Renewable ENERGY

A few states are already dabbling in roadside energy production. Last year, Oregon began a solar highway demonstration project with a 104-kilowatt ground-mounted solar array situated at the interchange of Interstates 5 and 205. The array powers about a third of the lights on the interchange. Massachusetts recently announced a plan to install a utility-scale wind turbine – big enough to power 400 households – on land adjacent to the Massachusetts Turnpike’s Blandford Rest Area.

Researchers and designers are also toying with ways to generate power along roads, including use of piezoelectric materials, energy producing speed bumps, integrating wind turbines into road barriers.

A state-by-state auction of their intellectual property portfolio will take place this Friday, with minimum reserve bids that range from $125,000 for South Dakota to $1.5 million for California.

According to Mr. Fein, the technologies allow for the creation of a utility-scale system that can plug into the existing grid infrastructure, potentially over hundreds of miles. The power generated could be used for homes, businesses and electric-vehicle charging stations.

Auction documents suggest that each 10-mile stretch of the Green Roadway system could generate enough energy to power up to 2,000 homes. The installed cost would be about $2.6 million for the solar components and $4.2 million for wind, but up to 65 percent could be knocked off if federal, state and local subsidies and tax credits are factored in, the documents suggest.

They also say that the solar and wind power generated, given the available incentives, would be cost-competitive with natural gas-fueled power generation.

Such technologies hold promise as a means not only of improving the nation energy independence, said Cathy St. Denis, a spokeswoman for the agency.

Manchester’s CIS Tower could be the world’s tower entire covered with solar panels, which is something impressive behaviour in mind that the idea of buildings covered with solar panels have moved behind the drawing board stage. It was said: that this solar panels are packed with a punch, a much greener panels that produce 81W photovoltaic of energy, taking into consideration that the entire tower has approximately 7,250 panels, which would literally translate into 393 kilowatts of energy and can power approximately 1,100 computers for a year.

Well not really, with a price tag of $11.4 million, these solar panels cost a bomb considering the fact that if the panels were to run at full load for 12 hours a day 365 days a year the savings would be about $150,000 a year, so the building will break even after 75 years-far longer than the lifetime of the cells, and the best part is, keeping the money in a bank that promise a good interest rate return at 3 -4% for half year would definitely cover the electricity bills. Conclusion. Solar panels has a long way to go and Global Warming is here to stay for good, goodbye earth!