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A seriously good commercial by german solar component manufacturer Solon. Plus, an important announcement by Todd.
Current great deals on DC Disconnects (changes daily):
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MidNite Solar MNBIGBABY Big Baby Box AC / DC Disconnect US $38.88 End Date: Saturday Sep-04-2010 20:57:58 PDT Add to watch list |
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New SMA Solar DC-Disconnect Switch model: DC-DisconU-21 US $70.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Sunday Sep-05-2010 15:49:40 PDT Add to watch list |
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Swagelok Quick Disconnect Coupling, SS-QC8-DC-8MS US $39.95 End Date: Wednesday Sep-08-2010 4:44:18 PDT Add to watch list |
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**NEW** SMA DC Disconnect- DC-DisconU-21 US $50.00 End Date: Thursday Sep-09-2010 14:30:07 PDT Add to watch list |
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SMA Sunny Boy 8000US Inverter w/DC Disconnect FREE SHIP US $3,745.00 End Date: Friday Sep-10-2010 5:51:47 PDT Add to watch list |
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New SMA Solar DC Disconnect Switch # DC-Disconu-21 NIB US $59.95 End Date: Friday Sep-10-2010 9:08:04 PDT Add to watch list |
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MidNite Solar MNDC175 Mini-DC 175A Disconnect Aluminum US $188.00 End Date: Saturday Sep-11-2010 13:16:27 PDT Add to watch list |
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MidNite Solar MNDC250 Mini-DC 250A Disconnect Aluminum US $188.00 End Date: Saturday Sep-11-2010 13:19:13 PDT Add to watch list |
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2 Pole 1 HP AC DC Motor Switch 115 230 Volt Disconnect US $10.99 End Date: Saturday Sep-11-2010 21:15:56 PDT Add to watch list |
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SMA Sunny Boy 7000US Inverter w/DC Disconnect FREE SHIP US $3,499.00 End Date: Tuesday Sep-14-2010 21:19:18 PDT Add to watch list |
Current great deals on Solar Panels (changes daily):
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Kyocera KD210GX-LP 210 watt Photovoltaic Solar PV Panel US $673.00 End Date: Sunday Sep-05-2010 8:07:07 PDT Add to watch list |
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Kyocera KC65T 65W 12V Photovoltaic Panel (No Reserve) US $5.24 (3 Bids) End Date: Sunday Sep-05-2010 13:12:24 PDT Add to watch list |
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TWO 40W Amorphous Silicon Solar Panels Photovoltaic US $249.99 End Date: Sunday Sep-05-2010 17:37:01 PDT Add to watch list |
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Photovoltaic Module 24x17cm Solar Cell Panel 3W 18V US $26.50 End Date: Sunday Sep-05-2010 20:00:28 PDT Add to watch list |
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TWO 40W Amorphous Silicon Solar Panels Photovoltaic US $249.99 End Date: Monday Sep-06-2010 17:35:00 PDT Add to watch list |
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Photovoltaic Module 38x26.6cm Solar Cell Panel 10W 18V US $69.90 End Date: Friday Sep-10-2010 2:11:31 PDT Add to watch list |
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Photovoltaic modual 28x26.6cm Solar Cell Panel 5W 18V US $36.50 End Date: Friday Sep-10-2010 2:16:23 PDT Add to watch list |
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Kaneka P-LE055 55W Amorphous Photovoltaic Solar Panel US $179.95 End Date: Saturday Sep-11-2010 16:27:47 PDT Add to watch list |
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Solar Tee Shirt - Panel - Screen Printed T Photovoltaic US $16.95 End Date: Monday Sep-13-2010 6:09:18 PDT Add to watch list |
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Solar Tee Shirt - Panel - Screen Printed T Photovoltaic US $16.95 End Date: Monday Sep-13-2010 6:09:18 PDT Add to watch list |
Solar power can be found in several different places on the earth. You can find solar power in a parked car, in a building with no air circulating, in a home without windows opened or fans circulating the air. When you step into any of these places that have been in the sunlight for a while you soon become overpowered by the amount and the intensity of the heat. This kind of heat can be taken and converted into heat that can heat your home, your water, an outbuilding, or any other building you would like to have heat in.
Heating by solar power is a free way of heating. When you heat using solar power you use a source that will direct the heat from the sunlight during the daytime to your solar source. A solar source is a device that you use to attract and trap the heat from the sun. Just like a car out in the parking lot gets hot when it faces the midday sun and the windows are rolled up. The seats can become very hot, too hot to sit on. These seats are a solar source because they trapped the heat inside and didn’t want to let them go. When this happens the seats will still be warm long after the sun quits shining directly on that car.
