So how much does solar power cost exactly?

Well, maybe a better question we should be asking ourselves is, what will it cost us if we do not invest in solar power systems. With the effects of Global Warming, pollution from cars, and waste generated from power plants, we are effectively killing our most precious resource. If we do not begin to change the way we create and use energy, we will no longer have a livable earth to make our homes on. We will be handing down a diseased planet not worth living on to our children, where there will be no clean water to swim in, fresh non polluted air to breathe, or nutritious produce to consume. It is time to join a movement that is continually gaining momentum and will continue to do so. However it needs your help, and all that’s asked of you is to save money while saving the earth. So when thinking about solar power costs it’s not a very difficult decision is it?

There are so many reasons to install solar power to your home that it makes no sense not to anymore. More benefits are being discovered everyday. For instance the solar power systems cost of a residential home is dramatically reduced due to the fact that after the initial investment of installing solar panels, the energy created is 100% free. Older methods of energy creation that pollute the atmosphere like coal and nuclear technology are rising sharply in price and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Did you know you can even sell the solar energy to the utility company’s even furthering your savings. Not to mention the positive effects on the earth that come with not needing to use negative forms of generating energy. Solar panels are 100% environmentally friendly, no pollution at all, zilch, Nada, nothing!

Fortunately we are able to utilize solar power in easier and cheaper ways due to advancements in technology and techniques used to create more energy efficient, cheaper, and better looking solar panels. Luckily there are extremely easy ways to lower the cost of solar power, and also have some fun by making solar panels yourself. Doing it this way can drastically lower the amount of money you’ll spend on your initial investment. I highly recommend trying it out, just be careful when purchasing a kit, they are not all created equal.

This site is dedicated to helping everyday people move towards creating there own self sufficient renewable and cost effective solar electricity. For those of you who think that implementing solar energy into your household is to expensive or that you would like to but have no idea of how to go about it, well then you have come to the right place. It is our hope that we will be able to teach you about Solar Power Cost and the savings it will pass on to you.

Technorati Tags: cost of solar power, how much does solar power cost, Solar Power Cost, solar power costs, solar power systems cost

Japan's Nuclear Problems Are Just Starting

Hey folks hope your doing well today. I am a bit conflicted as I really wanted to continue my segment on Thailand solar power, however it would be a bit irresponsible of me to ignore the horrible nuclear disaster that is happening in Japan. So stay tuned for further posts about Thailand’s emerging solar power industry.

I feel for the Japanese, I really do, but nuclear travety’s have happened before with 3-mile island and Chernobyl, and it was just a matter of time till it happened again. Nuclear has and will play a huge role in moving the human race into this modern era, nobody is contesting that, however their have always been warning’s and fear that revolve around nuclear energy generation and for good reasons. Radioactive waste that is created from the energy generation will be around for a long, long time. This radio active waste remains so hot that if not treated properly it will burn straight into the earth. A meltdown itself is a loose term that pretty much means that the nuclear reactors core has partially or completely collapsed from one or more nuclear fuels element exceeding it’s melting point.

This is what we are witnessing now in Japan, the cooling systems have been compromised and the pools where spent nuclear fuels are kept in order to keep their temperature at below melting point are drying up because of the intense heat that is being put by the spent rods, this is why you may have seen on the news that the Japanese have been trying to flood the reactors with salt water from helicopters and the US have brought in gigantic water pumps.

Even if these extremely brave men and women, who have pretty much signed a death contract as they will die from radiation poison, are able to save the reactors from complete melt down the effects of nuclear radiation have already passed into the soil, water, animals, and sea. The devastation of this incident will be felt for generations to come.

