Tag Archives: Pines
Earth911 Conscious-Shopping Guide: Best Solar Panels
Technological advances have transformed the solar energy industry in recent years. Solar panels are significantly more efficient, producing more power in the same amount of space. Meanwhile, prices continue to fall, reducing the cost of solar electricity.
But with the introduction of new technologies comes uncertainty. Which solar panels are the most reliable and durable? What technology creates the least amount of pollution in the manufacturing process? Let’s explore some of these critical issues in the pursuit of the best solar panels on the market.
Solar Panel Considerations
Efficiency
Solar panels have become significantly more efficient in recent years. And the more efficient a solar panel is, the more energy can be generated in a given space. Space becomes more critical when there are constraints due to the size or your roof or property. Unfortunately, more efficient panels typically cost more. If space isn’t an issue, efficiency becomes less crucial. For installations limited by space, panel efficiency is an important consideration. It is also important to consider the long-term efficiency of solar modules.
Long-Term Power Generation
Like most other things, solar panels degrade over time. They become less efficient in turning sunlight into electricity. This is important because solar panels can last 30 years and you want your solar system to be churning out a lot of energy a couple of decades from now, even if someone else owns the home.
Solar panel manufacturers offer a power production guarantee to ensure a certain level of output over a given time. Many solar panel manufacturers provide a guarantee of 90 percent production for 10 years and 80 percent for 25 years.
Some manufacturers differentiate themselves by offering stronger warranties. SunPower, for example, leads the industry by offering a 92 percent performance guarantee for 25 years. The higher the value of the 25-year production warranty, the more power the panels will generate 25 years down the road.
Product Warranties
Product warranties cover defects and failures. Solar panel warranties vary a lot by the manufacturer. SunPower, LG, and Solaria all offer a 25-year warranty, whereas Trina offers just a 10-year warranty. The longer the warranty, the lower the investment risk. In many cases, a more extended product warranty means higher solar panel prices.
Environmental Performance
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) is dedicated to a safe and sustainable solar photovoltaic (PV) industry. They produce a solar scorecard that rates manufacturers on extended producer responsibility, supply chain, workers rights, emissions reporting, module toxicity, greenhouse gas emissions, conflict minerals, and water use. The companies with the highest ratings are the most sustainable.
Solar Panel Module Testing
Look for DNV GL test results. The company tests solar panels for reliability and durability for common degradation mechanisms. Solar panel performance has a huge impact on the solar electricity of an array over time. Such testing helps ensure high-quality panels, reducing financial risk.
DMV GL produces a list of top-performing PV panels that lead in product reliability.
Manufacturing Location
Most solar panels are manufactured in Asia, Europe, or North America. Modules that are made in the United States tend to be more expensive. But some solar shoppers want to support domestic manufacturing. Many companies produce panels in two or three countries. For example, SunPower products are made in the United States, the Philippines, and Mexico. Keep in mind that the manufacturing location and the company’s headquarters are not necessarily the same. Also, the manufacturing location isn’t necessarily an indication of quality. Panels that are manufactured closer to the installation site might have lower emissions related to transportation of the product.
Top Solar Panels Comparison Chart
We compared the efficiency, warranty, environmental performance, and more of the following solar panel models in the comparison chart below.
- SunPower X22
- Trina Solar TSM
- Hanwha Q CELLS Q.Peak Duo
- REC Solar N-Peak
- LG Electronics NeON R
- Solaria PowerXT
- Adani Solar ASP-7-AAA
To view our printable comparison chart of top solar panels on the market, click the image below.
A Dynamic Industry
At times, supply delays and surpluses have plagued the solar industry. For example, China slashed solar subsidies for domestic solar installations in May 2018. This move created a lag in demand, causing a surplus of solar panels and falling prices across the industry. Thankfully, this surplus supply has helped offset the impact of the U.S. solar tariff that was recently enacted.
Because solar panel technology is advancing, the market is very dynamic. New products are frequently being released as others become obsolete. The most efficient solar panels on the market today will probably not seem so efficient in a decade as the technology matures. Companies that are relatively unknown could capture a larger share of the market.
