Some time back, I did a review of LaMar’s Simple Solar Homestead, a great (and inexpensive) ebook created by LaMar, the great thing about LaMar, is he is actually LIVING this lifestyle, not just spouting theory.

>>Keep reading “LaMar’s Simple Solar Homesteading videos”

Don’t let the sun  go down on Shi China has given off-grid power a key role in its massive strategic move to renewable energy.  Plans include large-scale on-grid solar projects, urban building photo voltaic projects, nuclear power and wind-solar hybrid installations as well as large and small-scale off-grid solar schemes in rural areas.
>>Keep reading “Red China goes green”

Tunstall – she’s for real Some green celebrities are complete frauds – for example Sting and Chris Martin who jet around the world, and live lavish home lifestyles while pretending they are “green.”

Others, like KT Tunstall, are putting us all to shame.

“As some of you may …
>>Keep reading “KT Tunstall’s eco homes”

The next big leap Phone company Ericsson is partnering with an African cell-phone provider, to build a thousand solar-powered base stations across the continent this year. Nokia Siemens is also working
>>Keep reading “African micro-grids”

Sad but true General Electric is set to launch a household power generation kit this fall, that will both work together with the smart grid and be a home’s own internal smart grid – powering down the A/C on a cloudy day, for example, in a house dependent on solar panels sold in the same package.

GE, which for years supplied Hitler’s government with radar equipment, and at the end of the second world war proposed a continuing alliance between business and the military for “a permanent war economy,”  announced last week its vision of a home full of smart appliances that derive power from the house’s own solar panels,
>>Keep reading “GE muscling in on home power”

Wait a year before buying solar panels – that’s the advice from industry experts who think the price of solar PV will fall, grants will rise, and the cost of grid power will rise too, delivering a triple whammy in favor of solar power.

But not just yet.

Although the cost of solar panels has fallen as low as $2.48 a watt according to the latest issue of Homepower magazine, its likely to go to $1.50 next year.  A company called Skyline Solar hopes to achieve grid parity before the end of 2010 — way ahead of the rest of the industry.

>>Keep reading “Don’t buy solar panels”

Sacred Power Inc. of Albuquerque has got its hands on half a million dollars of stimulus funding for off-grid power.

It has been awarded a USD500,656 grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help bring solar- powered electricity into homes on the Navajo Nation currently without electric power.
>>Keep reading “Navajo go solar”

Who loves the Sun Solar Calculators (aka Solar Estimators) will estimate the size and calculate the cost to install a solar energy system for your home or building. There are many free ones on the Internet. Just type in “free solar calculator”
They are all based on the number of hours of sunlight you can expect at a given address, and then vary in sophistication after that. 
>>Keep reading “Free solar calculators”

You’ve seen the advertisements, “Build your own solar panels”, you’ve seen the kits, now you wonder, just how hard is it to do?  Well, that depends, mostly on your skills and patience. It would seem that the solar cells that are sold for this purpose is very delicate, they break very easily. I always see on eBay, lots of listings for broken solar cells, they still work, but they obviously do not put out as much juice as it did when it was unbroken. It is possible to piece together broken cells and get a perfectly good working solar panel, again, it takes skills and patience.
>>Keep reading “DIY build your own solar panels video”