Solar Power

Archive for September, 2009

Save the Environment: Help by Recycling Cans

I like walking. Whenever I can I leave the car at home and walk. I walk to the shops, to the library, and many other places as well. Every day I see used aluminum drinks cans dropped on pathways and in hedgerows. If people want to dispose of them this way at least drop them where they can easily be picked up by someone else, and not in a hedgerow or other difficult spot where it is easy to be scratched and prickled by thorns.

Many people have a twinge of conscience about the environment and what we can do voluntarily to help save it. Recycling cans is what we can do easily. All you need do is separate them from the rest of the rubbish and either take them to a recycling centre or leave them in your “recyclables” bin, to be collected by, in our case, the local council.

The one thing we must not do is put them in landfill, because they don’t biodegradable.

Instead of throwing away empty aluminum cans away here are four ways to reuse them.

1. Used ring pull cans could be used as a miniature vase for a flower or two.

2. Rinse out used cans and use them in the garden shed for storing small items such as nails and washers.

3. You could use an old can to practice your putting. Take it to the office and put it on the floor any time you want to practice your putting.

4. Rather than leave your pens and biros scattered all around the house why not put them all together in a used can.

This is just four ideas of what to do with used empty cans. You might well be able to think up many more ideas for recycling cans.

Philip Woodrow is a part time author who writes on a variety of issues of personal interest including: Help save the environment and Recycling cans

England Tech news

bit-tech.net | Japanese consortium to develop solar powered CPU

Japanese consortium to develop solar powered CPU. A consortium of seven Japanese companies is working to create a home-grown CPU which will consume seventy percent less power than existing technologies.

New solar cells capture heat and light | G-Online, the best of green

Traditionally, solar cells work by using mirrors and lenses to concentrate the sun’s energy onto a receiver, which then converts the energy into electricity. Like any object placed in the sun, however, the cells heat up. …

NewNet News – Sinosol builds German solar PV plant for Indian investor

Sinosol builds German solar PV plant for Indian investor.

Solar price falls to new record low, now below 20 cents per kWh …

solar My first week working with the East Coast Greenway Alliance was amazing. And I have some big news to share that helps make my dream of a mobile bicycle/solar existence possible. Bicycles are already cost-effective, but solar has …

Al Fin: Fear the Cold: Solar Magnetic Activity Dropping

â??If the current trend continues, we’ll hit that threshold in the near future, and solar magnetic fields would become too weak to form sunspots.â?”This work has caused a sensation in the field of solar physics,â? comments NASA sunspot …

USA – China – A G2 For Climate and Economy?

China appears to view global warming as an economic issue, Obama’s administration is primarily focused on the current economic crisis as well, but climate change is also a serious crisis and a threat to the world’s economic system itself with all its present and predicted impacts. Don’t these global problems require an integrated economic and environmental strategy? The hypothesized summit between Barack Obama and the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, could be an important step to accelerate urgent actions needed both to face the global economic downturn and to build a solid climate pact.

China, in its last 5-year plan, sets targets to reduce national energy intensity (energy used per unit of GDP) by 20% between 2006 and the end of 2010. According to Deborah Seligsohn, China Program Director on Climate, Energy and Pollution of the World Resources Institute, this target seems to be realizable given their latest remarkable record (-1.8% in 2006, -3.7% in 2007, and -4.2% in 2008.) Last month Hillary Clinton met experts from the Asia Society and the Pew Centre for Climate Change that together wrote a report that could help the creation of this US-Chinese partnership on climate change. But the good examples from China, although not directly referred to CO2 emissions, and Obama’s ambitious plan on energy and climate will need decisions from other 13 countries (or federations such as the EU), including Russia, India, Japan to get 80% of world’s emissions “under control”. Nowadays the other 173 countries account for about 20% of total CO2 emissions, but population increase and old development patterns could dangerously increase their “pollution share” in the future: every nation will be then required to cut the CO2, but large amount of money are needed to do so. Where will our leaders take Dollars, Yuan or Euros these days?

Next steps: -264 days to COP15:
Two events along the path to Copenhagen will take place in Bonn from March 29th to April 8th: the 7th session of the AWG-KP (Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex 1Parties under the Kyoto Protocol) and 5th session of the AWG-LCA (Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention). As we can read on the UNFCCC website “this is the first of three planned negotiating sessions before COP 15 in December” and can hopefully prepare a good ground for delegations and political leaders to decide upon.

Written by Luca Marazzi on behalf of Responding to Climate Change.

For further information on Climate Change please visit the Responding to Climate Change website – http://www.rtcc.org

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Luca_Marazzi

Solar Surge Is The First Apple Licensed Solar Charging Case For …

It isn’t the only solar charging case on the market, but Novothink’s Solar Surge is the first to receive an official thumbs up from Apple.

