solar water heat Archives - Community Energy Systems

Trump Tries To Stop Alternative Energy – He fails miserably

Doug Nicodemus — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 22:50:59 +0000

What can I say about Trumps environmental policies in general and his energy policies specifically that hasn’t been said before. They SUCK. The economic surge in their direction is so strong that they can’t be stopped. But will it be in time?

Business

Reuters 13 hours ago

By Nichola Groom

(Reuters) – U.S. solar installations fell 15 percent in the third quarter as the Trump administration’s tariffs on overseas-made panels forced developers to put off large projects, according to a report commissioned by the industry’s primary trade group.

Current weakness in the utility-scale market, however, will be offset by larger volumes of projects than had been expected over the next five years because solar energy is now cheaper than ever, the report said.

Quarterly installations of utility-scale solar were 678 megawatts, the lowest quarter since 2015 and a more than 30 percent decline from a year ago, the report by Wood Mackenzie for the U.S. Solar Energy Industries Association said. The total market, which includes residential and commercial installations, came in at 1.7 gigawatts.

The slowdown is a shift for solar, which has experienced runaway gains in the last decade. Through the first three quarters of the year, solar accounted for 30 percent of electricity generating capacity additions.

Go there and read. More next week.

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Death Is Near – UN releases a report that says by 2050 we are toast

Doug Nicodemus — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 21:54:03 +0000

That report said that the World had to shift to renewables by 2050 or face dramatic changes. The report says that Society as we know it will be destroyed. Everybody went wild. But I prefer to keep things positive. Even Utility Companies are trying to change and Duke is one of the worst.

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/10/10/duke-energy-pegs-battery-investmentat-500m.html

Rob Caldwell, head of Duke Energy’s distributed energy technology group, says its investment in Carolinas battery storage could grow larger than the current $500 million estimate.

NANCY PIERCE

By John Downey – Senior Staff Writer, Charlotte Business Journal

Oct 10, 2018, 10:10am EDT Updated 5 hours ago

Duke Energy Corp. expects to spend $500 million over the next 15 years installing more than 300 megawatts worth of storage batteries on its Carolinas grid.

Charlotte-based Duke (NYSE: DUK) released the estimate Wednesday morning, days after proposing its first microgrid project — including a two-megawatt solar farm and a four-megawatt storage battery — for residential and business customers. That will serve the remote mountain town of Hot Springs, on the North Carolina-Tennessee border north of Asheville.

Duke says it plans to expand the use of batteries beyond storing and dispatching of energy. Its long-range plan includes deploying batteries for other purposes such as system balancing, increasing reliability of “end of the line” power supplies and to defer other traditional grid upgrades.

Go there and cheer up. More next week.

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California Demands Solar In New Housing – Only 49 to go

Doug Nicodemus — Thu, 10 May 2018 20:53:40 +0000

I have been at a loss for words for the last month. Things are going so well. I know Dotard is still President and many things are seriously messed up. But on the alternative energy front things just keep getting better and better. Don Blankenship actually made a fool out of himself and lost a primary vote for the Senate in West Virginia. Next week I may even get to report that Yucca Mountain is open for business. But for now, California hits one out of the park.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-solar-panels-20180509-story.html

California regulators approve mandate for solar panels on new houses

Andrew Khouri

May 09, 2018 | 12:10 PM

California regulators on Wednesday mandated that all newly built single family houses have solar panels, part of the state’s aggressive push to combat climate change.

The California Energy Commission voted 5-0 to approve the measure, which also applies to multifamily buildings of three stories or fewer. The mandate is set to take effect in 2020 and does not need the approval of the Legislature.

The requirement is expected to save consumers money in the long run through reduced utility bills, but also make a new house more expensive to purchase at a time many families already struggle to afford a mortgage.

In addition to the solar mandate, the commission approved new insulation and air filter requirements for newly built homes. In all, the new residential requirements are expected to make a single-family house $9,500 more expensive to build on average, but save $19,000 in reduced utility bills over a 30-year period, according to the Energy Commission.

