Solar One at the Annual Night Out Against Crime
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
On Tuesday, August 5th, the 13th Police Precinct held the Annual National Night Out Against Crime by opening up the schoolyard on 20th Street and Second Avenue to local organizations and providing music, free food and ice cream to neighborhood residents. Solar One’s information table was a big success. Councilman Dan Garodnick stopped by to say hello and wish us well. Several hundred people got to know more about Solar One’s green arts and education programs and received free CFL light bulbs when they joined our mailing list. Fun was had by all.
Posted in Art, Energy Efficiency, New York City, Other Events, Politics, Solar One, Sustainability | Permalink
The Future Cost of Solar Panels
Friday, August 8th, 2008
Solar power used to be expensive.
The thought of a rooftop full of solar panels used to be so sci-fi, so utopian, so laughably idealistic. An experimental pipedream for those who could afford it; a whimsical indulgence of easy wealth and new-age guilt. Anything but practical.
Used to be.
Recent developments are promising to make pV more prole-friendly than ever, and more help is on the way. Creative legislation and policy measures at the municipal and state levels, such as property tax abatements, expanded net-metering policies and feed-in tariffs, are building incentive structures designed to blunt the daunting start-up costs associated with photovoltaic arrays. And greater technological efficiency coupled with an increase in the number of available panels at the supply end could turn solar into a veritable bargain.
MIT researcher Emmanuel Sachs has found a way - or more accurately, a couple of little ways - to increase the efficiency of multicrystalline silicon - a cheaper and less pure form of the material used to make pV panels - without increasing its price. Single-crystal panels, though pricier, are 20% more efficient on average.
One way utilizes an innovative process to create longer, thinner silver wires that transmit generated energy from the panel to the battery. These wires are more cost-effective because they take up less surface area on the panel and hence allow more light to be processed. They can also be placed closer together, allowing them to carry more current, and are made from a less expensive form of silver, thereby cutting raw material costs.
Another way places “mirrored surfaces” on the interconnect wires that collect current from these silver wires and link adjacent cells. These wide, flat wires can cut down on pV efficiency by shading the panel by as much as 5%. The mirrors allow light to be reflected back into the panel at a more acute angle, which causes the light to remain trapped in the panel for a longer period of time, leading to more efficient absorption and energy conversion.
These seemingly small steps in tandem would help to increase efficiency of multicrystalline panels by more than 20%, lowering the cost of their generated energy from $2.00 to $1.65 per watt, on par with single-crystal. Other small adjustments - more efficient coating, substituting copper for silver - could bring the cost down to $1.00 - coal-burning prices - within four years, according to Sachs.
And one other factor may help lower the price of photovoltaic panels further. According to the US Energy Information Administration, silicon itself will get significantly cheaper in coming years; so many people have been purchasing panels recently that supply is having trouble meeting demand, boosting prices to unprecedented levels. The price of solar-grade polysilicon rose by a factor of nearly 20 between 2004 and 2008 - from $24 per kg to $450; total global demand for silicon rose from 17 million to 28 million kgs between 2006 and 2007 alone. However, this global material shortage will soon be alleviated by the twenty-one new silicon manufacturing plants that came on-line in 2007, with more slated for production. As the second-most abundant element in the earth’s crust, silicon should remain affordable once the necessary processing infrastructure is in place. And this lower material cost will likely spur further demand and investment. Not so pie-in-the-sky, after all.
Click here for more info on Sachs and his latest developments.
Sources: “Engineering Silicon Solar Cells to Make Photovoltaic Power Affordable”, Scientific American; “Solar Thermal and Photovoltaic Collector Manufacturing Activities 2006″, US Energy Information Administration; “Silicon Prices”, www.wikinvest.com; “Marketbuzz 2008: Annual World Solar Photovoltaic Industry Report”, Solarbuzz; “Silicon”, Wikipedia; 1366 Technologies website (1366tech.com)
Posted in Energy, Energy Efficiency, Green Building, Photovoltaics, Renewables, Sustainability, Technology | Permalink
Solar One on WNYC!
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
Jocelyn Gonzalez reports on Solar One and its cultural programs. Interviews with Tamar Rogoff, Solar One’s Art Director explain the unique qualities of Solar One’s Dance Festival and other programming. Check out this great story about Solar One via WNYC New York Public Radio: here
Posted in Art, Energy Efficiency, Solar One | Permalink
Another PV Breakthrough
Friday, July 18th, 2008
If it seems like solar technology has been improving almost by the day, well that’s probably because it has. It takes some serious effort these days to keep up with all the reports about newer and more efficient ways to harvest the sun’s rays. But this latest development takes an approach that seems especially ingenious.
Many photovoltaic arrays attempt to boost their efficiency by changing the angle of their panels as the sun shifts position in the sky. However, there are a number of drawbacks to such “trackers”, including their expensive installation and maintenance, as well as the possibility of damaging the PV cells through overheating, and keeping them cool requires the installation of even more expensive technology. So scientists have begun to develop and experiment with devices called Lumiscent Solar Concentrators (LSCs), which capture the sun’s rays before focusing them on the solar cell regardless of the angle from which they arrive, thereby improving efficiency.
