29 Juli 2009

Autostrada del Sole – Multifunctional Carports and house top solar PV installations on petrol and service stations

Good ideas are only those that are implemented and finally turn into reality. I am sure many visionaries had similar ideas along those lines, but sometimes even sleeping giants seem to wake and pick up those ideas, concepts and start sustainable initiatives.

Autostrade per l'Italia Spa plans to invest, install and operate a network of many small size PV integrated carports and house top solar PV installations on petrol and service stations. Along the 2854 Km of motorway managed by Autostrade per l'Italia Spa, there are round about 3000 parking sites, gas stations, roadhouses and service areas with parking possibilities. According to "pienosole.it" the sum of all small solar PV installations could equal a cumulative global PV installations capacity of approximately 5,5 GWh/year and could supply all motorway facilities with clean solar energy.

Conclusion:
"Every little helps" since many small size solar PV installations in the end form one large-scale power plant and sometimes great ideas can only be implemented by great corporations right at the source.

23 Juli 2009

Market-sector leader plans to conquer PV consumer-market

German cell-producer and market-sector leader has kicked off a massive b2c marketing campaign and pushes into photovoltaic consumer market. I found out by pure chance as in the evening I was watching German's second programme ZDF and suddenly during a commercial break of "Markus Lanz" this ad (click title or here to watch) caught my attention. Later I read a press notice on the company website. Part of this Marketing offensive is the Website www.werden-sie-stromerzeuger.de. I dare say that this is not a bad business idea at all and definitely a trend. In Italy ENEL follows a similar idea with ENEL.si. Both concepts and programmes prove high market potentials of photovoltaic in the private consumer sector.

17 Juli 2009

What costs the sun? | Was kostet die Sonne?

Deutschland zählt im Bereich der Solartechnik zur Weltspitze, es sind Tausende neue Jobs entstanden und deutsche Wissenschaftler machen mit ständig neuen Weltrekorden bei den Wirkungsgraden von sich reden. Stehen wir vor dem Durchbruch in eine solare Zukunft?

Watch a stream of yesterdays german telecast by clicking here!

Copyrights: Jörg Moll Fernsehproduktion
All rights ZDF/3sat.

13 Juli 2009

WE FEED THE WORLD


"If you go to the market in Senegal you can buy European produce for a third of the local prices. So the Senegalese peasant farmer no longer has any chance of earning a living."
Jean Ziegler, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food

Every day in Vienna the amount of unsold bread sent back to be disposed of is enough to supply Austria's second-largest city, Graz. Around 350,000 hectares of agricultural land, above all in Latin America, are dedicated to the cultivation of soybeans to feed Austria's livestock while one quarter of the local population starves. Every European eats ten kilograms a year of artificially irrigated greenhouse vegetables from southern Spain, with water shortages the result. In WE FEED THE WORLD, Austrian filmmaker Erwin Wagenhofer traces the origins of the food we eat. His journey takes him to France, Spain, Romania, Switzerland, Brazil and back to Austria. Leading us through the film is an interview with Jean Ziegler, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. WE FEED THE WORLD is a film about food and globalisation, fishermen and farmers, long-distance lorry drivers and high-powered corporate executives, the flow of goods and cash flow–a film about scarcity amid plenty. With its unforgettable images, the film provides insight into the production of our food and answers the question what world hunger has to do with us. Interviewed are not only fishermen, farmers, agronomists, biologists and the UN's Jean Ziegler, but also the director of production at Pioneer, the world's largest seed company, as well as Peter Brabeck, Chairman and CEO of Nestlé International, the largest food company in the world.

10 Juli 2009

Nuclear energy


"Die jüngsten Vorfälle in Krümmel beweisen,
dass eine Laufzeitverlängerung für ältere Kraftwerke
nicht zu verantworten ist."
Sigmar Gabriel

08 Juli 2009

Monthly review

22.05.
RAI TG1 Economia "energia rinnovabile";
16.06.
German corporations plan to invest in mega desert solar power plants (click 1 and 2);
22.06.
Accident: 5 MW BP-Solar roof pv plant catches fire;
23.06.
TERNA 500m network expansion plans;
30.06.
Longest, but at the same time very enjoyable, business meeting in Torremaggiore (FG);
01.07.
Nice to be back in Munich;
02.07.
Nano Technologies — Certainly the next big thing (check it out: 1, 2, 3, 4);
03.07.
Crisis prevention in Eggenfelden;
04.07.
RAI 2 Voyager — energia (part 1, part 2);
04.07.
Climate scientist Mojib Latif "only the sun can save our world";
05.07.
Sunday rainy blues, so I watched Wimbledon finals and Zeitgeist Addendum;
07.07.
07.07.
07.07.
Bye MJ, R.I.P. We are the world!

photovoltaik online

SolareNews.it

Pienosole.it

Rinnovabili.it

Solar Thermal Energy News - RenewableEnergyWorld.com

PV Tech - News

FTD.de - Schnellleser