Did you ever want to have an emergency “backup” system that supplies electric power constantly? There is now a truly portable (and ultra-high efficient) solar power generator that produce up to 1800 watts of household electricity on demand when you need it.

This new “solar powered backup generators” is so powerful and very easy to use. It produces electricity continuously and running with absolutely no sound whatsoever. It does not emit the smoke. But the best part of this solar generator is that it … Generate Electricity Free! The unit then stores the power for you when you need it.

Click here for more Details and Specifications.

Sunflower is the new home & office solutions, which use solar energy to generate electricity through three built in standard sockets. Combined with a solar powered music systems interact and change the common living spaces into enjoyable and sustainable environment. Top solar panels for receiving solar energy throughout the day and the rechargeable battery of your equipment continues to work throughout the night. [Via]

Designer: Ricardo Baiao

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Hélio DAB Radio design using colorful Grätzel solar panel that is transparent. Grätzel solar panel get the color from vegetal ink, upping the quotient of green. LED panels and speakers complement the radio and in sync with the form. This kind we want to bring home! [Via]

Photographic Credits: Véronique Hughe.

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For many pool owners, taking a variety of leaves, insects and other foliage that find their way into the water can be a spending of their time in the backyard. Enter smart Solar Powered Pool Skimmer, which not only took an elbow oil out of the pool to keep shining, but as his name, added bonus that is powered by the sun.

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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.

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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.

Solar technologies is now highly developed, with some progress is being developed to be used every day.

Below 10 Solar Technologies to note:

1. Water Heating Solar Panel: Pyron Solar Triad uses a special design, short focal-length, lens in the acrylic concentration to reflect and accept the light, effectively concentrate 6.500 solar power in the form of a small light. The second lens capture light and focus on PV cells. According to related companies, HE Optics System produces 800 times more energy than the silicon solar cells.
2. Home Solar to Hydrogen Storage: An MIT professor Daniel Nocera, build a company this year to market a technology that can split water and store solar energy. The key of this company is to achieve a breakthrough solar energy to make solar power cheaper.
   “The idea is to use solar panels to power the electrolyzer to produce hydrogen which would be stored in tanks. When people need electricity, the stored hydrogen would put through a fuel cell.”
3. Solar panel roof that can be printed and painted: If solar power is easy to install as to paint your roof with sunlight resistant paint, it will lower the standard for the installation of solar power at home. This technology called silicon ink, and according to the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, solar cells showed 18% energy savings.
4. Large Panel Solar Film: SunFab ™ system uses silicon thin film technology to market the largest and most powerful panels in the world and combines inexpensive material.
5. Organic Solar Concentrators: Engineers at MIT have created a method to transform glass into a high-tech solar concentrator, using color glass to collect and emit light which is usually missing from the panel surface. This technology can create a building for use with glass window film to gather strength. Other companies, GreenSun, has developed a panel of light color where it catch the other parts of the spectrum of the sun, and does not require direct sunlight to work.
6. Space Based Solar: Japanese are developing a giant space station with solar power generators to transmit solar power to earth from 36.000 km above the earth within the next 30 years. The Japanese Government supports $ 21 billion project, which includes a space station solar power with solar panels cubical 4km, save electric energy of 1 gigawatt, enough for 300,000 homes in Tokyo.
7. Solar Roads: Solar Roadways concept, will make a way to use glass panels to collect and distribute solar energy to illuminate the light at night and hot in winter, with enough remaining energy to light homes and businesses. Discoverer, Scott Brusaw, estimating each mile of solar panels can be illuminated 500 houses, and is expected to make a panel for 12×12 need cost about $ 5,000.
8. SunCatcher: Stirling Energy System, contains a solar concentrator in the bowl structure supported by a convex mirror, can be used in Arizona soon. SunCatcher using glass system fitted with a parabolic bowl for concentrating solar power in high-efficiency Stirling engine, with each bowl produces 25.000 watts.
9. Solar Nanotechnology: Research workers at McMaster University in Ontario has developed a light-absorbing nanowires formed of excellent photovoltaic materials in thin but durable carbon-nanotube fabric. They also use small particles in a flexible polyster film where can lead to solar cells that are both flexible and cheaper than today’s solar cells.
10. Grid Ready for Solar: Andalay AC solar energy panels, made with Akeena Solar technology, integrate the racking, wiring and electrical grounding components to the panel. According to the company, this will against the damage, a lot of money in saving for 30 year lifetime. Andalay AC solar energy panels produce a safe AC power, and can be a safe installation process for users.