Go there and do a happy dance – I mean read. More next week

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Saudis Plan 200 GW Solar Power Plant – Twice as big as Chicago

Doug Nicodemus — Wed, 04 Apr 2018 21:51:50 +0000

Solar and Wind Power are on a huge tear. This is both in price, where coal is dead and natural gas is getting iffy. But in terms of availability and cutting edge technology. I see a future where generating electricity through renewables may be a same day thing and cheap as dirt. I know I am a dreamer but I am not the only one.

By the way, some people say that size doesn’t matter. I ain’t one of those.

SOLAR BLANKET

What Saudi Arabia’s 200 GW solar power plant would look like—if placed in your neighborhood

Written by

Akshat Rathi David Yanofsky

Obsession

Energy Shocks

April 01, 2018

Saudi Arabia has a plan to wean its economy off oil. In the biggest sign of what the future of the Gulf state would look like, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Japanese multinational Softbank to build 200 GW of solar power by 2030 at a cost of $200 billion.

These are eye-popping numbers. If built, that solar-power plant will be about 200 times the size of the biggest solar plant operating today. It would more than triple Saudi Arabia’s capacity to produce electricity, from about 77 GW today.

With current technology, solar panels capable of generating 200 GW would likely cover 5,000 sq km—an area larger than the the world’s largest cities.

No it is not an April’s Joke. Go there and read. More next week.

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Life Without Fossil Fuels – This is what it looks like

Doug Nicodemus — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 15:18:38 +0000

In Florida no less. I could hype this piece up, but why? They do such a good job. The place even has its own website.

Home

So here is one version of the story.

https://www.planetizen.com/news/2018/01/96772-residents-move-americas-first-solar-powered-town

Residents Move Into America’s First Solar Powered Town

Residents will live in solar powered homes and ride around the community in self-driving, solar-powered shuttles. Babcock Ranch outside of Fort Myers, Florida, has been in the making since 2005. A city of 50,000 is forecast.

January 18, 2018, 1pm PST | Irvin Dawid

“Families are starting to move into what is being called America’s first solar-powered town,” announces John Dickerson for CBS This Morning on Jan. 16. “Babcock Ranch, about half an hour northeast of Fort Myers, Florida, is supposed to produce more energy than it consumes once it’s finished.”

Developer Syd Kitson is building 20,000 homes for a projected 50,000 people, states Dickerson in the newscast video accompanying the article.

There are more than 300,000 solar panels spread across 440 acres there, producing enough electricity not only for the town, but also the surrounding areas, reports CBS News’ Manuel Bojorquez.

One critical energy element lacking in the solar-powered community will be adequate energy storage to allow the city to be truly self-powered:

The town doesn’t run on solar power all the time. At night, when the sun is down, it has to draw from the traditional electrical grid. Kitson says the technology for storing all that surplus energy the solar cells generate during the day is still too costly.

Go There. I mean literally go there if you can. If not go there and read. More next week.

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Renault Aims To Prove We Can Live Without Fossil Fuels – I wish then well

Doug Nicodemus — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 22:07:29 +0000

I am so amazed by this, that I do not know what to say. I wish these type projects had started 30 years ago. You would say, impossible. I would say the technology would have been different and the work harder, but it could have been done. Still I am so proud of Renault and I hope more companies try this out. GO Renault!

https://www.engadget.com/2018/02/21/renault-ev-second-life-batteries-smart-island/

Renault’s ‘smart island’ runs on wind power and recycled batteries

The experiment in Portugal aims to prove you can live without fossil fuels.

Steve Dent, @stevetdent

6h ago in Transportation

Renault has launched a “smart island” in Portugal that uses its Zoe electric vehicle, home batteries, smart charging and vehicle-to-grid (V2E) energy storage to run without fossil fuels. The idea is to make the Madeira island of Porto Santo energy independent and stimulate renewable energy production. “[We want] to build a model that can be carried over to other islands and cities,” Renault Electric Vehicle Director Eric Feunteun told Engadget.

