A PV mapping tool visually represents a specific site and calculates PV system size and projected electricity production. This report identifies the commercially available solar mapping tools and thoroughly summarizes the source data type and resolution, the visualization software program being used, user inputs, calculation methodology and algorithms, map outputs, and development costs for each map.
With growing numbers of concentrating solar power systems being designed and developed, glint and glare from concentrating solar collectors and receivers is receiving increased attention as a potential hazard or distraction for motorists, pilots, and pedestrians. This paper provides analytical methods to evaluate the irradiance originating from specularly and diffusely reflecting sources as a function of distance and characteristics of the source.
This article discusses the various types of credentials for solar installers, and clears up misunderstandings of the terms certification, certificate, accreditation, and licensure.
Applied Materials is one of the most important U.S. companies you’ve probably never heard of. It makes the machines that make the microchips that go inside your computer. The chip business, though, is volatile, so in 2004 Mike Splinter, Applied Materials’s C.E.O., decided to add a new business line to take advantage of the company’s nanotechnology capabilities — making the machines that make solar panels.
Solar energy systems hang their hats on payback. Financial payback is as tangible as money in your bank account, while other types of payback—like environmental externalities—are not usually calculated in dollars. There’s no doubt that photovoltaic (PV) and solar hot water (SHW) systems will pay you back. Maybe not as quickly as you’d like, but all systems will significantly offset their cost over their lifetimes. Here we’ll try to answer: Which system will give the quickest return on investment (ROI)?
Following in the footsteps of states like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, Massachusetts is about to implement a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) solar requirement. Like other solar RPS states, Massachusetts will spark solar demand by creating a market for Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs), each of which represents one megawatt-hour of solar electricity generation.
This report includes industry data through 2007 to forecast job growth in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries throughout the United States using a case study from experiences in Colorado.
A significant barrier to investing in renewable energy and comprehensive energy efficiency improvements to homes across the country is the initial capital cost. Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing is one of several new financial models broadening access to clean energy by addressing this upfront cost issue.