So what really annoys me about this whole situation is the stance that America is taking on defending nuclear power. Look after everything we’ve been through in the nuclear age, nobody in their right mind would be able to say nuclear energy generation is safe, that would be purely absurd, right? Well that’s what we’re being told at this very moment. Look nuclear energy is important as we turn to the future, but when it comes down to it, it’s all about the cost of solar power, and rich men in the nuclear industry that want to continue stuffing their pockets by misleading the general public. Alternative sources of energy are a burgeoning new frontier for the human race, it should be embraced for what it is, not shunned for what it isn’t. And, folks lets be honest at the moment it is not cheap. Solar power costs a lot more at the moment than traditional forms of energy generation. But with continued research and development, alternative energies will become more effective and cost exponentially less. In fact clean forms of power generation will be the catalyst that will vault us into the next age of our evolution, and perhaps even better it won’t kill us or poison our home while it does it.

Technorati Tags: Alternative Sources Of Energy, cost of solar power, japan, nuclear energy generation, solar power costs

This House Could Easily Take Advantage of Solar Power

Alright, if any of you have been following solarpowercost.org, you will know that I am in sunny Thailand, soaking up some rays. I will be writing several articles about solar power initiatives that are being implemented while I am here, so stay tuned for more.

Today I am feeling extremely fortunate as I am back in Thailand from a 5 day stint in Cambodia to see Angkor Wat and it’s surrounding ruins. Lets just say you either love Cambodia, or hate it. Unfortunately for me, I belong to the later. However Angkor itself is definitely worth a trip to this cesspool, at least once in a lifetime, as it is truly a wonder of the world.

But as I have said I am back to my beloved Thailand and today I would like to talk about the largest by far project that is under development.

In late December Kyocera Group, a Japanese based company that specialize in ceramics, information technologies, and electronics, announced plans on a massive solar installation in North Eastern Thailand. The solar installations will consist of 6MW solar farms to be built at 34 sites. This is a win win situation for Thailand as for anyone who has visited before will know that the North East of Thailand is considered Isarn (pronounced Esan). This is by far the hottest area of Thailand (also the sunniest, and best suited for solar based alternative energies), as well as the most impoverished. I am extremely lucky to call many an Isarn good friends. They are the rice farmers, truly the backbone of Thai civilization, yet are treated unfortunately a lot of times as second class citizens. They have their own language, cuisine, looks, and culture. In fact many consider Isarn to be a totally different country within the borders of Thailand.

So why the cultural lesson? Why is this important, and why am I not talking about Thai solar power? Well lets get to the advantages of this ambitious project.

1. If you watched the news last year (April, 2010), you undoubtedly saw stories about mass protests in Bangkok, where to the horror of the kingdoms people, many of the protesters were slaughtered in attempts to disperse the crowds from the richest tourist areas of Bangkok. As the back story to this is extremely long and convoluted I will not attempt to explain it here. However what you should know is the protesters mainly consisted of poor rice farmers from the Isarn region. It is plain to see that this type of civil unrest is due to the thankless and extremely hard life these people deal with on a daily basis, while of course the rich get richer on their blood and sweat. Yeah, alright this is basically the same in every nation, well, if you actually were to see these farms, and talk to the Isarn about what they actually make per year, I am sure you would see the difference in quality of life the Isarn “enjoy”. So whats my point?

1. A project like this will be able to grant many people from this region with decent paying jobs. Not only that, it will also grant these people technology jobs, where hopefully, schooling will be provided to employees. The region will be looked upon in a different light from the rest of the country, as it will be providing clean and cheap energy to the rest of the kingdom. It will also give the people of Isarn something to be proud of.

2. The solar farms and their roughly one million solar modules will contribute 204-megawatts of clean alternative energy to a country that is listed as the 23rd largest energy consuming nation in the world, as well as ranking in the top 25 countries for largest carbon emissions. The energies generated from just this project is enough power to supply 170,000 Thai households.

3. Thailand has adopted a plan to have 20% of there annual power consumption to be generated by clean alternative energies by 2022. Will they be able to do this? I really cannot say, as I believe at the moment 1% of energy is generated from solar power installations as we speak. However the Thai people are an industrious, and efficient people. If the Kyocera solar farm project is any indicator of the future for solar power in Thailand, they very well may be able to reach their goal.

