NEW! INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY PAGE
This
page and blog (link above) is directed at addressing intellectual
property
concerns of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs working in
the solar energy field. However, people in other fields, e.g.,
semiconductors, will also find this page useful.
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IS
SOLAR ENERGY HARMFUL?
The
wide scale interest in the commercial potential of cadmium telluride
(CdTe)
and copper indium diselenide (CIS) photovoltaic modules is tempered by
the use
of toxic metals such as cadmium and selenium in their manufacture.
Research found these fears to be groundless.
Click
here to read full article.
SOLAR CRIME
WAVE
Array With Stolen Panels
Criminals have found an attractive target in
solar energy cells as the technology becomes in increasingly greater
demand in Germany. German
crooks
are targeting not only solar cell arrays, but also the associated
inverters
to convert from DC to AC. The German
state of Bavaria
alone has reported 13 incidents of stolen solar cells
since the beginning of the year.
An
example of solar thievery was the idyllic town of Wuppertal-Ronsdorf,
where teacher Klaus Ehlert discovered of the 70
solar panels in the Erich-Fried
School ,
only a dozen were left behind by thieves by the end of summer vacation. In
Biedenkopf-Wallau, the tire-selling firm
of Reifen-Ritter was hit three times, with thieves stealing solar cells
with a value of
24,000 Euros. In June, 30
photvoltaic
modules were stolen from a solar energy farm in Mirow.
As a result of the solar
crime wave, the Bavarian police have issued guidelines for the security
of
solar energy technology, which can be read in German Here.
FEATURED RECENT
PATENT
Researchers
at Kent State University have found novel nanoscale discotic liquid
crystalline porphyrins capable of being used
as
high-efficiency photovoltaic materials.
Quan Li and fellow researchers developed molecules that can facilitate
charge transport in the direction along the columns, can be processed
to form a large area monodomain, can respond to external light
irradiation by changing their resistivity, and can convert light to
electric energy.
See
Patent.
ARCHIVE
October 2007
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NEW JERSEY - SOLAR POWERHOUSE
 Bayonne High School - From Industcards
New Jersey has
emerged as the country’s second largest producers of solar energy, surpassed
only by California. On November
12, 2007, the Wall Street Journal reported that sunny California
dominates the market for rooftop solar power systems at 57%, but not so sunny New
Jersey comes in second at 8%. Lagging behind are Colorado
(4%), Nevada (3%) and Arizona
(2%). New Jersey
gives homeowners up to 70% of the cost of a rooftop full of solar cells. In the United
States, only New
Jersey has solar incentives that rival California's,
though it's a much smaller market. For example, rebates of up to $4.10 per watt are available for a 0-10,000 watt roof mounted unit of cells. These
subsidies are to help to achieve the goal of New Jersey
being 2% solar by 2020, and 20% renewable energy by 2020. The New Jersey
rebate program has proved to be so popular that demand exceeded the allotted
funding in 2006. However, New
Jersey has separate funding that allows utilities to
offer homeowners up to 30 cents per KWH to sell their solar power. The federal government and some states are offering serious
incentives that can slash the price of installation (typically over $40,000
gross for a full system) in half. In California
and New Jersey - the first states
to allow so-called net metering, whereby homeowners are credited for
electricity they generate beyond their own use - going solar can pay for itself
in several years. Solar's ability to lower energy costs also adds value to
your home. For every utility-bill
dollar saved annually because of an improvement, you gain $10 to $20 in
property value. So if you can zero out a $1,000 annual electric tab by
installing solar, you'll get back $10,000 to $20,000 in home value. For more information see New Jersey's Clean Energy Program. Robert E. Goozner - November 17, 2007
TU DARMSTADT WINS SOLAR
DECATHLON
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STANDING
ON
LINE
GREEN HOUSE IN ARLINGTON
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A stream of visitors oohed and ahhed as they streamed
through a brand new green house on North 24th
Road in a quiet
neighborhood in north Arlington, Virginia on
October 6, 2007. The
high tech nature of the house was accentuated by the white booties that
the
visitors wore. The booties
had nothing
to do the technology, but were to protect the exquisite new wood floors.