Unlike Tesla’s massive Powerpack installation, the Renault project is more of a community endeavor on the small (16 square mile) and sparsely populated (5,483 inhabitants), tourism-oriented island. It will unroll in three phases: In the first, 20 fortunate Porto Santo volunteers will get 14 Zoes and six Kango Z.E. utility vans to use every day. They’ll benefit from 40 new connected public and private charging stations set up by Renault and local utility Empresa de Electricitade da Madeira (EEM).

“Let’s say you come home from work at 7 PM with a decent charge left, and only need two to three hours of charging,” said Feunteun. “The smart charging system we’re testing will decide when the best time to do that is, based on usage, energy availability and other factors. Then, it can charge up to eight times a day in chunks as small as 15 minutes.”

Go there and read every glorious word. More next week.

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Home Energy Efficiency – From a Realtor’s perspective

Doug Nicodemus — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 17:45:12 +0000

I agreed to publish this here because it is such a different perspective then the one I have or CES has. We tend to blame builders for not just serving up top notch energy efficient residences. Then there is the issue of retrofitting. As always this is no endorsement of Ryan or his Real Estate firm. Believe me I have no intention of buying a home in Alaska.

Ryan Tollefsen REALTOR®
Unity Home Group at Keller Williams Realty Alaska Group
101 W. Benson Blvd. Suite 101
Anchorage, AK 99503

Check out my all new Great Alaskan Getaway Guide

http://www.constructiondive.com/news/more-buyers-want-green-homes-real-estate-agents-say/439944/

https://www.construction.com/about-us/press/New-Study-Suggests-Strong-Outlook-for-Green-Homes.asp

https://www.akhomeshow.com/blog/green-building-technologies-for-new-homes.html

http://www1.cbn.com/books/a-room-by-room-guide-to-making-your-house-%09%09-eco-friendly

More Buyers Are Looking for Energy Effcient Homes in the US… But is it

Enough?

Now, a “green home” really isn’t all that green when observed on its own, but the fact

remains that most of new construction and existing homes are going to be detached

single-family residences. This means that we need to do the best we can with the hand we

have been dealt, and that would suggest that incremental improvements across the board

may be the best option in terms of reducing waste. Recent trends in US real estate have

affected what buyers are looking for in some positive ways, but there are still far too few

green homes available for buyers who want this option.!That makes it a frustrating search

for potential green home buyers, and discourages them from truly setting their sites on a

home that works for them. Additionally, because they aren’t making their voices heard,

many builders are not working to make homes that meet green specications (beyond the

bare minimum). They don’t realize the level of demand that would be there, if buyers felt

they would have the option.

More Buyers Should Push for Green Homes

There’s really one way to remedy the issue: buyers who want green homes should push

for them across as many channels as they can. If more buyers continue to ask for green

homes, more builders will produce these homes out of necessity. But buyers need to be

the catalysts in both demand and advocacy aimed toward other potential green buyers.

More of them want green homes, but they back down when they see these homes aren’t

available. Builders and sellers both need to know the value of creating these kinds of

homes or making changes to existing homes, so buyers will be more likely to purchase

those homes instead of other options. This might mean more negotiations with sellers and builders, and it will likely come at an increased cost — costs that will likely be recouped over time, but another upfront cost nonetheless.

What are Buyers Looking For?

When the average buyer!wants a green home, they don’t necessarily require one that’s

completely off grid. Some buyers will seek these out, but most will be looking for energy

efifciency, sustainable materials, and a smaller carbon footprint than what would be seen

with a standard house. In many cases, that’s enough to entice buyers to make a purchase,

and to keep them happy with the home they have selected. It also depends on the area of the country and the local market, because some buyers want and need different options due to weather or other factors.

