Solar Hat Fan and Solar Mosquito Guard

Some nifty solar gadgets for the outdoors, solar powered hat fan and solar mosquito guard are a steal at only U.S. $ 10.

The solar powered hat fan may not be the most chic accessory for your hat, but will keep you cool in summer. A mini photovoltaic panel harvesting enough solar energy to power the fan directly. A clamp allows you to hang from your hat to direct cool air into your face on those unbearable hot summer days. Tailored mount works best with stiff brim hat and a baseball cap. The fan comes in black and white.

Solar mosquito guard transmit barely audible, high frequency waves that repels some mosquito species. This device is equipped with a key ring and belt clip so you can save on your every moment. Requires only three hours of sunlight to recharge the batteries, mosquito guard is an option for an efficient and easy to keep the mozzies at bay, without using dangerous chemicals.

Both solar powered hat fan and solar mosquito guard are available online for USD $ 10 each from Gaiam.

Incoming search terms for the article:

sorler panel (2), solar powered fan (2), solar powered outdoor fans (1), solar powered outdoor fan (1), solar power outdoor fans (1), solar outdoor fans (1), solar keyring anti mosquito (1), solar anti mosquito guard (1), site:solarlighting-s com (1), outdoor solar fan (1)

Flexible Solar Cell by Spheral Solar Power

Car bonnets, roof tiles and building facades can quickly enter the colorful and flexible solar panels to complement their conventional resources. Spheral Solar Power has produced efficient and flexible solar cells, which produces electricity at a lower cost and open an array of new applications for renewable energy.

Like denim material consists of thousands of tiny silicon beads attached to aluminum foil – each bead acting as an individual solar cells and uneven surfaces offer a larger area for light collection. Production costs can be reduced through the use of recycled silicon and this, combined with the efficiency comparable to standards photovoltaic cells and the versatility of a flexible material make Spheral solar cells potential to dramatically expand the use of renewable energy.

Building design can take advantage of hundreds of colors, styles and shapes to smoothly integrate solar cells. Spheral cells can be used to reflect light from or transmit light into the building and expand their flexibility for use in the company logo.

In tile the cells can be incorporated into the curved substrate opening various markets applications and automobile manufacturer may have found an alternative aerodynamic to rigid photovoltaic cells that are not practical in terms of vehicle design.

Commercial production of flexible cells are expected to begin in late 2003.

Incoming search terms for the article:

flexible solar cells (2), solar building flexible (1), solar cell roof car -prius (1), Spherical Solar Cell for sale (1)

Solar Powered Christmas Lights

Christmas solar lights are great for decorating your Christmas tree and reduce your electric bill at the same time. After buying no ongoing costs.

Christmas solar lights are affordable and come in many forms.: LED Christmas lights, outdoor animated Christmas lights, Solar string lights, Christmas mini lights, Christmas trees lights, etc.

Christmas solar lights do not need to be connected to the electrical outlet. Only by putting solar panels in a way that can get enough sunlight during the day. Today, most solar lights to function even in cloudy weather. Even when the weather was overcast, the solar panels will charge the battery.

Christmas solar lights lights have an ultra bright LED and operate automatically from dusk to dawn thanks to a built-in light sensor.

Incoming search terms for the article:

outlet christmas design photo (1), solar street light tutorial animation (1), solar street light working theory animation tutor (1), sun heater (tutorial animation) (1)

Solar Charger Vest for Portable Electronics

Solar Vest CVFR-S09 is designed for your comfort and convenience. It comes with a large storage pockets to store tools or equipment including cameras and batteries + cables and connectors for all currently popular portable electronic. Canvas vest is soft but durable.

Vest that consists of 4 laminated solar panels to be completely weatherproof, so you do not need to change this vest just because of bad weather. You also may remove the solar panels and placing them in the sun while you work in a cave or a shaded field.

As you walk outside, the four solar panels on the back of the vest absorbs solar energy and store it in a high-capacity battery is located in the front left pocket. If your phone or other gadgets need power, just plug it into the battery and allow it charged. Simple as that!