The
centerpiece of the green technology was a geothermal heating system
based on
trio of three-hundred foot deep wells sunk into the ground.
Andrew Moore, Vice President of builder Arlington
Designer Homes
(Contact) ,
stated: “It was a very noisy three days when
the truck came to
the side of the house and the wells were dug.
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The main
geothermal unit is located in the basement of the house, and
includes a humidifier.
Geothermal
technology works by tapping the natural heat storing ability of the
earth. Geothermal
technology provides an efficient,
money-saving and environmentally friendly solution for environmental
heating
and cooling as well as water heating. Heating
and
cooling bills can be reduced by at least 50% using this
technology. The
geothermal system was
installed by Wittman Mechanical Contractors.
Arlington Designer
Homes installed a plethora of other energy saving elements in the
house,
including energy efficient windows, efficient front loading washer and
dryer,
low voltage timers, etc.
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Arlington
Designer Homes
specializes
in green building techniques and builds all
their
houses under the Arlington
County
green building
guidelines.
The only thing
lacking in the green house was solar cells. Andrew
Moore explained: "Arlington
has very small lots, and this particular lot had no advantageous
southern
exposure." As a
result, installing solar
cells did not make economic sense.
By Robert
E.
Goozner
See also:
www.wittmanmechanical.com
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AACHEN GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
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LINKS
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NEW! INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY PAGE
SOLAR
TAXI CIRCLES
GLOBE
Over the last three years, four Swiss Universities
and 70 helpers have developed a small three wheeled two-seater
automobile equipped
with a six square meter flat trailer outfitted with solar cells. These
solar cells (supplied by QCells)
are
delivering half of the
required power for the automobile.
The rest of the power is supplied by Zebra
batteries based on salt, nickel and ceramic, which are recharged from
an
electrical outlet. Two of these high
energy batteries give a range of 300 kilometers, and the fully
recyclable
batteries can be recharged up to 1000 times. An
MP3 player and
two webcams are also on board.
The
progress of the solar taxi can be followed at their Website.
Solar Cells in New Jersey
from BPSU
GERMAN UNIVERSITY TAKES
FIRST
PLACE
The student team led by professor Manfred Hegger took
first place in the Solar Decathon in competition with an
array of
American Universities.
The Darmstadt house eschewed the typical solar esthetics by
not
flaunting the presence of solar cells. Instead, the Darmstadt
house incorporated elements of Bauhaus and Scandinavian design where
the flat-roofed, rectangular house had an exterior clad completely in
fine-grained
German oak. Solar panels were integrated into the slats of
floor-to-ceiling wooden shutters on the east, south and west sides of
the house. On the shady north side, the shutters lacked
solar panels.
A computer changes the tilt of the slats to
catch
the sun's rays and generate electricity throughout the day, storing as
much as possible for use at night.
The shutters' dual purpose, shading and insulating
the interior while generating electricity from the sun, reflects the
twin tasks of a solar house. It is as important to conserve energy as
it is to generate it. Design competitions such as the Solar Decathlon
are
intended to hasten the marketability and affordability of green
technologies and solar-power generation.
Second place was taken by local
favorite
University of Maryland. Third place award was to
Santa
Clara University.
Complete event details, team information, high-resolution
photos, and
daily results are available on the Solar
Decathlon website.
For
more
coverage of the Solar DecathlonClick Here
and Click
Here.
BUILDING
THE SOLAR
DECATHLON
For pictures of the Solar Decathlon under construction: Click
Here. |
The Goozner
Solar Review arises from my
long standing interest in all
forms of alternative energy. This not only includes solar
energy,
but all kinds of energy that are non-carbon based. At left,
you
see me in front of the geothermal project at the University of Aachen
(Germany). The geothermal energy is obtained by sinking a
shaft
about 1km straight into the ground, and exploiting the temperature
gradient between the abyss and the surface. This shaft will
supply most of the energy used by the University.
FEATURED RECENT
PATENT
USP
7,281,381
Alan D. Johnson developed a mechanical thermo-voltaic solar
power
system with three major subsystems: (1) a light collector array, (2) a
mechanical thermo-voltaic generator, and (3) a storage and retrieval
system. At the center of the system is the light collection array
comprised of solar collector elements (10). See
Patent.
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