Solar Power, Mobile Phones Converge to Distribute Water in Kenya …

Residents of one Kenyan village are experimenting with a solar-powered well water distribution system that allows payments to be made with smart cards and cell phones.

Worldchanging: Bright Green: Solar Panels To Boost Property Prices

The UK website BusinessGreen reports on a survey of 2700 UK adults, which â??found that half of respondents are interested in finding out whether their home is suitable for renewable energy systems, such as solar panelsâ?: …

Solar Powered Bluetooth Car Kit

We’ve seen a fair number of variations for the Solar Powered Bluetooth Car Kit before, so having another one thrown into the mix wouldn’t hurt, would it? This device connects to a Bluetooth-enabled cellphone via 2.0, and comes with…

New First Solar CEO Brings Government Expertise, Ties to General …

BNET Industries gives managers and executives comprehensive daily industry trends and news for the major sectors of business. The advertising, automotive, energy, financial services, food, health care, media, pharmaceutical, retail, …

To Be Green Too Expensive?

Really? Seriously? Is it still too expensive to be green? I am a little surprised when people say that cannot do anything to be green because the products are too expensive. This may have been the case eons ago but not anymore. People now say going green is too expensive as an excuse in my opinion. Granted, I am not able to afford solar panels on my roof just yet but that does not mean I am not green or trying to be green in my own ways.

Here are some simple things that you can do now to start you off in the right direction without too much money out of pocket. Keep in mind, that while you will spend money at first, the payback is well worth it for you and the environment.

One of the first things I did to start my own green movement at home was to buy canvas bags for the grocery store. They were $1.00 each and I bought 10 of them. I always leave them in my car so no matter what store I go to I bring a bag with me. Each time I visit the grocery store I get 5 cents back for each bag that I bring.

So each week when I grocery shop I get 50 cents back. Each week that adds up quickly and before you know it, I have made my $10.00 back and am no longer a slave to the plastic bags. U.S. consumers use approximately 100 billion plastic bags annually which require an estimated 12 million barrels to produce! Just think, the majority of these bags are used just once from for less than 30 minutes and then they go into our landfills or end up in our oceans where they are a serious threat to wildlife.

The second green thing I did was change my water bottle habits. I have to admit, this one was hard for me until I did the math and it was at that moment I went to Target to buy a water filter and ordered my CamelBak Better Bottle.

The funny thing is that people are so quick to complain about the cost of gas but have you ever complained about the cost of the water bottles at the grocery store? I paid $10.00 for my bottle and $30 for my water filter and I have never once gone back to the store to buy my 12 pack of water for $6.00. And to think, a 12 pack of water bottles was finished in one week or less! I really don’t like when people say they reuse their plastic water bottles…. Do you know the bacteria that are on the bottles and the plastic leaching that occurs? Please do yourself and the environment a favor and buy a BPA Free water bottle today!

How many of us use paper napkins each day for lunch and dinner? Time to save a tree! Even napkins made from recycled materials are not as innocent as they may seem since they too wind up in landfills. A family of 4 can easily go through 84 paper napkins a week and if you think of each paper napkin costing 2 cents – well that adds up quickly over the course of a week, month, and a year. Cloth napkins can be used several times before tossing them into the laundry. With a family of four, laundry is done quite a bit so go ahead and make the switch.

Finally, do you wash all loads of laundry in cold water? Did you know that if you washed all of your clothes in cold water your clothes would last longer? Not only that, but you would save on your electrical bill. Unless you are washing baby diapers or grease stains, cold water is the way to go. 85-90 percent of the energy needed to wash your clothes in a machine is used to warm the water. Only 10-15 percent actually goes into the washer. The next time you need to buy laundry detergent, look for the detergents that are specially made for cold water.

And of course, we all know about the light bulbs and such but these were a couple other reminders of what you can do today to start saving money and you can be proud of yourself for going green! Remember, it is cool to be green!

SunModular Raising $2.5M to Help Solar Keep Cool

As with most electronics, solar panels lose efficiency when the temperature increases — and that’s particularly problematic considering the panels …

Applied CEO sees solar taking an upward turn, spurred by China …

World’s largest producer of chip-making gear says its solar equipment business is still a swing factor, but all of its businesses are growing.

The Case For Shorting Solar Stocks

Blame Spain. A surge of overcapacity could last years.

Launch of Bosch Solar Energy AG ~ Cleanergy.org – Energy …

ersol Solar Energy AG’s change of name to Bosch Solar Energy AG has been entered in the commercial register as of September 1, 2009. The General Meeting passed the required resolution to amend the articles of association on July 23, …

Solar Panel Plant Brings Green Manufacturing To Mazomanie – Going …

MAZOMAINE, Wis. — A new solar panel manufacturing plant held its grand opening Tuesday in Mazomanie, which means new jobs for the area and hopeful future for renewable energy in the state. Wednesday, September 2, 2009.