Creating a solar source can be easy to do with a little thought put into it. With a solar source you need to think about all the things that attract the sun, such as metal, the color black, glass that is tinted or clear, mirrors and more. There is an endless supply of idea to signal the heat your way and trap it for your use. To get the heat to benefit your water system or even your heat, you need to come up with a way that you can circulate a liquid that when it passes by your solar source it will heat the water naturally because of the concentrated amount of heat that was trapped inside your solar source that day.
We already know that the use of electricity, gas and coal are all resources that we may eventually run out of. These are the non-renewable resources that we rely heavily on today. We use these non-renewable resources to do many things, including supplying us with power, heating our homes, businesses and schools and more. When we use all the non-renewable resources up and there are no more to gather, then what? How will we go without the convenience that we are so accustomed to? It’s nice to flip a switch to get power and it is even better when the latest technology allows us to press a button to do all the things that women and men had to work for hours to accomplish. We are fortunate to live in a world with so many modern gadgets. Unfortunately when we lose it we may be so accustomed to the modern perks that we will not know what to do when we don’t have them any longer.
What we have to rely on in the future is renewable resources. These resources are all resources that offer us an abundant supply and will never run out. They recharge and allow us to enjoy them again and again. The renewable resources consist of Solar, Wind, Biomass, Hydrogen, Geothermal, Ocean, and Hydropower We need all of these and right now we have access to each one of them. What do they do and how do they help us with solar power? Let’s find out.
Solar refers to the solar energy that we get everyday either directly or indirectly from the sun. Solar energy can be used for several things, such as heating, electricity to home, schools, businesses, or buildings, heating water, cooling and ventilation.
When you decide to convert your main power source over to solar power you will need to make some adjustments to the appliances that carry the power source. When you use solar power to heat your water you may find that you will need to purchase a solar powered water heater in order to do that. You may be able to make adjustments to your existing one but what ever steps you take to turn it into solar power it will be worth it.
There are several different ways to heat your water using solar power. You can even make your own solar power source. The water runs through pipes before it enters your home. Heating water using solar power will occur before the water gets into your home as it passes by the solar source that attracted the light. You may also have a tank to store the water in that can heat the water up. In order to heat your water successfully you will need to have both a solar collector and a storage tank.
A flat plate collector is the most common collector. It is designed to be a thin, flat rectangular box that has a see through cover and it can carry fluid to be heated. This fluid could be the water or it may be a solution, such as antifreeze that will prevent the water from freezing. Next the water moves through the tubes to an absorber plate. This plate is painted black to attract and absorb the heat from the sun. When the collector gets hot, it will heat the fluid that passes through the tubes. As the water passes through the tubes it goes into the storage tank. The storage tank holds the heated water. It is usually well insulated so the water will stay warm longer. Then the water flows into the home on demand.
If you have ever seen a field with several mirrors pointing toward the sun you may be looking at a solar power system. These systems work to concentrate the sunlight to one area and use the heat to heat up the liquid that flows along the pipes. This system is called Parabolic-trough system. This type of system heats oil that is flowing through the pipe. The oil is hot and that is why it is used to boil water to power a steam generator which in turns powers electricity.
The reason that this system works so well is because the U-shaped mirrors attracts and collects the suns heat which is then transferred onto the receiver. The receiver absorbs the heat and transfers into fluid which helps to power the engine. The heat causes the fluid to swell up against the piston and that produces mechanical power. This type of power can be used to run things like generators or even an alternator that will produce electricity. This system works great when because it uses molten salt that flows through the receiver. When the salt heats up it can generate electricity through the steam generator. The salt holds in the heat for several days before it has to be converted into electricity. Because this system uses so many panels it is mainly used for industrial solar power where acres of land can be donated to the Parabolic Trough. There can be enough power in the network that can create energy for several days or more. Because this system is so large that it allows the heat that it saves to be transferred days later.
Through this project and other solar power projects we can understand fully how solar power works. When we see how much solar power is conserved using these U shaped mirrors we can also understand how much energy is lost. Using concentrating solar power systems are beneficial to the businesses that use them because they won’t have so much time down when the power fails. Machinery is their only major concern and as long as their machines are taken care of there should be no problems. Industrial type of solar power can attract and trap a lot of heat from the sun during the day, especially using mirrors that will reflect the sunlight. It also helps to have this type of solar power out in an open field free of trees and vegetation that may grow around and at some point crowd the solar light out.
