Free Republic

This year, during the heat of summer, when temperatures in New York surpassed 90°F, the 22 solar panels on the roof of my house were doing absolutely nothing. This is not something I learned until September, four months after my husband and I bought this house with a purportedly functional leased solar system in upstate New York, months after logging into a website that inaccurately told us that the panels were working, months after we forked over $6,000 to prepay the remainder of the 20-year lease to the company supposed to be maintaining the solar panels, Spruce Power, which happens...

Pepsico explained how it uses its fleet of Tesla Semi electric trucks in a fascinating video that gives us a glimpse at the future of trucking. Tesla has only delivered a limited number of its electric semitrucks, and most of them are believed to be in operation in Pepsico’s fleet – primarily in its Sacramento facility, which has been completely electrified and is solar-powered. . Pepsico explained that it uses most of its 21 Tesla Semi electric trucks for deliveries within 100 miles with several stops. They operate for up to 12 hours a day. Dejan Antunovic, electrification program manager...

Hello, I have a technical question for 12V solar folks.In the process of building an off-grid solar set up for my camper trailer. Just need enough juice to keep the fan running in the propane fridge and to power the blower on the propane heater plus the lights and water pump.Going to do a 200 amp hour gel battery and two 100 watt panels. A couple of months ago I bought a new-in-box 100 watt panel at an estate sale that I was told was for a 12V system. Reading the back of the panel I don't see 12V anywhere...

Earlier this week Texas grid operator ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) asked residents to reduce energy usage amid a sweltering heat wave to avoid rolling blackouts. ERCOT manages electric power to more than 26 million Texas customers and represents 90% of the state’s electric load, according to the company. Temperatures soared to 115+ degrees with the heat index in parts of Texas on Thursday amid an excessive heat warning. ERCOT issued the voluntary conservation notice due to extreme temperatures, forecasted high demand and lower reserves due to low wind generation. ... The wind turbines aren’t producing enough energy. Texas...

A powerful solar flare disrupted radio and navigation signals across North America. on Monday (Aug. 7) and prompted space weather forecasters to issue warnings because of energetic particles hitting Earth. The flare, classified as an X1.5, was the 20th X flare — the most potent solar flare category — of the current 11-year solar cycle, which will reach its maximum next year.

Astrophysicists reveal the sun is beaming down gamma rays with energies higher than ever measured. The gamma rays lose energy in Earth’s atmosphere, meaning they don’t present a concern to life. This also allows them to be discovered by researchers working with the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory, or HAWC, located in Mexico. “This shows that HAWC is adding to our knowledge of our galaxy at the highest energies, and it’s opening up questions about our very own sun,” said Mehr Un Nisa, a postdoctoral researcher with MSU and the corresponding author of the new report. Sometimes, the best place to...

A solar salesperson spent five hours in July on a site visit with Jan, a 76-year-old homeowner, to convince her that installing a small rooftop solar system on her Northeast Heights home would eliminate her electric bills overnight. Later, after printing out the one-page financial document she signed, Jan realized it was a 25-year agreement with a $79-per-month repayment plan. That’s $18 more than her current utility payments, which average about $61 per month based on a review of all her Public Service Co. of New Mexico bills since January 2022. Jan did cancel after consulting with Affordable Solar, which...

Sunlight beats down on a graveyard for dead solar panels in Yuma, Arizona, hundreds stacked in neat piles, waiting for their next life. The great majority of worn and damaged panels are still dumped in landfills. But with more and more piling up, many people know that needs to change. In this desert city where Arizona, California, Sonora and Baja California meet, North America’s first utility-scale solar panel recycling plant has opened to address what founders of We Recycle Solar call a “tsunami” of solar waste. Plans to address climate change rely on massively scaling up clean, solar electricity. The...

Global cobalt demand soared with the advent of cell phones and laptop computers. It exploded with the arrival of electric vehicles and now is skyrocketing in tandem with government EV mandates and subsidies. Cobalt improves battery performance, extends driving range and reduces fire risks. Demand will reach stratospheric heights if governments remain obsessed with climate change and Net Zero. States and nations would have to switch to electric cars, trucks, buses and tractors; end coal and gas electricity generation; convert gas furnaces, water heaters and stoves to electricity; and provide alternative power for windless, sunless periods. Electricity generation would triple...

A “battery fire” at a rural New York solar farm has triggered warnings from authorities for local residents to avoid the toxic smoke plumes billowing from the site. Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a warning Thursday night for locals to stay away from the site near Lake Ontario. The blaze began around 1 pm at a solar farm in Jefferson County, outside the village of Chaumont, according to WWNY-TV. The village is about 78 miles north of Syracuse and near the Canadian border. Photos and videos aired by the local news station show smoke shooting from a solar panel array...

