Solar power in unusual places

Harnessing solar energy requires creativity and ingenuity. Sometimes that ingenuity pops up in unusual and unexpected places.

Unusual places like on backpacks.

UniqueSolarProducts.com sells solar backpacks, among many other unusual items that make use of solar power. Wearing this bag around can capture enough energy to keep your phone, GPS, or camera charged and at the ready. Green bonus – the shell is made from recycled pop cans.

Unusual places like on pool covers.

Most solar power is used to heat water, true, but not a lot of pools actually make use of their own covers in order to heat them. Covering you pool prevents evaporation, which is where some of the heat, along with the water, is lost.

Solar pool covers not only maintain heat, but generate it. Water that passes through the pool’s filter is also passed through solar collectors, which heat the water.

And unusual places like the Yukon.

Not only was it believed to be impossibly cold for this to work, but the Yukon spends half of its year in total darkness. But bless them; Yukon Energy is making a go of it.  They see solar power as ideal for use in remote locations.

To prove it, they’ve made a functional model to tour around and demonstrate to Yukoners the potential of solar energy. Called the Solar-Hybrid Unit, It has made appearances at the Dawson Gold Show, the Commissioner’s Potlatch and the Yukon Agricultural Fair.

Designed for residential use, it can capture enough energy to run small household appliances and power tools, but does need to be recharged in the winter.

Solar Toys

Solar power: it’s not just for energy. It has countless practical – and impractical – uses.

Consider the Solar Light Cap. Better than a flashlight because you wear it on your head, the Solar Light Cap charges during the day, and can be turned on at night for as many as five hours. See six feet in front of you, and stop fumbling around in the dark.

Next time you go  camping, wouldn’t it be nice to use your tent to charge your GPS system? Solar powered tents come with LED lights installed inside, with solar panels that can be attached to the roof.

The Glastonbury Solar Tent, made by Orange, features coated solar threads woven right into the fabric. It’s able to charge batteries, there’s a floor heater, wireless Internet access, and “Glo-cation” technology – if you get lost, just text your tent, and it will light up for you.

Or, let’s say you’re the type that would rather camp in your backyard.  How about a solar-powered spinning sunflower to enhance your garden? It moves much like the wind-catching variety, only this one spins when the sunlight warms its solar panel.

Let’s not forget the kids.  Animal Planet offers three solar-powered animal toys. When fully charged the zebra, elephant and giraffe delight kids with realistic movements.  They raise their feet, turn their heads and twitch their tails.

You can even use solar gadgets to charge your other gadgets.  PowerGorilla makes a portable charger that can be plugged in and carried with you and your laptop wherever you go.  It’s also good for iPods, portable DVD players, cameras, you name it.

If you think about it, it’s kind of poetic – using solar to charge your battery-devouring toys.

Solar cooker

Summer’s here, which means easy livin’. 

What makes summer so easy?  Not just because it’s hot, but also because it’s barbecue season – which means far, far less dishes to clean.  But can you barbecue without actually having a barbecue?

Yes, you can – provided you like projects.  Solar cooking is gaining in popularity, and why not?  It combines the delicious outdoor flavour of barbecuing with the environmentally-friendly aspect of zero emissions. 

Some solar cookers are recognizably industrial-grade appliances – just like your BBQ.  But where’s the fun in that?  Planet Green shows how you can build your own with aluminum foil and an umbrella.  Yes, an umbrella – what else were you using it for in the summer?

Sure, you also need some tools, as well as glue, a tripod and sunglasses.  You also need time, steady hands and patience.  That comes with the territory when you’re playing eco-MacGyver, and nobody could fail to be impressed with a homemade solar cooker.

Solar cooking, it’s worth noting, is different than barbecue and (especially) baking.  Temperatures don’t get anywhere near as hot in a solar cooker; pizzas or anything you want browned aren’t really a good idea.  But solar cooking doesn’t have to be about sacrifice. 

There are some advantages.  No air circulation and the relatively low temperatures are great for dishes you want to keep moist – and unburned.  Think of solar cookers as outdoor crockpots. Just like crockpots, they work best over a long period of time, and produce tender, succulent flavours.

Plus, they look cool.  Where can you go wrong?

Solar power

Photo by Randy Montoya

You know the expression “the sky’s the limit.” With solar power, that’s literally true – and Canada has a lot of sky. It’s surprising, then, that Canada has been somewhat slow to embrace solar as a viable energy source.