More Demand Will Require an Increase in Supply

The more buyers start asking for green homes, the more likely it is that builders will create them. Sellers will also start making changes to the homes they are putting on the market, in order to entice buyers to come see their home instead of a different one. That’s an important consideration, too, since sellers may need to retrofit their homes in some ways and add options that they would not have chosen to put in if they were remaining in the house. Some green living changes can be expensive, but these changes don’t always have to be costly. There are lower priced options, as well.

Trends are Moving in the Right Direction, at Least

Even though there are still far too few green homes, and even though buyers aren’t making their voices heard as loudly as they could, the trend of green living is still going in the right direction. More buyers see the value of it, and more builders and sellers are starting to make changes in that direction. There is still a long way to go before energy efficiency and reducing waste becomes the standard for new homes and improved existing homes, but a larger pool of buyers demanding these features can help move the needle bit by bit.

Go to the web links and read. More next week.

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The Swiss Endorse Renewable Energy – If a land locked mountainous country can do it

Doug Nicodemus — Wed, 24 May 2017 17:23:57 +0000

Then anybody can do it. Really, think about it. They are a really affluent society, who have never directly been involved in a war. They are Bankers to the world. They have no incentives what so ever. Yet here they are, for the good of the world. They deserve a postcard from the world that says, JOB WELL DONE!

https://www.thelocal.ch/20170521/swiss-vote-for-gradual-nuclear-phaseout-preliminary-results/

Swiss vote for gradual nuclear phaseout

AFP

news@thelocal.ch

21 May 2017

15:10 CEST+02:00

The Swiss voted on Sunday in favour of a massive overhaul of the country’s energy system by gradually replacing the power from its ageing nuclear reactors with renewable sources.

A full 58.2 percent of Swiss voters supported the shift, according to a final tally after Sunday’s referendum, with only four of the country’s 26 cantons voting “no”.

“This is a historic day for the country,” Green Party parliamentarian Adele Thorens Goumaz told public broadcaster RTS.

“Switzerland will finally enter into the 21st century when it comes to energy.”

The move has been in the making since shortly after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant was destroyed in the March 2011 tsunami disaster, when the Swiss government decided to gradually close its nuclear plants.

Instead, it aims to increase reliance on hydraulic power as well as renewables like solar, wind, geothermal and biomass.

Go there and read. More next week.

The post The Swiss Endorse Renewable Energy – If a land locked mountainous country can do it appeared first on Community Energy Systems.

Egypt Goes For Renewable Energy – Man have they got desert to do solar in and on

Doug Nicodemus — Mon, 15 May 2017 16:06:28 +0000

I was going to write about Germany making 85 percent of its power with renewables on a particular day. As fun as that is this is better. Egypt is going to invest billions of dollars in solar (and wind?). That is so exciting. I hope the rest of the countries of the Middle East follow suit.

http://www.upi.com/Energy-News/2017/05/15/Egypt-looks-to-the-future-with-renewable-energy-plan/3111494858225/

Egypt looks to the future with renewable energy plan

By Ahmed Megahid, The Arab Weekly | May 15, 2017 at 10:33 AM

CAIRO, May 15 (UPI) — The vista in the central province of Minya is as empty as far as the eye can see except for rows and rows of solar panels and the blue sky above.

The panels are helping Amr al-Saad’s 8-month-old power station address the worsening issue of brownouts and blackouts in the area.

“A few years ago, power supply was intermittent, which made the life of the residents of the province very tough,” he said. “That is why I decided to establish my project where it is most needed.”

After generating electricity, Saad’s station feeds it into the national grid where it is used to power houses, farms and workshops in Minya’s villages.

Saad’s project, which cost $100,000 and produces 650 kilowatts of electricity each month, is part of a national drive to reduce Egypt’s dependence on fossil fuels by shifting to renewable energy. Egypt plans to produce 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2022 and 37 percent by 2035. It is an ambitious plan given that just 3 percent of electricity produced annually in Egypt today is from renewable sources.

