Green Products Has Located an Incredible Low Cost High Output Solar Design
At Green Products, we have come across a product from Cool Earth: Solar Balloons. Cool Earth was created with the mandate of producing electricity using solar power, specifically solar cells. Solar power is not a new concept, but how the sunlight is collected and concentrated is truly unique.
The current installed solar plants use flat-panels. Each panel is heavy, large, easily damaged, and costly to repair. This means the cost to produce a watt of electricity is 5-7 times greater than using natural gas and is not a feasible alternative to fossil fuels. This is no longer true with the Cool Earth solar balloon system.
One side of the balloon is made from reflective silver Mylar plastic. The other half is transparent to allow in sunlight. The silver material is parabolic-shaped to concentrate the sunlight on to a single point to achieve maximum light concentration. This is why high performance solar cells are used.
With the new design comes and the ability to increase sunlight concentration and reduce expensive solar cell material by 300 to 400 times. This cost reduction will bring the price down to a mere one dollar per watt. To give that some context: a typical flat-panel PV(photovoltaic) system on a residential rooftop is about seven to eight dollars per watt.
The orb has a simple circular metal frame that is used to hold the Mylar in the proper shape. An arm extends from the ring to the top center of the orb. This holds the solar cells that produce the electricity at the proper focal point. The shape of the balloon and consequently the focal point is altered by adjusting the internal air pressure.
This system is ideal for any of the western states where sunlight is most abundant and is not obscured by long term cloud formations during an average year. During the summer months this type of system could be used as a “peaker” (that is, a peak-use power source) to prevent rolling power outages.
Some of the more interesting aspects of this solar power station are how simple the design is and how multiples are pulled together to produce a solar power plant. Check it out.
Michael
Tags: air pollution, alternative energy, energy, energy conservation, energy savings, environmental, General, global warming, green planet, renewable energy, solar energy, solar panels, solar power