This video present a nice overview of isreal great technologies for solar power. this small country is lack of natural resources but have a lot of sun...
I think that both technologies are great, but the second is more practical for large scale production. the first one is more promising for the future, and need some more fine tunning to become realisctic and economical.
good luck to these scientists.
enjoy.
great video about israel's new solar technologies
solar energy equipment
Gardening is an American pastime, and interest in it is growing rapidly. People are recognizing how much nice plants and landscaping will help the appearance of their home. It also is an enjoyable hobby to cultivate plants from seed to maturity in your own backyard garden. Adding decorative touches like stepping stones, fountains, or solar garden lighting can show your personal style.
With solar lighting in your garden, you can light a path, or highlight certain plants or features. The best part about it is that it does not need any external power. No chords or anything at all. Just like your plants, it will use the sun's energy to power itself.
A solar garden light is made up of a plastic shell with a solar cell inside. It also has a nickel and cadmium battery, a control board, an LED light source, and a photo resistor.
The sun charges the battery, which powers the solar cell. The control board and the light itself is powered by these. At night, the battery can't charge since the sunlight is gone, so the photo resistor turns on the LED. The LED can run for about 15 hours on a charged battery.
Outdoor electrical wiring can be a hassle to install, especially if your garden is not right next to your home. The solar lighting can easily fix that. It will cost more at first to install the solar lighting, but the money that will be saved in electric bills will more than make up for it.
You can chose the style, shape, and color of the lighting based upon your personal taste and the style of the rest of your garden. Plastic dome lighting is common, for example. This type is used most often for pathways or borders. There are spikes on the bottom so you can simply stick the lights into the ground.
Other shapes that are available include tubes, discs, lanterns, tiki torches, and globes. Besides putting them in the ground, you can mount some on your home or deck, or hang them on poles, etc. The number of options is amazing.
Light can add a really special quality to your garden, especially if you use the area to entertain friends and family in the evenings.
In addition to working well and looking great, landscape solar garden lights are good for the environment and your electricity bill. The lights are a great investment that will last.
Article Source: http://www.solarenergyarticles.com
For more information on the topic of solar garden lights Beginners, advanced and experts all turn to us as their source for information and products www.plant-care.com/solar_lighting_tips.php.
The effects of clouds on A Solar Panel
Solar panels hold a wealth of benefits, both for individuals and for the world at large. Economically, solar panels promise to lower the cost of electrical power. Environmentally, solar panels can give us cleaner power, sustainable power that will not require further damage to the environment. Solar power can reach remote areas.
It can carry education, or urgently needed medical information.The effects of clouds on a solar panel, though, might diminish those and other promising benefits. The effects of clouds on a solar panel might make it far less efficient in certain parts of the world and at certain seasons.For that reason, people who are considering solar panels for their homes are often heard to ask:
will clouds affect my solar panels?
Clouds do affect solar panels.
The amount of power your solar panels can produce is directly dependent on the level of light they receive.In full, bright sunlight, solar panels receive maximum levels of light. During those "peak" sunlight hours, your solar panels will produce power at their maximum capacity.When clouds cover the sun, light levels are reduced. This does not shut down power production, however. If there is enough light to cast a shadow, in spite of the clouds, your solar panels should operate at about half of their full capacity. Thicker cloud cover will reduce operations further. Eventually, with heavy cloud cover, solar panels will produce very little useful power.
The Good News!
The effects of clouds on a solar panel can be surprising good, however. Incredibly, your solar panels will put out their ultimate amount of peak power during cloudy weather!As the sun moves into a hole between the clouds, your solar panels will see something wonderful. They will see full direct sunlight "plus" reflected light from the clouds! They will drink in more energy than they could on a cloudless day!
The effects of clouds on a solar panel could then produce peaks at or above 50% more than its direct-sun output!
Meeting the Challenge
There are ways to meet the cloud challenge.
1. If you often have clouds in the afternoon, but mornings are clear, aim your solar panels slightly toward the east.
2. Be sure you use a large enough battery system to maximize the amount of power stored for use when the clouds arrive.
3. Make sure your controller has plenty of headroom over the rated panel output power so that it can absorb the surges when the sun reflects off the clouds.
Those tricks and more are practiced in cloudy regions of the world where people have sprinted far ahead of the United States in their use of solar panel energy.Effects of Clouds on a Solar Panel in GermanyGermany is typically a very cloudy country.
Read about the climate of Germany, and you will find that it is "temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm mountain (foehn) wind" according to Nation Master's website.In spite of its cloudy climate, though, Germany is by far the world's biggest user of solar panels. If you lived in Germany, you could sell back to the main power grid all of the excess electricity produced by your solar panels. Why would I even care in such a cloudy climate? If clouds affect my solar panels too much, I would not worry about selling back to the main grid.In 2006, Germany opened the largest solar park in the world. Germany also has Europe's most modern solar housing project - a solar village of 50 solar houses that produce more energy than they use!
Will clouds affect my solar panels?
Even if I lived in Germany, the effect would not be enough to forego solar power.Tip: There are few places that are so consistently cloudy that solar power is out of the question. Improvements are being made constantly, and even solar panels small enough to fold into a briefcase can produce helpful amounts of power.
About the Author: Anna Hart. Anna Hart invites you to read more of her articles about solar power at http://www.solar-energy-connection.com. Anna has posted articles on that site about various applications of this useful technology. If you want to know more about the benefits of solar power, you won't want to miss her article on the subject.