There are positive signs this is changing.

Take Calgary – according to the Environment Canada, the country’s sunniest major metropolitan centre, at 333 days of sun per year. Until August 2008, residents who wished to install solar panels had to apply for development permits. That doesn’t sound too bad on the surface, but the permits cost $3,000 and approval took weeks. The lethal combination of extra cost and significant delay effectively killed not a few prospective solar projects.

Ending the permit requirement for solar panels happened concurrently with Alberta’s provincial government passing a new law. Alberta’s electrical utilities are now required to compensate customers for the surplus power they produce (from solar or any other source). Suddenly, Albertans – and especially Calgarians – found it cheaper, less time-consuming, and more rewarding to install solar panels.

That’s no mere drop in the bucket, and representative of the shifting mood and increasing opportunities for solar across the country.

As of late 2008, the solar power industry was growing annually by 30 to 40 per cent. This is a timely trend; experts say new technologies on the verge of being ready for the market are about to make solar power lighter, cheaper and more efficient.

Until fairly recently, solar powered electricity, or photovoltaic, was prohibitively expensive. It only made economic sense in remote locations where transmission and construction costs made hooking up to the grid a pricey proposition. Solar heating (also called solar thermal) was cheaper and thus much more widespread.

What makes solar power so expensive? In short, the necessary raw materials, and inefficient technology.

First, the raw materials. Whether photovoltaic or thermal, solar panels are primarily made of silicon. Silicon is costly stuff – or, at least, it used to be. A couple of years ago, The Economist famously predicted solar technology would remain expensive until the price of silicon falls. And lo, it has.

New Energy Finance, a London-based energy analysis and research firm, predicted silicon prices would fall over 70 per cent by 2015. That’s on top of the 40 per cent it fell from 2006 to 2008. This has real impact on the price of solar power. In the US, a one-watt solar cell cost $50 in 1980. It’s currently just under $3.

That would be impressive enough, even if “conventional” electricity remained cheap in Canada – but it’s not. Costs are rising across the board, just as solar is getting cheap. “Grid parity” (where solar costs the same per kilowatt hour as conventional electricity) is a term often used in green energy circles, most often in the form of misty-eyed dreaming. Suddenly, it’s just over the horizon – five years in some European markets, say experts. It’ll take longer in Canada, but if current trends continue, it will come just the same.

Second, technology. Until very recently, generating electricity from solar panels was extraordinarily inefficient. In 1984, a particular new solar energy system achieved a sunlight-to-energy efficiency rate of 29.4 per cent. In other words, more than 70 per cent of the solar heat collected was simply waste. That record rate stood for 24 years – an amazing span of time in the tech world.

In January 2008, that record finally fell. New Mexico-based Sandia National Laboratories tested its new Serial #3 solar dish, and achieved a 31.25 per cent conversion rate. While Sandia happily admits it was an extraordinarily bright and sunny day, the real story was the new solar panel design.

While the device defies quick verbal description, here’s a capsule summary. 82 mirrors are set up to create a dish shape, which has the effect of focusing the light into an intense, hot, beam. Ever watch kids fry ants with a magnifying glass? Same concept.

Electricity is generated by focusing the beam onto a receiver and engine, which is filled with hydrogen. The design is efficiency itself, as the mirrors transmit 94 per cent of the available sunlight to the engine. As the gas heats and cools, the pressure drives pistons, which drives a generator.

You might be wondering if that’s truly a big deal – we’re talking about less than two percentage points here. Well, those add up in a hurry. In a 2.5 hour test, the Sandia facility generated 26.75 kilowatts of juice. Two percentage points’ difference means half a kilowatt – or about the total energy generated by a small solar cell unit.

Improvements aren’t just coming from improvements on existing designs, though. Researchers at UC Santa Cruz have been developing a handful of techniques for nanotechnology solar cells. When tested, they delivered a higher-than-expected conversion rate. In the UK, a researcher is exploring ways to design hybrid solar cells – combining organic and inorganic conductors – which may allow for higher conversion rates.

What do these developments mean for Canada? After all, it’s a nation blessed with natural resources that already enjoys some of the world’s lowest energy costs. Canada has traditionally and continues to see solar as a contributor; part of the national energy puzzle, but not an overarching cure-all.