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earth911
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Posted in FF, G & F, GE, LG, ONA, Pines, PUR, solar, solar panels, solar power, Uncategorized
Tagged america, eco tech, electronics, finance, g & f, north, Ona, Pines, trina
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This Explains Everything – John Brockman
READ GREEN WITH E-BOOKS
150 Deep, Beautiful, and Elegant Theories of How the World Works
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $2.99
Publish Date: January 22, 2013
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Seller: HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS
Drawn from the cutting-edge frontiers of science, This Explains Everything will revolutionize your understanding of the world. What is your favorite deep, elegant, or beautiful explanation? This is the question John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org ("The world's smartest website"—The Guardian), posed to the world's most influential minds. Flowing from the horizons of physics, economics, psychology, neuroscience, and more, This Explains Everything presents 150 of the most surprising and brilliant theories of the way of our minds, societies, and universe work. Jared Diamond on biological electricity • Nassim Nicholas Taleb on positive stress • Steven Pinker on the deep genetic roots of human conflict • Richard Dawkins on pattern recognition • Nobel Prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek on simplicity • Lisa Randall on the Higgs mechanism • BRIAN Eno on the limits of intuition • Richard Thaler on the power of commitment • V. S. Ramachandran on the "neural code" of consciousness • Nobel Prize winner ERIC KANDEL on the power of psychotherapy • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on "Lord Acton's Dictum" • Lawrence M. Krauss on the unification of electricity and magnetism • plus contributions by Martin J. Rees • Kevin Kelly • Clay Shirky • Daniel C. Dennett • Sherry Turkle • Philip Zimbardo • Lee Smolin • Rebecca Newberger Goldstein • Seth Lloyd • Stewart Brand • George Dyson • Matt Ridley
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Another El Niño is nearly upon us. What does that mean?
A new El Niño is brewing in the tropical Pacific, threatening an uptick in global temperatures and extreme weather.
Scientists around the world have been tracking the looming El Niño — the warm phase of a normal three to five year global weather cycle — since at least May, watching the warming waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean for telltale signs that a large-scale shift in winds and weather patterns has set in.
On Tuesday, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said that water temperatures have now crossed El Niño thresholds, and a full-scale El Niño is likely to start sometime in December. U.S. forecasters place a 90 percent chance of El Niño to form by January.
The last El Niño, peaking in late 2015, was the strongest ever recorded. Rainfall patterns shifted worldwide, causing enormous fires in Indonesia, spurring the largest coral bleaching episode in history, and impacting more than 60 million people worldwide. The coming El Niño isn’t expected to be as severe as 2015’s, but will likely have serious consequences nonetheless.
In response to the news, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization issued a report listing several countries at high risk of food shortages. Food crises could worsen or erupt in Pakistan, Kenya, Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, Mozambique, and the Philippines, according to the report. In the U.S., El Niño often brings torrential rains to California. It can also boost East Coast snowstorms, which, in an era of sea-level rise, now routinely cause serious flooding.
Since El Niño also works to warm the atmosphere, it’s possible that 2019 could beat 2016 as the warmest year on record. As El Niño begins to set in, both October and November have been unusually warm globally, and that trend is likely to continue, according to Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at University of California-Berkeley. “It’s not a safe bet 2019 will beat 2016, but it will very likely be warmer than 2018,” Hausfather told me.
There’s a growing body of evidence that suggests global warming is pushing the Pacific towards more extreme El Niños, with amplified effects around the world like 2015’s massive wildfires — another example of a vicious feedback cycle in a changing climate. Not only is El Niño making weather worse; it’s doing it at an ever-faster rate.
Originally posted here:
Happy Cactus – DK
READ GREEN WITH E-BOOKS
Genre: Nature
Price: $1.99
Publish Date: May 15, 2018
Publisher: DK Publishing
Seller: PENGUIN GROUP USA, INC.
In-depth profiles, care tips, and display inspiration for more than 50 popular cactus and succulent varieties. Your cactus might be surviving, but is it happy? There's so much more to these little green plants than just keeping them alive. Get right to the point with practical advice from potting to propagating. Unearth the secrets of different cacti and succulents, with profiles on more than 50 popular varieties–from the cute, flowering pincushion cactus to the wacky prickly pear, discover what makes your plant unique and how it might behave when treated with a little bit of love. Find out where to put it, when to water it, what to feed it, what to look out for, and how to encourage its distinctive traits, from flower stalks to fast growth. Find inspiration for creating a showstopping cactus display. Whether you're seeking a stylish houseplant for your apartment but struggling to keep more temperamental plants alive, or you're a green-fingered cactus enthusiast determined to get your precious plant to grow and flower this year, Happy Cactus is here to answer all your questions.
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Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, GE, ONA, Pines, PUR, Uncategorized
Tagged cacti, cactus, cute, find-out-where, from-the-cute, happy-cactus, love, nature-price, Pines, plant, Succulents:, there
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The whole island of Puerto Rico went dark for the first time since Hurricane Maria.