The Solar Vest – Solar Battery + Charger for Portable Electronics is available at Chinavasion website. The price offered about $ 140 USD.

Incoming search terms for the article:

solar battery (1), Solar Battery Charger Vest for Portable Electronics (1)

Glitter-sized Solar Photovoltaics Produce Competitive Results

Adventures in microsolar supported by microelectronics and MEMS techniques

Sandia National Laboratories scientists have developed tiny glitter-sized photovoltaic cells that could revolutionize the way solar energy is collected and used.

The tiny cells could turn a person into a walking solar battery charger if they were fastened to flexible substrates molded around unusual shapes, such as clothing.

The solar particles, fabricated of crystalline silicon, hold the potential for a variety of new applications. They are expected eventually to be less expensive and have greater efficiencies than current photovoltaic collectors that are pieced together with 6-inch- square solar wafers.

The cells are fabricated using microelectronic and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) techniques common to today’s electronic foundries.

Sandia lead investigator Greg Nielson said the research team has identified more than 20 benefits of scale for its microphotovoltaic cells. These include new applications, improved performance, potential for reduced costs and higher efficiencies.

“Eventually units could be mass-produced and wrapped around unusual shapes for building-integrated solar, tents and maybe even clothing,” he said. This would make it possible for hunters, hikers or military personnel in the field to recharge batteries for phones, cameras and other electronic devices as they walk or rest.

Even better, such microengineered panels could have circuits imprinted that would help perform other functions customarily left to large-scale construction with its attendant need for field construction design and permits.

Said Sandia field engineer Vipin Gupta, “Photovoltaic modules made from these microsized cells for the rooftops of homes and warehouses could have intelligent controls, inverters and even storage built in at the chip level. Such an integrated module could greatly simplify the cumbersome design, bid, permit and grid integration process that our solar technical assistance teams see in the field all the time.”

For large-scale power generation, said Sandia researcher Murat Okandan, “One of the biggest scale benefits is a significant reduction in manufacturing and installation costs compared with current PV techniques.”

Part of the potential cost reduction comes about because microcells require relatively little material to form well-controlled and highly efficient devices.

From 14 to 20 micrometers thick (a human hair is approximately 70 micrometers thick), they are 10 times thinner than conventional 6-inch-by-6-inch brick-sized cells, yet perform at about the same efficiency.

100 times less silicon generates same amount of electricity

“So they use 100 times less silicon to generate the same amount of electricity,” said Okandan. “Since they are much smaller and have fewer mechanical deformations for a given environment than the conventional cells, they may also be more reliable over the long term.”

Another manufacturing convenience is that the cells, because they are only hundreds of micrometers in diameter, can be fabricated from commercial wafers of any size, including today’s 300-millimeter (12-inch) diameter wafers and future 450-millimeter (18-inch) wafers. Further, if one cell proves defective in manufacture, the rest still can be harvested, while if a brick-sized unit goes bad, the entire wafer may be unusable. Also, brick-sized units fabricated larger than the conventional 6-inch-by-6-inch cross section to take advantage of larger wafer size would require thicker power lines to harvest the increased power, creating more cost and possibly shading the wafer. That problem does not exist with the small-cell approach and its individualized wiring.

Other unique features are available because the cells are so small. “The shade tolerance of our units to overhead obstructions is better than conventional PV panels,” said Nielson, “because portions of our units not in shade will keep sending out electricity where a partially shaded conventional panel may turn off entirely.”

Because flexible substrates can be easily fabricated, high-efficiency PV for ubiquitous solar power becomes more feasible, said Okandan.

A commercial move to microscale PV cells would be a dramatic change from conventional silicon PV modules composed of arrays of 6-inch-by-6-inch wafers. However, by bringing in techniques normally used in MEMS, electronics and the light-emitting diode (LED) industries (for additional work involving gallium arsenide instead of silicon), the change to small cells should be relatively straightforward, Gupta said.

