Do It Yourself Solar Panels have become quite popular, especially if you or someone you know is handy. You can build them easily with a little patience and time. The savings is substantial, and from what I can tell the quality is as good as many prefabricated panels- if you’re using quality parts.

I’ve run across many DIY sites for solar panels, and I’m opting not to put in links- but rather have you do a search for ‘diy solar panels’ and see what looks good to you. You always want to do the research on any given company, or before buying a manual that promises to give you all the answers. There are so many options that you will be surprised.

You also want to do the research for your geographical area to determine how well solar panels will work for you.

Weighing 60 tons, this 102 foot catamaran yacht has a 50’ beam. The top layer is covered with 5,300 square feet of solar panels, claiming a top speed of around 15 knots (they are still experimenting with speed. One journal lists 10 knots as the optimal speed for the conditions).

This boat left Monaco in late September 2010 and went to Miami in late November. From there it went to Cancun, Mexico- the site of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

They are on the way to Cartagena, Columbia (about 500 miles from it as of 12-14-10)

Their purpose: “We wish for a quality expansion of sustainable energy technologies on the water and in other mobile applications”.

Link in French:

Link in English:

I have an interesting guest posting from Jane Mcguire today:

Are you aware that a North Carolina State University team has demonstrated that water gel-based solar devices (known as: “artificial leaves”) can work like solar cells to create electricity?

The analysis has been published on-line in the Journal of Materials Chemistry by Doctor Orlin Velev, an Invista Professor of Chemical and Bio-molecular Engineering.

The studies prove the concept for making solar cells that more closely simulate nature. They also have the potential to be cheaper and more eco-friendly than the present standard silicon based solar cells.

The bendable devices are composed of water-based gel infused together with light-sensitive molecules (like plant chlorophyll) coupled with electrodes coated by carbon elements, such as carbon nanotubes or graphite.

Graphene is the simple structural element of some carbon allotropes including graphite, carbon nanotubes and fullerenes. Graphene is a 1-atom thick planar sheet of carbon atoms that are largely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice. The title comes from graphite ene; graphite itself consists of numerous graphene sheets stacked together.

The light-sensitive molecules get “excited” by the sun’s rays to create electricity, similar to plant molecules that get excited to synthesize sugars in order to grow.

Dr. Velev states that the research team hopes to be able to “learn how to mimic the materials through which nature harnesses solar energy.” Although man made light-sensitive molecules can be used, Velev says naturally derived products, like chlorophyll, are also effortlessly integrated in these units because of their particular water-gel matrix.

Velev even imagines a future in which roofs could be covered with soft sheets of similar electrical power-generating man-made-leaf solar cells. The concept of biochemically inspired ’soft’ devices for generating electricity may in the future offer an alternative for the present-day solid-state technologies.

About the Author: Colleen Jane Mcguire is currently writing for the http://www.solarwaterfountains.org blog, her personal hobby web log is focused on guidelines to help homeowners spend a smaller amount of energy with solar energy.

Reference: Aqueous soft matter based photovoltaic or pv devices. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 2011; DOI: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2011/JM/c0jm01820a

Richmond California has recently opened a community swimming pool that may be one of the most energy efficient in the country. They call it “The Plunge”. It is heated by solar collectors, it’s totally chlorine free and the building is heated by solar panels on the roof. The Plunge is an historic pool- it was first opened in 1926. Now after 10 years of renovations it has recently re opened August 14, 2010.

It’s a huge pool holding 324,000 gallons of water, and measures 60’ x 160’. The water is heated by circulating through eighty Heliodyne Gobi solar collectors on the roof.

Since the pool contains no chlorine, they use instead a saline solution combined with an ultraviolet disinfectant system. The use of natural ventilation and the reduction of chloramines in the water will make swimming in the Plunge a healthy experience.

The pool also has an array of solar electric panels that produce approximately 30 kilowatts for the building.

Heliodyne Gobi solar collectors

Richmond Plunge link