These devices, a throwback to technology initially developed during the 1970s, are essentially plastic sheets laden with dye molecules that absorb light and are similar in principle to fiber optic cables, trapping and bouncing photons (particles of light) between the plastic surfaces while steering them towards the cell. But determining the right amount of dye molecules is still tricky business. Too many leads to greater heat loss through dye absorption, hence greater inefficiency, and too few means less sunlight captured.
But one new LSC innovation could conceivably triple the efficiency of these devices, and make them cheaper to manufacture. As reported in a recent issue of Science (see abstract) , two MIT researchers have introduced a radical wrinkle by getting rid of the plastic sheet and spraying a pane of glass with a combination of dyes and an aluminum compound called tris (8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum. This novel combination joins two phenomena. First, the glass and dyes act together to capture light and prevent its escape. Second, the dyes and tris aluminum in tandem create a quantum effect (called Forster energy transfer) that re-emits the photons at a different wavelength, preventing their loss by dye molecule absorption. Together, these combined effects also mean that the solar cells can be significantly smaller and need only be placed at the edges of the glass pane rather than spread over a large surface area, further minimizing costs and installation difficulties.
Finally, by adding a second treated glass panel on top to absorb rays of shorter wavelength such as ultraviolet light, these LSCs are made even more efficient. This way the panel underneath will not only catch the longer wavelengths that elude the first, but will also recover any incidental photons lost after their initial capture. The end result is a prototype device with an efficiency potentially ten times greater than that of conventional solar cells. And they’re apparently so simple to manufacture that they could be on the market within three years. The future continues to gain speed…
Sources: “Breakthrough in solar energy: ten times more effective solar power may be available in three years”, www.mongabay.com; “MIT opens new ‘window’ on solar energy”, MIT News;“High Efficiency Organic Solar Concentrators for Photovoltaics” (abstract), Science; “Guiding Light”, The Economist; “Forster resonance energy transfer”, Wikipedia.
Posted in Energy Efficiency, Green Building, Photovoltaics, Sustainability, Technology | Permalink
CFLs Soon Safer to Handle
Saturday, July 12th, 2008
In the not-too-distant future, it looks like you’ll be able to handle your CFLs without worrying about the hazards of mercury.
While Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs) have long been seen as a technology with significant potential to conserve electricity and reduce consumer energy costs, one of their main drawbacks has been public trepidation about exposure to this toxic element if a bulb happens to break. Now nanotechnology researchers may have developed a way to reduce this concern. According to an article in this week’s Science Times, experiments with microparticles of various elements including sulfur, copper, nickel and most notably selenium have demonstrated promising results when binding with mercury. Potential applications could weave “nanoselenium” into CFL packaging and special cloth with which to mop up breakage, even plastic bags for recycling spent or shattered bulbs.
This means one less reason not to make the switch to these spiral-shaped icons of energy efficiency. Anyway, you won’t have a choice beginning in 2012. As a consequence of last December’s energy bill, traditional incandescent bulbs will be phased out of use, beginning with the 100-watt bulb and ending with the 40-watt in 2014. This ensures that, while we may not necessarily know how bright the future will be, getting there will be a whole lot more efficient.
Posted in Energy, Energy Efficiency, Legislation, Pollution, Products, Recycling, Renewables, Technology, Tru Light | Permalink
Kudos to One of Solar One’s Own
Friday, July 11th, 2008
A member of the Solar One family received high praise in the local press this week. Christopher Kennedy, ecological artist and Educational Coordinator at Solar One, was featured in yesterday’s New York Metro. CK’s “Urban Epiphyte” project caught the attention of New Yorkers throughout the city, as participants donned vegetation as part of their daily dress to draw notice to our local ecology. Epiphytes are organisms, mostly plants, that live by attaching themselves to other plants for physical support. Mainstays of rain forests such as orchids and bromeliads, which essentially grow in the upper canopy of their host trees, are the most well-known members of this classification.
Participants in the “Urban Epiphyte” project went through their normal routines wearing live plants culled by CK from Prospect Park in tool belts and fanny packs, documenting reactions and interactions with other New Yorkers. In one instance, a crowd gathered to help as one plant fell to the subway platform. Chris himself noted that the people he encountered treated his plants with the care normally reserved for pets and that many kept discussing the incident afterward. Ultimately, those fortuitous witnesses were inclined to consider aspects of their environments that they normally take for granted in a new light. Isn’t that the whole point to quality art?
Posted in Art, Energy Efficiency, Global Warming, Legislation, Native Plants, New York City, S1 in the News, Solar One | Permalink
Solar One is Hiring!
Friday, June 20th, 2008Solar One is looking for an Energy $mart Communities Coordinator to begin work later this summer. We will be responsible for the region encompassing Manhattan and Staten Island, working to market NYSERDA’s programs and promote energy efficiency throughout those boroughs. For more information and application instructions, please see our jobs page. For more information on the Energy $mart program, click the logo below.
Posted in Energy Efficiency, Green Building, New York City, Solar One | Permalink
Thank you!
