What is Digg?62 Comments
- dougvfr750, on 08/08/2008, -4/+33Where do you put the ants?
- zombiecarlin, on 08/08/2008, -1/+29"It is self-powered"
It ***** better be... - Aero347, on 08/08/2008, -5/+16Is that little solar panel powering 16 large LCD monitors?
- BitKid, on 08/08/2008, -2/+12I'm sure you could mount it some way to stabilize it on any surface. Each mirror has a motor which is hooked up to a tracking computer to determine where in the sky the sun is at any given moment. So no, it doesn't work only in direct sunlight. Because of this tracking system, the Sunflower is more efficient than traditional solar panels.
Plus, the solar cells in this unit are made to absorb light more efficiently as well. They have 3 layers of material, each responding to a different wavelength of light. - zapass, on 08/08/2008, -0/+7bummer! passive cooling...
i don't get it, why don't they combine this with water heating for a double solar whammy?
also, no mention of the weight of the system? - VelvetoneFusion, on 08/08/2008, -0/+6but he's right.
- linagee, on 08/08/2008, -0/+6If you hate HOAs so much, why did you buy into one?
- asunder, on 08/08/2008, -3/+8You lost me at "Businesses will now be able to ..."
- bffoley, on 08/08/2008, -1/+6You said "penetrate"
- inactive, on 08/08/2008, -1/+6@ ZebZ - I call troll. Lewis Black is hilarious.
- Patori, on 08/08/2008, -1/+6I counted 12.
- relic180, on 08/08/2008, -0/+4I plan to install panels to my roof in the next 6-9 months or so, but I always wondered about these things... how can you hurricane proof them (Since I live in Florida)?
I wouldn't want my investment to go flying down the street 6 months after I bought em. - Ramble, on 08/08/2008, -0/+4Wind power instead?
- djchester, on 08/08/2008, -2/+6..and only on flat roofs.
- BitKid, on 08/08/2008, -0/+4I don't think solar panels are really hurricane-proof either. If a hurricane is strong enough to rip your roof off, it is also strong enough to tear up anything else nearby. The Sunflower was made to be installed on the ground however. Their site describes how it is designed for an especially low profile in order to remain stable in high winds. The site claims it can withstand 85MPH winds.
- RudeTurnip, on 08/08/2008, -0/+4The Department of Energy can make a move to invalidate any HOA covenant against solar panels/concentrators, much in the same way the FCC has invalidated HOA restrictions on satellite dishes.
- bincoder, on 08/08/2008, -0/+4Safe for the roof but are the cells safe from the HOA?
This can be done all sorts of ways but as long as an HOA thinks they own your house while you make the payments and consider anything that isn't plain shingles 'an eyesore' nothing will change. - Shaggy63, on 08/08/2008, -1/+5I have a small solar panel. 1.5 watt I keep in my car with a battery to charge my phone and headset. I was wondering does anyone know if it would be possible to get more wattage out of it if I built a reflector or focused the light?
- solarweasel, on 08/08/2008, -0/+3Actually, the physical functionality of a solar cell requires photons to knock electrons accross a constant bandgap (determined by the types of materials used), thus voltage is nearly constant and current becomes a function of irradiant light.
All these concentration things really are are lenses/mirrors that focus more light onto a smaller area, thus increasing the light intensity. Yes you could get a faster charge (more current) by increasing the light intensity by adding a concentrator, but it would have to be rather large to make any difference. - WanderingGuru, on 08/08/2008, -1/+4I say boo to blogsapm:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10007431-54.html - sodypop77, on 08/08/2008, -0/+3Oh never mind I just saw it in the flash animation under the "technology" link.
Still, it isn't EcoGeek's fault if the manufacturer has contradicting information. (I'm a regular visitor of EG so I just had to check the facts when you gave them a big "fail.") - Berkana, on 08/09/2008, -0/+3This is definitely not the first solar concentrator safe for rooftops. Soliant has had a solar concentrator for rooftops for most of this decade: http://soliant-energy.com/products.php
- st00f72, on 08/08/2008, -0/+3Concentrating solar systems only respond to direct rays of the sun. They cannot take advantage of diffuse light, such as you experience on a cloudy day or when the humidity is extremely high.
- sodypop77, on 08/08/2008, -0/+3Where do you see 800x on the manufacturer's site? I couldn't find any reference to it.
From the first sentence of the 6th paragraph of their Aug 4th, 2008 press release:
[Link to PDF]
http://www.energyinnovations.com/documents/release ...
"The Sunflower system concentrates sunlight more than 1000 times and uses ultra-high efficiency triple-junction solar cells to get more energy per dollar than traditional PV systems." - shaka999, on 08/08/2008, -2/+5Maybe you should actually read about the product. From http://www.energyinnovations.com/products/sunflowe ...
