Solar Power Is No Joke!

This is the main reason why I want to get into solar. Everyone think about the hear and now. If you ask them what the future will be like for renewable they say its to weak to power anything and 50 years from now we will have no use for them, or little use for them that it is a hippie fad or so.. Well ask them where will fossil fuels be in 50 years? The industry is fighting tooth and nail to try and make their production process relevant and economically profitable. They are going to great lengths not (deep water drilling and shale oil, both very energy intensive processes and shale oil is like deriving fresh water to drink from salt water, weird, highly energy intensive and unnecessary) process. Also I sort of like when people say this because that just gives me more time and opportunity to get into the industry before it really takes off... Also think about the parts of the world that solar is most beneficial and has the most potential, in the global south and developing nations. They likely will implement solar on a massive scale there are large talks of solar in South Africa and they are currently building massive hydraulic damns for power but those aren't the best idea either...

Check it out!

Morocco to Invest in Homemade RE Power

Many countries suffer from the inconvenience of not having any non-renewable energy sources contained in the dirt within their sovereign territory (unlike the US which has significant amount of coal, natural gas, oil, not mentioning our renewable energy source potential) which the US is so blessed to have.

Morocco will be investing heavily in solar and wind over the next 5-10 years to try and offset the vast amount of money that is invested in importing fossil fuels. The article "Morocco Seeks Energy Salvation in Sunshine, Wind", written by Aziz El Yaakoubi on March 6th, 2013. Morocco who imports 95% if their energy needs is looking to cut its record setting trade deficit of $23.6 billion last year.
They also hope to generate 40% of its electricity needs by renewable by 2020. 

New Research Endeavors Underway At Argonne National Lab

The Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) around the Chicagoland area in Illinois is getting a large amount of funding to research some unconventional methods used in THIN FILM SOLAR CELLS.

I was just at ANL last Thursday (January 24th, 2013) attending a speech given by Roger Blomquist, a nuclear engineer at ANL, hosted by the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE). The speech was quite compelling discussing fast water and light water reactors.

I didn't know that any solar research was going on at ANL and am quite excited to see what results come out of these research funds!

New Year, New Resources!

So the year 2013 is upon us. What does this mean for America? What does this mean for the world? What does this mean for the renewable energy industry? One thing we can do is see how the year will play out in terms of RECs (renewable energy certificate credit). A tradeable commodity that represents 1 MWh (1,000 kWh) of energy produced from a renewable resource. A real time map of the United States wind resource shows the potential of North and South Dakota, Montana, and the eastern portion of the Mid-West.

This area being a large concentration of the best wind resource in the country however, isn't taken advantage of. There are no sufficient transmission lines available in these areas to move the wind power to where it is needed. However independent interests supporting efforts such as Rock Island Clean Line are acting to extract this untapped wind energy resource!

IKEA solar endeavors

Wow this is awesome... that's a MASSIVE  solar array and a huge power output!
I really like the idea of industrial renewable energy use because of the economical savings they receive. Those benefits can be put into R&D, social responsibility endeavors, or can help lower the price of their product, something that would be welcomed in this ever competitive global market.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ikea-powers-solar-energy-panels-110000638.html

Super Bowl Going Green!

Hey everybody it seems that the NFL this season will be going green next weekend with the onset of Super Bowl . The NFL Environmental Program now in its 18th year previously have developed projects each year to address solid waste, food waste, material reuse, the needs for books and sports equipment for children in need and the overall climate change impact of Super Bowl events. The company Green Mountain, will cooperate with the committee and help the reduce the load of electricity the Super Bowl will put on the  grid. 


The 15,000 MWH of electricity needed for the Super Bowl will be provided by wind farms in North Dakota (to Indianapolis, Indiana!)

Win Power Anyone?

Mitsubishi will be UNVEILING a massive 7 GW offshore turbine that will be used in the UK in 2013. This is hugely impressive for the wind industry because most have nameplate capacities at 2-3 MW nowadays. Will this mean a continued exponential rise for the industry over the past 5 years? Guess we'll just have to wait and see...