Hybrid Solar Thermal / Solar Electric System

One of the several concepts in this direction. These look very much like familiar vacuum UV collectors. Take for example our favorite Sunda S1-16.  If you insert PV elements inside the tube, you will get the Naked Energy system.  The main idea is to offset the drop in efficiency of overheated PV elements by cooling them with the embedded solar thermal system module.

 Naked Emergy hybrid solar PV - solar thermal collector

Sunda Seido vacuum UV solar thermal collector

National Clean Energy Summit 2012

President Clinton's speech at the National Clean Energy Summit 5.0 

It is quite long, but very worth watching (you can right away move to about 8:40).

My favorite parts:
- The most successful species on Earth are the cooperators: termites, ants, bees and humans
- The aggregate weight of ants on Earth is more than the aggregate weight of all humans
- One of the most respected opponents of the global warming Prof. of Physics at Berkley Dr. Muller in a study funded by the Tea Party, confirmed the global warming is real  
- The wind in North Dakota can provide electricity for all America
- Painting black roof white in the city of New York will save 18-20% on air-conditioning  
- In one day Germany produced 22 GW of solar energy - equivalent to 20 nuclear power plants
- Germany has on average the same amount of sunshine as London and less than any state in America except Alaska 
- The most expensive electricity is in Caribbean countries (Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, pays 36 cents per kilowatt of electricity) 
- Costa-Rica decided to not develop its own oil reserves, but use only clean energy

Carson Graham goes green

Yesterday had an opportunity to observe the upgrade of Carson Graham Secondary School
in North Vancouver.  Among number of efficiency features there are solar thermal and PV
systems installed by my friends from Future Energy. They will not only provide energy, but
also serve for educational purposes.

Drake Landing Solar Community

A showcase for solar heating with central storage:
 Drake Landing Solar Community

Location: Okotoks, Alberta. 51.1 deg N, 114 deg W, 1084 m elevation
Weather: Winter -33 C; Summer 28.3 C DB/15.6 C WB
                (Sun Peaks has a similar, slightly milder range)

• 52-house subdivision to have space and water heating supplied by solar energy
• Solar energy captured year round by 800-panel garage mounted array
• Combination of seasonal and short-term thermal storage facilitate collection and storage of solar energy in the summer for use in space heating in winter
• Borehole thermal energy storage is an in-ground heat sink for seasonal energy storage
• Short-term thermal storage tanks are central hub for heat movement between collectors, district loop / houses, and borehole thermal energy storage
• District loop moves heat from the short-term thermal storage tanks to the houses

 Cool feature: you can view the current system performance in real time.  

Solar Energy Heat Storage

Not very new, but quite interesting and useful source:

Solar Energy Heat Storage for Home, Farm and Small Business:
Suggestions on Selecting and Using Thermal Storage Materials and Facilities

Purdue University. Cooperative Extension Service.  Department of Agricultural Engineering.


Some of other useful links:
European Heat Storage Technologies Consortium
http://www.preheat.org/
International Energy Agency's Solar Heating and Cooling Program
http://www.iea-shc.org/
Solar District Heating
http://www.solar-district-heating.eu/

Adams Lake "green" vision

On August 2nd I had a chance to visit the Adams lake Indian Band and speak with the Band Manager. That was quite an interesting and eye-opening meeting. Adams Lake Indian Band has initiated several significant projects in the area of sustainable energy. Among them: a number of micro-hydro projects, test wind tower at Sun Peaks and possibly solar farms. Other plans include a fully "green" resort village  on Shuswap Lake and others. One cannot fail to admire the scale of these plans and their commitment to environmental sustainability.














I also had a chance to see their newly retrofit gymnasium facility and was quite impressed. This is totally not what I thought it was. They basically have two rotating towers on the roof, with the large number of solar thermal flat panels attached to one side of each tower at almost perfect angle.

In the morning the towers look to the East, midday, when I was there, to the South, and in the evening - to the West. Quite an assembly! The facility is also equipped wit the geothermal system. Combined they are expected to provide at least 50% of energy required for heating, cooling and domestic hot water needs.