Archive for the ‘Solar Projects’ Category
Freeport Fire Department Goes Solar
Construction of a 50 kilowatt SunPower Photovoltaic system is underway at the Freeport Fire Department, located at 15 Broadway in Freeport, NY, just north of the LIRR station. The EmPower Installation Team started phase 1 of the installation 2 weeks ago (see picture above) and should be completed by the end of October. A typical residential installation takes 3-5 days to complete. This installation is 5 times the size of a large residential PV system. Furthermore, metal rafters (versus wood) and other complexities have added to the amount of time for this installation to be completed.
Freeport received funding for the solar project from a competitive New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) grant, which originated from a American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus program.
Since the Village of Freeport has its own municipal electric provider, Freeport Electric, and is not in LIPA territory, residents are not eligible for the $1.75/watt solar rebate from LIPA.
EmPower and Sunpower are proud to sponsor Team New York in the 2011 Solar Decathlon
The 2011 Solar Decathlon is being held in Washington, D.C. and runs from September 23rd thru October 2nd. EmPower Solar and Sunpower are proud to sponsor the students from CCNY . Check out the video below to see what they have been working on.
Click here to read the Official Press Release.
EmPower Essay Competition with Prizes
EmPower Solar is sponsoring a renewable energy essay competition. The grand prize will be an all expenses paid trip to Washington DC from Saturday, October 1st to Sunday, October 2nd to see the Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competition! The competition is open to all students who attend a high school in New York. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, September 21st. Click here for details about the competition.
EmPower’s Solar Systems are Hurricane Tested
“Did You Feel That?”
In response to the catastrophic earthquake in Japan earlier this year, and the ongoing tragedy at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, both Japan and Germany have put forth bold strategies to make solar and wind main contributors to their energy supplies. Germany, already the world’s solar energy leader, has committed to shutting down all of its nuclear plants (25% of its power mix) by 2022.
To replace nuclear, Germany is pursuing an even more aggressive renewable energy program. In addition to installing more renewable capacity, the program will include “smart grid” investments that will make intermittent energy generation technologies more predictable, reliable and dispatchable.
Nuclear, while an impressive technology, has severe shortcomings. Plants take years to site and build, and are prohibitively expensive to safeguard adequately. In addition, there is still no solution for long-term spent fuel storage. Instead, the spent fuel remains in pools at the hundred odd plants around the United States. Then there is the scale problem: because the plants are so large, it is challenging to make up the supply if one goes down, and it takes a decade or so to build a new one.
Yesterday, a rare 5.8 magnitude earthquake hit Virginia and was felt all along the eastern seaboard. A major nuclear plant was shut down and the back-up generators were turned on to keep the nuclear fuel cooling system operational. At this time everything looks okay, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is overseeing a post-event analysis of a number of east coast plants.
We recommend reading “Brittle Power” and “Small is Profitable” by Amory Lovins, the highly regarded scientist at the Rocky Mountain Institute, for deeper insight into the shortcomings of the large, centralized power infrastructure that defines the current paradigm. One theme that Mr. Lovins emphasizes is that we should look to biology when considering how to optimize systems. He states that:
