China’s Solar-Powered City

Buildings in Rizhao, a coastal city of nearly three million on the Shandong Peninsula in northern China, have a common yet unique appearance: most rooftops and walls are covered with small panels. They are solar heat collectors.

In Rizhao City, which means City of Sunshine in Chinese, 99 percent of households in the central districts use solar water heaters, and most traffic signals, street and park lights are powered by photovoltaic (PV) solar cells. In the suburbs and villages, more than 30 percent of households use solar water heaters, and over 6,000 households have solar cooking facilities. More than 60,000 greenhouses are heated by solar panels, reducing overhead costs for farmers in nearby areas.

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AMAT tools up really big solar panels

Signet Solar breaks cover 

APPLIED MATERIALS is getting into the solar power business in a big way, and its customers are starting to break cover. One of them, Signet Solar, had its coming out party today.
Signet is aiming its panels at larger scale solar installations, partially because it makes larger panels. Most current solar panel are in the 1 x .5m range, that is, not all that big. What AMAT brings to the party is the same tools used to make obscenely huge TVs.
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Solar Power at Half the Cost

 A new roof-mounted system that concentrates sunlight could cut the price of photovoltaics.

            A new mechanism for focusing light on small areas of photovoltaic material could make solar power in residential and commercial applications cheaper than electricity from the grid in most markets in the next few years. Initial systems, which can be made at half the cost of conventional solar panels, are set to start shipping later this year, says Brad Hines, CTO and founder of Soliant Energy, a startup based in Pasadena, CA, that has developed the new modules.

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Supplying the World’s Energy Needs with Light and Water

 A leading chemist says that a better understanding of photosynthesis could lead to cheap ways to store solar energy as chemical fuel.

While researchers and technologists around the world scramble to find cleaner sources of energy, some chemists are turning to nature’s own elegant solution: photosynthesis. In photosynthesis, green plants use the energy in sunlight to break down water and carbon dioxide. By manipulating electrons and hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon atoms in a series of complex chemical reactions, the process ultimately produces the cellulose and lignin that form the structure of the plant, as well as stored energy in the form of sugar. Understanding how this process works, thinks Daniel Nocera, professor of chemistry at MIT, could lead to ways to produce and store solar energy in forms that are practical for powering cars and providing electricity even when the sun isn’t shining.

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635 GW Possible with U.S. Political Shift

 Report exposes new reality for renewable energy in America.

How much power can renewable energy generate in the U.S. if the appropriate mix of policies and market-based incentives are implemented? According to a joint report coordinated by the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE), the answer is 635 gigawatts (GW) by 2025.

Released yesterday, the 2007 Outlook on Renewable Energy in America projects that wind power could account for 248 GW; solar energy 164 GW; hydro, ocean and tidal energy 23 GW; geothermal energy 100 GW; and biomass and biofuels 100 GW.

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