Technorati Tags: Kyocera solar farm, solar power in Thailand, solar power initiatives, Thai solar power

I think it’s really important for the armed forces to embrace alternative energies for a number of reasons. For one it cuts down on the massive costs of funding operations overseas dramatically. This is due to less fossil fuel convoys needing to travel through enemy territory which in turn helps cut down on fatalities of our troops. It also saves on the obvious costs of soaring fossil fuels. If there is a way to generate the power needed for bases and operations without putting our men in uniform in the way of even more danger then all efforts should be of the utmost importance to utilize solar power.

The armed forces have often played a major part in developing and furthering important technology. To see the military embracing new alternative energy technology is an important step for the industry. The army has recently unveiled the Rucksack Enhanced Portable Power System or (REPPS) for short. The rucksack contains a 62 watt solar blanket that can be utilized for running electrical equipment and charging batteries if more power is needed several REPPS may be daisy chained together creating a powerful solar energy system. At only 10 lbs. the rucksack is extremely portable and I expect to be seeing quite a few more small portable solar power options in the near future.

To read the full story please visit: http://www.army.mil/-news/2010/08/02/43176-army-deploys-innovative-battery-recharging-kit/

Technorati Tags: alternative energy, Solar Power Cost

Poor Windows Just Sitting There Waiting to Get Sprayed.

There is a new technology in the solar power industry you may have not yet heard of. New Energy Technologies have just unveiled their new solar window coating. The see-thru spray consists of the worlds smallest organic solar cells, and is easily applied to glass window surfaces without blocking the sunlight from your home or business.

Some of the highlights of this technology are:

• The solar cells in the spray are so small that they measure about a 1/4 the size of a grain of rice.

• The coating is very easy to apply and does not need costly vacuum or high temperature techniques but can instead be sprayed on at room temperature.

• The solar window coating conducts electricity from both natural light and does a much better job at generating electricity from artificial lighting. In fact it can generate up to ten fold the electricity from artificial light then traditional solar cells.

The aspect that really gets me excited aside from the ease of installation is the fact that it can generate quite a bit more power from artificial light then traditional PV cells. This is pretty cool because one of the disadvantages to today’s solar cells is it’s dependency on direct sunlight, this is a problem because it dictates where you need to place solar cells on your residence or business. What New Energy Technologies is proposing is that you will be able to use solar window coating on all of your glass windows and conduct energy from artificial light such as fluorescent as well, instead of just applying it to areas where there is direct sunlight.. How much energy and savings could be garnered from artificial light I am not quite sure about yet and will have to be seen, but the prospect non the less is interesting.

Unfortunately the companies website is a little vague on how the solar cells are actually able to do this, but it does state that in a scientific study:

“Under normal office lighting conditions, without the benefit of outside natural light from windows, New Energy’s ultra-small solar cells produced:

• Almost 2-fold greater output power density than monocrystalline silicon, an established commercial solar cell material;

• More than 8-fold greater output power density than copper-indium-selenide, known for its high optical absorption coefficients and versatile optical and electrical characteristics; and

• More than 10-fold greater output power density than flexible thin-film amorphous-silicon, a popular ‘second-generation’ solar thin-film material.”

So, we will have to see if the energy generated from artificial light is enough to be considered any value on it’s own, but as an additional source of energy combining with the energy generated from direct sunlight, along with the ease of use, solar window coating may be a strong contender. Time will tell, and we’ll keep you updated.

What do you think about Solar Window coating, breakthrough, or meh? Be sure to let us know.

Make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed so you can stay up to date when we post more information on renewable energy technology and thank you for visiting Solar Power Cost.

Technorati Tags: alternative energies, alternative energy technology, renewable energy, solar window coating

Not only have these programs increased the amount of photovoltaic systems throughout the US but the average cost of installing a new solar power installation has decreased dramatically from $9 to $6 since 2008. This is a huge difference in price.

This decrease in the cost of solar power is extremely important for the future as at the moment cost for a Kilowatt of power throughout the US ranges from 8 cents to just under 20 cents per KwH. These prices are set to dramatically increase in the upcoming years. Renewable energies however will continue to fall as more and more projects are completed. This will amount to vast savings in the next 50 years .

