Pump Sunlight Indoors for Powerful Daylighting

What if you could light your entire building using no electricity, or artificial lights – but just the natural light from the sun? Conventional sky-lights do this well in certain types of single-story spaces, but are not very adaptable, powerful, and often have problems with excessive solar heat gain and heat loss. Enter the Sundolier, a powerful sunlight transport system that’s like putting a solar robot on your roof to pump sunlight indoors! The manufacturer claims a single Sundolier unit can provide enough light to illuminate a 1000-2500 sq. ft. area without any other sources.

Daylighting has taken an important role in green building, with benefits ranging from lowered energy bills to happier occupants. Many architects have struggled with making daylighting effective without the cost of glare and heat gain. The Sundolier daylighting system is a new way to gain the benefits of natural light without the drawbacks.

They do this by using an active two-axis tracking mount with a couple of reflectors that look like a big banana peel. The concentrated light is then reflected down a two foot tube and distributed using a “sun chandelier”. They are offering a few chandelier models now with more designs on the way. A roof penetration of only 3.3 sq. ft. is an industry best for the lumens output. Lighting levels at full sun are stated to be 40-50 foot candles at table top with minimal heat gain in a 1000 sq. ft. room. Here is a great video of an installation at a public library.

Now that we got the stats taken care of let’s talk about why natural light is such a hot topic in the land of green building. Studies have shown that retail sales go up, productivity increases, and school grades improve thanks to natural indoor light. But the biggest gain is in the occupants’ health. Link your lighting to a photo sensor and you save a healthy amount of energy as well. An even greater energy reduction is realized because air conditioning is reduced or eliminated by keeping those heat-producing artificial lights off.

LED Lights: Think Beyond the Bulb

Light Emitting Diodes Are the Future

While the recently approved energy bill -- which included the federal phase out plans – appropriately positions age old filament bulbs as a way of the past and compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) as the way to the future, the reality is that in 10 or so years the eventual lighting technology winner will be light emitting diode (LEDs) solutions.

Since their introduction in the early 1960s, LEDs have evolved from simple indicator lights and alphanumeric displays to an exciting new source for general lighting. LEDs differ radically from traditional light sources in that there are no glass bulbs or filaments to break, or electrodes to decay. Instead, LEDs are solid state light sources – basically, a chemical chip embedded in a plastic capsule. When the chip is energized by applying a voltage, it emits visible light, the color depending on the chip's chemical composition. The light can then be focused, routed, or scattered using lenses, waveguides or diffusers.

Due to the tremendous pace of technical developments, LED efficacy now rivals or surpasses that of standard incandescent lamps as well as the newly minted CFLs. For example, white LEDs are now producing more than 20 lumens per watt, compared to 8 - 15 lumens per watt for incandescent lamps. White LEDs are actually blue LEDs with a phosphor coating, which converts a portion of the blue light to yellow – the combination resulting in white light.

OSRAM SYLVANIA (OSI), the lighting division of engineering conglomerate Siemens AG, is integrating LEDs in a number of unique modular systems, including flexible and linear modules, marker lights, and powerful "effect" modules with focusing lenses. Flexible and linear LED modules can provide uniform backlighting for signs and contour lighting for architecture, while occupying a fraction of the space – and consuming a fraction of the energy – required by traditional light sources. Similarly, low-profile marker lights can highlight steps or edges, guiding or alerting users to hazards in areas like auditoriums, stairways and subway platforms. Effect lights combine an array of ten LEDs with individual lenses in a single compact module, focusing the combined light output into an intense and narrow beam, which can provide colorful accent lighting for architectural features.

Given the current pace of development, even general room lighting with LEDs is not a distant consideration. Indeed, the unique characteristics of LEDs invite designers, consumers and organizations alike to "think beyond the bulb," and ponder a more seamless integration of lighting and building materials.

Obama tightens efficiency rules for home water heaters

President Obama's push to increase energy efficiency is extending to home water heaters. The Department of Energy is requiring new ones meet stricter standards that could increase initial costs but reduce utility bills.

The Department of Energy is requiring that water heaters, beginning in 2015, meet stricter energy efficiency standards. Here's a General Electric one that carries the government's Energy Star label.

DOE, which has increased efficiency standards for more than 20 products such as washing machines in the last year, announced Thursday that large electric water heaters (55 gallons or more) will need to use 47% less energy and large gas ones, 30% less. Smaller units won't need to reduce energy use as much.

