http://www.AltEnergyMag.com/ AltEnergyMag Alternative Energy Industry News and eMagazine - Recent Articles from our eMagazine http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2012/01/a-look-at-green-technology-predictions-for-2012/1851The green landscape will continue to shift and it is important to watch, learn and prepare future leaders. The excitement of clean technology innovation in 2012 and beyond ought to be celebrated by everyone who has a stake in making our world a better place to work, play and live. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:33:27 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2012/01/2011-greentech-ma-review/1843When the dust settled, 353 transactions had been completed for a reported $13.9 billion—down 6% from the $14.7 billion posted in 2010. While greentech funding rose 4% to $10.6 billion, mergers and acquisitions slumped 29% to $3.3 billion. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:33:09 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2012/01/solar-photovoltaic-pv-power--global-market-size-and-key-country-analysis-to-2020/1849The global cumulative installed capacity for solar PV is expected to reach 330,424 MW by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 23.7% during 2011-2020. Europe is the leading solar PV market, with a share of 76.5% of the total cumulative installed capacity, followed by the Asia-Pacific region, accounting for a share of 15.8% in 2010. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:31:33 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2012/01/alternative-fueled-vehicles-at-the-north-american-international-auto-show-/1848Despite all the glamor, the real winner, the game changer, the quantum leaper, the watershed moment was here at the Autoshow and the Mainstream Automotive Writer's completely missed it. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:31:11 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2012/01/processing-and-disposal-of-“soft”-municipal-solid-waste-and-conversion-into-electricity/1846Ligno cellulose consists of accumulated solar energy, however recovery of this energy is possible only through combustion processes with considerable environmental disadvantages. The proposed technology offers a completely different approach: The input materials are dissolved in a concentrated salt solution. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:30:52 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2012/01/durban-2011--a-second-chance-to-climate-change/1845The Kyoto Protocol, having set binding targets for 37( + 4 that are to be added till the end of 2012) developed countries to reduce GHG emissions to 10-20 percent below the 1990 levels by 2012, however, may lose its significance in the second period since some countries such as Canada, Japan and China were reportedly unwilling to take part. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:30:23 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2012/01/case-study--schumacher-auto-group-of-palm-beach-/1852From our research… we cant find a bigger PV solar System (135KW or 576 of PV solar Panels) that has been supplied and installed on an AUTO dealer in Florida or the East Coast of the USA for that matter. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:28:50 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2012/01/solar-air-heat-a-proven-renewable-supplement-to-residentialcommercial-heating-/1844A new solar air heater has been engineered to provide homeowners, architects and builders with the performance of a highly efficient solar air heat collector with the look of a conventional skylight. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:28:17 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2012/01/there’s-more-green-to-vineyards-than-just-grapes-and-the-next-great-harvest/1847Notable wine regions in Italy, Germany and France already have FIT programs in place, while California and other states offer similar incentives based on government grants and rebates. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:27:31 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2012/01/solar-yacht-sails-around-the-world-powered-by-nothing-more-than-the-sun/1850The yacht carries a huge rack of Lithium-Ion batteries capable of storing up to three days' worth of sailing power, easily enough to allow transit to continue throughout the night, or during overcast skies. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:26:45 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2012/01/solar-photovoltaic-companies-shifting-from-focus-on-market-share-growth-to-profitability-in-2012/1819Planned Production Revised Downward; Market Growth Shifting Away from Europe, NPD Solarbuzz Reports Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:40:00 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2012/01/unlock-the-secret-to-selling-to-the-military/1839Selling to the military is not easy, but if you are persistent and take one step at a time, asking questions along the way, military sales can add substantially to your bottom line. Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:39:25 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2012/01/solar-thermal-hot-water-–-the-other-type-of-solar/1841Just like PV solar panels, solar thermal systems are tax credit eligible on both state and federal levels. And, just as there are utility rebates for installing a new, more energy efficient water tank, most power companies also have special incentives for installing solar thermal, as high as $450 dollars per solar thermal installation! Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:39:09 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2012/01/interview--energy-monitoring-with-powertrack/1840By monitoring and measuring energy production, consumption and portfolio performance, budget conscious users, installers, developers and financiers are discovering production increases and cost savings that they could never see before. Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:38:40 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2012/01/utilizing-panel-level-monitoring-to-improve-project-roi-/1836Panel-level monitoring is a new and valuable weapon for array owners and O&M companies to improve financial performance and reduce risk in owning and operating large-scale solar arrays. The accuracy and insight from this new technology, coupled with intelligent Cloud-based analysis and diagnostics, bring many opportunities to improve energy output and improve efficiency in O&M activities. Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:37:13 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2012/01/alternative-energy-in-rhode-island/1835The Renewable Energy Fund (REF), managed and administered within the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC), has historically been the state’s sole, dedicated source for renewable energy funding. The program provides grants, recoverable grants and loans for commercial, municipal and housing projects, as well as feasibility studies. Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:36:50 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2012/01/energy-storage-for-the-grid-/1837Currently, the PowerCube™ is configured as a behind the meter resource. In essence this means that Axion acts as a virtual generator by curtailing load. When the PowerCube is commanded to take load from the grid it uses that power to charge its battery. When commanded to discharge, the battery is discharged into the plants load effectively reducing or curtailing its power consumption. Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:36:07 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2012/01/ihs-isuppli-teardown-analysis-of-solar-inverter-identifying-the-cost-reduction-opportunities/1838In its first-ever dissection of a solar power inverter, IHS has determined the bill of materials (BOM) of a major manufacturer’s product, providing a path-setting benchmark for cost reduction in a market expected to undergo rapid price erosion in the coming years. Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:35:44 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/12/building-integrated-photovoltaics-impacts-the-glass-and-glazing-industry/1832Selling PV modules in their product package of glass and fenestration products represent a very significant sales potential increase for glass and glazing subcontractors. On a related matter, many PV modules can be glazed directly into the fenestration products without any modification to either product. Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:55:26 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/12/mit-energy-initiative-with-changes-us-electric-grid-can-hold-up-to-expected-challenges/1829MIT report shows that with new policies, U.S. electric grid could handle expected influx of electric cars and wind and solar generation. Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:54:58 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/12/solar-infrastructure-codes/1827Unirac is a strong advocate for developing new codes for solar infrastructure, and has been working closely with the International Code Council Evaluation Service to develop new performance standards for racking and mounting systems. Unirac’s new SolarMount (E)volution residential roof mount PV racking system, launched at Solar Power International in October, is currently being evaluated by ICC-ES. Unirac is the first company to apply for an ICC ESR under ICC-ES AC428. Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:53:50 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/12/striking-balance-–-how-the-solar-industry-benefits-from-the-us--china/1834The solar industry is ready for its moment in the sun: Here at home, we hope fairness prevails so that the investigatory process proceeds without acrimony, political overzealousness or protectionism; at stake are U.S. jobs, U.S. exports, and U.S. consumer benefits for a strategically important U.S industry Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:53:27 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/12/solar-technology-comparison-studybrwastewater-engineering-building-–-leed-gold-certified/1825Both thin film and crystalline solar technologies provide reliable and impressive energy production performance. While it is well known that amorphous silicon modules suffer lower performance loss in high temperatures and low light conditions, this study reveals that the differing mounting requirements of each system more than offset this cell-type difference. As a result, with commonly-used commercial mounting solutions, crystalline modules actually outperform thin film modules in energy production per rated watt. Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:52:11 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/12/solar-cogeneration-technology/1828Solar cogeneration of electricity and hot water maximizes the economic and environmental value of energy derived from the sun. Cogenra’s system produces as much electricity as photovoltaic (PV) technology allows, then captures most of the remaining energy as hot water, in total exploiting over 70% of the energy incident from the sun. Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:51:43 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/12/india-embraces-solar-power-says-price-will-equal-thermal-power-in-five-years/1833The program's goals are nothing if not ambitious, as the government had initially hoped to boost the nation's solar capacity by the equivalent of about 18 nuclear power plants by 2022, a date that's now been brought forward by five years. Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:51:19 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/12/trabant-partners-with-siemens-to-develop-game-changing-solar-tracker/1831Sade’s idea was to eliminate the need for masts or poles to secure a solar array to concrete foundations. Instead, the tracker would use a ballast pan filled with dirt, gravel or sand. Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:51:01 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/12/small-companies-can-make-a-big-difference-in-tomorrow/1826During the conversation, I kept coming back to ‘Why? What was driving this desirable business behavior?’ Larry summed it up. “At the end of the day - we work to do as much right as we can for all concerns. By being long-term, we can look at the long-term win-wins for both conserving our resources and with a competitive long-term cost benefit as well. Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:50:41 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/12/pvp-he-string-inverters-/1830We believe that system owners and installers should take an active role in understanding how their system is performing and that basic web based monitoring should be free and flexible. Adhering to this philosophy, we have designed the ZigBee based monitoring solution for the PV Powered HE string inverter to make string inverter performance monitoring fast, easy, simple, reliable and flexible. Mon, 19 Dec 2011 01:01:47 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/11/next-wave-of-renewable-energy-grid-interactive-/1813A grid-interactive PV system implies that a PV system is tied to the grid but can stand alone if the grid goes down. Essentially, it offers the best of both off-grid and grid-tied systems. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:38:39 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/11/inverter-strategies-an-overlooked-factor-in-the-solar-cost-equation/1820This new type of architecture has inherent cost and reliability advantages over microinverters: it uses fewer critical components than microinverters, its easy installation and connection to the grid allows for reduced installation and maintenance costs and its connection to the module at a cellular level means the performance and cost of the solar module can be optimized. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:38:18 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/11/tools-for-clean-energy-project-financing/1814Making affordable financing options available to as many people as possible is the key to stimulating widespread adoption of residential solar. That’s why Clean Power Finance offers affordable financing options for qualified installers and homeowners as well as our CPF Tools residential solar sales platform to simplify, streamline and speed up the permitting process. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:36:52 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/11/north-american-photovoltaic-market-set-to-double-year-over-year-in-q4’11/1822Caught between strong utility-scale project demand, declining solar incentives in distributed generation applications, module over-supply, and significant policy uncertainty, the North American photovoltaic (PV) market is at a crossroads, according to the conclusions of the recently-released NPD Solarbuzz North America PV Markets Quarterly report. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:36:30 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/11/wind-power--global-market-size-turbine-market-share-installation-prices-regulations--investment/1815Consolidation is on the cards as the US market is undergoing correction and the Chinese wind market is expected to stabilize during the forecast period. Companies have modest expectations of growth for 2011 as major markets have slowed down but are expected to pick up in the second half of year. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:35:59 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/11/home-automation-protocols-networks-and-the-smart-grid/1821We have a long way to go before AV, lighting, HVAC, and appliances come together within a home automation network that will work with smart meters and the utilities’ back office system to communicate both ways flawlessly, controlling how and when energy is wisely consumed. Strides are being made in each area and we will see more systems coming together for the perfect balance of energy consumption and energy savings. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:35:33 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/11/biomass-power-in-china/1816The roadmap for biomass is under study in China and may prove a gem for development of the sector. Biomass presently contributes nearly 5% of power generation to the total renewable. The technology has good growth prospects due to available potential in the country. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:29:53 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/11/goodbye-nuclear-–-hello-solar/1823The prospect of a probable reduction in nuclear in France presents a fantastic opportunity for the photovoltaic industry. And never mind the Chinese competition – the French players have their card to play. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:29:20 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/11/the-impact-of-germanys-decision-to-phase-out-nuclear-energy/1824While startup costs and transition problems have yet to be resolved, Germany is betting on its future, and future generations using solar and wind power will not have to bury energy wastes with a half-life of tens of thousands of years. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:28:51 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/11/instarack-in-orange-county/1817One of the Largest Rooftop Solar Installations in the City of Irvine Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:27:55 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/11/vodacom-deploys-fuel-cell-system-as-backup-power-at-cell-site-in-south-africa/1818The South Africa Baviaanspoort site has yielded significant savings in terms of maintenance and repair costs and improved reliability over the duration that the ElectraGen™ ME has been installed. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:25:56 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/11/feed-in-tariffs--the-proven-road-not-taken…why/1806Complacency is always a barrier to change. Just as the Captain and crew of the Titanic became complacent when the ship was deemed “unsinkable” we must not become complacent and not do what is proven and obvious – Feed in Tariffs. Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:09:10 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/11/despite-solyndra’s-death-the-future-of-solar-energy-is-sunny/1807As with the dotcom crash, the death of Solyndra, Evergreen and others will usher in a more robust solar industry not signal the disappearance of PV as a viable alternative for future energy needs. Both companies were a tiny fraction of an enormous and rapidly growing global market. Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:08:48 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/11/energy-storage-and-variable-renewable-energy-sources/1808Climate change, national security, energy independence, jobs and energy cost are some of the factors that are merging to reinvigorate efforts in energy storage development. Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:08:24 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/11/case-study-solar-installation-at-the-university-of-delaware/1811The clean energy provided by the solar array will result in 1,810,000 fewer pounds of carbon dioxide being emitted annually, while reducing the University’s energy costs by 30%. Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:08:02 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/11/getting-off-to-a-smart-start/1809To become a smart city requires a comprehensive city-wide sustainability plan, strong leadership from local authorities, effective public/private partnerships and enthusiastic buy-in from citizens with several EU funding opportunities there to help out along the way. Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:07:44 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/11/amsc’s-solartie™-system/1810The SolarTie System was designed to lower the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) for utility-scale solar power plants. A great deal of attention is being given to reducing the LCOE, which defines how much the energy produced really costs. Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:05:46 -0800 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/11/solar-power-international-2011--special-news-report/1805News Announcements from SPI 2011 Fri, 04 Nov 2011 09:43:44 -0700 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/10/optimizing-solar-thermal-performance-with-data-loggers/1802By measuring and monitoring solar thermal system performance, installers can correct mistakes and fine-tune and optimize systems. As a result, US consumers are likely to regain confidence in the technology, spurring what is expected to be a burgeoning market for solar hot water heaters. Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:14:02 -0700 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/10/microcsp-concentrated-solar-power/1804MicroCSP power projects all include sun tracker and thermal storage. The cost is around the same as PV but you generate more electricity per day because of the tracker/storage combination so you have a lower cost of energy. Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:13:40 -0700 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/10/weathering-the-storm-fluoropolymer-films-protect-solar-modules-and-ensure-performance/1800Recent advances in materials science have led to the development of innovative new materials that provide enhanced durability to photovoltaic modules. Unique polymeric thin film technologies, such as ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) frontsheets, provide modules with the protection they need to perform at high levels even when exposed to the elements. Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:13:22 -0700 http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine/2011/10/leed-standards-and-the-global-carbon-market/1803Research has shown that LEED buildings consume over 25% less energy, have 13% lower maintenance costs, 27% higher occupant satisfaction and a 33% reduction in GHG emissions compared to the average commercial building. Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:13:04 -0700