Not to mention the revenue and jobs solar power projects are bringing in as well. Take Pennsylvania for instance. According to The Mercury, “the share of solar power added to Pennsylvania’s grid increased by 350 percent and brought $1.4 million into the state’s economy in 2009.” As our economy and job market is in recession, generating new technology jobs, while generating clean renewable energy should be a main focus for the US.

We are also seeing a positive trend of schools embracing the need of investing in solar power for it’s environmental and economical benefits.

All in all, renewable energy is gaining more mainstream support everyday.

Technorati Tags: alternative energies, alternative energy project, how much does solar power cost, Solar Power Cost

The scientists start with a cylindrical wafer of silicon and introduce chloroauric acid which creates nano-particles of gold that then etch into the silicon in such small diameter that it would take 40 of these holes to equal one human hair.

Light comes from the sun as protons and then can be converted into electrons for our use. The problem lies in the fact that the protons bounce off of surfaces and the potential energy is then lost. This is where the tiny little holes come in. Through the addition of these holes being etched into the gray silicon it turns incredibly black which will allow the silicon wafer to capture all the colors of light the sun throws at it.

Now black silicon wet etch technology is not perfect yet, and there are still a lot of studies to do. For one the wafer itself is able to capture more protons then traditional PV reflective surfaces. However NREL’s solar cells made with the solar wafer are still a few tenths of a percentage less efficient then traditional photo voltaic cells. NREL is now working on improving the effiency of the solar wafer.

But with this technology the cost of producing solar cells is greatly reduced, and simplified using the chemical bath, and forgoing a reflective surface. They have also found that the solar wafer requires about a third less of the energy as opposed to adding a reflective layer. Furthermore the solar wafer is much better for the environment as dangerous gases are used in the production of traditional solar cells such as silane, and nitrogen trifluoride. These gases are horrendous to the environment, and therefore cuts down on greatly on greenhouse gases. This will mean a significant drop in the cost for solar roof tiles and other photo voltaic devices.

Visit http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/09/cheaper-better-solar-cell-is-full-of-holes to read the full story.

Technorati Tags: black silicon wet etch technology, solar power costs, Solar Roof Tiles

Renewable Energies Create The Best Tasting Soy Sauce You Can Count On That

Good news for sushi and solar aficionado’s alike. Kikkoman’s soy sauce factory located Folsom California has recently put in a car port solar system to run it’s factory.

Carport solar array installations are becoming more and more popular with businesses as they are
much easier to install, maintain, and make use of space that otherwise would not be used. The solar array installations themselves are mounted in a parking lot and wired to the business taking care of much or all of their power needs.

Another clear advantage for companies is that they will have a clear and well seen example to customers and business partners the level of commitment that the company is going through in order to make better use of clean and renewable energies and utilize state of the art technology to not only save money which will then be passed onto the customer but also the will of the environmentally conscious customer.

I think this is really important, as a consumer I try to use products and lean towards companies that are environmentally responsible as it shows to me a commitment to it’ customers wants and needs. Why is this you might ask? Well to me it’s no longer a world without options. My meaning is that if their is a company who offers you a product then you better believe that there is plenty other company’s offering the same product or service. It’s up to these companies to ensure safe and better business practices to it’s customers. Personally I always take into consideration who I’m doing business with, and just offering a product is not good enough anymore, you need to be offering me a product that I know is good plus the knowledge that I, as in me, am not supporting the destruction of the Eco system out of association.

This is something we will be seeing more and more of and I think it is part of good customer service to not just think of me as money but as someone with needs and ideas.

The Kikkoman carport solar system will generate 150,000 kWh annually and all the renewable energy not consumed will be sold back to the grid which will lower the solar power costs considerably. So next time you’re at your favorite sushi bar rejoice in the fact that the sun was influential in the making of that soy sauce your plunging your unagi in!