Currently, about 20 per cent of all Canadian energy use is residential. While installing solar cells can put a dent in energy bills, that’s about the limit. Under current costs replacing a typical furnace with a solar system would cost between $15,000 and $30,000. It would eventually pay for itself – eventually. Natural Resources Canada says a 100 per cent solar-powered home becomes a good investment after 30 to 40 years of continuous use.

That has created a vicious circle; Canadians have avoided solar because of high prices, and constant assurances that costs would and will eventually come down – so why pony up now for a system predicted to be soon obsolete?

It’s a reasonable concern. As such, Canada’s residential solar industry has concentrated on niches. First and foremost, water.

17 per cent of Canadian residential energy is consumed in the act of heating water. Nearly 10 per cent of Canadian homes have outdoor swimming pools. Heating an average-sized pool – even in the heat of summer – is actually more energy-intensive than heating a home in winter.

The solution? Solar panels, of course. It already heats about a tenth of the nation’s pools, and a modest $600 system makes a significant difference in energy consumption and bills. The reason is that solar heating is vastly more efficient than photovoltaic electricity.

It’s an exciting time for solar energy. The future’s so bright, it’s gotta wear shades.

Solar paint?

Soon, the only tool needed to combat climate change could be a paintbrush. 

No more need for costly solar panels. The Corus Group, a Dutch steel company, has developed a way to paint solar cells right onto steel at the time of manufacture. 

Photovoltaic cells are the things in solar panels which generate a current or voltage when exposed to visible light. In other words, they’re what make a solar panel convert the sun into energy. Photovoltaic paint is a whole new type of ‘sun screen.’

The company says its paint is made into a liquid paste containing a layer of dye and a layer of electrolytes. Four coats of paint would need to be applied in total— an undercoat, a layer of dye-sensitized solar cells, a layer of electrolyte or titanium dioxide as white paint pigment and finally a protective film.

The solar technology is much like a plant’s photosynthesis and this boundary-pushing invention could have production starting by 2012. 

It means that one day all building surfaces that come into contact with the sun have the potential to become a photovoltaic surface. What is really exciting is the potential for deployment on a mass scale. Made possible because the paint would cost less than a solar cell, providing clean solar electricity at a low cost.

There would also be the added advantage for cloudier climates since the painted steel would be more efficient at capturing low radiation light than conventional solar cells.

Someday all your buildings could be three sheets to the sun.

Molten salt

You know the expression, “ask ten people the same question, and get ten answers?” Here’s an exception: Ask a thousand people involved with solar energy this question, and you’ll get the same answer every single time.

Namely: “what’s the single biggest drawback to solar power?” That answer? Storage.

It’s definitely been solar’s Achilles heel, if you will. Solar-generated electricity is cheap, renewable, works on small and large scales, and the infrastructure is relatively cheap. But what do you do when it’s cloudy?

It goes without saying that electricity has to be available on demand. Previously, solar cells charged batteries (for the most part). That’s a decent solution, but batteries are expensive, bulky, and often inefficient.

A U.S. firm may just have invented the perfect solution, and it’s so high-tech you have to read the following sentence a few times to comprehend the complexity. Salt. Yes, you read that right. The world’s most common condiment may just be the future of electricity.

Okay, it’s more complicated than that – but not a whole lot more. Hamilton Sundstrand, a US aerospace company, couldn’t help but notice that when you heat salt to over 1,000 degrees, it melts and retains most of its heat energy.

The molten salt (actually a mixture of sodium and potassium nitrate) is stored in a tank until dispatched into a steam generator. The steam drives a turbine, which generates electricity. The salt retains 99 per cent of its heat per 24 hours, which is far better than most materials.

Sometimes progress is funny: a company devoted to outer space looks at a clean energy source from the skies, and improves it with…salt from the earth.

More solar gadgets

Pop quiz time, hotshot.  When I say “solar power,” what do you think of? Big panels on roofs, maybe a solar-powered racing car?  Pffft.  Wrong. Solar power has come a long way – it’s gone smaller. It’s gone weirder.   

Your average 19^th century British adventurer was a hardy sort, but even the best complained about the heat.  The stiffest upper lip might curl into a smile with a solar-powered cooling pith hat.  A miniature fan, powered by the sun, injects cool air into the iconic Victorian headgear.  

Not weird enough?  

What about the Power Purse?  Covered with solar panels, this is haute couture put to work.  It’s designed to charge all your mobile accessories – mobile phones, mp3 players, whatever. 