Each cell is formed on silicon wafers, etched and then released inexpensively in hexagonal shapes, with electrical contacts prefabricated on each piece, by borrowing techniques from integrated circuits and MEMS.

Offering a run for their money to conventional large wafers of crystalline silicon, electricity presently can be harvested from the Sandia-created cells with 14.9 percent efficiency. Off-the-shelf commercial modules range from 13 to 20 percent efficient.

A widely used commercial tool called a pick-and-place machine — the current standard for the mass assembly of electronics — can place up to 130,000 pieces of glitter per hour at electrical contact points preestablished on the substrate; the placement takes place at cooler temperatures. The cost is approximately one-tenth of a cent per piece with the number of cells per module determined by the level of optical concentration and the size of the die, likely to be in the 10,000 to 50,000 cell per square meter range. An alternate technology, still at the lab-bench stage, involves self-assembly of the parts at even lower costs.

Solar concentrators — low-cost, prefabricated, optically efficient microlens arrays — can be placed directly over each glitter-sized cell to increase the number of photons arriving to be converted via the photovoltaic effect into electrons. The small cell size means that cheaper and more efficient short focal length microlens arrays can be fabricated for this purpose.

High-voltage output is possible directly from the modules because of the large number of cells in the array. This should reduce costs associated with wiring, due to reduced resistive losses at higher voltages.

Other possible applications for the technology include satellites and remote sensing.

The project combines expertise from Sandia’s Microsystems Center; Photovoltaics and Grid Integration Group; the Materials, Devices, and Energy Technologies Group; and the National Renewable Energy Lab’s Concentrating Photovoltaics Group.

Involved in the process, in addition to Nielson, Okandan and Gupta, are Jose Luis Cruz-Campa, Paul Resnick, Tammy Pluym, Peggy Clews, Carlos Sanchez, Bill Sweatt, Tony Lentine, Anton Filatov, Mike Sinclair, Mark Overberg, Jeff Nelson, Jennifer Granata, Craig Carmignani, Rick Kemp, Connie Stewart, Jonathan Wierer,

George Wang, Jerry Simmons, Jason Strauch, Judith Lavin and Mark Wanlass (NREL).

The work is supported by DOE’s Solar Energy Technology Program and Sandia’s Laboratory Directed Research & Development program, and has been presented at four technical conferences this year.

The ability of light to produce electrons, and thus electricity, has been known for more than a hundred years.

[Via]

Incoming search terms for the article:

photovoltaics sale (18), photovoltaic cells for sale (8), pv cells for sale (4), site:solarlighting-s com (3), pv cells sale (2), pv cells comparison (2), comparison guide photoelectric cells (2), photovoltaics for sale (2), PHOTOVOLTAICS COMPARISON (1), photovoltaic quality compare (1)

Solar Garden Fountain

Some solar powered fountain is very beautiful on the market today, and this is a good way to introduce new features to your garden without using additional electricity from the main power supply.

The main advantage of solar powered garden fountain is the ability to leave them in the active state continuously, without worrying about how much electricity they use.

For the gardener who is more experienced and general DIY fanatics, you may be interested to build your own solar powered water fountains. If this happens, you may want to see links to other sites at the bottom of this page.

Powering a garden fountains can be very complicated in many situations such as running underground cables can be quite expensive, and cables laying at the top can be seen messy and unsafe.

This is another big advantage to use solar energy to power your fountain. Solar fountain can be used throughout the year, as long as the temperature in your garden does not fall below freezing. It is advisable to power off your solar fountain and place it in the room during the winter, just as a precaution.

A solar powered fountain work on the same principle of solar cells to collect energy, which then power your fountain pump.