Technorati Tags: car port solar system, environmentally conscious, renewable energies, renewable energy, solar array installations, solar power costs

California Solar Power

Way to go California! It seems San Jose has reached first place with reidential solar power systems and commercial installations, along with several other California city’s close at it’s heel. California solar power is on the rise and hopefully will not be slowing in the future.

Several years ago California adopted a state plan called the California Solar Initiative. The program encourages homeowners, business’s, non-profits, and local government to install solar panels on roofs and surrounding areas. The goal of the initiative is to have 1,750 new megawatts of solar energy installed in the state by 2016.  So far there has been 726 megawatts of solar energy installed or are in pipeline taking care of 42% of the initiative.

According to new data, since Jan. 1, 2007, to July 7, 2010, San Jose installed 14.9 megawatts of solar power on residential and commercial roofs, followed by San Diego with 11.3 MW and Fresno with 9.2 MW, according to an annual report released by the California Public Utilities Commission last week.

This came as no surprise to San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, who was quoted as saying in the Mercury News “I’m not surprised that we’re high up the list,” Reed said Wednesday. “We’ve got some major solar installations in the city — including at eBay, Cypress Semiconductor and the San Jose Unified and East Side Union High School districts.”

San Jose is blessed by an average of 300 sunny days a year and is a perfect candidate for Mayor Chuck Reeds vision of a “green city.” The mayor’s platform has been has leaned heavy on green initiatives and renewable energies. The Mayor has also had solar panels installed on his own home.

San Jose is in the number one slot for now but as far as solar energy projects in the pipeline San Diego is first with an astounding 25.1 megawatt pending installation, followed by San Jose with 17.9 and Lancaster with 16 MW.

Advantages and disadvantages solar power

The advantages are that solar power is clean and renewable. So what are the disadvantages of solar power? Well for now solar power is still at a premium. The goal of the California Solar Initiative is to help reach “grid parity” which is the point where solar energy is able to compete with less costly energy production methods like coal and natural gas. The more solar power systems America installs the less solar power cost is involved.

What do you think of California Solar Power and the states initiative?

California solar initiative top 10 cities
1. San Jose “” 14.9 megawatts
2. San Diego “” 11.3 MW
3. Fresno “” 9.2 MW
4. Bakersfield “” 6.3 MW
5. Santa Rosa “” 4.9 MW
6. San Francisco “” 4.4 MW
7. Chico “” 4.4 MW
8. Richmond “” 4.3 MW
9. Visalia “” 4.1 MW
10. Livermore “” 4.1 MW

Technorati Tags: Advantages and disadvantages solar power, California solar power, reidential solar power systems, Solar Power Cost

That’s right flown over, man has gained much from flight. It is something that has always captivated us. To be able to break free of our terrestrial shackles and defy gravity. It’s a wondrous thing and because of it we are able to visit tropical paradises, bring aid to desperate people in need of help, and export and import goods from all over the world.

So what does solar power have to do with this? All right I’ll get to the point. The first ever solar powered night flight was successfully concluded on July 7, 2010 by André Borschberg a Swiss Air Force fighter pilot. The Solar Impulse HB-SIA solar-powered airplane was in the air for 26 hours and was powered only by solar power and battery backup system. The Solar Impulse is equipped with panels containing solar power cells that convert the sun’s energy into electricity. The plane flew to 28,000 ft. above sea level and flew at an average of 23 knots, or about 26 MPH, okay so it’s not blindingly fast but this is the longest and highest flight in solar aviation and has monumental significance for solar and wind power and what we can apply it to.

For one, this means that theoretically the plane could stay aloft indefinitely recharging it’s batteries during the day and using it’s stored power throughout the night. The Associated Press quoted the projects co-founder Dr. Bertrand Piccard as saying.“We are on the verge of the perpetual flight.”

This to me is awe inspiring, now we still have a long way to go before we’re seeing solar powered 747’s but this is a huge step for mankind.

Technorati Tags: solar power and battery backup system, solar power cells, Solar power efficiency