Posts Tagged: trees

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2
Feb 10

Solar trumps shade in California prosecution of tree owners

The Santa Clara County district attorney pressed criminal charges against Richard Treanor for the shade his redwoods cast on the solar panels that Mark Vargas uses for 100 percent of his home’s power.

…resulted in the Santa Clara County District Attorney prosecuting Mr. Treanor and Ms. Bissett.A judge convicted the tree owners on Dec. 10 and ordered two of the eight trees cut down.The redwoods were planted between 1997 and 1999. The solar panels were installed in 2001 by Vargas, who moved here in 1993.Photos from 2001 show that two of the trees didn’t shade the panels for the first year after installation, but have since grown to shade more than 10 percent of the collectors between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.So, says Treanor who has hired an arborist to do the job, “at 9 a.m. on March 26, Mr. Perez will be here to whack our trees.”The case has gained national traction. CNN visited both households, and Vargas just turned down Jon Stewart of the Daily Show.The fascination is predictable. It sounds like an epic struggle of values: trees versus…

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Solar trumps shade in California prosecution of tree owners

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26
Jan 10

Introducing the World’s Largest Solar Powered Winery

The largest solar installation of any winery in the world is set to be built for Constellation Wines’ Gonzalez winery in Monterrey County, CA by Pacific Power Management.

…Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:3 Cyclists Document 12,000 Mile Trip on Solar Powered BlogHow to Go Green: Alternative EnergyEmeril Green Episode: Fall Harvest7 Daily Tasks That (Surprise!) Don’t Require Paper TowelsEd Begley Jr. on Must-Do Solar Power Maintenance, Green Businesses, and More”Greenest” Parking Lot Planned For Country’s Largest Airport…

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Introducing the World’s Largest Solar Powered Winery

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23
Jan 10

A Solar Salute to America (PIC)

The solar thermal power startup eSolar tricked-out its field of mirrors to send a message to the nation for the 4th of July weekend. Translation: Happy (Energy) Independence Day U.S.A.

…Cute but more interesting is CSP’s eff, low cost and ability to store heat for later use or hold on while a cloud might go by and the ability to use any fuel to run it if needed or increase it’s eff.
A plant like this combined with biomass hybrid is a great combo for places like here in Fla which has clouds and lot of waste biomass. And can be made more eff as most other fossil fuel, nuke plants by putting low temp Rankine generators between the engine and the condenser allowing a much smaller condenser and in many cases, much less water needs for cooling.
Both cutting costs and increasing output/eff.
But even more cost effective, eff is having these on homes, businesses that both pay much more for electricity but could use the heat for hot water or heating. One wouldn’t have to have to buy land , HV powerlines or hire help. That is the real future of CSP, PV, wind, not big wind, solar farms as payback is in 1/2 the time.
What we need is real mass production, standard units that can just be rolled on…

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A Solar Salute to America (PIC)