Today the City of Cape Town signed the first small-scale embedded electricity generation contract with Black River Park Investments, an office block in Observatory. They commend Black River Park for leading the way in the commercial real estate sector by utilising large-scale solar power systems to generate environmentally sustainable energy. Black River will be producing … [Read more...]
Solar PV training coming to North West
Next month beginners and those who want to explore PV technology in the North West can join introductory training at the University of Pothefstroom. SUNCybernetics will be hosting its solar PV introductory training course at the Solar Training Center of SA, North West University, Potchefstroom on Thursday, 25 September 2014, from 10h00 to 16h00 at a cost of R1,500-00 per … [Read more...]
City to offset small-scale electricity generation
Small scale alternative energy generators - yes that includes you and I with solar PV on the roof - will finally be able to feed our excess energy back into the grid and get paid for it by the City of Cape Town! The City of Cape Town has set itself a target of sourcing 10% of its electricity from renewable energy resources by 2020 and the roll-out of the small-scale embedded … [Read more...]
More efficient solar cells possible thanks to glass
Self-cooling, longer lasting and more efficient solar cells are within reach simply by adding a thin layer of glass. A paper published in the online journal Optica outlines a possible solution for better access to solar energy. Solar cells work by converting solar radiation into energy. Through this process, a certain amount of energy loss is expected. But a surprising … [Read more...]
Help make solar power better and win $1 Million
“Smaller is baller,” “Min it to win it,” “Think shrink.” Those are the puns Google is using to promote its new competition: $1 million to whomever can invent a working power inverter for solar and other forms of renewable energy that’s roughly as small as a laptop. The company has teamed up with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers to launch the … [Read more...]
Does Africa hold the key to the world’s energy crisis?
Africa has some of the most exciting and innovative solutions in the realm of renewable and sustainable energy and now these innovations could be rewarded too. The Zayed Future Energy Prize was established by the United Arab Emirates government to inspire and ignite the great minds of the 21st century to come up with innovative solutions and implement projects that can … [Read more...]
Six myths about renewable energy busted
The evidence is in: Renewable energy is viable, reliable, and ready to go – all that’s missing is the political will to kick start an energy revolution in South Africa. On this page Greenpeace has grouped some of the most common myths about renewable energy, explaining why they are just that – myths that don’t stand up to reality. But here’s the thing, although they’ve … [Read more...]
Elections 2014 - who gets your green vote?
This week we will vote for the future of this country. If you are aware of climate change and other threats to our environment and therefore to our civilisation, it helps to take note of how the different parties plan to respond to these threats. What are they saying in their manifestos about: Energy and Climate change Water (services and resources) Mining and … [Read more...]
Governments to increase use of solar power
United Nations climate change experts are expected to call on governments to increase their use of solar, wind and other renewable energies to avoid the devastating impact of global warming. According to The Sunday Times, a leaked copy of a report due from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group on the mitigation of climate change will say that a … [Read more...]
Collapsible refugee shelters powered by the sun
More than 40 million people worldwide have been displaced from their homes and left to find shelter in strange lands. Maybe they find a tarp, or a tent, but their quality of life almost always remains dismal. To close this gap in need, Jordanian-Canadian architect and designer Abeer Seikaly designed a new kind of shelter. One that allows refugees to rebuild their lives with … [Read more...]
New solar collector could power entire planet
A team at IBM recently developed what they call a High Concentration Photo Voltaic Thermal (HCPVT) system that is capable of concentrating the power of 2,000 suns, they are even claiming to be able to concentrate energy safely up to 5,000X, that’s huge. The process of trapping the sunlight produces water that can be used to produce filtered drinkable water, or used for other … [Read more...]
Introduction to PV Solar Training
The Solar Training Centre of South Africa's introductory course to photovoltaic (PV) solar presents a generic training module of learning on the possibilities of PV technology and using solar radiation as an energy source, the basic functionality of PV systems and the different types of applications and their potential for South Africa and the world. This is the first module … [Read more...]
China’s solar growth to reach record global expansion
Solar developers around the world will install record capacity this year as a thriving Chinese market drives growth, a Bloomberg survey showed as manufacturers in the $102 billion industry began to return to profit. About 44.5 gigawatts will be added globally, a 20.9 percent increase on last year’s new installations, according to the average estimate of nine analysts and … [Read more...]
