Yes Solar is proud to announce that it has merged with Solar Science, one of the Western Cape’s leading solar marketing and installation companies. Solar Science brings with it considerable skills in the marketing and installation of a number of carefully chosen Solar water systems and Heat Pumps. Yes Solar has an existing network of eleven franchisees, with a growing list of potential franchisees waiting in the wings . This merger increases our footprint, to meet our vision of becoming one of the top three solar brands by 2012.

Solar Science will be rebranded as Yes Solar and Richard Jamieson (B.Sc Eng) will take over as managing director of Yes Solar from Charles Bryant. Simon Lamond is a PIRB registered plumber and Eskom accredited solar installer. With 10 years of green plumbing experience, Simon takes up the position of technical director in Yes Solar.

Simon immediately brings with him the ability to handle all solar installations in the Western Cape for Yes Solar franchisees, and as a medium term strategy will look to recruit the highest quality installation capacity for Gauteng, the E.Cape and Mpumalanga.  Richard will focus on the support of Yes Solar franchisees in both marketing and product training and Charles will be responsible for growing the Yes Solar footprint with the highest quality dedicated ecopreneurs.

The vision of Yes Solar is to partner with the best solar geyser and heat pump suppliers in the country, in order to offer clients a range of solutions that cross over products, suppliers and technologies.

Ed: Don’t worry, we won’t be losing any of our independence, we’ve been working closely with the Yes Solar guys over the last few months to make sure this is a partnership that benefits our customers. Get over to www.yessolar.co.za to continue reading about developments in the solar and renewable energy fields.

These developments will run in parallel with plans by government (DoE) to also build a 5000MW solar park by 2012. From what I heard on a radio interview, though, government is only building the park which will include infrastructure into which private companies can more easily establish privately funded solar generation facilities.

All of this is great and sounds very good, especially since we are currently reliant on coal for 90% of our electricity generation, and in their last financial year Eskom emitted 225 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

However, look back at my earlier post here, where acting chief officer of Eskom’s generation business, Dan Marokane talks about how Eskom is and will be reliant on coal for a long time to come. As he says in his article, a solar park of 100MW pales in comparison to the generation capacity of a coal plant like Kusile (4800MW).

The more recent announcement comes from Steve Lennon, managing director for corporate services at Eskom, and 2000MW of solar thermal capacity certainly does start to look like a more serious move by Eskom to commit to renewables. Let’s hope that things are moving in the right direction at the parastatal.

Ed.

Solar Science is a supplier and installer of solar water heating systems to the greater Cape Town area. Get in touch if you’re interested in a free quote.

The most famous residence in America, which has already boosted its green credentials by planting a garden, plans to install solar panels atop the White House’s living quarters. The solar panels are to be installed by spring 2011, and will heat water for the first family and supply some electricity.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the plans Tuesday in Washington at a conference of local, state, academic and nonprofit leaders aimed at identifying how the federal government can improve its environmental performance.

Former Presidents Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush both tapped the sun during their days in the White House. Carter in the late 1970s spent $30,000 on a solar water-heating system for West Wing offices. Bush’s solar systems powered a maintenance building and some of the mansion, and heated water for the pool.Obama, who has championed renewable energy, has been under increasing pressure by the solar industry and environmental activists to lead by example by installing solar at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, something White House officials said has been under consideration since he first took office.

Last month, global warming activists with 350.org carried one of Carter’s solar panels – which were removed in 1986 – from Unity College in Maine to Washington to urge Obama to put solar panels on his roof. It was part of a global campaign to persuade world leaders to install solar on their homes. After a meeting with White House officials, they left Washington without a commitment.

Bill McKibben, the founder of the 350.org group, said Tuesday the administration did the right thing.

“If it has anything like the effect of the White House garden, it could be a trigger for a wave of solar installations across the country and around the world,” McKibben said in a statement.

What was unclear Tuesday was how much the White House solar project will cost, and how much fossil fuel-based electricity it would displace, since the system is not yet designed and the White House will not disclose how much energy is needed to keep the president’s lights turned on.

Based on available roof space, administration officials expect the photovoltaic system will include between 25 to 75 panels and will convert sunlight into 19,700 kilowatt hours of electricity a year.

But the White House is far from a typical house, noted Danny Kennedy, the founder of California-based solar energy provider Sungevity, which offered to put solar panels on the White House for free earlier this year as part of a campaign called SolarontheWhiteHouse.