Weirdest of all, though, is easily the solar-powered rodent repeller.  No, it doesn’t shine an annoying light directly into tiny little mouse eyes, driving them underground.  It purports to do something much sneakier: it tricks them. The “solar moler” transforms light energy into sonic waves, which apparently mean “Danger, Will Robinson” to otherwise brave rodent explorers.  The manufacturer claims sound generated every 30 seconds is sufficient to cover 7,000 square feet of pest-free paradise.  

More?  What about a solar-powered helicopter…in miniature…made of wood?  It’s a simple wooden toy, with lightweight solar panels on the main blade.  Exposed to the sun, it makes the blade spin.  Does it fly?  Well…no.  It does spark conversations, though.  

Powering a house, or even a car?  Yesterday’s news.  When a technology goes “weird,” you know it’s arrived.

Clean technology revolution: the next Big Bang?

45 years (give or take a few). That’s about how long we have before the world will run out of oil according to peak oil theorists. And 30 years after that, all the gas will be gone too. 

So what’s the solution? How about a Revolution? 

Picture a world where energy is decentralized, cars are plugged in every night, and solar panels crest every home. Imagine a system where waste heat is captured and re-used and clusters of small on-site generators called microgrids are the preferred source of energy for heating homes and offices.  

Visualize a day when energy is abundant instead of scarce and consumers can run their dishwashers without fear of rolling black- or brown-outs. 

Sound like Captain Kirk and the Enterprise should be fixing up a star-date for this future? Think again. The Clean Tech Revolution will be here faster than you can say ‘Beam Me Up, Scotty.’

Merrill Lynch experts say that we experience revolutions every 50 years or so. With oil and gas shortages predicted and legitimate concerns surrounding climate change, the Clean Technology Revolution is about due and will be as important as the Industrial Revolution was during the 18^th Century. 

Leading the revolution? Experts say solar energy. Stay tuned as the story continues to unfold.

Decentralized power

Soon you might be borrowing a cup of energy from your neighbour instead of a cup of sugar.

Decentralized energy is an alternate to conventional grid energy where consumers make their own power and then trade, sell or share surpluses with neighbours. The problem is that nobody has any money. Alternative energy sources save money in the long run but are expensive to implement. The old ‘spend-money-to-save-money’ pitch may be a difficult one to make to cash-strapped consumers in the United States.  

So it’s up to the government to intervene, since the payoff could mean nearly a limitless source of energy. President Obama maintains that those countries that switch to renewable resources such as solar energy will become world leaders. 

The U.S. invented solar technology but has not been producing it at the same rates as countries like Japan and Germany. Currently, the US doesn’t even have one tenth of one percent of electricity or heating from solar. Using existing technology, the U.S. could replace one percent of its total energy consumption with solar energy each year.

In Alberta, micro-generation legislation was passed in January 2009, meaning that consumers are now able to sell their residential surpluses to the provincial grid. 

And new projects, like the Calgary District Energy Project are looking at providing self-sufficient heating and power networks. A $1-billion Shepard power station project would have the capacity to heat about one-third of Calgary’s 30 million square feet of office space.

Now that’s the type of Power Play that Canadians can get behind.

Less sunny future for solar energy industry

The United States saw a jump in the use of solar energy by about 9 percent in 2008, but will those numbers continue to rise as the recession hits hard or will this economy be a “pane” for solar energy?

In the past two years, solar panel capacity rose an impressive 78% and solar heater installations increased about 50 percent in the United States, but reports indicate that the first quarter of 2009 has hit the solar industry hard. Sales have slumped and solar companies are feeling the pinch.  

Enter the U.S. government, which is trying to guarantee loans for solar and other renewable energy projects. President Obama has pledged to double renewable energy production in three years. But more than tax credits and laws are needed in the United States.

Solar Energy Industries Association President Rhone Resch says that electricity providers also need to be legislated to generate a certain percentage of renewable energy. 

In Canada, the government is also making solar workforce development a priority. Solar energy seems to be boosting the economy by providing jobs and it is estimated that the industry’s labour force will increase by more than 100% over the next three years. 

The government is working with the Association of Canadian Community Colleges on developing a national curriculum for designers and installers of solar energy systems as well as the Electricity Sector Council and the Canadian Solar Industries Association.

Governments must take action in order for solar to successfully shine through this economic slump.

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