"You don't have to go out and replace your water heater," says DOE spokeswoman Jen Stutsman. The rules simply require that new conventional water heaters, beginning in 2015, be more efficient.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said energy efficient appliances save families money, reduce pollution and "enhance our energy security for decades to come."

Environmentalists pushed for the new rules, which are stricter than ones DOE proposed late last year.

"These standards will not only boost the total national energy savings, but help create a bigger market for advanced water heater technologies that will eventually make every shower cheaper and more sustainable," Lane Burt of the Natural Resources Defense Council said in a statement.

DOE is also increasing efficiency standards, beginning in 2013, for pool heaters and direct heating equipment, such as gas fireplaces. These products, along with water heaters, account for 18% of home energy use.

Over three decades, DOE says the new rules will save a total of $10 billion and prevent up to 164 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions -- the equivalent of taking 46 million cars off the road for one year.

DOE estimates that the installed cost of a typical gas storage water heater (now $1,079) will increased $120 but will be offset by savings of $143 in average lifetime operating costs.

The department says it' also stepping up its enforcement of efficiency standards. On Monday, for example, it ordered that AeroSys, Inc. stop distributing an air conditioner and heat pump that independent testing showed were consuming more energy than allowed.

U.S. solar industry shows signs of growth

The U.S. solar industry is continuing to regain momentum in both the residential and commercial market, with a number of companies reporting gains overseas and in the domestic market.

One recent example comes from a Reuters report on Los Angeles-based Suniva, which has reportedly sold out its products through 2010 and is planning to triple its exports in the next five years.

The wire service added that the company is also expected to build a 400-megawatt plant in Saginaw County, Michigan, with an eye on generating electricity there by 2011.

Americans are going to see more and more solar energy generated in the next several years, with dozens of projects under construction or being planned throughout the Southwest. Other parts of the country that do not get as steady a supply of sunlight are also increasingly embarking on their own solar projects. Some states are even home to projects that will re-invent old landfills as solar energy plants.

Elsewhere, a number of other companies have showed that they have serious potential for long-term growth with or without the various tax credits that have been provided under the government stimulus bill.

Warm up your Pool with Solar Water Heating Systems

If you are a person that loves to swim, and if you own a swimming pool, then your family knows just how much fun they have during the warm seasons. Wouldn’t it be more fun if you could open the pool up earlier than usual, and the kids could stay in the pool a little later in the evening, or maybe you could leave the pool open a little longer in the early fall.

I found a product that can help you do so. It’s called – Solar Pool Heater, this kind is made for above ground pools, there is also another kind that is made for In-Ground pools. This one in the picture is for above ground pools and you can lay it beside the pool or mount it on a slant frame, preferable were ever it is convenient, and out of the way, but you should consider positioning it were it will lay in the sun all day. That way you will get more benefit from using the Solar Pool Heater as it will absorb the most of the sun rays against the black surface.

The Solar Pool Heater Systems for the In-Ground pool uses a different approach, with that system it is installed up on the roof, and collects the sun rays up there were it stays HOT! It installs easily in line with your exiting pump and equipment. The pool water circulates through solar channels and returns to the pool nice and warm.

Both of these Solar Water Heating Systems uses No Electricity at all, just the power of the sun. You should expect 10 to 15 degrees warmer water. That would be very pleasant instead of getting that initial shock you get when you jump in the cold water, at first getting in. Here is a chart to help you decide what size system you may need.

Solar Panels for All

A few years ago, implementing solar technology in your home was only a dream. Sure a few people had their homes outfitted with solar panels, but this was mainly affluent people who lived in areas that received perennial sunshine. Thanks to recent innovations, however, solar energy is making its way into the mainstream.

The internet is littered with sites providing information on how to make your own solar panels. If DIY isn’t for you, there are also a variety of affordable pre-constructed panels now for sale. Solar panels are also being utilized in an assortment of consumer products, such as flashlights and outdoor lighting

Small Bathroom Makeovers with Saving Water Technology Toiletries

Bathroom is one of important rooms inside our home. We have to make over our bathroom although we have small bathroom inside our home. Small bathroom makeovers are must for us that want to get neat and healthy small bathroom. There are some things that we have to pay attention for them while doing small bathroom makeovers. One of them is how to picking out toiletries. Of course we should pick out the best toiletries and the toiletries that suitable with our small bathroom style.

