A Danish company developed a solar street light that feeds power back into the grid.

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Solar Powered Street Lights Feed the Grid

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Swimming pools may not be the “greenest” of our creature comforts. And some people might argue that there is no such thing as a green swimming pool at all

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12 Ways to Green Your Swimming Pool (Without Actually Turning it Green)

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This is a guest post from the guys at igadgetlife.com , covering gadget reviews . They say that music calms the savage beast.

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Play It Again Sam: Alternatively Powered Radios and Players

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Two college students at have designed a communications network that could bring internet connectivity to remote locations around the world (see video below). The wind and solar-powered wifi hotspot , which was taken down from the Campus at the Rochester Institute of Technology to make room for a parking lot, provided a working offgrid wifi hotspot for over a year.

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College Students Design Wifi Hotspot Powered by Wind and Solar (w/Video)

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From the operators of www.GreenLivingRocks.com — providing education regarding how to build a solar panel, used solar panels, and photovoltaic solar panels.

One of the reasons that building your own photovoltaic panels has become so popular is that there are really very few parts involved. A simple solar panel consists of just a few basic parts, namely an enclosure, photovoltaic (pv), a substrate and wiring. Here’s an outline of what’s involved.

Solar panel case or enclosure
This is what most people see when they think of a solar panel. It’s the clear glass top, the frame and the backing that the photovoltaic cells are mounted on. The case can be big enough to need a custom built metal rack for mounting on a rooftop, or little enough to be a plastic box that can be placed almost invisibly near an outdoor floodlight. It needs to be resistant to ultra violet (UV) rays so that it doesn’t deteriorate with constant exposure to sunlight. And the glass (usually Plexiglas) needs to be robust enough to withstand harsh weather, including hail and wind storms that could crash tree branches and other debris into it.

Substrate
This is the piece of lumber, peg board or other material that the solar cells are mounted on contained by of the enclosure. It too needs to be UV-resistant to withstand prolonged exposure to direct sunlight.

Solar cells
The solar cells are comparable to the silicon chips that power nearly all computers. They combine the silicon, metals and other materials in a way that captures direct sunlight and converts it into electricity. The electricity can either be directly used by direct current devices (DC) like LED lights, or stored in DC batteries and transformed into alternating current (AC) to power conventional appliances like refrigerators, TVs and other electrical equipment in homes and businesses.

Tabbed and untabbed solar cells
When constructing your own pv (photovoltaic) panels, you can save money by buying untabbed solar cells and soldering the tabs on top of the cells yourself. This can be a good choice if you have more time than money, but it’s a tedious job. You can save time by buying tabbed solar cells which will cut your soldering time by one-half to two-thirds.

Solar cell wiring
Once the solar cells are mounted on the substrate, they are wired to each other in a series so that they can create electricity. Copper wire is added to connect the solar cells to storage batteries for using the electricity later, or to connect directly to the device that the photovoltaic panel is powering like an attic fan or a solar powered toy.

Blocking diode

The blocking diode is a little component that prevents electricity that is stored in a battery from draining backward into the solar panel. Bigger photovoltaic systems use a charge controller for the same effect.

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From the operators of www.GreenLivingRocks.com — providing education regarding how to build a solar panel, solar panel, and solar hot water.

Building your own solar pool heater is a fantastic do-it-yourself project if you want to add solar to your home.  You will not need to get a lot of costly equipment or tools.  And you will not need highly specialized skills.  Here is a fundamental explanation of the process and benefits so you can make your mind up if you want to tackle it.

The project payback time can be as little as 2 years in terms of energy savings.  This is because you will be saving the cost of gas to heat your pool.  And the cost of materials for constructing a solar pool heater is lower than with most other solar projects. You will also be saving the cost of installation if you decide to go ahead and do that yourself.

You will need to acquire only a few simple components: solar collectors, piping, a controller and a diverter valve.  You will not need to build or buy a storage reservoir, since your pool already stores the water.  And you will not need to buy, build or install a circulating pump, since your solar pool heater will use your pool’s circulating pump.

