Very sensible. Wineries use a lot of hot water. I suspect that for home use the combination would be most of the hot water plus a tiny percent of electricity use. Even in the winery example, it supplies 30% to 40% of electricity and half of hot water needs. But that is not a knock. Replacing our current system is a matter of doing a lot of things, but just one or two things. Use this everywhere it makes sense and then do the next thing, (With of course increased efficiency and conservation preceding even this kind of supply.)
On Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 7:04 AM, Eugene Coyle <[email protected]> wrote: > finally somebody got it. > Combined solar heating and solar electric. Too bad it came from a VC and > Tony Blair rather than the DOE. > Gene Coyle > > Cogenra Solar's system includes practical twist > > A gleaming array of mirrors tucked behind a Sonoma County winery promises a > new wrinkle in renewable energy - solar power without all the waste. > > Solar panels convert into electricity just a fraction of the energy the sun > throws at them, typically 15 to 20 percent. The rest is wasted as heat. > > But the solar array nestled next to the Sonoma Wine Co. captures the heat as > well. The winery gets electricity for its lights and bottling machinery as > well as hot water - up to 165 degrees - for cleaning barrels. > > The array is the brainchild of the Mountain View startup Cogenra Solar. > Backed by $10.5 million from clean-tech venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, the > year-old company aims to make renewable power more cost-competitive with > fossil fuels. Cogenra will own the solar arrays it installs, charging its > customers for the electricity and hot water rather than the equipment. > > "Practically any location we've looked at, we can beat their utility rates," > said Chief Executive Officer Gilad Almogy. > > Full at > http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/08/BU9R1G7Q9L.DTL > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > -- Facebook: Gar Lipow Twitter: GarLipow Grist Blog: http://www.grist.org/member/1598 Static page: http://www.nohairshirts.com _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
