IIntegrating solar energy into the asthetic design for this historic outbuilding in the rear of a 19th century home on Pyrtania in New Orleans isn't easy.  However through a collaborative effort utilizing the expertise and JW Drennan LLC, Redmellon and architect Erik Kronberg of  KRONBERG WALL Architects/Planners whom all specialize in urban redevelopment. 

It was the honor and privileged to integrate some of the most stunning examples of building integrating photovoltaics in the New Orleans Market place.  Lumos Solar's LSX frameless module is clearly a cut above the rest of the competition.

Anyone can install a solar energy system, but when you want full integration we look forward to bringing your project to reality.  Call the experts at Comfort Engineered Systems today @ 504.602.6648.

The Andasol CSO parabolic through solar thermal plant located in Guadix in the province of spain is Europes first of it's kind. 

This system is wonderful for meeting peak load on energy grids which peak when on the sunniest and hottest days when everyone uses their air conditioning systems.

Andasol has a thermal storage system that collects heats produced by the solar collectors during the day.  The heat is absorbed and stored in moltern salt which is a mixture of sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate.  A turnine produces electricty using the heat, once the molten salt is heated the turbine can operate at maximum capacity for over 7 hours or approximately 375 mW/hr.  Enough energy to supply 200,000 homes with clean renewable energy.

Where will Solar be in 10 years?  Anyone for see the jump to everyone having them anytime soon?

Here are some highlights from a Scientific American article on the future of Solar.   Available @  http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan

• A massive switch from coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power plants to solar power plants could supply 69 percent of the U.S.’s electricity and 35 percent of its total energy by 2050.
• A vast area of photovoltaic cells would have to be erected in the Southwest. Excess daytime energy would be stored as compressed air in underground caverns to be tapped during nighttime hours.
• Large solar concentrator power plants would be built as well.
• A new direct-current power transmission backbone would deliver solar electricity across the country.
• But $420 billion in subsidies from 2011 to 2050 would be required to fund the infrastructure and make it cost-competitive.

—The Editors

Lower-cost Solar Cells To Be Printed Like Newspaper, Painted On Rooftops ScienceDaily (Aug. 25, 2009) — Solar cells could soon be produced more cheaply using nanoparticle “inks” that allow them to be printed like newspaper or painted onto the sides of buildings or rooftops to absorb electricity-producing sunlight.

Brian Korgel, a University of Texas at Austin chemical engineer, is hoping to cut costs to one-tenth of their current price by replacing the standard manufacturing process for solar cells – gas-phase deposition in a vacuum chamber, which requires high temperatures and is relatively expensive.

“That’s essentially what’s needed to make solar-cell technology and photovoltaics widely adopted,” Korgel said. “The sun provides a nearly unlimited energy resource, but existing solar energy harvesting technologies are prohibitively expensive and cannot compete with fossil fuels.”

For the past two years, Korgel and his team have been working on this low-cost, nanomaterials solution to photovoltaics – or solar cell – manufacturing. Korgel is collaborating with professors Al Bard and Paul Barbara, both of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Professor Ananth Dodabalapur of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. They recently showed proof-of-concept in a recent issue of Journal of the American Chemical Society.

The inks could be printed on a roll-to-roll printing process on a plastic substrate or stainless steel. And the prospect of being able to paint the “inks” onto a rooftop or building is not far-fetched.

“You’d have to paint the light-absorbing material and a few other layers as well,” Korgel said. “This is one step in the direction towards paintable solar cells.”

Korgel uses the light-absorbing nanomaterials, which are 10,000 times thinner than a strand of hair, because their microscopic size allows for new physical properties that can help enable higher-efficiency devices.

In 2002, he co-founded a company called Innovalight, based in California, which is producing inks using silicon as the basis. This time, Korgel and his team are using copper indium gallium selenide or CIGS, which is both cheaper and benign in terms of environmental impact.

“CIGS has some potential advantages over silicon,” Korgel said. “It’s a direct band gap semiconductor, which means that you need much less material to make a solar cell, and that’s one of the biggest potential advantages.”

His team has developed solar-cell prototypes with efficiencies at one percent; however, they need to be about 10 percent.

“If we get to 10 percent, then there’s real potential for commercialization,” Korgel said. “If it works, I think you could see it being used in three to five years.”

He also said that the inks, which are semi-transparent, could help realize the prospect of having windows that double as solar cells. Korgel said his work has attracted the interest of industrial partners.

Funding for the research comes from the National Science Foundation, the Welch Foundation and the Air Force Research Laboratory.