Solar Cells Info

by Tanja Bause, Windhoek /23 May 2008
Source: The Namibian (Windhoek) /AllAfrica.com
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805230840.html

THE Oprah Orphanage Home and Kindergarten in Katutura’s Ongulumbashe informal settlement made history this week when it became the first place in Namibia generating electricity from the energy expended by playing children.  The Desert Research Foundation of Namibia installed a DRFN Energy Merry-Go-Round, which generates enough electricity to power the home’s lights and appliances like a fridge and even a computer.
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By: Donny Rowles, 23 May 2008
Source: KAAL TV, Minnesota
http://kaaltv.com/article/stories/S454805.shtml?cat=10226

They’re only in high school, but they’re already looking out for future generations.  Students at Mayo High School are leading the way in a lesson on renewable energy. By next fall, the sun will provide power to their school building.

“This project is really going to go somewhere and that we are serious about this,” says Mayo High School Junior, Patrick Allen.  He’s also a project manager of the Olmsted County Solar Initiative, a group and project designed to raise money to put solar panels on Mayo High School.

Allen and a few other students set it up.

“By educating these future generations, we can really show the need for green energy and how it’s easy to implement it in your home,” he says.  Allen and his friends have already raised tens of thousands of dollars and have the attention of local energy experts.  “I’m very surprised at how far they’re taking this project and I’d like to see some solar panels on Mayo High School,” says Chuck Pentek with Rochester Public Utilities.

The panels will generate enough energy to provide almost 1% of the school’s energy.   But the amount of energy is not the point.   “If one of these solar panels was put on a house, it could power the house. There’s community members in town that power their house with 8 kilowatt systems and if someone does that, that’s what we want to see. This is for education of the community to see how it works,” says Allen.

So in the drive toward renewable energy in Rochester, the youth are leading the way.   The goal is to make the student group pushing for solar panels renewable too.   Next year, Allen will train a junior to take over the project and new students will work to put solar panels on other local schools.

by Jahna Berry, The Arizona Republic /May. 24, 2008
Source: The Arizona Republic
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/
articles/0524biz-phx-solar0524.html

The Phoenix Convention Center began supplementing its power with solar energy this week.  City officials activated 732 peel-and-stick solar panels that were installed in April on the roof of the West Building, convention center spokeswoman Lexie Van Haren said.  The $850,000 solar-power project is expected to produce 150,000-kilowatt hours of electricity annually and should cut the center’s carbon dioxide pollution by 95 metric tons each year, city officials say. (more…)

Source: ThanhnienNews, Vietnam /May 13, 2008
http://www.thanhniennews.com/education/?catid=4&newsid=38492

Southern Dong Nai is the first province in Vietnam to install a solar powered street lighting system.  Forty light posts in the province have been fitted with solar powered light-emitting diode (LED) light bulbs mainly in downtown Bien Hoa Town.  The province has spent VND3 billion (US$187,500) for the solar lighting system since the project started mid last year.

According to the province’s traffic safety committee, each post is installed with a solar panel which can accumulate enough charge to supply the LEDs for 48 hours.  Dong Nai plans to expand the use of the system.

By Michael Hewlett, Sean Mussendenand James Romoser /Journal reporters
Lexinton, May 15, 2008
Source: Winston-Salem Journal  /
http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2008/may/15/
bright-future-new-nc-utilities-law-generates-propo/?news

A proposed 21.5 megawatt solar farm in Davidson County would probably be “the largest in the United States” of its type, said Monique Harris, a spokeswoman for the Solar Energy Industries Association.  And such a project wouldn’t even be considered in North Carolina without a landmark state energy law passed last year, state legislators and energy experts said yesterday.
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Tokyo, May 14, 2008
Source: FoxNews
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,355737,00.html

Can lingerie really empower women?  That’s what one company apparently was thinking in its quest to design a solar-powered bra capable of generating enough electricity to charge a cell phone or iPod, Reuters reported.  Triumph International Japan showed off its “Solar Power Bra” on Wednesday in Tokyo, but it will not be in stores just yet.
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by Tetsuo Nozawa, Nikkei Electronics / May 8, 2008
Source: TechOn Column
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20080508/151451/?P=1

I went to the US on business last week. Gasoline prices seem to have risen again and created a stir in Japan, but circumstances were no different in the US. In Los Angels, for example, TV news reported street pricing for gasoline exceeded US$4 per gallon (about 3.8L) in line with the rising oil price.  Compared with Japan, the price is still quite low as it corresponds to about ¥110 per liter at ¥105 per US dollar. Yet the price has risen surprisingly fast compared with less than US$2.5 per gallon two years ago or before that. (more…)

Another Sunny Year for Solar Power

by Janet L. Sawin /May 9, 2008

Source: WolrdWatchInstitute / http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5449

Global production of photovoltaic (PV) or solar cells-which convert the sun’s light directly to electricity-increased 51 percent in 2007, to 3,733 megawatts.[1 According to early estimates, more than 2,935 megawatts of solar modules were installed that year, bringing cumulative global installations of PVs since 1996 to more than 9,740 megawatts-enough to meet the annual electricity demand of more than 3 million homes in Europe.[2]   Over the past five years, annual global production of PV cells has increased nearly sevenfold, and cumulative installations have grown more than fivefold.[3] (more…)

EJIOFOR ALIKE, 28 April, 2008
Source: BusinesDayOnline.com
http://www.businessdayonline.com/energy/8809.html

RAOUF SAIDI, technical director of Ecoru Group, a Netherlands-based solar energy solution provider, committed to being part of the solution to Nigeria’s energy problems, in this interview with EJIOFOR ALIKE, speaks on how his company plan to make solar energy systems affordable to the average Nigerian though the support of some Nigerian banks. (more…)

Souce. Edle.net /29 April 2008
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=14559&channel=0

Polar explorers have successfully used portable solar panels to charge equipment in the Antarctic.  Robert Swan – the first person to walk to both Poles – spent more than two weeks relying on solar power and other forms of renewable energy for the E-Base Goes Live project.  In poor weather and limited sunlight, his team used dye-sensitised thin film solar cells to power satellite, digital and video conferencing technology. The solar cells, produced by Cardiff-based firm G24 Innovations (G24i), do not contain silicon, are lightweight, and do not need direct sunlight.
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