NEW IDEAS WITH BEAUTIFUL HEAT
“Everyone’s feeling pretty. It’s hotter than July.” The heat is on, so we thought it a perfect time for a roundup of some of the most interesting ideas in solar energy and climate change solutions happening right now.
The Intersolar North America Conference 2013, considered to be the most important global meeting place for solar professionals in this region, opens today (07.08.13) in San Francisco. Over 600 exhibitors and 325 speakers will present the newest ideas in solar energy storage, manufacturing, market, policy, and financial issues.
Solar energy could well provide up to ⅓ of the world’s total energy demand after 2060. While that seems like a long time away, significant advances are happening right now that are already having an impact. Photovoltaics, the dominant presence at the conference, has been the fastest-growing renewable energy technology in the past 10 years, with over 100 gigawatts installed to date. That output is equivalent to of about 100 nuclear power plants' output. Costs are dropping and the worldwide market is growing.
Photo: Isofoton
Ground broke in the Moroccan town of Ouarzazate in May (2013) for a solar power research and test center designed by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt; DLR) for the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (Masen). The long-term objective of this new center is the development of a competitive solar power industry, that can replace coal in fueling the Moroccan electrical systems. The project is part of the Moroccan Solar Plan, which envisages having solar power stations capable of generating 2000 megawatts by 2020.
These power stations run on Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), a technology that involves the use of mirrors to concentrate solar radiation onto a point (tower power plant) or a line (parabolic trough power plant). The thermal energy collected here is then used to generate electricity, similar to a conventional steam power station. It has an advantage over other renewable energies in that it is easy to store. And it can deliver electrical power around the clock, even when the sun is hiding.
Photo: Courtesy of Free Hot Water
Free Hot Water makes off-grid solar hot water systems for off-grid customers, bringing it to communities that had previously no or little access to hot water, even for health or sanitation purposes. Recently, the company delivered a set of their new Maya systems to a number of off-grid medical clinics in Africa.
Waterborne diseases are particularly prevalent in the developing world, and are the leading cause of death there. According to the UN, over 4,000 children die daily after having fallen ill from drinking contaminated or unsanitary water. Even more die of dysentery, caused by waterborne parasites. Access to hot water can have an enormous positive impact for millions of people who now have none.
Free Hot Water, based in San Jose, California, also helps residential and commercial buildings, maintenance industries, and governments to convert to or improve their alternative energy programs. Their Solar Thermal+PV apartment complex project in San Francisco is a finalist in Intersolar North American Project Awards 2013 (winner announced: 07.09.13).
As European market leading experts in the design and manufacture of off-grid, portable, and permanent solar-powered generators, Firefly Solar powers people and organizations (such as BBC, Coca-Cola, and Greenpeace) that care about their energy usage and its affect on our planet. Their generators harness solar energy, using photovoltaic (PV) cells, with a genius multi-charge inputs for kinetic and wind energy storage as well, all with zero emissions.
Their products have won awards for their green storage systems, in particular. After winning the 2012 Berti Green Accelerator, they received £250k from Berti, an environmental impact investment company, investing in innovative, growing, entrepreneurial businesses in the UK focused on reducing carbon emissions.
Firefly also makes people-powered generators, called Kinectrics, including one that you can plug into your stationary bicycle and one that’s a giant wheel so pretend you’re a hamster while you make your own power.
SolarAid, the charity born in 2006 with 5% of British solar company Solarcentury’s profits, believes it is on course to emulate mobile phone companies and Coca-Cola in finding a route to mass markets in Africa with the sales in solar lights by its subsidiary, SunnyMoney.
A single solar lantern can save a household up to 40% of its annual expenditure by replacing use of expensive and pollutive kerosene and paraffin. Children in remote villages can now afford to study for an extra hour every night. Life is changing for the better. Students and their prospects are beginning to shine.
Find out more about the benefits that SolarAid and SunnyMoney are bringing to African families in the BBC Newsnight report below.
Video: Courtesy of SunnyMoneyTV
We are excited by these and other innovations making headway in finding energy solutions for a more beautiful world. Stay tuned for more as we continue to check in.
Everyone's feeling pretty
It's hotter than July
Though the world's full of problems
They couldn't touch us even if they tried
From the park I hear rhythms
Marley's hot on the box
Tonight there will be a party
On the corner at the end of the block
— Stevie Wonder, “Master Blaster”
Read more about heat all this week in Arts/Design, Food/Drink, Mind/Body, Place/Time, Nature/Science, and Soul Impact. And enter our photo competition this week. The theme: Heat (Deadline, July 14th, 2013).
