shall We Do – I never dodge a bullet

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I say the same thing I have said about recycling all along. Store what you can’t recycle right now and recycle what you can now. The best examples is the large Wind Generator Blades (it used to be common batteries). Throwing stuff in the land fill that has no business there messes everything else up. So storing the Blades from the Wind Generators (turbines whatever) in one place…even if you bury them is critical, so that when you find a way to recycle them (and you will) you can go get them. Throwing common batteries in a land fill ( AAs, AAAs, etc) is essentially admitting you will never get them back. Better to store them in abandoned warehouses or something. Even burying them in a battery land fill so you can get them back is better than just throwing them away.

https://www.wired.com/story/solar-panels-are-starting-to-die-leaving-behind-toxic-trash/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Maddie Stone

Science

Solar Panels Are Starting to Die, Leaving Behind Toxic Trash

Photovoltaic panels are a boon for clean energy but are tricky to recycle. As the oldest ones expire, get ready for a solar e-waste glut.

This story originally appeared on Grist and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Solar panels are an increasingly important source of renewable power that will play an essential role in fighting climate change. They are also complex pieces of technology that become big, bulky sheets of electronic waste at the end of their lives—and right now, most of the world doesn’t have a plan for dealing with that.

But we’ll need to develop one soon, because the solar e-waste glut is coming. By 2050, the International Renewable Energy Agency projects that up to 78 million metric tons of solar panels will have reached the end of their life, and that the world will be generating about 6 million metric tons of new solar e-waste annually. While the latter number is a small fraction of the total e-waste humanity produces each year, standard electronics recycling methods don’t cut it for solar panels. Recovering the most valuable materials from one, including silver and silicon, requires bespoke recycling solutions. And if we fail to develop those solutions along with policies that support their widespread adoption, we already know what will happen.

“If we don’t mandate recycling, many of the modules will go to landfill,” said Arizona State University solar researcher Meng Tao, who recently authored a review paper on recycling silicon solar panels, which comprise 95 percent of the solar market.

Solar panels are composed of photovoltaic (PV) cells that convert sunlight to electricity. When these panels enter landfills, valuable resources go to waste. And because solar panels contain toxic materials like lead that can leach out as they break down, landfilling also creates new environmental hazards.

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Go there and read. Demand that your municipality pass a law that solar panels do not go in the land fill. More next week.

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We Are Going Over The Climate Cliff – At least these people are trying

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Natural Gas will be the death of us. Let me repeat that. Natural Gas will be the death of us. Why? Because Capitalists will sell it as a bridge to renewables and humans will die half way across the bridge. Let’s be honest, METHANE is a much more corrosive long lasting green house gas. While using natural gas will decrease the Volume of green houses gases. It will speed up Climate Change. Humans do not want to face up to what is killing us – Greed sped on by a pernicious economic system. If we stopped venting green house gases tomorrow it would be a 100 years before the effects wore off. We are not stopping today, are we?

Illinois offering affordable solar installation for low-income housing

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Go there and read. More next week.

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