Solar

While I certainly welcome lower-cost solar panels, and would most certainly include solar power when I own my off-grid homestead, I am deeply concerned about the tens of thousands, and soon to be hundreds of thousands of acres of land being developed for industrial solar farms across the state. Information both on solar farms and smaller, more appropriate uses of solar technology.

Mixing solar panels – Dos and Don’ts β€’ SOLAR POWER SECRETS

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Mixing solar panels – Dos and Don’ts β€’ SOLAR POWER SECRETS

Though mixing different solar panels is not recommended, it’s not forbidden and things would be ok as long as each panel’s electrical parameters (voltage, wattage, amps) are carefully considered.

When you intend to wire two panels produced by different vendors, the vendors are not the problem.

The problem is in different electrical characteristics of the panels, together with different performance degradation.

We put solar panels together to increase the solar-generated power.

Ditching Net Metering Is in the ‘Best Interest’ of Solar, Say MIT Economists | Greentech Media

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Ditching Net Metering Is in the ‘Best Interest’ of Solar, Say MIT Economists | Greentech Media

“I think we’ve got to find a better way to do it, because I think net metering is going to result in a pushback against residential solar,ȁ said Richard Schmalensee, economics professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, on the sidelines of the report launch in Washington, .C.

Mega Solar

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I am really not convinced that these mega solar industrial solar facilities β˜€οΈ popping up in the Mohawk Valley really are that great for the environment. While it might give the liberal politicians something to brag about, I’m not convinced yet that they are displacing much fossil fuels or reducing climate change. And I think these tariff schemes that that the marketers are selling to green minded consumers are just scams.

I do think there is benefits both to the grid, homeowners and the environment for roof top solar but that’s a vastly different beast then these industrial solar facilities that are gobbling up forest and farm land and polluting my social media feeds with their scammy advertising.

Large solar farm proposed for Thompsons Lake Road | The Altamont Enterprise

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Large solar farm proposed for Thompsons Lake Road | The Altamont Enterprise

KNOX — A 4.4-megawatt solar farm that’s proposed for 1688 Thompsons Lake Road, an undeveloped Knox property of roughly 33 acres owned by Mark and Janet Viscio, will not be subject until a public hearing until at least December.

Knox Planning Board chairman Tom Wolfe told The Enterprise that the town board must first designate the planning board as lead agency — the entity that determines whether an environmental impact statement is required for a project and then is responsible for the preparation of that statement.

Solar Panels Are Starting to Die, Leaving Behind Toxic Trash | WIRED

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Solar Panels Are Starting to Die, Leaving Behind Toxic Trash | WIRED

When solar panels reach their end of their life today, they face a few possible fates. Under EU law, producers are required to ensure their solar panels are recycled properly. In Japan, India, and Australia, recycling requirements are in the works. In the United States, it’s the Wild West: With the exception of a state law in Washington, the US has no solar recycling mandates whatsoever. Voluntary, industry-led recycling efforts are limited in scope. “Right now, we’re pretty confident the number is around 10 percent of solar panels recycled,” said Sam Vanderhoof, the CEO of Recycle PV Solar, one of the only US companies dedicated to PV recycling. The rest, he says, go to landfills or are exported overseas for reuse in developing countries with weak environmental protections.

Even when recycling happens, there’s a lot of room for improvement. A solar panel is essentially an electronic sandwich. The filling is a thin layer of crystalline silicon cells, which are insulated and protected from the elements on both sides by sheets of polymers and glass. It’s all held together in an aluminum frame. On the back of the panel, a junction box contains copper wiring that channels electricity away as it’s being generated. 

At a typical e-waste facility, this high-tech sandwich will be treated crudely. Recyclers often take off the panel’s frame and its junction box to recover the aluminum and copper, then shred the rest of the module, including the glass, polymers, and silicon cells, which get coated in a silver electrode and soldered using tin and lead. (Because the vast majority of that mixture by weight is glass, the resultant product is considered an impure, crushed glass.) Tao and his colleagues estimate that a recycler taking apart a standard 60-cell silicon panel can get about $3 for the recovered aluminum, copper, and glass. Vanderhoof, meanwhile, says that the cost of recycling that panel in the US is between $12 and $25—after transportation costs, which “oftentimes equal the cost to recycle.” At the same time, in states that allow it, it typically costs less than a dollar to dump a solar panel in a solid-waste landfill.

The Push To Turn NYC’s Polluting Peaker Plants Into Publicly-Owned Solar Power – Gothamist

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The Push To Turn NYC’s Polluting Peaker Plants Into Publicly-Owned Solar Power – Gothamist

Looming over a playground in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Queens stands the enormous Ravenswood Generating Station, the 23rd largest power plant in the country. Its functions are to operate as a fossil fueled peaker plant, providing an extra surge of electricity during ‘peak times’ of high energy demand, such as when everyone turns on their air-conditioning during a heatwave.

While peaker plants were originally intended to only be used once or twice a year, they now run in New York City on a more regular basis to meet the city’s growing energy demands, particularly in the evening when more lights and devices are turned on. If one spends some time by a peaker plant they may feel a little nauseous. They may feel worse if they reside near one.