A GM Plant in Spain is gearing up to go solar with a massive solar roofing project. Check it out.

Tagged as: gm, roof, solar, spain

From telegraph.co.uk…

The US government is putting a hold on new solar energy projects on public land for two years so it can study the environmental impact of sun-driven plants.

The Bureau of Land Management says the moratorium on solar proposals is needed to determine how a new generation of large-scale projects could affect plants and wildlife on the land it manages.

 Brad Collins, of the American Solar Energy Society isn’t pleased, and is quoted as saying “If there is an environmental concern, that can be addressed without putting a halt to this technology and helping to impact our greenhouse gas emissions and the environmental degradation from coal-fired and natural gas plants,”. I have to agree with him.

There of course will be some environmental effects from large scale solar plants, but since they push power out to the public using the same methods as currently used power generation plants, the only environmental effects it could have that would differ from current coal-fired and other currently used systems would be in the solar arrays themselves. While there may be heat issues, or other effects on the nearby wildlife due to the amount of reflected light, the effects would be drastically less complex to study then other forms of power generation already in use. Actually halting new projects is serious overkill in this case. There could easily be studies done in tandem with current and future solar development projects both in the US and other countries. There is simply no reason at all to completely halt new projects, especially when solar development is about to hit critical mass. This could set back solar technology and development FAR more than 2 years in the long run.

The US has been ass backwards when it comes to promoting and developing solar technology, so this move is hardly that surprising, but it is MASSIVELY counter-productive to their goals of moving away from fossil fuels and other non-renewables.

I hope this is cut short and new projects can get going again soon. It’s nice to know that at least projects that have already put in proposals and applications for use of government land will get their chance…but it’s a small consolation given the circumstances.

Tagged as: american solar energy society, bureau of land management, environment impact, Government, solar

Above is a great clip from the show Big Ideas for a Small Planet, where they discuss solar power. This is definitely worth taking the time to watch, even if you are only slightly interested in the technology.

Tagged as: big ideas, small planet, solar ideas, solar planet

I am always frustrated that I don’t have a solar powered laptop, but with the Powerfilm solar battery charger, I can always keep my digital camera’s batteries full. Designed to charge either two or four AA batteries at a time, the Powerfilm solar battery charger takes between four and eight hours to charge a drained battery.

It is designed to be compact, and is lighter than keeping a second set of AA batteries on your person. The Powerfilm solar battery charger is available now and will set you back around $130 USD.

The only issue I have with this device is the cost. If it was around twenty or thirty dollars, it would make a strong case for its usefulness because I could by a whole lot of non-rechargeable AA’s for the same price, and while I do enjoy helping the environment, I don’t think it should make us all poor to do so.

Tagged as: battery charger, solar battery charger, solar charger

A Japanese consortium have come together to create a device that looks like a plant, but is in fact a solar power generator where the cells are disguised into the fake leaves.

This is just one of their many projects to try to integrate solar technology into everyday environments. I don’t see this being terribly popular, but here in London, Ontario Canada, we have metal trees that are pink, purple, yellow and orange lining the streets and I think a more realistic looking model with solar cell leaves would be much more of a benefit both to the community, and my eyes.

This latest endeavour comes from the folks at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Mitsubishi, and Tokki Corp.

I really like the idea of including more solar technology in our day to day lives without making it overly apparent, or at least ugly. I hope though that the efficiency of these trees is high so that they provide enough benefit to replace the benefit of having a real tree in the same spot.

Source: Engadget

Tagged as: hidden solar power, solar environment, solar plants