Thursday, June 12th, 2008
We have many reasons to say “thank you” to so many people from the past few days! Some great parties were thrown under our tent this week(pictures from Revelry and GOOD Greenmarket after the jump) and we’re grateful to be working with so many talented and dedicated groups:
* Thank you to all of our Revelry By The River honorees, sponsors and attendees for truly making it our best Revelry ever. We feel really good about everything that we’ve done over the past year, and your support really affirms our mission to promote sustainability in the Big Apple;
* Thank you to dvGreen, design one, Scharff Weisberg, Sage Events and everyone who worked so hard to make the event such a beautiful and delicious one. And thank you to the weather for cooperating.
* Thank you to the folks at GOOD Magazine, Loving Day and Green Drinks for putting on three great events on Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday. We had thousands of people throughout the weekend eating, drinking, enjoying the music, and just generally having a good time despite the 90+ degree heat.
* Thank you to City Councilmember David Yassky for coming down to Solar 1 in the record-breaking heat yesterday for a conversation with Solar One Outreach & Advocacy Coordinator Chris Neidl on green politics and policy-making in NYC.
* Thank you to all the Solar One staff and volunteers who put in countless hours in recent weeks getting things ready and working to make sure that everything went so smoothly.
I could go on, but I think the point is made - if this past weekend is any indication, it’s going to be a great summer out at Solar 1. Don’t forget to come back for Citysol, June 26–29!
Posted in Energy Efficiency, Revelry By The River, Solar One, Sustainability | Permalink
Nissan Plans All-Electric Car for 2010
Thursday, May 15th, 2008
Speaking at a press conference in Portugal last week, Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Renault and Nissan, announced bold plans to introduce a battery-powered car for the mainstream American automobile market by 2010 and a complete range of affordable electric vehicles for global launch by 2012. This announcement follows on the heels of another just-unveiled initiative by Renault-Nissan, in partnership with the Silicon Valley venture Project Better Place, to introduce all-electric cars and a network of charging points throughout Denmark and Israel by 2011. Through such ambitious endeavors, Ghosn is clearly positioning Renault-Nissan to corner the market in “affordable zero-emission vehicles”. Although the company is investing in the production of both parallel and plug-in hybrids as well as hydrogen-powered automobiles, it clearly favors the all-electric approach for large-scale retail markets; Nissan plans to offer its first electric model to the public for around $25,000. According to Ghosn, except for the batteries, the technology is already in place for such a democratic endeavor. But with rapid improvements being made in lithium-ion batteries and massive investment from Nissan as well as other companies, practical and affordable battery technology is simply a matter of time.
Posted in Energy Efficiency, Renewables, Technology, Transportation | Permalink
BioFuels: Culprit or Scapegoat?
Monday, April 28th, 2008
The global trend toward biofuels came under attack last week at the International Energy Forum in Rome. Blamed by industry insiders for the nascent food crisis, alternative fuels made from cash crops - particularly grains - have been subject to growing criticism as it becomes evident that they aren’t the much-touted panacea for global warming many had imagined. Though these comments aren’t especially surprising coming from a bunch of oil CEOs and government policy wonks, they shouldn’t necessarily be dismissed. More and more studies are indicating that biofuels such as ethanol use at least as much energy as they are purported to save, and that the reallocation of farm land for fuel crops is putting a strain on global food markets.
So biofuels apparently aren’t all they were cracked up to be. We shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss biofuels, however. While they make a convenient scapegoat for the current crisis and are clearly deserving of skepticism, they may not be entirely to blame, despite what the energy moguls claim. Biofuels will probably never live up to their original hype, but with continued technological progress and more intelligent legislation, they may still find their niche on a smaller, more sustainable scale. First, while most attempts to produce biofuels utilize processes and raw materials that are inefficient, some alternative methods offer hope. The International Energy Agency (IEA) supports the use of second-generation biofuels, which use non-food crops to produce the fuel. Other methods focus on genetically engineering certain tree species to reduce lignin levels, which prevent researchers from accessing the cellulose needed for ethanol production. Given their high levels of cellulosity, trees are otherwise perfect candidates for biofuels. Such methods are not without their own controversies, however; critics of bioengineering have raised concerns over compromising the structural integrity of these experimental trees, not to mention the threat of cross-fertilization with wild strains. Second, most current subsidy policies do little but promote such inefficiency. Corn-based ethanol - the bulk of biofuel produced in the U.S. - is especially inefficient given corn’s low cellulose content compared to other potential sources. Yet Congress continues to pass bills in favor of greater corn subsidies and cornthanol production. (Click here and here to read our past posts.) At the conference, recently ousted Italian prime minister Romano Prodi astutely commented that “We have to examine very closely subsidy policies so as to avoid distortions in the allocation of resources”. Such a prudent approach may prove better in the long run than the outright dismissal of biofuels, despite the significant limitations born out by recent events.
“Tortillanomics”, a slideshow on Frontline’s website, also explores the effects of biofuel production on corn prices in Mexico. Click here.
Posted in Biofuel, Energy Efficiency, Food, Legislation, Politics, Sustainability | Permalink