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Solar-powered water pumps are an effective alternative to conventional gas or electric pumps. Modern pumps are powered by solar energy effectively in the world, including India, where they are often used for irrigation and drinking water.

The main advantage of solar pumps is that they work for free. A solar array connected to the pumping mechanism gains all the required power from simple sunshine. This also means that the system independently. There is no need for complicated wiring for the electricity and outside fuel is not needed.

The amount of pollution caused by the use of conventional pump has also completely eliminated. This is a big advantage, especially when used for irrigation on the farms where pollution can possible on site damage. Keeping the fossil fuels from the equation for the pumping of water will reduce potential contamination. In addition, the use of solar energy offers many benefits for agriculture, the farmers, for example, a solar pump used in an area of low-lying, which often flooded or to move the water used to feed animals and plants.

For any system of water pump, both large and small, the installation of solar systems is one of the easiest and most profitable. No long procedures for determining the wiring of the solar panels, and there is no need for extra fuel. Many of these systems, also the digital monitoring and control instruments adding for convenience.

Worldwide, the solar energy is one of the best ways of powering pump instrument. Simple installation, low maintenance, and reducing pollution are just some of the many benefits.

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Solar energy technologies use energy from the sun to produce heat, light, hot water, electricity, and even cooling, for homes, commercial and industrial.

There are a variety of technological applications that have been developed to take advantage of solar energy. Technology can be read further below.

Photovoltaics System

Solar cells work by converting sunlight directly into electricity. The electrons in the semiconductor material, the material used to capture sunlight, will move when the sun’s energy in the form of photons hit it. Solar energy is forcing the electrons to move, occur continuously, and consequently there is also a continuous electricity production. Process, which turns sunlight (photons) into electricity (voltage), called the photovoltaic effect.

Solar Cell Module

Solar cells are usually organized into modules that each module can consist of 40 solar cells. Some modules can be arranged to form a PV line fitted with a fixed angle facing south. Or even could be placed in a sun-tracking device, to get more solar energy throughout the day. Several rows of PV could produce enough power for a house. As for industrial applications or power companies, hundreds of lines of PV can be linked to form one large PV systems and sufficient to meet the electricity needs.

Thin Film Solar Cell

Thin film solar cells use several layers of semiconductor material with a thickness in the micrometer scale. Technology allows to create solar cells integrated into rooftops to the skylights. Even solar cells are designed for applications having the same power with actual roof.

Concentrated Solar Cell

Some solar cells are also designed to work with concentrated sunlight. Solar cells are integrated into the sunlight collector which usually uses a lens to focus it onto the solar cells. There are several advantages and disadvantages by using this technique when compared with flat plate solar panels. Its main objective is to use a minimum of expensive semiconductor material while increasing efficiency with more solar energy doubling of the cell surface. But because the lens must be directed to the sun, the use of collectors limited by location or region that get the most sunlight. Almost the same as flat plate solar panels, this technology can also be mounted on sun tracking devices are simple, but most use a sophisticated device. As a result, the use of solar cell technology is still limited to the power company, industry and large buildings.

Solar Cell Performance
Solar cell performance can be measured by looking at its efficiency in turning sunlight into electricity. Only a certain energy range from the sun which can efficiently converted to electricity, and most of it is reflected or absorbed by the material forming solar cells.

