Group items tagged

"We are putting on a new roof & the price of copper is really adding to the price of the roof. The snow slides alone are over $7,000. Is there something that we can use that looks like cooper and is still corrosive-resistant, but is less expensive? "

When Southern California Edison unveiled plans to install 250 megawatts' worth of solar panels on warehouse roofs back in March, it was hailed as a ground-breaking move. In one fell swoop, the giant utility would cut the cost of photovoltaic power, expand the solar market and kick-start efforts to transform untold acres of sun-baked commercial roof space into mini-power plants. There's just one problem: the solar industry is fighting the billion-dollar plan. In briefs filed with the California Public Utilities Commission, solar companies, industry trade groups and consumer advocates argue that allowing a utility to own and operate such massive green megawattage will crowd out competitors who can't hope to compete with a project financed by Edison's ratepayers. (In California, shareholders of investor-owned utilities are guaranteed a rate of return for approved projects, while utility customers bear a portion of the costs in the form of higher rates.) The five-year plan "would establish SCE as the monopoly developer of commercial-scale distributed solar in its service territory," wrote Arno Harris, CEO of Recurrent Energy, a San Francisco company that sells solar electricity to commercial customers. "This would irreparably impair the development of a competitive solar industry."

"Donald Sadoway: The missing link to renewable energy Tweet this talk! (we'll add the headline and the URL) Post to: Share on Twitter Email This Favorite Download inShare Share on StumbleUpon Share on Reddit Share on Facebook TED Conversations Got an idea, question, or debate inspired by this talk? Start a TED Conversation, or join one of these: Green Home Energy=Hydrogen Generators-alternative sources Started by Kathleen Gilligan-Smith 1 Comment What is the real missing link in renewable energy? Started by Enrico Petrucco 8 Comments Comment on this Talk 60 total comments Sign in to add comments or Join (It's free and fast!) Sort By: smily raichel 0 Reply Less than 5 minutes ago: Nice smily raichel 0 Reply Less than 5 minutes ago: Good David Mackey 0 Reply 3 hours ago: Superb invention, but I would suggest one more standard mantra that they should move on from and that is the idea of power being supplied by a centralised grid. This technology seems to me to be much more beneficial on a local scale, what if every home had its own battery, then home power generation becomes economically more viable for everyone. If you could show that a system like this could pay for itself in say 5 years then every home would want one. Plus for this to be implemented on a large scale requires massive investment that could be decades away. Share the technology and lets get it in homes by next year. Great ted talk. Jon Senior 0 Reply 1 hour ago: I agree 100%. Localised energy production would also make energy consumers more conscious of their consumption and encourage efforts to reduce it. We can invent and invent all we want, but the fast solution to allowing renewable energies to take centre stage is to reduce the base energy draw. With lower baseline consumption, smaller "always on" generators are required to keep the grid operational. Town and house-l

The Kyoto-car is a concept eco-friendly electric vehicle designed by the Kyoto University Venture Business Laboratory. Its roof is covered in solar cells which harness energy collected onto a battery. Aside from running on electric juice, the Kyoto-Car can also be used to charge gadgets or power devices, making it especially useful for camping or hiking trips. Aside from its rather attractive oriental design, another curious feature (if ever the concept will come to fruition) is that the car could move sideways, which is quite similar to "drifting" (a driving technique wherein the car skids sideways).

General Motors (GM) announced that it is adding the world's largest rooftop solar photovoltaic power installation to its car assembly plant located in Figueruelas, Zaragoza, Spain. When the project is completed in fall 2008, the Zaragoza solar installation will cover about 2 million square feet of roof at the plant and include about 85,000 solar panels. When fully operational, the Zaragoza solar installation will generate about 12 megawatts of power at its highest output. The installation will generate about 15.1 million kWh of power annually, which is equivalent to the demand of 4,575 households with an average annual consumption of 3,300 kWh in Spain. "The Zaragoza project demonstrates proof that GM is actively accelerating our efforts to be part of the solution to the environmental issues and challenges facing our world," said Gary Cowger, GM group vice president of global manufacturing and labor relations. "We are proud to be a global leader in the usage of renewable energy."

