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Compressed air energy storage uses pressurized air as the energy storage medium. An electric motor-driven compressor is used to pressurize the storage reservoir using off-peak energy and air is released from the reservoir through a turbine during on-peak hours to produce energy. The turbine is essentially a modified turbine that can also be fired with natural gas or distillate fuel.

Ideal locations for large compressed air energy storage reservoirs are aquifers, conventional mines in hard rock, and hydraulically mined salt caverns. Air can be stored in pressurized tanks for small systems.

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More General Solar Links  

Shaine Ebrahimi of Green TV Productions, contributed this report about Nevada Solar One, a 64 MW concentrating solar power plant just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. Green TV Productions
produces Life On The Green Side and Global Warming: The Tipping Point.

For more information:
Nevada Solar One Goes Online

The future of scalable clean solar energy. 350 MW built and operational in California desert for more than 15 years.

For more information:
The IEA SolarPACES Implementing Agreement   
 

This video was created by Bowdoin College students www.bowdoin.edu in cooperation with the Maine Energy Investment Corporation www.renewmaine.org.

Video description of how I’ve setup a solar / wind electric generating system for the first time. This is to power a radio tower in Enfield Maine. But, it could apply to any solar power or wind power application.

SOLAR REVOLUTION – Solar Paint
Ted Sargent is a pioneer in solar science. He’s working on solar technology that could literally be woven into every aspect of daily life, from our clothes to our roads, using what is known as a spray-on solar cell. The implications for our energy systems are profound. As Ted says, "Solar energy is not just an exciting science problem, but an incredibly important human problem."

For more information:
Spray-On Solar-Power Cells Are True Breakthrough

The largest photo-voltaic installation in the world is located near Arnstein, Germany. While visiting my family, my friend Sepp offered to take us there, a short distance from Schweinfurt.

For more information:
A sunny solar farm

Here’s the EI spot that aired on Discovery. EI is a cutting edge hitech company that is revolutionizing the solar power industry with their concentrating system.

This video starts with a visual montage of the sheer number of air conditioners used on our street in Cairo, Egypt, describing them as energy parasites that actually increase the heat of the surrounding air. It then shows the vacuum tube heat pipe solar absorption cooling air conditioning system installed by solar engineer Les Hamasaki at the Debs Park Audubon Environmental Center in Los Angeles. Les Hamasaki describes the 10-ton solar chiller and we conclude with a note about how solar chillers not only eliminate the need for air conditioners,…

I turned on all the lights so I could get video of the house at night. About 15 lights on, drawing less power than 2-60 watt incandescent bulbs. My solar system made about 3000 watts of electricity on this hazy day.

Short overview of solar system install.

How solar panels are made.

Unlimited Energy is the largest, locally owned solar contractor in the Central San Joaquin Valley. We have been in business in Fresno since 1984 and have designed and installed some of the largest PV projects in the State of California. With over 2.75 million watts installed spanning over 400 installations, we’ve earned the right to be called the authority on solar.
 

For more information:
Unlimited Energy

CoolEarthSolar.com has a patented idea for inflatable solar collectors that are much cheaper than polished mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto Photovoltaic chips. Their design is 400x cheaper than polished aluminum mirrors, will withstand 130 mph winds, lasts a year, repairs with tape, takes 15 minutes to change out, costs $2 per balloon, or 18 cents per watt, compared to $5 per watt for conventional installations, and has a minimal effect on the ground underneath the array!

For more information:
Cool Earth Renewable Energy
 

a short and fun film about the Technicians for Sustainability – a small brigade of guys on bikes who installed a solar system on my house.

This is just a quick video sketch of a concept for a music video commercial celebrating Sharp Solar’s new SRS rail mounting system for making it easy to install "sharp looking" solar panels on tile roofs. It needs to be re-recorded and re-cut, but I was having fun after hours following a long day editing a training DVD for Sharp Solar and thought I would throw this together and post it for those who might get a kick out of it! Enjoy (and then go out and get yourself a PV system and help us stop climate change!)

Video is from Google video.
Installing clean, reliable, inflation-proof solar power is easier than ever, thanks to the invention of thin-film photovoltaic (PV) laminates that can be bonded directly onto metal roofing panels. Unlike crystalline PV material, there’s no need for obtrusive racks and heavy, expensive glass. Instead, unbreakable thin-film PV is produced using amorphous silicon, encapsulated in Teflon and other polymers.

For More Information:
Uni-solar Photovoltaic Modules
Mitsubishi Thin Film Photovoltaic
Big Frog Mountain Corporation