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Solar Panels – All Models, All Data Including Efficiency in One Database

SolarByTheWatt_com — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 05:01:05 +0000

The PVbin.com website aims to list all commercially available solar panels (photovoltaic modules) in one consolidated database so that engineers, project developers and renewable energy enthusiasts can easily look up and compare data on the different models.

The web site allows a search based on different parameters of the solar panels including power, voltages, currents, efficiency.

Efficiency of solar panels is important data about the components that is always researched by photovoltaic components buyers but the only way till now to research it is to go panel by panel and open their datasheets. The PVbin.com database displays the efficiency reading for all panels in the search results and can sort the panels by the most efficient one.

After searching / filtering on certain criteria the user can click on a link to the page of a particular panel model and checkout more detailed data about the panel.

Support this free to use solar panels database by visiting it.

Commercially Available Solar Photovoltaic Panels at $2.25

SolarByTheWatt_com — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:55:54 +0000

SolarMaxDirect. Com is offering by the container solar photo voltaic panels at $2.25 delivery included. This is another development in solar prices that shows that solar can become economically very efficient and interest among industrialists will increase in building solar power.

The Environmental Benefits of Using Solar Panels As An Energy Source

SolarByTheWatt.com — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 06:30:05 +0000

You probably know the sun generates more than 10,000 times the amount of energy the entire world consumes annually. Yet, this “free” energy has remained greatly untapped. Conversely, the environment is being degraded by our current energy choices. The positives for using solar panels are obvious, but what few know is how it also helps our environment.

First lets look at what we are using currently to meet our energy needs, coal and nuclear energy, and how ecologically damaging they are.

To start, most existing coal plants release many different toxins directly into the air we breathe, from sulfur to lead and mercury. Even the newer plants coming on line, which reduce toxins dramatically, still produce massive quantities of CO2, a greenhouse gas and a direct cause of global warming. Natural gas is far more benign but still produces large quantities of CO2 when used to produce electricity. How much CO2 is released – a 5-kilowatt solar system will prevent the release of nearly 10,400 pounds of CO2 every year for the life of the system. The average home uses 8,000-kilowatt hours per year. A coal power plant producing that much electricity emits about 18,000 pounds of CO2 per year.

When coal is burned, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury compounds are released. For that reason, coal-fired boilers are required to have control devices to reduce the amount of emissions that are released. Mining, cleaning, and transporting coal to the power plant generate additional emissions. For example, methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is trapped in the coal, is often vented during these processes to increase safety.

Secondly, large quantities of water are needed to remove impurities from coal at the mine. These large quantities of water are used for producing steam and for cooling systems. When coal-fired power plants remove water from a lake or river, the fish and other aquatic life can be affected, as well as animals and people who depend on these aquatic resources. At the same time, pollutants build up in the water used by the power plant boiler and cooling system. If the water used in the power plant is discharged to a lake or river, the pollutants in the water can harm fish and plants.

Last, the burning of coal creates solid waste, called ash, which is composed primarily of metal oxides and alkali. On average, the ash content of coal is 10 percent. Solid waste is also created at coal mines when coal is cleaned and at power plants when air pollutants are removed from the stack gas. Much of this waste is deposited in landfills and abandoned mines, although some amounts are now being recycled into useful products, such as cement and building materials.

So, you may say, what about nuclear power? While nuclear power plants do not emit carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, or nitrogen oxides – fossil fuel emissions are associated with the uranium mining and uranium enrichment process as well as the transport of the uranium fuel to the nuclear plant. Nuclear power plants also use large quantities of water for steam production and for cooling. When nuclear power plants remove water from a lake or river, fish and other aquatic life can be affected. Water pollutants, such as heavy metals and salts build up in the water used in the nuclear power plant systems. These water pollutants, as well as the higher temperature of the water discharged from the power plant, can negatively affect water quality and aquatic life.

Waste generated from uranium mining operations and rainwater runoff can contaminate groundwater and surface water resources with heavy metals and traces of radioactive uranium. Every 18 to 24 months, nuclear power plants must shut down to remove and replace the “spent” uranium fuel. This spent fuel has released most of its energy as a result of the fission process and has become radioactive waste.

All of the nuclear power plants in the United States together produce about 2,000 metric tons per year of radioactive waste. Currently, the radioactive waste is stored at the nuclear plants at which it is generated, either in steel-lined, concrete vaults filled with water or in above-ground steel or steel-reinforced concrete containers with steel inner canisters. This waste will remain radioactive for many thousands of years.

As you can see, the more solar power is used, the more it helps our environment. By investing in solar today you are investing in your future and your children’s future and you do this by combating global warming and reduce our nation’s dependence of foreign energy sources. And, you are helping in the reduction of CO2 emissions and protecting clean water sources. It’s amazing how such a small change in one’s life can do so much. ARI Green Energy is a manufacturer of wind generator technologies. Visit them today for a full line of wind turbines and solar technology solutions. Think green.

Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_830778_45.html

About the Author: Author: Robert Bell

Lowest Solar Panel Prices Per Watt 2009-02-24

SolarByTheWatt.com — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 05:29:58 +0000

We are starting this a series of articles on lowest prices per watt for solar panels, modules where every time we have changes in the price ranking we will publish a new article with corresponding date in the title.

We list the lowest prices per watt that we can find on the internet and through direct research. We do not claim at all that these are research and results of an absolute character. That is, we realize that there might be products, vendors, pricing structures for certain types of projects and quantities that we are not able to identify through our effort.

That is why nobody should get offended that their product brand or vendor company is missed in our research or they are not ranked correctly because we have not found out about their lowest, low or otherwise competitive prices.

