Photo
Popularity Rate down 0wattwatters who think this pulse is not really interesting Rate up 0wattwatters who think this pulse is interesting

Arnold Schwarzenegger at Solar Power International

Jonathan Buck on October 22, 2008 | 1855 Views | 1 Comment

Just back from an amazing Solar Power conference and exhibition in San Diego, California. Over 20 000 professional delegates and a surprise address from Arnie himself. Please check out the site http://www.solarpowerconference.com/. All I can say is that the atmosphere in the conference sessions resembled what the Gold Rush must have been like. Here were a bunch of professionals committed to solar energy as one of the ways forward. The site contains videos of the addresses. As for the argument that solar photovoltaic  is not viable, I was told by many delagtes that the "energy payback" (i.e. the time to recuperate the energy put into the manufacture of the PV units) is about 5 years. And with guarantees of a 25-year life span, the argument for solar is looking good.

|

1 Comment

#1 by Ben Dee on July 10, 2009 at 7:34 a.m.

I have only just come across this site, and article now. Firstly I am loving the information on the site I don't think I have read this much in a long time.

I personally am still a little wet behind the ears as they say but I am learning on my feet. I just checked out the link and the conference looks set to go bigger and better this year. Realistically I won't be able to get their but I hope to read about it on wattwatt. As for the above the numbers talk for themselves the argument for solar power seems like a no brainer!

Ben from the
domestic wind turbines
hub.

Related pulses

Kick a ball... and generate electricity!

Yvonne Flavin on February 13, 2010 | 285 Views
  I came across this concept quite by chance, thanks to  PRI's The World: Technology Podcast Facebook page. Four female engineering students from America's Havard University worked on a ...

Solar Power in Public Transportation

Dean Dowd on January 26, 2010 | 913 Views
Solar-powered mass transit is key to U.S. energy sustainability. Did you know that one full city bus can keep 50 or more cars off the road? Or that a ...

Solar scooters in Rio de Janeiro

Yvonne Flavin on January 22, 2010 | 539 Views
We're hearing a lot of talk about electric cars but not so much about two-wheeled vehicles. Those of us who live and work in cities know that two-wheelers are ...

New MicroPhotoVoltaic Cells for Solar Concentrators

Jose Vaz Pinto on January 13, 2010 | 546 Views
"Sandia National Laboratories scientists have developed tiny glitter-sized photovoltaic cells that are expected to be less expensive and have greater efficiencies than current photovoltaic collectors pieced together with 6-inch-square solar ...

2010 - year of the electric car and a little food for thought

Philippa Martin-King on January 12, 2010 | 512 Views
The 2010 Detroit and LA motor shows have a concentration of electric cars. These are either hybrid, where they are differentiated into two categories of "mild" and "full" - with the ...

Cleantech - Top ten green universities in US and top 10 countries

Philippa Martin-King on January 6, 2010 | 620 Views
A long while back, I mentioned the LED lighting in the city of Ann Arbour in one of my pulses. It's no surprise then to find that Ann Arbour ...

First pedal-powered electricity generator on Swiss football pitch

Philippa Martin-King on October 22, 2009 | 1036 Views
A group of teenagers from a local youth club in the City of Lausanne have just installed a pedal-driven lighting system on their football pitch that allows them to play ...

Chinese city of Rizhao is first to pledge to become carbon neutral

Philippa Martin-King on October 19, 2009 | 781 Views
The name of the Chinese city, Rizhao, literally means “first to get sunshine”, of which they have plenty. Rizhao is close to the city of Qingdao, famous for its Tsingtao ...

World's largest offshore windfarm is Danish

Philippa Martin-King on September 29, 2009 | 988 Views
Last week Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark officially switched on the Horns Rev 2 offshore wind farm, which will be the world’s largest until Greater Gabbard comes online off ...

Red or white? Green please!

Yvonne Flavin on September 21, 2009 | 991 Views
I've been working through my summer podcast backlog and this item from the BBC World Service's Digital Planet (programme of 25 August 2009) caught my ear, so to ...

Tidal energy project for Scottish island

Yvonne Flavin on August 26, 2009 | 1210 Views
While browsing this morning's headlines, this article in the Guardian caught my eye. Islay, one of the islands off the west coast of Scotland, famous for its whisky, is ...

Fuel cell research budget to be scrapped by DOE in the US?

Philippa Martin-King on August 18, 2009 | 1062 Views
It seems unbelievable that the US Department of Energy should be proposing in its 2010 budget  to cut $100 million from the hydrogen-fuel cell federal research programme. Apparently, politics and ...

Using solar power to recharge your gadgets

Yvonne Flavin on August 5, 2009 | 1353 Views
Last year on a flight, I bought a solar phone charger, solarmonkey . It consisted of a robust folding solar panel, about the size of a pack of cards, bundled with ...

Recharge your mobile phone with pedal power

Yvonne Flavin on July 27, 2009 | 1108 Views
I love this concept. If (when?) these chargers become available here, I definitely want one! Think back to those dynamo bike-lamps we used to have. Well, two Kenyan engineering students ...

Solar Panels and Cooperative Housing: Where to Get Started

Dean Dowd on July 8, 2009 | 1036 Views
According to National Association of Housing Cooperatives, there are over one million co-op units in the United States alone. Shared housing serves many benefits for residents, allowing low-income residents to ...