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  • - A radical idea to get a high-renewable electric grid

    This is an interesting approach to optaining very high penetration of renewables such as photovoltaics and wind.  At present most large installations operate under Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) wherein the economics are based on a sell all output at predetermined prices. This contrasts with standalone systems wherein the system size Read More
  • - Breakthrough Batteries Powering the Era of Clean Electrification

    - Breakthrough Batteries Powering the Era of Clean Electrification Battery Storage Costs Drop Dramatically, Making Way to a New Era. A recent Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) report continues to confirm that clean electrification through batteries is advancing at impressive rates. Very interesting report: Breakthrough Batteries- Powering the Era of Clean Electrification Read More
  • - Interesting Technology

    An assortment of links to interesting information   Semiconductor Nanowires Could Double the Efficiency of Silicon Solar Cells A p/n semiconductor junction is not the only way of converting sunshine into useful electrical energy.  Light consists of a flow of photons of various energy levels (colors).  See this article-Solar Cells.  Nanowires Read More
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Mark Summer image
Mark Sumner for Daily Kos
Daily Kos Staff
Saturday June 01, 2019 · 7:00 PM PDT

 

KOS32072994576 6efac2179b kA team of scientists from across the United States has figured out a way to process wood into a material that’s light and strong, and that has remarkable properties when it comes to reflecting heat. The experiment offers the potential of creating buildings that do such a good job of passive cooling that energy costs will be cut in half. With buildings already consuming 70% of electricity in the United States, and the climate crisis only increasing the demand for air conditioning, the potential impact of a better way to keep buildings cool is tremendous.

In a paper published by Science, the team writes that the best way to save energy on a building is not to expend it in the first place, and that one way to do that is simply to reflect away heat. That way buildings, especially those in hot and dry areas, don’t have to expend even more energy on air conditioning. And their delignification process for wood seems to create a material that might be widely used, one that holds genuinely remarkable properties.

Wood is composed of a number of materials, with cellulose in lignin at the top of the list. Most of the time, when people are talking about what gives wood its remarkable strength, the credit goes to the complex structure of lignin. But the team making the heat-reflecting wood went the other way. It processed it to break down the usually more resistant lignin, leaving the cellulose behind. Then it compressed the resulting cellulose into a sandwich of layers that create a “reflective, hazy surface” that’s very effective at scattering light.

Many materials have been tested that can radiate away heat at night, but daytime radiative cooling is many times more difficult, as usually materials that can reflect infrared light (heat) absorb visible light and end up turning that light into heat. But the treated wood is very efficient at reflecting infrared light and visible light, with properties that match some heavily engineered metamaterials. But unlike lab-grown metamaterials, the compressed wood may be able to be produced on a scale needed for nationwide construction.

One other result of the treatment is that the material is considerably stronger than the original wood. Its tensile strength (resistance to breaking) was not just 8.7 times that of natural wood, but greater than that of many forms of steel. Read more

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     This is your source for solar and renewable energy information in Arizona. Explore various technologies, including photovoltaics, solar water heating, solar architecture, solar cooking and wind power. Keep up to date on the latest industry news. Follow relevant lectures, expositions and tours. Whether you are a homeowner looking to become more energy efficient, a student learning the science behind the technologies or an industry professional, you will find valuable information here.
  • About The Arizona Solar Center

    About The Arizona Solar Center Arizona Solar Center Mission- The mission of the Arizona Solar Center is to enhance the utilization of renewable energy, educate Arizona's residents on solar technology developments, support commerce and industry in the development of solar and other sustainable technologies and coordinate these efforts throughout the state of Arizona. About the Arizona Solar Center- The Arizona Solar Center (AzSC) provides a broad-based understanding of solar energy, especially as it pertains to Arizona. Registered Read More
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