Can you imagine a day when you’ll no longer need to have your home hooked up to the national power grid? Marco Krapels of Marin County, Calif. hopes that day will come sooner rather than later—at least for him. He’s a renewable energy financier who’s decked out his roof with 2.4 kilowatts worth of solar paneling. In his garage, there’s a 10-kilowatt battery for storing all that energy. Everything, including his car, runs on solar. In the long run, this independent approach to renewable energy could save a lot of money for families, cut back dramatically on greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce the national security threat associated with our over-reliance on the grid.
Tag: solar
With This One Step, Elon Musk Turned SolarCity From a Panel Installer Into a Utility Company
Some industry analysts predict that solar companies will replace utility companies this century. Elon Musk just gave that prediction a lot more credibility. Musk’s solar company, SolarCity, announced that it is on track to raising $54.4 million from private investors. The company has roughly 68,000 signed contracts in the United States. The financial plan is remarkable because it is a first for a solar company; it means, as Fast Co.Exist notes, “SolarCity is financing itself as a utility might.” Other solar companies may soon follow, and soon after, all our roofs will be paved with panels.
Sources: FastCo.Exist
[Image: Araya Diaz/Getty Images for TechCrunch]
Soon Your Phone Will Be Able to Control Sunlight Refraction Through the Windows
Sunlight that bounces off the side of a building is wasted energy. At least, that’s how researchers at the University of Cincinnati think of it. They’re designing thin fluid-filled cells that, when applied to windows, can refract sunlight in any desired direction. If implemented correctly, these cells could replace most if not all artificial lights in, say, a 10-story office building. Excess energy could also be stored as electricity and used for internal power or sold to utility companies. The whole process could be controlled on your smart phone: swipe your finger and the sun’s rays will follow.
Sunlight that bounces off the side of a building is wasted energy. At least, that’s how researchers at the University of Cincinnati think of it. They’re designing thin fluid-filled cells that, when applied to windows, can refract sunlight in any desired direction. If implemented correctly, these cells could replace most if not all artificial lights in, say, a 10-story office building. Excess energy could also be stored as electricity and used for internal power or sold to utility companies. The whole process could be controlled on your smart phone: swipe your finger and the sun’s rays will follow.
[ph]
Sunlight that bounces off the side of a building is wasted energy. At least, that’s how researchers at the University of Cincinnati think of it. They’re designing thin fluid-filled cells that, when applied to windows, can refract sunlight in any desired direction. If implemented correctly, these cells could replace most if not all artificial lights in, say, a 10-story office building. Excess energy could also be stored as electricity and used for internal power or sold to utility companies. The whole process could be controlled on your smart phone: swipe your finger and the sun’s rays will follow.
Solar Store Gives Customers the Genius Treatment
I don’t know how my cell phone works, but I know that I’ll get what I need when I go into that big shiny white store. The person helping me asks me questions about what I need to do, if I take a lot of photos, or if I watch movies with my phone. This is common sense selling, but it hasn’t been part of the consumer solar market. There’s all this talk about kilowatts and panel efficiency and deal-squashing upfront costs. But a sustainable living store in Austin called Treehouse is turning that around by giving customers what they need, in plain English. Treehouse also handles financing in the familiar way most of us buy cars: with low- or no-interest loans. By taking the tech and the hassle out of the equation, they help customers get to the important stuff: living more sustainably and using renewable energy. They’re setting a customer-first example that I bet we’ll start seeing with a lot of other green-tech companies. If you’re in a tech innovation space, how could you make your offering simpler to connect with more customers?