Art Studio in Carnegie, Pennsylvania Goes Solar
Artist Phil Salvato, with the help of his cousin, Mr. Tony Rossi and
Mr. Rossi's son, Adam, installed a solar-thermal system on the roof to heat his 2,400-square-foot art studio located in Carnegie. They used 150 doubled-walled glass vacuum tubes arranged in metal frames that were bolted to the roof. Mr. Rossi noted that the solar-thermal system convert 72% of the energy from the sun into useful heat. The solar-thermal system provides radiant heat for the art studio and hot water for shower and laundrry needs.
Read article: Carnegie Art studio goes solar
Image Credit: Robin Rombach/Post-Gazette
Berkeley Solar Financing Plan
Vice President Joe Biden announced that Berkeley's solar financing plan that began in 2007 will become a model for the nation. Under Biden's plan, cities, counties and states could create tax districts that permit residential and business owners to install solar panels and make other energy improvements. The investment could be repaid over a 20-year property tax assessment. The plan combine federal, state and utility rebates to help property owners to almost break even on the $20,000 solar installation (average) cost. The solar financing plan is helping to drive new solar business. Sungevity, a solar firm located in Berkeley, expanded business in Sonoma county and Palm Desert.
Read article: Biden to model finance plan on Berkeley's
Image credit: Noah Berger/Special to the
Chronicle
BrightSource Energy -- A Start-up Solar Energy Company
BrightSource, located in Oakland, California, plans to build a series of new solar power plants across Southern California. BrightSource is testing a next-generation solar array with thousands of small mirrors placed in a circle around a central tower that holds a water-filled boiler. The reflected sunlight will heat the water into steam that will turn the turbine. According to the company, the sun-powered electricity would be comparable in price to using fossil fuel to generate electricity. BrightSource raised $160 million from investors, which included Google and Chevron. A 400-megawatt solar plant, to be constructed near the Nevada border, will provide enough electricity to power 140,000 homes.
BrightSource is among a small group of start-ups that received funds from the Department of Energy loans.
A Winner of the Tech Pioneer Award
Under the leadership of John Woolard (UC Berkeley MBA, 1997), CEO and Jack Jenkins-Stark (UC Berkeley MBA, 1981), CFO, BrightSource received the Tech Pioneer Award by the World Economic Forum in recognition for the company's efforts to make solar energy competitive with fossil fuels. It was announced that BrightSource made an agreement with Pacific Gas & Electric (a Northern California utitlity company) to build seven solar power plants that will generate enough electricity for 530,000 homes.
Read article in Cal Business Magazine
Solar Power in Spain
Spain is the third largest generator of wind power in the world after the U.S. and Germany. After wind power, solar thermal technology will be the second greatest power technology in Spain. The solar thermal plants uses tanks of molten salt that retain heat and makes it possible to generate power around the clock. The solar heat can be stored, which offers an essential backup to electric grids. In Spain, close to 30 solar thermal plants are being constructed.
The link of the article is:
Image Credit: Reuters
Molten Salt Solar Plants
Solar Reserve, a Santa Monica-based renewable energy company is planning to develop a large solar plant in the California desert that would power 100,000 homes. Solar Reserve will be working with Rocketdyne, a Canoga Park-based rocket engine company, which developed the molten salt technology. The salt is heated and stored in thermal silos, and the melted salt is able to retain vast amounts of heat, which can be used later in producing power. Rocketdyne has a history with the space shuttle and Apollo projects. Solar Reserve received $140 million in financing for the project.
Read article: A solar plant that's worth it's salt
Read article: Money & Company
Read article: Storing solar power in salt
Image Credit: Solar Reserve website at www.solar-reserve.com
Sunshine News
