Solar Power World

Pepco buys Solar Decathlon winner for public education

WaterShed, the international-prize-winning solar house built by University of Maryland students, faculty and professional partners, has found a buyer and a permanent site: Electric service provider Pepco is purchasing the high-tech building, and plans to locate it at one of its facilities in Montgomery County, Maryland. The purchase secures WaterShed’s future and will make... Read More

Solar calculator app for Androids and iPhone

The program is available in English, German and Italian. A solar yield calculator app is available for Android smartphones. An iPhone version already exists. Its developer Vario says the app enables calculating photovoltaic system yield and CO² savings. The calculator depends on the average annual solar radiation at the site to calculate the possible yield of a photovoltaic system. The... Read More

A foundation for sun power: an introduction to solar energy

There are some parts of the country where developing solar power make more sense than erecting wind turbines, hence, one reason for this section of the handbook. People in those locations will be glad to hear that the cost of solar panels is coming down and their efficiency is steadily climbing. In fact, some predict the cost of solar power to drop below that of nuclear power –... Read More