Solar Cells Info

By Cathy McKitrick, The Salt Lake Tribune
Feb 22, 2008
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_8332840

Imagine powering your home by harnessing the sun’s energy – without having to install costly solar panels.  A bill advancing on Capitol Hill could allow Utah’s sun-kissed St. George to lead out with a city-built solar project where residents could buy shares, tap the energy and receive tax credits as if they had put the equipment on their own roofs. St. George City Attorney Shawn Guzman said the city already has land set aside for the solar arrays near its sewage treatment plant. (more…)

Escalating oil prices are pushing operators to use alternative energies to power cellular base stations in remote areas of the world
by Jack Ewing, Europe /Feb. 20, 2008
Source: BusinessWeek.com
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/feb2008/gb20080220_277413.htm

Mobile phones long ago began conquering parts of the world that are far away from the nearest electrical substation. But the rising price of oil is exposing a problem with the networks that connect mobile handsets together.  In the far reaches of places like India or Africa, where companies such as Ericsson (ERIC) or Nokia Siemens Networks, a joint venture of Nokia (NOK) and Siemens (SI), are installing new cellular base stations at a furious pace, the facilities almost always get their power from diesel-powered generators. (more…)

by Grayson Steinberg. Cronkite News Service
Phoenix, AZ, Feb. 28, 2008
Source: Tucsoncitizen.com
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/78158.php

As Arizona looks to tap more of its most abundant resource, sunshine, state lawmakers want to create tax breaks for power plant builders and to help homeowners, businesses and schools convert to solar power.  At least six bills this session address solar energy. (more…)

by Paul Brinkmann, Feb. 25, 2008
Source: South Florida Business Journal
http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2008/02/25/daily11.html

Florida’s strong sunshine could make it an exporter of electrical power in the near future, a leader in the industry is telling people at a local conference this week.  “Florida could become a net energy exporter,” said John O’Donnell, executive vice president of Palo Alto, Calif.-based Ausra, in an advance interview with the South Florida Business Journal.  “The costs will be 20 percent higher here than in the desert Southwest, but still lower than the rest of the southeast. Places like Georgia and the Carolinas may want Florida’s power,” he said. (more…)

By J.N. Sbranti,  February 29, 2008
Source: ModBee.com
http://www.modbee.com/business/story/225893.html

Solar power is now standard for about 280 new JKB Homes in Turlock, Denair, Hughson and Oakdale.   JKB Homes will include photovoltaic cells built into roof tiles that generate electricity and reduce energy costs.  “We’re really committed to making this work and doing the right thing for the community,” said James K. Brenda, whose Turlock-based company has been building for more than 20 years.  He said the solar power systems will make JKB homes less expensive to live in. “People want to see value (in new-home features), and this is something they will see reflected in their monthly utility bills.”
(more…)

by Kui Kinyanjui
Business Daily (Nairobi) / 26 February 2008
Source: AllAfrica.com
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802260953.html

Investors from China are expected in Nairobi next week to deliberate the fate of a Sh9 billion solar energy factory whose construction has been thrown into doubt by the political uncertainty in the country.  The joint initiative between a Kenyan partner and a Chinese solar panel manufacturer was supposed to have seen the completion of a local solar panel factory on Mombasa Road in Nairobi by the end of the month. (more…)

The Fourth Gift of the Three Kings: „A Solar Cell“/ Solar power annually avoids 315 tons of CO2
Source: Corporate News from SolarWorld AG  /Jan 4, 2008
http://www.solarworld-usa.com/The-Fourth-Gift-of-the.1598.0.html

SolarWorld AG is making a gift in the form of a solar power system to Pope Benedict XVI. This was announced by Frank Asbeck, Chairman and CEO of SolarWorld AG, in Bonn. ‘If the Three Wise Men from the East came to Bethlehem today they would in all probability bring a solar cell in addition to gold, frankincense and myrrh. It is the symbol for the preservation of creation and for the energy supply of the future.’ That is how Frank Asbeck explains this gift on the occasion of the forthcoming Epiphany Day. In Southern countries this day is marked by the giving of gifts to commemorate the Three Holy Kings. (more…)

Payback time for the unlucky, oil-free desert?
By John Lettice, 25th January 2008
Source: The Register UK
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/25/faiman_negev_solar_plan/

A series of solar energy power stations in the Negev could supply all of Israel’s power needs – or, if you wanted to be really ambitious, you could supply all of the world’s electricity needs with the aid of slightly under 10 per cent of the Sahara. So says Professor David Faiman of Israel’s Ben-Gurion University, man with a plan and current proprietor of the largest solar energy dish in the world.  The Negev Desert dish is operated by Ben-Gurion’s National Solar Energy Center in the Negev, and speaking at the DLD (Digital Life, Design) conference in Munich earlier this week, Center director Faiman tallied off the economics of solar power generation. Conventional solar panels are expensive, because photovoltaic cells, which combine the capability to collect energy and to convert it to electricity, are themselves expensive. (more…)

Source: Deutsche Welle.de / Feb 21, 2008
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3100372,00.html

Berlin’s Adlershof district is striving to become the place to be when it comes to solar technology. In Europe’s largest science park, the experiment to merge science and industry is now taking off.  Located on the eastern outskirts of Berlin, Adlershof is a quick 20-minute train ride from the city center. In GDR times Adlershof was Berlin’s celebrated socialist science mecca. So when Germany’s reunification threatened its further existence, the area embarked on an experiment: the creation of a science park, merging solar technology research with solar industry, in one winning equation. (more…)

Source: DongA.com / Feb. 11, 2008
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=060000&biid=2008021184168

Marburg in Hessen has become the first city in Germany to require all new buildings to install a solar energy heating system.  House owners in Marburg, with a total population of 78,000, must install a solar energy facility when they build new houses or renovate existing ones. The cost of installation begins at 5,000 euros (6.9 million won) at the minimum and the facility must be replaced once every 10 to 15 years.  Anyone who fails to fulfill the city’s new requirement has to pay a penalty of 15,000 euros (20.9 million won). House builders have the obligation to report their installation to relevant authorities after it is complete. (more…)