Solar Cells Info

By Cody Kraatz, Bay Area News Group / Jan 2, 2008
Source: San Jose Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/localnewsheadlines/ci_7865498?nclick_check=1

A group of residents is trying to put the sun in Sunnyvale and turn the city into a sea of rooftop photovoltaic panels and solar water heaters with a grassroots group-buy program. “The whole purpose for our group is to maximize and accelerate the adoption of solar energy,” said James Tuleya, a Sunnyvale Cool Cities Team leader spearheading the solar program, which is also hosting a series of educational seminars.
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Gloria Spire Solar Installing a 308kW Solar System for The Lee Company; One of the Largest Solar Projects in New England
Bedford, Mass., Jan. 7, 2008
Source: Spire Corp. press release
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=76421&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1092245&highlight=

Gloria Spire Solar, LLC, a joint venture company formed by solar industry leaders Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR) and Gloria Solar Co., Ltd., today announced that it has won a contract to design and install a 308-kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) solar electric system at The Lee Company’s manufacturing facility in Westbrook, Connecticut. This is the largest solar electric system to be installed for a manufacturing company in Connecticut, and one of the largest in New England.

The system, consisting of 1,760 photovoltaic panels on the roof of the newly constructed facility, is approximately half the size of a football field, covering nearly 29,000 square feet of roof space. At peak power, the system will generate enough electricity to cleanly provide 17 percent of the manufacturing facility’s power consumption. This is equivalent to the power usage of 34 homes for one full year. In addition, this installation will eliminate the emission of 282 tons of carbon dioxide associated with combusting conventional fossil fuels.
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By 2050 solar power could end U.S. dependence on foreign oil and slash greenhouse gas emissions
By Ken Zweibel, James Mason and Vasilis Fthenakis
Scientific American Magazine –  December 16, 2007
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan&page=1

High prices for gasoline and home heating oil are here to stay. The U.S. is at war in the Middle East at least in part to protect its foreign oil interests. And as China, India and other nations rapidly increase their demand for fossil fuels, future fighting over energy looms large. In the meantime, power plants that burn coal, oil and natural gas, as well as vehicles everywhere, continue to pour millions of tons of pollutants and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere annually, threatening the planet.
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Waterloo, ON, Jan. 7, 2008
Source. Arise Technologies Corp. press release
http://www.arisetech.com/content/view/169/98/

ARISE Technologies Corporation (“ARISE” or the “Company”) (TSX: APV) is pleased to announce that its Silicon Feedstock Mini Pilot Plant is now operational and that polysilicon has successfully been produced in the Silicon Refining Furnace (SiRF(TM: 104.64, +0.70, +0.67%)). The Mini Pilot Plant is located at the Company’s Waterloo facility.
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by Eric Beauchemin, Jan 7, 2008
Source: Radio Netherlands
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/radioprogrammes/earthbeat/080107-solar-energy-africa

If there’s one thing Africa has an abundance of, it’s sunlight. And if there’s one thing it really lacks it’s electricity: at night, when you fly over Africa, all you see during most of the flight is darkness.  Solar energy would appear to be the ideal solution, but it’s still barely used in Africa. A Dutch organisation is planning to help change that. It is already providing solar energy to over 100,000 people in the continent.
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Solar lighting maker to concentrate on large projects
Darron Kloster, CanWest News Service,  January 03, 2008
Source: The Canada.com
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?
id=d7f6b77a-6153-41bb-8c41-bbabca18df17

Two and a half years after getting into the home solar power business, Carmanah Technologies is selling off the unit to its former owner.  The Victoria-based solar lighting manufacturer announced Wednesday it has signed a purchase agreement with David Egles, who will pay $1.5 million for the inventory and various equipment and fittings at the company’s leased facility in Barrie, Ont.
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Salt Lake City Tribune Editorial, Jan 3, 2008
Source: The Salt Lake City Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_7875236

Free pollution-free electricity, compliments of the sun! It sounds like an offer you can’t refuse. But who can afford it? While residential solar-energy systems eventually pay for themselves, it takes years, make that decades.  A 1-kilowatt solar-powered system utilizing silicon panels and connected directly to the electrical grid will cost $8,000-$10,000 installed. And despite the hefty investment, it will only reduce your electric bill. A 5-kilowatt system, enough to power the average home, can cost $35,000 or more, a prohibitive sum for most households.

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Ryan Jeltema, Assistant News Editor
Greenville, MI, Dec 30, 2007
Source: The Daily News of Greenville
http://www.thedailynews.cc/Main.asp?SectionID=2&ArticleID=17864

This year was up and down for Greenville’s newest major industry, United Solar Ovonic.  The Auburn Hills-based solar panel manufacturer opened the first of its two Greenville plants in the fall while recording a significant sales increase. United Solar Ovonic’s parent company, Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) of Rochester Hills, still fell well short of profitability, however, and two accidents at the first plant caused disruptions to the surrounding area.
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By David C. Henley, Publisher Emeritus, January 4, 2008
Source: LahontonValleyNews.com
http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20080104/Opinion/754277291

Gasoline, natural gas and electricity costs have risen to stratospheric levels. Americans also are showing mounting concern about our dependence on foreign oil and the degrading of the environment.  In desperate efforts to find substitute fuels, scientists are experimenting with alternative sources such as ethanol, hydrogen fuel cells, biodiesel, geothermal, wind power and the sun.
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By Joan Wilder, Boston Globe Correspondent / December 30, 2007
Surce. Boston.com
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2007/12/30/
hingham_schools_harness_suns_power___for_education/

As Hingham Middle School science teacher Andrea Stuart fiddles with the software that collects data from the high school’s new solar voltaic roof panels, she sees a simple way to introduce solar power to her students.  “We’re studying photosynthesis,” said Stuart. “We see how plants do this; now we can see how the panels do this – use the sun for fuel.” Seeing how the sun can make electricity is what officials from the town’s lighting plant and schools had in mind when they installed a small array of solar panels on the high school roof in late summer.  (more…)