These are heady times for the thin-film solar industry. The sector's dominant player, First Solar, has been on a tear of late, recently announcing it would build a second 10 megawatt power plant in Nevada, while Miasole, once thought to be ailing, has staged an impressive comeback, raking in an eye-popping $220 million. Nanosolar has developed a new ultra-fast solar cell printer, and even giants like IBM and Applied Materials have gotten in on the game. In the face of such intense competition, how will HelioVolt, a well-funded outpost of CIGS manufacturing in Texas, fare? The company hopes a new hybrid, super fast CIGS process it has developed in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which combines its patented FASST process and NREL's non-vacuum deposition technique, will help even the odds. The Austin, Texas-based company licensed NREL's non-vacuum deposition process, which allows for the quick application of liquid precursors onto a printing plate and substrate, to manufacture its solar cells with a 12.2 percent conversion efficiency at a fraction of the regular cost and in record time - under 6 minutes. Another advantage is that the substrate can be made from a variety of building materials, including glass, metals, plastics and roofing materials.

So when Thomas S. Monaghan purchased 270 tons of copper sheet metal to roof his dream project -- creating a Catholic university in southwest Florida -- he had to do some serious soul-searching when the value of the copper more than doubled within two years.

Compared to other solar energy applications, solar cooling is a relatively new, but growing, technology. Many projects using the technology are still for the purposes of demonstration only, but a growing number of systems are being implemented all over the world for conventional use. In order to give an insight into this innovative technology, detailed information about the possible technical applications of solar cooling systems is provided in this section.\n\nPassive solar cooling, based on bioclimatic strategies such as sun protection using natural screening devices or increased cooling by using ponds or water basins o the roof or close to the external walls, is widely applied and should be the first step to take in cooling a building. Such measures are easier and less costly to implement, they decrease the need for additional cooling and, therefore, for additional energy demand (and also for investment). Sufficient insulation of the building also decreases the need for cooling, as well as for heating.\n\nIf the outcome of these measures is not sufficient in itself, a solar assisted cooling system may be an intelligent solution. In solar assisted cooling systems solar heat is used to drive the cooling process for air conditioning in buildings. Instead of using electricity, free solar thermal energy is used for cooling through a thermal-chemical sorption process.\n\n

In recent months, chains including Wal-Mart Stores, Kohl's, Safeway and Whole Foods Market have installed solar panels on roofs of their stores to generate electricity on a large scale. One reason they are racing is to beat a Dec. 31 deadline to gain tax advantages for these projects. So far, most chains have outfitted fewer than 10 percent of their stores. Over the long run, assuming Congress renews a favorable tax provision and more states offer incentives, the chains promise a solar construction program that would ultimately put panels atop almost every big store in the country. The trend, while not entirely new, is accelerating as the chains seize a chance to bolster their environmental credentials by cutting back on their use of electricity from coal.

With airline fares hitting the roof and recession fears compelling companies to cut costs, the interest in video conferencing - or as some like to call it, telepresence solutions - is seeing rapid growth.

Cumerio Belgium, a subsidiary of Norddeutsche Affinerie AG (NA), announced on 20th Nov its intention to close a copper billets and cakes production line at the Olen site. The decision was made based on the fact that production volumes in the department have halved over the last seven years and the line is currently losing money due to the low capacity utilisation rate. The company said that high copper prices in the last years had caused significant substitution losses to demand for copper billets and cakes, especially those for sanitary piping and roofing applications.

"At the start of the decade, Network Rail was hit by a wave of cable thefts which approached 1,000 cases a year as the price of scrap copper and other industrial metals soared. New data show that thefts in England and Wales fell below 41,000 in the year 2013-14 - down from 60,000 in the previous 12 months. "In recent years, we have witnessed a huge reduction in the number of incidents of cable theft on the railway," said a Network Rail official. "Disruption caused by the crime has fallen tenfold since its peak in 2010-11, when passengers suffered more than 6,000 hours of delay." Raids on church roofs, to strip copper and lead sheeting - another traditional target for thieves seeking to supply unscrupulous metal dealers - have also subsided with the price of scrap. Other areas affected include telecommunications and power networks, road signs, memorials, libraries, schools and children's playgrounds."