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10 Steps for Home Solar Panel Installation
Residential solar is a smart solution for homeowners needing to curb the cost of home energy and a choice that transitions your home to greater energy self-sufficiency. Small to medium sized solar panel arrays installed on your roof or in the yard, can significantly reduce your monthly energy bill. If you live where land allows for [...]
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Marine Solar Power
01.14.12
From sailing to sports fishing, marine solar power solutions can make your boating experience considerably quieter and safer. Marine solar technology provides self-sufficient power and lighting solutions around the world, considered a reliable standard in offshore power for both industrial and commercial markets. Today a wide variety of marine power needs are being met with high performance offshore solar applications in Coast Guard safety lighting, Oil and Gas Rig lighting as well as Marine navigation aids. Avid leisure boaters can also choose from a selection of marine solar products including state-of-the-art solar boat designs, solar panels or complete marine solar panel systems.
Marine solar for leisure boating offers power adaptation to boaters looking to integrate solar energy as a backup or primary on-board energy source. However marine safety must be integral to the concept of using on-board solar power. In Canada, as is the case in many parts of the world, boaters are required to pass a boating safety exam and obtain their boating license. Safety minded boaters can also now benefit in the knowledge that marine solar solutions are actually improving water safety.
Millions of Canadians spends much of the year living with very cold temperatures in snow up to their necks. We receive much less daylight in the winter and tend to spend a lot of time getting to and from places in the snow in sub-human lighting conditions. This means electric bills are much higher for most Canadians, anywhere from four to six months in the year. For homeowners in Canada extreme weather means we are always looking for the best home maintenance solutions and home service companies like Garaga, that sell garage doors in Ottawa, where winters are typically extremely cold. Extreme weather means things like garage doors need replacing or upgrading, roofing repairs are normal and reliable outdoor lighting – well it just needs to be really reliable.
Having adequate outdoor lighting is that much more important on those dark mornings Canadians are out trying to get their car started while shoveling the drive, and when arriving home from work in the pitch dark. Outdoor solar lighting is easily considered one of the better solutions to meeting our need for light in the snowy darkness. Not only does solar lighting ensure homeowners save money on their winter energy bills, but solar lights are no-fuss, low maintenance, self-replenishing, environmentally safe light solutions, when and where you need them the most.
Heading into 2012 two phrases come to mind when I think of the solar industry – supply chains and debt crisis. We are seeing the unraveling of complex supply chains for many industries around the world, and signs of stress are starting to show for the supply of energy in all its forms. While Iran strategically patrols the Strait of Hormuz (the waterway through which Arab oil is shipped) and the US meets them head-on in full Warship regalia, it seems reasonable to project that tensions over oil will continue into 2012. With nuclear energy declining in response to Fukushima, it’s becoming clear that energy supply and demand will be impacted dramatically in 2012, no matter how optimistic the sustainable energy pundits spin their windmills. We might wonder also how food production is married to oil, but I don’t read much about that relationship and what we might expect in the years ahead. Consider that disruptions in oil and the supply of energy leads directly to the disruption of everything else we rely on.
contributed by Kriss Bergethon owner of Solar Sphere
We have the pleasure of working with hundreds of people every day that want to reduce their energy bills, go green and jump on the solar power bandwagon. The questions we see over and over again are – Just how much do I need and what will it cost? We’ll tackle those question here and show you how we calculate system size and cost. We have simple solar calculators that can do this on our website, but so many people have asked us how this is actually calculated. So we thought we’d give a quick solar design lesson.
Start With Energy Consumption
We spoke to some
I’m excited to announce that Dr. Hermann Scheer’s final book The Energy Imperative 100% Renewable Now, will be available through Amazon.com this month. Visit the link to Pre-order your copy, or bookmark the Amazon page to come back and order it mid-December.
For decades, Hermann Scheer was one of the world’s leading proponents of renewable energy. In this, his last book before his death in 2010, he lays out his vision for a planet 100% powered by renewables and examines the fundamental ethical and economic imperatives for such a shift. And most importantly, he demonstrates why the time for this transition is now.
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