Incoming search terms for the article:

fountain pump (3), review solar lighted fountain (2), working principle of solar battery pump (1), where to buy solar powered fountains in spain (1), Solar Powered Fountains (1), Solar Powered Fountain (1), solar garden fountain (1), site:solarlighting-s com (1), ??????? ??????? (1), pv fountains spain (1)

Top 5 World’s Largest Solar Power Plants

1. Olmedilla Park Solar Power Plant

(in Olmedilla de Alarcón, Spain, 60 MW) Finished in September 2008. This power plant uses 162,000 average photovoltaic solar panel to deliver 60 MW of electricity on a sunny day. The whole factory was completed in 15 months at a cost of about 530 million U.S. dollars current exchange rate. Olmedilla built with conventional solar panels, which are made with silicon and tend to heavy and expensive.

2. Puertollano Park Solar Power Plant

(Spain, 50 MW) in 2008 Renovalia develop the power station in Puertollano, Ciudad Real, residential energy parks with an installed capacity of 50 megawatts (MW). The power generated here is equivalent to the annual domestic consumption of electricity of about 39,000 households. The energy produced here will replace the theoretical disposal 84,000 tons CO₂/year or 2.1 million tons of CO₂ over 25 years during the production.

3. Moura Solar Power Station

(Portugal, 46 MW) Completed December 2008. This solar power plant is placed in the municipality of Moura, Alentejo, Portugal, one of the sunniest areas in Europe and besides one of the most economically depressed. The construction involves two stages, first with a built in 13 months and completed in 2008, and the rest will be completed in 2010, with a total cost of € 250 million for the project. The power plant will have an installed capacity of 46 mwp, by more than 376,000 solar panels. Nearly 190,000 panels (32 MW) installed in permanent structures, 52,000 (10 MW) in a single-axis trackers, which follow the sun in the sky, and further 20 MW of power capacity will be added during phase 2 project. This will occupy an area of 320 hectares (130 acres), producing 88 GWh of electricity per year.

4. Waldpolenz Solar Park

(Germany, 40 MW) 550,000 First Solar thin-film CdTe modules. Completed in December 2008 Waldpolenz Solar Park, which is the world’s largest thin-film photovoltaic (PV) power system, built at a military air base east of Leipzig in Germany. The power plant 40-megawatt solar power system using state-of-the-art thin film technology. 550,000 First Solar thin film modules are used, which supplies 40,000 MWh of electricity per year. The investment costs for solar parks Waldpolenz Euro 130 million.

5. Arnedo Solar Plant

(Spain, 36 MW). Completed in October 2008, power plant that produces 34 GWh per year, which would own 12,000 households and prevent 375,000 tons of CO₂. Facilities in seven acres and 172,000 panels houses. Project budget of about € 180,000,000. La Rioja, a region of Spain known for its wine, already covers 62% of electricity with enhanced resources.

Incoming search terms for the article:

Olmedilla Photovoltaic Park (9), olmedilla photovoltaic park area (7), olmedilla photovoltaic park cost (5), Puertollano Photovoltaic Park (5), Arnedo Solar Plant (5), Olmedilla Photovoltaic Park size (5), Olmedilla Park (4), PV power plant (4), solarpark waldpolenz (3), Olmedilla spain solar (3)

iPetals: Solar Chargers Concept for iPhone

The iPetals is a pleasant concept design for an iPhone chargers. The iPetals is a special solar chargers that impresses us with its specific and pleasant design. While designing the iPetals chargers, the designer was inspired by Fandi Mengs Sunny Flower concept. As well running as a chargers, the iPetals also runs as a base for your iPhone. Each petal expands to build a pleasant flower design. What is more another, every petal is colored with various lightness to make this chargers a special look.

Via

Incoming search terms for the article:

site:solarlighting-s com (2), solar battery (1), solar ipetal charger (1)

First Solar Inc. and Ordos City signing MoU in Construction of 2 GW Solar Electricity Generator

Solar electricity generator with a capacity of 2 GW may be far from our imagination, but not in China. First Solar Inc., A solar power company from the United States, will build the solar electricity generator in Ordos city, in the province of  Inner Mongol. This project is the development of the world’s largest solar electricity generator. The signing between them have been done at September 8, 2009 at the headquarters of First Solar Inc. in Tempe, Arizona, witnessed by Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

“We are proud of the signing of this MoU” said Mike Ahearn, chief executive of First Solar Inc. was quoted as saying by APP.