Concentrating Sun
The Sunflower uses a proprietary-designed Fresnel lens to focus the sun's rays onto a very small piece of photovoltaic material. Our PV cells will be one of the most efficient cells in the world — over 35% efficient. It is composed of three layers of PV material, each of which responds to a different wavelength of light, enabling it to produce far more energy than traditional single-layer silicon-based cells. Each cell is backed by a set of aluminum cooling fins that use natural air flow to keep it at an optimal operating temperature despite the concentration levels. - JayTee44, on 08/08/2008, -0/+2Any chance that debris can land on the chip and light on fire, and then blow somewhere else? What happens if the cell falls away and the focal point is now on your roof?
- BitKid, on 08/08/2008, -0/+2Depends on if the solar cell is designed to output a fixed voltage or a variable voltage in relation to the intensity of light hitting the cell. I'm guessing that most little consumer solar cells like that have built-in voltage regulators which means that it outputs a fixed voltage once it has enough (or more than enough) light hitting it to convert to electricity.
- st00f72, on 08/08/2008, -0/+2ecogeek.org — By concentrating sunlight more than 1,000 times...
F A I L !
energyinnovations.com (the manufacturer) says only 800x. This product may have potential, but the article is a joke! - aolshove, on 08/08/2008, -1/+3Concentrators have been used for decades in commercial solar farms. This one is not an improvement of the technology nor anything particularly new or great other than getting some rubber stamp from a government agency so that it can be mounted on a rooftop legally. Fact is that concentrators break down the cells fairly quickly and need constant maintenance. I doubt their cost effectiveness (cheapness?) in the private sector.
- bincoder, on 08/08/2008, -0/+2Sweet!
Now they should just make it so an HOA can rule the roost, if and after they pay the homeowner $250,000 in cash to become the legal owners first.
Otherwise they should be jailed like any other criminal trespasser. - inactive, on 08/08/2008, -1/+3Move.
- FredFredrickson, on 08/08/2008, -0/+2Not to rain on the parade, but how much power does it cost to make one of these things? XD
- BradMajors, on 08/08/2008, -0/+2If the sunlight is concentrated one thousand times the solar panel is going to melt.
- st00f72, on 08/09/2008, -0/+2my grandpa had solar concentrators on his roof in Phoenix since the early '80s, but it was a parabolic trough water heating system, not PV.
- barbaragordon, on 08/09/2008, -0/+2ecogeek does appear to get everywhere. Makes you wonder if some of the popular diggers aren't on the payroll.
- coffeebot, on 08/09/2008, -0/+2the solar panel used for the phone and headset would probably work better with a little reflection. the voltage will remain the same but the milliamps will increase with more sun. use an ammeter to confirm this.
- S1ngular1ty1, on 08/10/2008, -0/+1It looks like it simply uses a fresnel lens to focus light onto the photo voltaic cells. You can buy these types of lenses in big sheets, fairly cheaply. A fresnel lens is the type of lens used in a light house or the head lamps in your car.
- S1ngular1ty1, on 08/10/2008, -0/+1Those aren't LCDs tards.
- Popeiler, on 08/09/2008, -1/+2That's not exactly the case. Engineers design solar products to accept incoming light at the greatest angle of incidence possible. The acceptance angle can be even further improved with anti reflective coatings, though i'm not sure whether or not they use them. Focusing the light just means that they can reduce the size of the photovoltaic panels thereby lowering the system cost.
- beauley, on 08/09/2008, -0/+1With Global Warming on many people's minds, do we have any ideas of the best way to lessen the impact on our future, or maybe a possible relief of its possible ravages or even a possible key to its eventual reversal. Many scientific experts have proposed
http://www.quazen.com/Science/Technology/Solar-Pow ...
Solar Power: Source of Endless Energy - BitKid, on 08/08/2008, -2/+3I remember reading about this in Wired a while back when it was still in development. These things sound awesome. It basically uses those mirrors to focus sunlight in a concentrated area on a single photovoltaic cell which is suspended above the mirrors. The mirrors even move depending on where the sun is in order to most efficiently direct the light to the PVC panel.
Check out more about it on their site: http://www.energyinnovations.com/products/ - st00f72, on 08/09/2008, -0/+1but it has aluminum cooling fins on the bottom
http://www.energyinnovations.com/products/sunflowe ... - whatever01, on 08/08/2008, -0/+1According to their website, they're concentrating on large commercial installations for a while.
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- st00f72, on 08/08/2008, -1/+2Apparently it does need direct sunlight: (from Energy Innovations website) "In order for a high-x solar concentrator to work, the lens must be pointed directly at the sun. This requires a tracking system that moves the module in both the altitude (distance above the horizon) and azimuth (the angle across the horizon) dimensions."
- st00f72, on 08/09/2008, -0/+1http://www.energyinnovations.com/products/sunflowe ...
- sodade, on 08/09/2008, -0/+1"Fact is that concentrators break down the cells fairly quickly and need constant maintenance."
Source for that please. -
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