Stanford Connects the Dots

Stanford has joined the race for cheaper, smaller solar panel systems by tweaking their solar dots. The dots are made from small crystals which produce 30% more energy and are only nonometers in size — making them the teeniest solar panels of them all. Well played sirs, well played.

DuRock Receives microFIT payment

DuRock Alfacing International received its first microFIT payment in Ontario. The $4,000 payment was a 5% return on their initial investment. DuRock combined their elastomeric utherane roof coating which reflects solar radiation with Sanyo’s HIT double PV modules to get 30% higher output. See the full story…

Solar Landfill

Towns in Massachusetts have found a use for capped landfill sites; large solar power systems that will net the town up to $70 Million over the next 25 years.

Brewed Awakenings

This week we look at two brews which use their heads by utilizing solar power to bring you your favourite beverages.

There’s nothing better than relaxing with a nice cold beer? Wrong! Not when you can relax with a nice cold solar powered beer. The Sierra Nevada Brewing Company owns one of the largest solar powered systems in the U.S. Since 2008, this innovative brewery has been putting sunshine in your mug. The brewery’s solar power system consists of two solar arrays. The first is an array of 6 700 Mitsubishi, 185 watt lead-free panels which utilize the brewery’s ample roof space to produce 1.4 MW of AC power. This system is coupled with an additional 2000 SunPower, 220 watt solar panels. This array avails itself of an intelligent tracking system that angles solar panels to receive the most daylight. This increases output by up to 30% and provides shaded parking for staff and customers. The system provides 892, 859 kWh per year. Sierra Nevada brews several varieties of beer it’s most popular being the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Brew number two is Solar Roast Coffee; the best coffee under the sun! Fair trade coffee is passé when compared to this feisty cuppa cooked up by brothers David and Michael Hartkop. The first coffee roaster was constructed from an old satellite dish and a colander and given the heady sobriquet Helios 1. It was made from 100 plastic mirrors and roasted one pound of coffee at a time. Subsequent models were more sophisticated and fruitful, but could not surmount the fact that Oregon has only three months of sunny weather a year. Meet Helios 3; this bad boy was constructed on a trailer, roasts five pounds of coffee at a time and folds up easily for transport to provide the general public with a cup o’ joe on the go.

Helios 3 solar roaster

Pueblo California was where the Helios 3 found its final resting place as the brothers Hartkop set up their first retail business. They now

use a solid wall of mirrors, mounted to the roof of their coffee shop to roast 30 pounds of beans in only 20 minutes. Solar Roast Coffee sales have soared and they have opened several retail outlets around the U.S. They also sell their beans on the Internet and are always looking for ways to improve their Helios. Remember; chicks dig it!

The Race for Affordable Solar is on!

The flexible solar module is as small as the page of a book.(Credit: Copyright Fraunhofer ISE)

The brainiacs at Oxford are making screen printed organic solar cells. These printed cells use non-toxic materials that are readily available, so they have a smaller carbon footprint. This new kind of thin film technology can be applied directly to glass and can be up to 50% cheaper. The panels come in different colours, so instead of putting a solar power system on your roof, you could have a beautiful stained glass window that produces energy.

Not to be outdone, researchers from MIT are printing solar panels onto flexible materials, including toilet paper. Unless the sun does actually shine out of your unmentionables, it is unlikely that toilet paper will be added to solar arrays. It does, however, highlight the versatility of new techniques which may see users printing solar cells on their own office printers.