Here’s a simple explanation of how the system works.  The water from the pool gets pumped into the solar collector, gets heated by the sun and gets pumped back into the pool. This is called an open loop design.  The controller allows you to choose the warmest temperature you want the pool to reach.  And the diverter valve either sends water back to the pool if it is already warm enough, or over to the collector to be heated as needed.  

The solar collector is a straightforward system of black polypropylene UV-resistant tubing.  The choice of supplies is important so that the tubing doesn’t break down from exposure to the sun or from exposure from the chlorine in the pool.  The suitable materials will last up to 20 years.

Although it is attractive to think of doing it all yourself, including making the solar collector, it is really easier and more cost effective to purchase ready made collectors for your project.  The reason is that adhesives will not stick to polypropylene, and the equipment you would need to thermal weld it would cost more than buying the ready-made collectors.  Also, experts advise against using a less expensive rubber or plastic tubing that will break down too quickly because of exposure to the sun and chlorine.

If you choose that you really want to install your solar pool heating system yourself, the easiest way is to buy a kit.  You will still need to design measure and install your system.  And you will be able to enjoy the fruits of your efforts for years afterwards.

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Solar PV are a combination of solar cells that have within them components which could change solar radiation directly into direct current electrical power. More particularly it is the particular technologies which could transform sun rays into electricity. The actual sun’s rays will give around a thousand volts of electricity per block meter of the earth’s work surface over a sunny moment. If most of in which power could be harnesses we would be able to power our homes at no cost.

The use of solar power is definitely vast. It can be used to create electrical power in your own home, to power the electric automobiles, and also block lights for you to name some. Photovoltaic have been used as far back as 1958, however; those practical application has been primarily within area. They are most widely utilised at the moment in solar energy calculators and this need simply daylight to operate.

PV cells possess materials also known as semiconductors which can be silicon as well as are most frequently utilized. As soon as light sinks into the cell a small piece involving which will daylight might be immersed within the semiconductor material. Energy as light is actually transferred to the semiconductor which usually loosens electrons which then move readily in a particular direction. This flow involving electrons is a current you can use as power when metal associates are positioned at the very top and bottom of the Photovoltaic cell. The particular current and also the cell’s voltage show the amount of wattage this solar cells could possibly generate.

Using solar power is not however common enough to locate everyone utilizing it but there are some people that really feel they could support the environment while using solar Pv. Together with the price of electric power increasing along with the economy spiraling downward, people are curious about preserving on their utility bills or totally eliminating them while using solar energy. Photovoltaic is an alternative electrical power generating resource that may save money and do its part in preserving the planet. There is much talk about global warming as well as the greenhouse effect and also the use of solar PV, alternatively power source, could make us feel good about ourselves as we do our part.

After all that we’ve seen in the last years matters like the prices of the petrol crud oil barrel which have been hitting new peaks, the catastrophic effects of global warming due to the emission involving carbon dioxide causing serious heat as well as frosty waves along with some other world famous catastrophes, and more lately the awful leak inside the Mexico bay eradicating the life involving countless individuals and also harming all the faun within the region, it’s about time for taking action and cease depending on traditional petrol. Considering some other ways can be a likelihood. By way of example if only twenty per cent of the Sahara desert ended up being coated with solar PV then it may possibly supply 100% of the world electric use. Power from the sun is really a resource that will not finish anytime soon, eternal and 100 % free to use by anybody. Right now there is actually a interest to make a international switch of way of thinking and find conscious that it could help you save our children’s globe.

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While bags and backpacks with solar charging capabilities have been released in the past, they have been from relatively unknown companies and carried price tags that reduced them to little more than wishful thinking for many travelers. This summer, however, luggage industry leader Samsonite announced that it would release a new line of bags seemingly aimed at on-the-go green techies.

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Solar Luggage: A Bright Idea From Samsonite

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If you’re like me, when you hear the words “net zero house” you conjure up images of Earthships built from old tires and soda cans full of dirt, or funky-looking modernist homes that look they could be straight out of that SNL sketch, The Schoeners. But the Energy Producing Home from Neumann Companies is different.

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Neumann Unveils an Energy-Producing Home for the Masses

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San Leandro, California-based Novothink has finally shipped the Surge, a solar-charging case for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

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The Surge: Solar-Charging iPhone Case Hits Streets

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