You’ve heard the old adage “where there’s a will there’s way.” Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Spain, just upped the ante on the meaning of those words.

Bless their hearts. Here’s an old historical village just outside Barcelona, full of tradition and deeply religious, that had the desire to produce solar energy but nowhere to place the solar panels. In a mountainous town of 124,000 people, crammed into a mere 1.5 square miles, land is scarce, especially flat, sun-kissed land.

There seemed to be only one answer: to turn a sunny expanse of graves into a solar power plant.

Over this sacred burial place you’ll find 462 solar panels spread over 10,700 square feet of mausoleums holding five layers of coffins. It has the capacity to meet the energy needs of 60 families. …continue reading Solar Panels on Graves?

For the last few years Governor Schwarzenegger and the Big Solar Industry have been pushing to expedite the permit process for new solar power plants awaiting the greenlight in California’s Mojave desert. With federal lands all over the desert southwest open to large concentrated solar power (CSP) plants, private interests have been clamoring for a spot in line.

For all those involved, it is universally agreed that we need renewable energy outlets asap. So you’d figure that environmentalists would be right up front pushing for production along with their industry allies, but in actuality, it is the environmental sector that is holding things up. But why, why after all these years of promoting renewable power would the instigators themselves stand in the way of their vision becoming reality? Governor Schwarzenegger can’t seem to understand. Neither can Big Solar.

Fortunately, in a recent blog, the Desert Protective Council spelled out their sector’s staunch opposition. They assert that a solar power plant CAN have a negative impact on the local environment and, especially in the case of desert installations, may actually contribute to global warming. In short, here are the DPC’s points of opposition: …continue reading Why Environmentalists Oppose New Solar Power Plants

Of the five elements of passive solar design, two deal primarily with materials. These are the absorber and thermal mass and are often two characteristics of the same material. The absorber represents the surface of the material (e.g., masonry wall, water wall, floor, etc.). The thermal mass retains or stores the heat from sunlight. It is the interior, the substance behind that outer, absorbent surface.

Glass, of course, cannot be ignored as a passive solar material. But the effectiveness of a window in passive solar heating has as much to do with aperture – or placement relative to the sun – as it does with material. All windows, however, are not created equal. Windows that are double- or triple-glazed with low-e coatings and efficient frames are best for passive solar design.

There are three essential materials behind passive solar design: masonry material, glass, and water. Furthermore, there are also three ways to harness solar energy passively: direct gain, indirect gain, and isolated gain. Which materials you use, and how you use them, will depend largely on which approach you take. …continue reading The Best in Passive Solar Materials