Solar Decathalon 2011, Washington DC - UMD wins it

[Smiley]

For those that can't be here and are interested in what you can do in a 1000 sq ft energy efficient home please take the virtual tour:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9uDAja2Ysk&feature=autoplay&list=PLCC37B13B68FF5930&lf=player_embedded&playnext=17

Solar panels are the key as well solar hot water and much wall and ceiling insulation

[zap]

MA team was our favorite.

Never realized roof mounted panels lost efficiency due to heat build up. Team MA designed framework to mount panels away from the roof.

[Smiley]

MA team was our favorite.

Never realized roof mounted panels lost efficiency due to heat build up. Team MA designed framework to mount panels away from the roof.


You only need to look at the power output charts of the panels and see the drop off with heat up of the panels. I assumed you rode down to see the exhibit? The common them is PV panels lots of insulation and some tricks within the HVAC system.

[amgc36]

I am particularly impressed with the experiment/designs which look livable.

[Smiley]

I am particularly impressed with the experiment/designs which look livable.


I think one house will be a habitat for humanity donation and set up in Washington DC, forgot which team had this house design. Also although I am partial to UMD (Fear the Turtle) I felt the Perdue home looked and felt like a real house that would work in every day life. It was the second place finisher.

[zap]

I think the MD house is the HFH.

We drove down and parked in front. Checked out the MLK memorial too.

[93legendti]

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/11425?fb_ref=.TojH-JMqbyM.like&fb_source=profile_oneline

Spain’s decade-long program to subsidize the creation and continued existence of so-called green jobs through a massive infusion of taxpayer resources “has cost many jobs,” former President Bill Clinton admitted to a Spanish audience at the European University of Madrid this week, according to the Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo (a translated version of the piece can be found below).

...In response to former President Clinton’s comments, Institute for Energy Research (IER) president Thomas J. Pyle issued the following statement:

“Though efforts continue to be made in the United States to discredit the Spanish green jobs study, and even personally attack its author, President Clinton’s affirmation of its core findings serves as just the latest reminder that the facts are what they are—and they aren’t pretty. More than 10 years and nearly $40 billion in public investment later, Spain still only acquires less than one percent of its power from solar, and the vast majority of the so-called green jobs created by the government to support that industry are no longer in existence today. If this is the model for near-term economic growth and long-term energy...we may be in for a longer, more severe recession than we know.”

[johnnymossville]

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/11425?fb_ref=.TojH-JMqbyM.like&fb_source=profile_oneline

[I][B]Spain’s decade-long program to subsidize the creation and continued existence of so-called green jobs through a massive infusion of taxpayer resources “has cost many jobs,” former President Bill Clinton admitted to a Spanish audience at the European University of Madrid this week...

You can't judge a massive failure of a policy when the intentions are so pure. Maybe they didn't throw enough money at it.

[Jason E]

The problem is not the technology, the problem is the artificial acceleration of the industry. Same thing happens here...

Municipalities and Universities want to be demonstration centers (for technology that has been around for decades) so the install it poorly through poorly run RFP's and an insistence that it be visible, read: less kWhrs/$invested so it can look good.

If they would stop putting it on top of light poles for astronomical costs and spend the same money on large scale installations concentrated on roofs or fields they would get more bang for the buck.

The same with job creation. Instead of funding insecure unknown start-ups, create transactions that allow for existing, established, reputable companies to compete (caveat: if you are going to help at all). Transactions create jobs when strong companies grow in a smart fashion. Creating a bunch of small inexperienced companies wastes money.

Don't know too much about Spain, but we do good business for companies that don't/can't take the tax credits.

And though it is a fraction of the transaction size, Solar Thermal makers much more sense than PV for those that can use Hot Water.

[reidbeloni]

ASU finishes 12th. But wins People's Choice! Woot Woot