Borrego Solar Systems and sPower worked with the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom this year to manifest the first theme park on the West Coast powered by solar energy. In this case, the solar will account for 80% of the park’s energy usage. One difference in this theme park’s solar installation from other similar installations is that it will be powered by one of the most substantial solar carport installations in the country.
The last time I visited Walt Disney World was decades ago. I am more of a candidate for hiking the Appalachian trail than going to a theme park. However, one thing that would have me jump to go is another chance to view and photograph a large solar installation.
Ecologist Susannah B. Lerman believes most homeowners fall into one of three groups when it comes to lawn care. Group #1 includes “lawn people,” who covet the perfect lawn and “spend thousands of dollars each year to have a lush, green, weed-free lawn,” she said. Group #2 is made up of “neighbors of lawn people,” who are clueless, but watch what their neighbors do with their lawns, and follow their lead. “They figure that they, too, should irrigate, fertilize and mow,” she said. Group #3 are those who just don’t care, and “do the minimum to keep the lawn alive,” she said. Which group are you in?
After studying the wings of butterflies, researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology say that reproducing the pattern of nanoholes found in nature can increase the efficiency of thin film solar panels by up to 200 percent.
Here’s a new twist on the “butterfly effect” leading to more lightweight, compact concentrated systems for solar energy harvesting — instead of hurricanes.
What a lovely sight to see the sheep among the solar panels. Modern farming is becoming dual purpose. The land between and underneath rows of PV models is accessible for grazing of small livestock, such as sheep and free-ranging poultry. Simultaneous farming results in ecological and economic benefits. Home-grown power … [continued]
Tongxiang Fan, Ph.D., and his team at the Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China have for a long time studied the wings of butterflies from the species Troides aeacus and Papilo helenus, trying to figure out why these creatures are phenomenal at generating heat from sunlight. Their results were … [continued]