While we maintain that prices as dollar per Watt ($/Wp, dollar per Watt peak) is the number that will take the solar power industry to the stage of playing a major role of resolving the gigantic issues the US and the world have with securing clean, safe and abundant source of energy, we also realize that with many products groups prices reflect many other things than just willingness of the manufactures and the marketers to provide an affordable product.

Namely, different prices may reflect different quality and quality preference of the market – i.e. higher quality products would maintain relatively higher prices given all other factors being equal.

Different prices may reflect different costs to manufacture products of certain type of technology. We are well aware that this is especially true with solar panels. We will try, as effort grows to provide a way for our readers to be able to separate prices listed and researched for different underlying technologies of products.

In any case if any one buyer or seller of solar products thinks that our best research effort has not presented certain vendors, brand or price – please, feel free to contact us and forward to us details of the the product and price we should list. We will add additional level to research that such price is being offered on regular basis and will try to reflect this in our report.

Here is or current ranking:

($/Wp, $ per module, Wp of the module, nominal voltage, technology, Brand, Model, Vendor, URL to the vendor’s page)

$2.84 / Wp, $567.60, 200W, 18.1V, Poly-crystalline, Sun-A-200, SUN, KULLY Solar, http://kullysolar.com

$3.54 / Wp, $637, 180W, 24V, Poly-crystalline, CSI ECOSENSE CS6P-180, Canadian Solar, Affordable Solar Group LLC, http://www.affordable-solar.com

$3.56 / Wp, $142.49, 40W, 17.3V, Poly-crystalline, BP Solar, Discount Sales Electronics, http://discountsales.com

$3.83 / Wp, $230, 60W, 67V, Thin-film, Kaneka, GSA-60, Living Off The Grid, http://livingoffthegrid.ecrater.com

$3.94 / Wp, $630, 160W, 24.9V, Poly-crystalline, ES-160-A, Evergreen Solar, KULLY Solar, http://kullysolar.com

$4.62 / Wp, $1,016, 220W, 28.7V, Poly-crystalline, SCM220, REC Solar, Affordable Solar Group LLC, http://www.affordable-solar.com

$5.16 / Wp, $1,032, 200W, 55.8V, Mono-crystalline, HIP-200BA19, Sanyo, Affordable Solar Group LLC, http://www.affordable-solar.com

$5.48 / Wp, $328.88, 60W, 12V, Poly-crystalline, CD Tech Solar, RV Fun Products, http://www.rvfunproducts.com

$5.52 / Wp, $552, 100W, 18V, Mono-crystalline, SW100C, Sunwize, atlE Store, http://store.altenergystore.com

Please, be patient, we are adding more to this list. We are hoping the prices at the top of the list will reduce as we add more vendors. Feel free to send suggestions through comments on our articles or the Contact Us page.

Stop Paying For Electricity

SolarByTheWatt.com — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:02:36 +0000

By TJ Greene. In this day and age with the ever-increasing cost of everything from gas to groceries, we’re all searching for for ways to cut back on the outflow of money.

One of the areas with the biggest jumps in costs is home energy. Who looks forward to that monthly electric bill? Not me, not you or anyone else because that bill gets bigger every single month. And it’s not going to get any better.

And yes there are ways to conserve some of your money as you help the environment also. And yes it’s the “green method”, which doesn’t bring up thoughts of communal living or mother earth nuts that it used to. More and more people just like you and I are looking for ways to save money and one of those ways is to stop paying for electricity by generating our own.

By constructing your own wind turbine to create all the electrical power you need..renewable wind energy is now the fastest growing source of energy around the globe. And stop what you’re thinking…it’s not that difficult to build your own…and really a lot easier than many wind generator companies would like you to believe!

To put it simply…it’s cheaper to build a electricity-generating wind turbine of your own and get the rewards for doing so YEARS before you’d get the benefits from a over-priced wind generator that you bought from a company.. And the technology is very basic! You can build your own renwable energy source for under $500. That’s something utility companies and most renewable energy companies that “offer” you renewable solutions for thousands of dollars, don’t want you to know.

The materials you need to construct a wind generator: the DC motor, batteries, towers and hub, are very inexpensive – you can build your own wind generator for under $500 and there are programs to sell back the excess energy you create to your power company. A professional installation from a energy generating construction company can run into the thousands of dollars, making it years before your system can pay for itself. Not the case when you’re doing it yourself.

There are also federal government programs that can help you pay for these energy-saving additions for your home or business.

Other governments and smart people in the United States are putting together their own wind-generated turbine systems everyday. And more are constructed daily which means more people are finally realizing what a very smart investment it is, and how it PAYS to do it!

The main problem I’ve seen across the internet to building your wind turbine is that these people who are doing it themselves are making it more difficult than it has to be, and they are spending too much money building their own electricity-generating wind turbine system.

So…don’t you think it’s about the time YOU became more aware of the future of renewable energy and started planning your OWN wind-generating turbine? And what about solar panels laid out on your home or property to collect the energy from the sun, which again takes you off the meter of the power company?

Come on…it’s time all of us begin taking care of our futures by removing ourselves from fossil-burning energy consumption. You only have to take that first step!

About the Author

By TJ Greene. TJ asks: How would you like to unplug your house from your electrical company, knowing that you are “100% Powered By Nature” with renewable energy? Take few minutes a look at these tips to “stop paying for electricity”! You’ll be surprised at how easy it is to change over and you’ll breathe a little easier at night knowing you’re doing your part to stop the consumption of fossil fuels!