December 2019 marked the beginning of Solar Cycle 25. The Sun’s activity has quickly ramped up and even though we haven’t reached peak levels in this cycle, the Sun’s activity is already exceeding predictions. Solar events will continue to increase as we near solar maximum in 2025, and our lives and technology on Earth, as well as satellites and astronauts in space, will be impacted.

10% for the big guy. The Biden administration is trying to ban real cars in favor of electric cars. It’s pushing unreliable wind and solar over reliable gas, oil and coal energy sources. All of that requires lots of lithium for energy storage and that makes us dependent on China. Meanwhile, the Biden administration also keeps shutting down efforts to mine lithium in America. Rover Metals Corp. is pleased to announce that it has it received its exploration drill permit from the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) to further exploration at its Let’s Go Lithium (“LGL”) project, NV, USA. The...

Wind turbines, once touted by the few wealthy and less populated countries as a clean solution for electricity, are now becoming an eyesore, a hazard, and a significant environmental threat. After decades of operating around the world for the few wealthy and less populated countries, wind turbines continue to have a live expectancy of about 20 years. To date there has yet to be discovered a financially viable means of recycling those wind turbines. As a result, today’s old wind turbines are being dumped into toxic waste dumps. Because wind turbine blades are very difficult to recycle, the waste stream...

Pair your portable power station with portable solar panels and take the power of the sun with you wherever you go. Here's our tested picks for the best solar generators. Solar panels and batteries are the newest innovations in portable power, mirroring home power trends. Portable power stations have been available for a while now, taking care of power needs in all sorts of situations. Using solar panels to charge on the go is the next logical step. Combine portable power stations with solar panels and you have yourself a solar generator. Solar generators, like their gas-powered counterparts, are portable...

A British-built solar powered drone with a 115ft wingspan that can operate in the air for 20 months has made a successful maiden voyage to the stratosphere – the second layer of Earth's atmosphere. Over a 24-hour period, PHASA-35 took off from New Mexico and soared to more than 66,000 feet, officially reaching the stratosphere, before landing successfully. The 150kg solar-electric aircraft, which has a wingspan lined with solar panels, has been developed by London firm BAE Systems at their facility in Warton, Lancashire. It is powered by the sun during the day and by batteries overnight, allowing it to...

The White House announced the release of a research plan on solar radiation modification (SRM) on Friday that suggests the “possible deployment” of solar geoengineering techniques to mitigate the effects of climate change. The report was published by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to provide a research plan for “solar and other rapid climate interventions” in response to a congressional mandate in the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2022. The use of SRM techniques that would block or filter sunlight is being explored as a “potential complement to other tools available...

The Swedish Parliament announced that it is abandoning its green energy targets. Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson explained that "wind and solar power are too unstable to meet the nation's energy requirements. Only a nuclear pathway is viable to remain industrialized and competitive. The goal of a 100% renewable energy supply is infeasible and must be scrapped." Biden's climate envoy John Kerry called this decision "disappointing. By breaking away from a uniform acceptance of the necessary reduced standard of living, Sweden risks reigniting a global quest for prosperity that constitutes the chief threat to our climate goals. This is their second...

The Scottsbluff, Nebraska 5.2 MW Community Solar project was part of the NPPD’s Sunwise program that consisted of an array has over 14,000 solar panels. It’s reported that it had been put into operation in 2019. Surely the project had been ceremoniously put into operation, with dignitaries and proponents proclaiming it would reliably deliver cheap and clean energy, reduce the state’s carbon footprint and contribute to a bright and climate-friendly future. Now it has been just recently reported that the multimillion dollar solar energy park was literally reduced to a heap of rubble as hail literally pummeled it to a...

Xcel Energy’s new $1.7 billion Power Pathway Project to build 550 miles of new 345-kilovolt power lines and at least four new substations in eastern and southeastern Colorado will add to the cost of renewable energy. Xcel customers will be paying for the power lines to help meet Gov. Jared Polis’ Greenhouse Gas Reduction Roadmap goals for carbon reduction. ... for nearly full electrification of buildings and transportation, Net-Zero America co-principal investigator Jesse Jenkins, an assistant professor and energy systems engineer at Princeton, told The Denver Gazette in an email that the U.S. would have to increase transmission capacity by...

The solar industry in California has experienced several high-profile bankruptcies including one of its largest producers, Petersen Dean. Now, another local solar company has shuttered, leaving homeowners with unfinished systems on roofs that aren't producing any power, not saving money on utility bills, and often there's still the financing of the equipment and installation that the customer is responsible for.