Because some of these, then the efficiency of commercial solar cells is only 15%, or about one-sixth of the sunlight that produce electricity. The lower efficiency, the more wide solar panels needed, and that is, the more expensive price to be paid. Increasing efficiency solar cells while maintaining low prices is a challenge that must be
solved. Until now, little by little these challenges can be overcome, as evidenced by the efficiency of the current 15% which in the 1950s, the efficiency is still less than 4%.

Solar Water Heaters

Shallow water in a pond or lake tend to hotter than the water in the deeper places. This occurs because the sun can heat the bottom of a pond or lake in the more shallow areas, and that means water that was on it become hot too.

With the same principle, the sunlight can be used as a water heater in the building and swimming pool. Most of the water heating system that uses the sun as a source of heat, consists of two main parts: the sun collector and storage tank. Collector commonly used are flat plate collectors. Collector consists of a thin flat box with a transparent top cover and facing toward the sun. Small pipes in the box with liquid, which can be water or other liquid, to be heated. The pipes are attached to a black plate that serves to absorb heat from the sun. After the heat formed in the collector, the fluid inside the pipes get hot.

Hot liquid is then flow to the storage tank which usually larger and thermally insulated better than conventional water heater storage tank. Systems that use a liquid instead of water, usually using the liquid to heat the water through the pipes like loops formed in the tank.

The system used can be active or passive systems, but the most commonly used is the active system. Active system works depends on the pump to move fluid from the collector to the storage tank. While passive systems rely on gravity to work with and the nature of water to circulate when heated.

The system used for the swimming pool is much simpler. Pool filter pump is used to drain water through a collector of sunlight, which is usually made of plastic or rubber, black, and hot water then flows back to the pool.

Solar Thermal

Most of currently existing power plants use fossil fuels as a source of heat to boil water. The resulting water vapor then turn turbines, which in turn drive generators to produce electricity. But now came into power generation using solar concentrator system, using the sun as a source of heat. There are three main types of solar concentrator systems: parabolic, dish / engine, generator tower.

Parabolic system concentrate energy from sunlight by using a U-shaped length mirror. The mirrors are arranged toward the sun and focus sunlight into a pipe containing oil that extends in the midst of such a parabolic focal point. Hot oil is used to boil water in a conventional steam generator and produce electricity.

Dish/engine system using the mirror disk to collect sunlight on a receiver that receive the sunlight and transfer heat to the fluid inside the machine. Heat result in fluid to expand and push the piston or a turbine and produce mechanical energy. Mechanical energy is then used to turn a generator or alternator to produce electricity.

Meanwhile, the generator tower using a mirror in a large number and placed in a large location to collect the sun rays and centralize it to the top of a tower where a receiver is placed. Generated heat melt salt which then flows to heat the water. The steam generated from hot water used to turn conventional steam generator. Molten salt can store heat for a long time. That means electricity can be generated at the sunset or when the sky is very cloudy.

home solar power

Home solar power could actually fun, modern, and even interesting. Limited electricity does not mean sacrificing convenience and comfort provided by the air heater, water heater, and air conditioning.
The design of home solar will save electricity because the walls, windows and floors designed to absorb and store heat energy during the winter and distribute them. And dissipates heat during the summer. Therefore comfort provided by the heating and air conditioning can be displaced.

Here are five basic elements that must be interconnected with each other in designing a home solar.

home solar system

Collectors

The large glass windows that are directly related to the sun should be facing 30 degrees to the north and should not be obstructed by other buildings or log starting at 9 am to 3 pm.

Absorbent

Walls, floors and partitions are objects that can absorb and store heat.

Thermal mass

Thermal mass is a material that can store heat from solar energy and is located behind the surface of objects that can absorb heat like the floor.

Distribution

Heat that has been collected and stored, then distributed or in circulation from one room to another. Method to distribute this is conduction, convection and radiation.

Setting

Control tools should be used to utilize energy use that has been collected, such as a thermostat to check the temperature so that it can turn on and off the fan.