Government of the United States and China can work together to reduce the cost of electricity from solar electricity generator connected to the network which will be competitive with electricity from traditional energy sources and create a blueprint for accelerating large-scale development of solar energy utilization of the world to prevent / reduce the impact of climate change, he added.

The MOU underscores a long-term partnership between First Solar Inc. and Ordos City, which First Solar Inc. will also consider making investments in the Ordos solar cells.

“We are very pleased to partner with one of the major players in industry of solar electricity generator technology in the project that will impact on low-carbon production in the Ordos.” said Cao Zhichen, deputy mayor of Ordos. For this project the Government of Ordos city will provide 65 square kilometers of land.

“Discussions with First Solar Inc. on the construction of the factory in China is a demonstration for investors in China that they can be confident of investing in high technology fields,” he said further.

China actively increasing the production capacity of electricity cheaper than solar energy sources as part of its national goal to achieve 10 percent energy supply from renewable energy sources by 2010 and 15 percent in the year 2020 including the energy source of wind, hydro, biomass and solar.

Currently, the installed capacity of solar electricity generator in China around 90 MW. Government of China plans to boost the utilization of solar energy from the initial target of just 1.8 GW in 2020 to 2 GW by 2011 and 10 to 20 GW by 2020 as announced in a press conference of the MoU signing.

The first phase of Ordos city solar electricity generator is building 30 MW of project demonstration is planned to begin in June 2010. The next phase, respectively built solar electricity generator with a capacity of 100 MW and 870 MW is expected to be completed by the end of 2014. While the last phase of 1000 MW will be completed by the end of 2019.

Based on the MoU, during the initial phase of implementation, First Solar Inc. will actively study the possibility of development module and manufacturing suppliers in the Ordos. First Solar Inc. also plans to expand its supply chain for the production of thin-film photovoltaic modules and used module recycling.

What Is Solar Lantern

Solar lantern is a simplified practical application of solar cell technology, which has obtained well acceptance in rustic areas where the power supply is temporary and barely. Yet in the urban areas people favor a solar lantern as an option during power issues because of its easy mechanism.

How a Solar Lantern Runs?

A solar Lantern is produced of three essential elements – the solar cell panel, the battery and the lamp. The procedure is really easy. The solar energy is reformed to electric energy by the solar cell panel and put in a sealed maintenance-free battery for later apply during the night hours. A single charge can work the lamp for around 4-5 hours.

Incoming search terms for the article:

www solarlanternsite com (3), solar lanterns (2), easy solar light tutorial (1), site:solarlighting-s com (1), solar lamp tutorial (1)

Solar Powered Lamp

Harnessing the biggest source of free energy in the whole solar arrangement, the Sun, the “Solar Lamp” by Mike Hages is an environment friendly lighting that other than lighting your desktop or study table as well doubles as a power source for your portable appliances. The lamp contains a photovoltaic panel to charge the battery, at the base, applying ambient sunlight. A power input allows card power supplement the power from the solar energy panel when battery charging or supply an secondary power source, in case the batteries run out during night hours. While a power output lets the user to connect another rechargeable devices to the Solar Lamp for charging over solar panel. Both power connectors apply USB-mini format to let compatibility with a number of existing adapters and to let charging via a laptop or other device.

The Solar Lamp is designed to allow the user with the means to easily customise and enhance available light. The portable design creates it a natural trip fellow for a laptop, and the utilise of rechargeable battery power ways that the Solar Lamp’s utilisation isn’t limited by the availability or accessibility of a wall outlet. By integrating the solar panel for recharging, the Solar Lamp is capable to further free itself from electric cords and outlets while getting advantage of free, renewable energy for charging itself and other devices. The light source includes an array of 12 LED lights and would rather include both yellow and blue LEDs to supply a balanced light.

