In San Diego, you will find a structure that is all about the sun and the shade. I know it sounds quite contrasting but hear this out.

Have you heard of the Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve? Well, this park has recreational vehicles there. And where there is shade right on top where these RVs are stored. That is the shade part. The sun part comes next. See, right on top of that shade, the officials of the park had decided to go solar and so they mounted a solar power system. That happened last year.

And so now, the officials are quite happy with how much they are saving. Well, I sure would if I were saving much power. I’m sure you would too.

Anyhow, Tom Philp, Borrego Solar Systems’s senior energy consultant, says, “It provides insurance against rising rates and helps reduce the cost of energy.”

I say it’s a blessing. And I’m sure they think of it the same way.

Source: SignOnSanDiego.com

In a piece of news I came across just a couple of minutes ago, I learned about Israel going for more solar projects. Now, of course, that is surely good news. The Earth is going to need all the help that it can get from us.

Anyhow, according to the report, Israel’s Social-Economic Cabinet has already given the go signal with a solar project that has been laid out by Binyamin Ben Eliezer, the country’s National Infrastucture Minister. According to this plan, they are going to develop the regions of Negev and Arava (both in the southern part of the country) and they would be doing such so that these places are able to use renewable energy.

To be able to accomplish this, they would have to create 10 solar stations in the areas. And they would have to create such solar projects starting next year up until 2020. With that, they are aiming that the country would be using renewable energy by that time. Well, at least, 10% of the country’s energy needs would be taken from renewable energy.

Source: ynet news.com

Hawaii is a place where the sun shines all year through. So this means that it is really a good thing to invest in solar panels if you are in this area.

With that, it can be said that the Shidler College of Business which is a part of the whole Manoa campus of the University of Hawaii is going to do a good move. See, in a piece of news I came across today, it has been reported that this business college of the University of Hawaii is going to install solar panels.

The whole solar power system of the college is going to produce around 4.5 kilowatts of power. It cost $50,000 and thanks to Jay Shidler who donated the amount to the college. After all, the college has been named after him. Shidler is currently an investor in real estate and is also an entrepreneur.

I hope to hear about the whole university getting all solar as well.

Source: Pacific Business News

Have you ever gone to the Grand Canyon? Well, many people find their way to this tourist destination every year and that is because of the wonderful view that they get to experience there. Everything is just natural and that is truly amazing.

Now people who are going to visit the Grand Canyon would be even more amazed to find not only the wonderful view but also learn of the fact that the site’s Visitors’ Center is getting its power straight from the sun. Yes. That is right. The Grand Canyon Visitors’ Center is going solar.

By the end of spring, a solar power system is going to be set up and it is going to be able to produce 18 kWs of power. Though it will not be able to provide all the energy needs of the center, it is still going to help take off around 30% of the total expenses.

Source: Kold News

There is a solar project that is going to be built in Japan. And this project is going to be found in the Haneda Airport in Japan’s capital, Tokyo. According to the news report, this project is going to help the airport save much on its electricity bill for it would be using the power of the sun to power the electricity needs of the mentioned place. And in building this project, two companies would be joining forces - the Tokyo Electric Power Company and Mitsui and Company.

The airport terminal would be given a solar power system and it is estimated that this project would be able to produce two megawatts of power for each year. That amount of power would be able to save the airport around 10% of its electricity bills. This would be found on the roof of the terminal and the people behind this are saying that the whole deal would begin its operations come October of 2010.

The costs of using fossil fuel can get pretty high. There is indeed a way to save on that as we all know. However, this is the first time that the Whitefield School Committee had learnt about it and they did through a proposal they got during a meeting. They were informed that hot water could be available free of charge if they had a solar power system in their school.

The proposal that the Whitefield School Committee had received was actually from C.M. McCormick and Sons, a company in the locality. This is headed by Steve McCormick and in a report, he had disclosed that they had already been installing solar power systems all across the area. They install heat pipe solar collectors and this is a group of vacuum tubes with a water manifold that is insulated. With that, the whole contraption is able to take in the radiation from the sun and that is then converted into heat. And that is then used to heat up the water. Nice, right?