Rick Scott, who has served as Florida’s governor since 2011, hasn’t done much to protect his state against the effects of climate change — even though it’s being threatened by sea-level rise.
On Monday, eight youth filed a lawsuit against Scott, a slew of state agencies, and the state of Florida itself. The kids, ages 10 to 19, are trying to get their elected officials to recognize the threat climate change poses to their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
18-year-old Delaney Reynolds, a member of this year’s Grist 50 list, helped launch the lawsuit. She’s been a climate activist since the age of 14, when she started a youth-oriented activism nonprofit called The Sink or Swim Project. “No matter how young you are, even if you don’t have a vote, you have a voice in your government,” she says.
Reynolds and the other seven plaintiffs are asking for a “court-ordered, science-based Climate Recovery Plan” — one that transitions Florida away from a fossil fuel energy system.
This lawsuit is the latest in a wave of youth-led legal actions across the United States. Juliana v. United States, which was filed by 21 young plaintiffs in Oregon in 2015, just got confirmed for a trial date in October this year.
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The whole island of Puerto Rico went dark for the first time since Hurricane Maria.
Posted in alo, Anchor, Broadway, Everyone, FF, G & F, GE, Jason, LAI, LG, ONA, Pines, PUR, Uncategorized
Tagged climate, delaney, delaney-reynolds, jason, lai, october, Ona, Pines, scott, states, united-states, year
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Boulder, Colorado, is the latest city to sue Big Oil over climate change.
Rick Scott, who has served as Florida’s governor since 2011, hasn’t done much to protect his state against the effects of climate change — even though it’s being threatened by sea-level rise.
On Monday, eight youth filed a lawsuit against Scott, a slew of state agencies, and the state of Florida itself. The kids, ages 10 to 19, are trying to get their elected officials to recognize the threat climate change poses to their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
18-year-old Delaney Reynolds, a member of this year’s Grist 50 list, helped launch the lawsuit. She’s been a climate activist since the age of 14, when she started a youth-oriented activism nonprofit called The Sink or Swim Project. “No matter how young you are, even if you don’t have a vote, you have a voice in your government,” she says.
Reynolds and the other seven plaintiffs are asking for a “court-ordered, science-based Climate Recovery Plan” — one that transitions Florida away from a fossil fuel energy system.
This lawsuit is the latest in a wave of youth-led legal actions across the United States. Juliana v. United States, which was filed by 21 young plaintiffs in Oregon in 2015, just got confirmed for a trial date in October this year.
Link:
Boulder, Colorado, is the latest city to sue Big Oil over climate change.
This 1983 article about the EPA hitting rock bottom is way too relevant.
Rick Scott, who has served as Florida’s governor since 2011, hasn’t done much to protect his state against the effects of climate change — even though it’s being threatened by sea-level rise.
On Monday, eight youth filed a lawsuit against Scott, a slew of state agencies, and the state of Florida itself. The kids, ages 10 to 19, are trying to get their elected officials to recognize the threat climate change poses to their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
18-year-old Delaney Reynolds, a member of this year’s Grist 50 list, helped launch the lawsuit. She’s been a climate activist since the age of 14, when she started a youth-oriented activism nonprofit called The Sink or Swim Project. “No matter how young you are, even if you don’t have a vote, you have a voice in your government,” she says.
Reynolds and the other seven plaintiffs are asking for a “court-ordered, science-based Climate Recovery Plan” — one that transitions Florida away from a fossil fuel energy system.
This lawsuit is the latest in a wave of youth-led legal actions across the United States. Juliana v. United States, which was filed by 21 young plaintiffs in Oregon in 2015, just got confirmed for a trial date in October this year.
Original link:
This 1983 article about the EPA hitting rock bottom is way too relevant.
The Secret to Enjoying a Greener Cup of Coffee
I once?asked a man which he would rather give up, coffee or alcohol. It was cocktail hour and he generally had two very large, very stiff drinks each?night without fail. But, when confronted with that seemingly impossible decision, he was quick to say, “I can never give up coffee.” A few weeks later, he gave up alcohol for good. Yep, coffee is that powerful.
We love our coffee, but our coffee addiction does not always love the planet. Coffee is generally a pesticide-ridden crop with a disproportionately large carbon footprint. It’s a major source of waste in our society. But it doesn’t have to be. The secret to a cleaner cup of coffee is a greener cup of coffee. Here are 6 ways to green up your favorite beverage of the day:
Use reusable pods.