Incoming search terms for the article:

solar lamp (6), environment light (4), connect a rechargeable lamp to a solar panel (1), solar outdoor lamp (1), solar power lamp (1), undefined (1)

How To Find Solar Companies

It is always essential to get sure that the good solar companies is selected by the purchasers when they are going to purchase a solar cell or panel for either commercial or residential uses.

It is so simple to check the performance of company by seeing at the standard of their products. The greatest solar power companies commonly supply the purchasers with products that are suitable to meet the needs of the clients and the others commonly lead the consumers to purchase a product that is costly and may not be solution to their questions.

It is urgent for the consumers to get proper direction as without it they are probably to be misinformed and might finish purchasing something that takes costly resources and is not as good as it was so-called to have been. The greatest solar power companies commonly supply their consumers with suggestions on the true and efficient use of the solar power products that are purchased by them.

It has to be thought by the purchasers that the size and the performance of the company are not connected or equal concepts in case of the solar power companies. It is not required that the bigger companies are the greatest in the business. The experience of the company is highly essential in such cases.

The purchasers have to ensure positive facts and they would be able to check, for themselves, the performance of the company. Components like the amount of long time of operation, the amount of systems set up and the background of the company are great indicators of the company’s model.

The clients should do their research too before they start to purchase product from a specific solar companies. The purchasers must have good knowledge of the several items of the solar power products they are getting to purchase so that they are in a well situation when they go to buy these products. The research also enables the consumers to ask essential enquiries of the companies.

The purchaser also needs to be perfectly sure of what he needs as that would enable him to deal more fruitfully with the special solar companies. In cases where the purchaser needs to switch the energy system into a solar one the customised solar power systems are the greatest. The purchasers can also go for companies that work in their vicinity. The essential reason behind this is the fact that the local companies can address the several troubles looked by the owners of the solar power systems than several company which is not in the vicinity of the owner. They can also play activities like replacing of machine pieces or maintenance of machines way better than a company that is located at a distance form the owner.

Outdoor Solar Lights Explained

Outdoor solar lights uses the identical action to generate power as the solar panels on your ceiling (or that you could set up on your ceiling, if you selected to). Essentially, it applies photovoltaic (PV) cells, which accumulate and switch solar energy into electrical energy. The PV cells apply semiconducting materials to engage the sun’s light, which interacts with the silicon and another components to produce electrical energy. The electrical energy runs over cables which power the battery, which in go powers the light. This is an highly simple explanation, but it will present you the common idea of how solar cells play. They can only make electrical energy from direct sunshine, which is why solar lighting wants a battery in order to be able to light up the dark.

So that the batteries to keep a constant charge, the solar light fixture should be in a position that meets full sunshine for almost of the daylight. If it just gets partial sunlight, because it’s barred by trees or other construction, or because your area has much of cloudy conditions, the batteries will run out earlier, and your fixture will supply light for a lower amount of time. Most outdoor solar lights fixtures own a backup power system which applies rechargeable batteries. Solar lights fixtures which apply a small amount of electrical energy frequently apply small AA Ni-Cad or NiMh batteries. But more strong solar lights fixtures (like head lights) apply a covered lead acid battery.

Photo detectors that automatically evaluate light degrees (like the kind that tells your photographic camera when to apply its flash) are constructed into the solar lights fixtures. They monitor light degrees and turn the fixture off at morning and on at nightfall. But get sure there are no artificial light sources (like a street lights or head light) that may contribute a wrong reading and forbid the light from turning on.

Outdoor solar lights usually utilizes LED bulbs. They apply less power than incandescent bulbs and, with a lifetime of around 20 years, are much longer-lasting. Until lately, solar lights overall has not been as bright as lighting powered straight by direct current electrical energy. But the earliest super bright LEDs can at present illuminate as well as halogen bulbs.