Generally, people think that the bathroom design is the most important thing on small bathroom makeovers. That’s not wrong but nowadays we have to pay attention on the technology of the toiletries too. The technology which is care to environment and water saving. There are three toiletries which we can use for water saving and give care to our environment.

1. Saving Water Toilet Bowl

Make sure that our toilet bowl is belonging to saving water category. The saving water toilet bowl is on 4.5/3 liter flushing.

2. Sink Faucet

Make sure that our sink faucet is not drum water on pressure up to 23 liter per minute. Nowadays, in the sink faucet market, there is a sink faucet that created with Pressure Compensating Aerator (PCA) technology. By this PCA technology, the sink faucet only drums 7 liter water per minute.

3. Shower

Generally, shower drums 23 liter water per minute. This is too much water spending. Now, with shower that uses Pressure Compensating Washer (PCW), we can give care to our environment by saving water. By this PCW technology, the shower only drums 9 liter water per minute without decreasing our bathing comfort.

We can use toiletries like these if we want to take care our environment by saving water. Beside, we find our small bathroom makeovers become good, we also go along with Go Green campaign.

White House Issues New Gas Mileage Standards

That gallon of gas is going to get you a little farther. The Obama administration signed off on the nation's first rules on greenhouse gas emissions Thursday and set new fuel standards that will raise current standards by nearly 10 mpg by the 2016 model year.

The so-called CAFE standards, issued by the Transportation Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, cover cars and trucks for model years 2012 to 2016. Automakers will be required to meet a fleet-wide average of 35.5 by 2016.

Although the new requirements would add an estimated $434 per vehicle in the 2012 model year and $926 per vehicle by 2016, drivers could save as much as $3,000 over the life of a vehicle through better gas mileage, according to a government statement. The new standards also will conserve about 1.8 billion barrels of oil and cut carbon dioxide emissions by nearly a billion tons over the life of the regulated models.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood praised the new standards as "achievable" and said they would encourage new and emerging technologies.

"We will be helping American motorists save money at the pump, while putting less pollution in the air," LaHood said.

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson called the move a "significant step toward cleaner air and energy efficiency." The EPA issued its first rules ever on vehicle greenhouse gas emissions following a 2007 Supreme Court decision.

Beginning in the 2012 model year, automakers must improve fleet-wide fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 5 percent a year. The revised standards move up goals set three years ago that would have required the industry to meet a 35 mpg average by 2020.

President Obama hinted at the new standards during an "energy security" speech Wednesday, saying they would be the equivalent of removing more than 50 million cars a year from the nation's roads.

Dave McCurdy, a former congressman from Oklahoma who leads the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group representing 11 automakers, said the industry supports a single national standard for future vehicles.

"America needs a road map to reduced dependence on foreign oil and greenhouse gases, and only the federal government can play this role," McCurdy said. "Today, the federal government has laid out a course of action through 2016, and now we need to work on 2017 and beyond."

Environmental groups have sought curbs on greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for global warming, and challenged the Bush administration for blocking a waiver request from California to pursue more stringent air pollution rules than required by the federal government. The request was granted by the Obama administration last year.

"The standards forthcoming under the 'clean car peace treaty' are a good deal for consumers, for companies, for the country and for the planet," said David Doniger, climate policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Automakers have been working on hybrids, electric cars and other fuel-efficiency technologies that shut off an engine's cylinders when full power isn't needed.

Nissan is releasing its electric car, the Leaf, later this year, while General Motors is introducing the Chevrolet Volt, which is said to get 40 miles on a single battery charge before an engine kicks in to recharge. Ford plans to put its "EcoBoost" line of direct-injection turbocharged engines, which provide a 20 percent increase in fuel efficiency, in 90 percent of its models by 2013.

Used solar panels and surplus solar panels

Used and imperfect solar panels and cells retailers

Other Power Things to watch when buying used panels.
Oasis Montana MontanaAlternative energy retailer with a very nice catalog and a free listings page for used and surplus components.
eBay Link will take you directly to a search done for "solar panel" on eBay.COM.
TheSolar.biz This page contains pre-owned modules and module racks.
Sell also used inverters.
Sun Electronics Blemished solar panels for sale.

Used and surplus solar cell retail

Surplus Traders Net A general surplus reseller with an interesting section of solar cells, ...

Used and imperfect solar panels and cells retailers

spotHunter.com Germany Business auctions for house automation and environmental technology.