If you?re a fan of Nespresso or Keurig, you are probably aware that your convenience comes at a high price for the environment. Think of how many of those plastic pods get tossed into the landfills each year. It is one of the most wasteful ways of brewing coffee. Plus, the pods themselves are expensive. Do yourself and the environment a favor, buy a reusable pod and fill it with coffee yourself each morning. It’s cheaper and way less wasteful. Disposable pods are a hugely unnecessary and harmful modern convenience.
(On that note, you can also replace paper filters with affordable and reusable metal ones it you brew drip-style. Reduce waste in any way you can!)
Opt for the Rainforest Alliance certification.
The coffee industry is responsible for a significant amount of rainforest destruction each year. Farmers find wild crops in the rainforest and take down surrounding trees to allow the cherries more sunlight, which hopefully?produces a greater yield. It seems logical from a farmer’s standpoint, but it’s incredibly destructive to our already weakened forest systems. The Rainforest Alliance certification ensures that your beans didn’t come at the cost of precious ecosystem loss. Look for it whenever possible.
Opt for organic, certified or not.
We all know organic crops tend to be cleaner than conventional. That being said, many coffee farmers are unable to afford the expensive organic certification, but have very stringent, clean practices. Learn more about the coffee you buy and see if you can find out what sorts of practices the farmers use (ask your local roaster). I know my local roaster only carries beans that are grown using?organic practices, whether they are certified or not, so I am less concerned about the organic seal. If you don?t have access to?in depth info about where your coffee comes from, then naturally your safest bet is to opt for the organic seal.
Measure your coffee before brewing.
Be sure to brew only what you’ll actually drink. Dumping coffee down the drain day after day is such a waste, especially because coffee requires such intensive effort to make its way to your cup. Measure your beans and water, weigh them if you have to, to be sure that not an ounce gets wasted.
Get to know your local roaster.
Buy coffee from a local roaster and get to know what they look for in their beans and the farmers/co-ops they source from. Not only will you be supporting your local economy, but you can learn a lot more about where your beans came from than you would at the supermarket. Maybe they’ll even give you a private tour of the roastery for expressing interest.
Ditch the to-go coffee.
If you follow my writing, you know I am not a fan of the single-use coffee cup. It’s an environmental disaster, but it also deprives the drinker of a mindful coffee experience. To-go cups encourage a stressful go-go atmosphere. But coffee is such a wonderful social experience, why not take the time to truly indulge rather than grab and go? Take the Swedish concept of fika to heart and sit down, grab a pastry and mindfully enjoy your daily coffee.
Coffee is a special gift. It is painstakingly laborious to grow and harvest, must be shipped great lengths across the globe, must be delicately roasted and expertly brewed, all before it reaches your humble cup. Sure, using a Hario v60 and a filter will give you a cleaner cup in terms of taste, but with a little bit of mindful effort you can make your cup cleaner for the entire planet.
Related on Care2:
6 Hacks to Make Vegan Traveling A Lot Easier
Cutting Out Fruit Won’t Help You Lose Weight
Are Basil Seeds the New Chia?
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
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So is coal great again or what?
Some of these articles are sensationalized very nearly to the point of inaccuracy. Others are cases of “elaborate misinformation.”
A review from Climate Feedback, a group of scientists who survey climate change news to determine whether it’s scientifically sound, looked at the 25 most-shared stories last year that focused on the science of climate change or global warming.
Of those, only 11 were rated as credible, meaning they contained no major inaccuracies. Five were considered borderline inaccurate. The remaining nine, including New York Magazine’s viral “The Uninhabitable Earth,” were found to have low or very low credibility. However, even the top-rated articles were noted as somewhat misleading. (Read the reviews here.)
“We see a lot of inaccurate stories,” Emmanuel Vincent, a research scientist at the University of California and the founder of Climate Feedback, told Grist. Each scientist at Climate Feedback holds a Ph.D. and has recently published articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Vincent says that the New York Times and Washington Post are the two main sources that Climate Feedback has found “consistently publish information that is accurate and influential.” (He notes that Grist’s “Ice Apocalypse” by Eric Holthaus also made the credibility cut.)
“You need to find the line between being catchy and interesting without overstepping what the science can support,” he says.
Link –
Posted in alo, Anchor, ATTRA, Cascade, FF, G & F, GE, Landmark, ONA, Pines, PUR, Ringer, solar, Sterling, Uncategorized, wind power
Tagged business & technology, coal miners, emmanuel-vincent, g & f, grist, however, major, Pines, Ringer, times, trump nation, wind power
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