Posts Tagged ‘Solar Technology’

Solar Technology Improves Solar Cell Efficiency

One of the biggest hurdles to widespread adoption of solar power as an energy resource is solar cell efficiency.  That, plus the relatively high cost of solar, means that we currently generate less than 1% of all electricity from solar power. HyperSolar, based in Santa Barbara, California has developed a patent-pending solar technology to effectively [...]

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Floating Solar Panels

Since 2007, SPG Solar has been promoting its floating solar panels to government officials and commercial enterprises, such as wineries and industrial mine owners.  Floating solar panels, or “floatovoltaics” as they are cleverly called, can help increase the use of solar power where it might not otherwise be practical or possible. So what does this [...]

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The Impact of Solar Power on National Security

Are gas prices giving you heartburn these days?  Well, you can thank recent upheaval in the Middle East, among other things, for the suddenly increased fuel costs. This turn of events has me reconsidering my father’s advice at least five years ago: reduce your reliance on foreign oil and you increase national security.  Instead of [...]

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Looking back on the first week of class

I’m just now sitting down today to do my blog post.  Today is Friday but it’s been a busy day!  We did our recycling trip and had a wonderful lunch out, then did some water system maintenance and filled some orders.  I’ve been slow to get to my blog posts this week because I’ve been staying pretty busy with things.  For example, I have my Electrical Wiring book to study.  I have my notes from Basic Wiring class to study.  I have orders to do maybe 2-3 times a day.  There are meal times that take up some time, errands to run, and other household things that need doing. I get a nap for 2 hours a day, which is much needed in the early afternoon so I can make it into the evening. During my free time, I like to use my iPad to surf the web, and that probably takes up at least an hour a day, maybe two.  So I stay pretty busy during the day.

Thinking ahead to Solar Technology

But right now, as I sit at my iPad, I am developing some warm thoughts about my upcoming Solar Technology class.  I’m really waiting for that class to start.  It won’t start until February 7, which is 24 days away.  Basic Wiring is nice, but we won’t get to cover anything directly related to solar energy in that class.  The focus is primarily on residential wiring.  It is lots of useful and practical information that electricians working on houses will have to know all the time, but I want to know how to install and wire up solar panels.  The closest I think I will get is wiring up a cable to a service panel, which will be necessary to do in order to install inverters and AC disconnects. Read more…

Last day before school

Well, it looks like this is the last day I will have to wait before I go back to school! I’ve been reading through my textbook for Basic Wiring I, and I’ve downloaded a copy of the NABCEP PV Installer study guide to my new iPad to study in my free time (it has more content than the NABCEP entry level exam, which is the one I will be taking, but it won’t hurt to know the extra information especially when I might be taking the NABCEP PV Installer exam someday).

I decided to try a new route to school tomorrow, and leave 30 minutes earlier than i did last time to avoid the sun shining in my eyes while driving. It will take me through a less-traveled portion of town initially, then output me right onto Highway 147.

Class will start bright and early at 8 AM tomorrow, and last until 11:35. I’m excited – we’ll see how it goes!

Starting Spring 2011 at Durham Tech

Today was a breakthrough day as far as my solar education was concerned.  I called the operations director at about 10:30 this morning just like he told me if I hadn’t received my PIN number for course registration yet.  He got back with me at 2 PM this afternoon, and we set an appointment for 3 PM (my husband and I were having a late lunch and visitors simultaneously).

I drove over to the Orange County Campus (OCC) for the second time ever starting at around 2:30, and got there right on time.  It’s only a 20 minute drive from where I live, and I checked the odometer upon arrival: 12.4 miles one way.  I walked in, and there was a different receptionist this time.  I said I was there to see the operations director again, and she sent me over to his office.

Having my advising session

There, we had a brief advising session where he took a look at my transcripts from Duke and UNC, and said I would be getting credit for three courses.  That’s 3 that I don’t have to take, which will lower the cost of my education.  Unfortunately, those were most of the ones offered during spring semester, so there was only one other class I could take.  Fortunately, it was Basic Wiring I which will give me a huge start on the electrical knowledge I will need to work in the solar field.  Unfortunately, Basic Wiring I meets at 8 in the morning, but fortunately that’s only the case twice a week (Monday and Wednesday), and it lasts until 11:35 AM because of the lab component in addition to the lecture class.  I will be immersed in wiring knowledge – that’s guaranteed given the 3-hour lab each day. Read more…

Preparing for the Renewable Energy Diploma

Today I asked my husband what he thought about me going back to school and doing the Renewable Energy Diploma at Durham Tech.  I mentioned what I had learned the other day while I was there, and how excited I was about the program.  He was excited that I was so excited, and saw it as a good investment to make for the future.  So it looks like I will be doing the Renewable Energy Diploma this fall (or maybe even this spring, if I can get courses taken!).

Measuring my level of excitement

I haven’t touched my physics since really getting into solar power.  If you know me, then you know nothing stops me from thinking about physics all day.  Except for this…I think it’s become a practical replacement for an otherwise theoretical line of work.  I’ve been thinking to myself that if there’s any subject that can possibly be exciting enough to replace theoretical physics, it must be good for me.  Solar is still physics in a way; when I look at solar panels I am fascinated by the way they can convert light to electricity.  All that light has to travel 93 million miles, which is 8 light minutes to get to that panel.  Then it has enough energy to knock electrons across their semiconductor band gap, and electricity is made.

About the Program: Plan of Study

I have here in my hand the Plan of Study for the Renewable Energy Diploma.  The receptionist at the Orange County Campus (OCC) gave it to me while I was visiting this week. Now from what I learned after meeting with the operations director, it didn’t matter when I took some of the courses.  So theoretically I could start this spring! Read more…

Applied to Durham Tech’s Solar Technology Course

It took me a while, but yesterday I went to Durham Tech’s Orange County campus and completed my application for the Solar Technology course.  The two people I spoke with were enormously helpful, and I ended up submitting my application as a visiting student also – to get my foot in the door for the fall semester.  So today, I’ll write about my experiences at the campus, some information about the programs offered, my consideration of the Renewable Energy diploma, and then some thoughts toward the future of solar power.

The Campus

The Orange County campus building is absolutely beautiful.  It was more than I had expected it to be, and I already had high expectations from what I had read on Durham Tech’s website.  Once you turn off Highway 86 onto Waterstone Drive, you’re on a big but otherwise empty road through forested and open parkland until you drive around a gentle curve, and there before you the building emerges up on a hill.  Approach the building from the other direction (Old Highway 86) and you see the very front of the building, decked outside with its triple array of solar panels.

The building is a green building, with lots of natural skylight indoors.  There is also an expansive park-and-ride lot to enable easy public transportation to and from the building.  The parking lots themselves were also expansive compared to the number of cars that were actually there that day; I’m sure there will be more in the future as more students sign up for the Sustainable Technologies program.   Read more…