Go there and read. More next week.

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Which Is Cheaper Solar Or Wind -Now there is a conversation I have wanted to have for years

Doug Nicodemus — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 19:29:40 +0000

It has taken the last 30 years to get to the point where we can have this conversation. Is it in time? I do not know, but it sure feels good.

Solar Power vs. Wind Power Pros and Cons

Solar Power vs. Wind Power Pros and Cons

By Go Green In Your Home in How to Save Electricity

After doing some research on renewable energy systems or alternative energy systems as many will call them, I wanted to get the information out there as far as the advantages and disadvantages of the 2 main renewable energy systems, wind turbine generators and photovoltaic solar panels.

Both solar panel and wind generator systems are similar as far as how they are setup. You can have the wind generator grid tied or off grid, same as solar panels. Both the solar panel (photovoltaic panel) and wind generator will need a battery bank if you are using an off grid system. Both of these renewable energy systems will produce clean energy and help the environment as well as save you money in your home!

Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Generator Systems and Solar Panel Systems

Now onto some of the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative energy system. None of this information is from my own personal experience as I do not have the financial funds to support the research. So the information about these renewable energy systems have came from researching the internet, talking to people that have these alternative energy systems, and of course some calculations of my own (prices, efficiency, etc.).

Wind Turbine Generator System Pros and Cons

The main advantage of wind generator is that they can produce electricity day or night as long as there is wind. Wind generators need less space on your land to produce sufficient electricity. Wind generators are able to produce more electric for the same price. If you spend $1,000.00 on wind generator you can produce 1kW – 2kW, with solar panels you may only produce around .5kW – .75kW with the same $1,000.00. Wind generators have moving parts, so there is always wear and tear on these moving parts. Bearings can go bad, propeller blades can be struck by objects, and heat may be generated. Your wind generator will be installed on a tower or pole of some sort to gain height where there is more wind, allowing lighting to possibly strike your wind generator. As wind hits the propeller blades there will be noise created, think of a fan and how they sound, or even taking a rope and swinging it fast in circles. You will get some of this noise from your wind generator. The propellers of the wind generator can also produce shadows flickering. Birds can get killed from flying into your wind generator’s propellers. There are vertical wind generators which will prevent this. So the quick break down of the wind generator system:

Go there and read. More next week.

The post Which Is Cheaper Solar Or Wind -Now there is a conversation I have wanted to have for years appeared first on Community Energy Systems.

solar water heat Archives - Community Energy Systems

Trump Tries To Stop Alternative Energy – He fails miserably

U.S. solar takes hit from Trump tariffs but is cheaper than ever: report

Death Is Near – UN releases a report that says by 2050 we are toast

California Demands Solar In New Housing – Only 49 to go

California regulators approve mandate for solar panels on new houses

Saudis Plan 200 GW Solar Power Plant – Twice as big as Chicago

What Saudi Arabia’s 200 GW solar power plant would look like—if placed in your neighborhood

Written by

Obsession

Life Without Fossil Fuels – This is what it looks like

Residents Move Into America’s First Solar Powered Town

Renault Aims To Prove We Can Live Without Fossil Fuels – I wish then well

Renault’s ‘smart island’ runs on wind power and recycled batteries

Home Energy Efficiency – From a Realtor’s perspective

The Swiss Endorse Renewable Energy – If a land locked mountainous country can do it

Swiss vote for gradual nuclear phaseout

Egypt Goes For Renewable Energy – Man have they got desert to do solar in and on

Egypt looks to the future with renewable energy plan

Which Is Cheaper Solar Or Wind -Now there is a conversation I have wanted to have for years

Solar Power vs. Wind Power Pros and Cons

Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Generator Systems and Solar Panel Systems

Wind Turbine Generator System Pros and Cons