Kennedy estimates that outfitting Obama’s pad with solar would cost about $100,000 if paid out of pocket. But the money would be earned back with savings on the electric bill in the first five years, he said in an interview from the Maldives, where he is installing 48 solar panels on President Mohammed Nasheed’s private residence.

Kennedy said his calculations were based on a 5,000 square-foot California home, which uses 60,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually.

“They use a lot more electricity than that,” Kennedy said. “We had to make a few assumptions about what electricity cost was in the White House.”

Solar Science have sent over a quote, hold thumbs for us – Ed.

Solar Science is a supplier and installer of solar water heating systems to the greater Cape Town area. Get in touch if you’re interested in a free quote.

Certification – what kind of certification does the system have? First prize is SABS Mark Approval. This is a higher form of certification than just an SABS Test Report. Mark Approval means that the entire supply chain of the product has been inspected and that SABS are confident that the product will consistently meet their standards.

Also look out for Solar Keymark certification (EU), and the German TUV standard.

Direct versus Indirect systems – basically, if you live near the coast you can install a direct system (no intermediate heat transfer fluid), but if you live somewhere that is prone to frost (i.e. temperatures drop below 4 deg), then you have to go for an indirect system. Where possible, go for a direct system, the heat loss between panel and geyser is lower.

Evacuated Tube versus Flat Plate collector – the respective suppliers / manufacturers of these systems place too much emphasis on this question. Rather look at the build quality, efficiency and durability of the collector, regardless of the type of technology it employs. Pay special attention to corrosion resistance – low quality stainless steel and shoddily galvanized metals will start to rust after a couple of years.

A quick way to measure efficiency is to look at the rebate a system enjoys. The rebate is simply a multiple of the Q factor of the system (which is a measure of its efficiency). But be careful to compare systems of the same size, e.g. a 200 litre system with a 200 litre system.

Thermosiphon versus Pumped – I won’t install an evacuated tube system in a thermosiphon configuration (this is where the geyser is higher than the panel and the water circulates by convection) because evacuated tubes can produce extremely high temperatures, and a pump/controller configuration is better able to regulate these high temperatures.

A flat plate in a thermosiphon configuration has the advantage of simplicity, but is only possible if you put the geyser on the outside of your roof, or if you have a very steeply pitched roof and mount your geyser in the apex of that roof (higher than the top of the panel outside).

Bigger is better with solar – choose a geyser size that’s bigger than your current geyser. Your savings will be maximised if you have a big tank which can store your solar heated water through periods of no or low sunshine. A 300 litre tank may sound excessive, but for four or more people in a house it’s recommended.

Geyser quality is important – in a solar configuration your geyser needs to be able to withstand high temperatures and it needs to be well insulated to retain that heat. There are a number of cheap geysers (hot water cylinders/storage tanks) on the market, made of materials such as fibreglass. Be wary of companies that do not have a long track record of making geysers that last. Look for at least a 10 year warranty on your geyser.

Eskom accreditation – check that the system, the supplier of the system and the installer of the system are all accredited by Eskom, or you won’t be able to claim your rebate. You can click here to check suppliers and their systems, and here to check who the accredited installers are.

Backup and support - check the details on the warranty – not just how long it is, but under what conditions it is effective. Are there any exclusions? Also consider how long the supplier has been around, and ask them for customer references so that you can find out what their level of backup service is like.

The manufacturing location of the product could be a factor for you, but bear in mind that the entire world buys their evacuated tubes from China (bar a few manufacturers in Southern Europe), so don’t expect to get a South African made evacuated tube system. That being said, there are some good flat plate manufacturers in SA, and buying from them has the additional benefit of being transport emissions free.

Ed.

Solar Science is a supplier and installer of solar water heating systems to the greater Cape Town area. Get in touch if you’re interested in a free quote.

The reasoning that they used to persuade this person went as follows -  you’ll drain your geyser by showering in the evening and will have to use electricity to reheat it for the morning.  So unless you radically change your habits, for example by only showering once a day at a specific time,  you won’t really see any savings.

I guess there is some small degree of truth to this. If you manage to drain your geyser of hot water every evening, you will have to use electricity to reheat it if you want hot water again first thing in the morning. The trick here is to install the right size of geyser so that you don’t end up draining it every evening. And the more information you can provide to your solar company about your water usage habits, the more likely it is that they will provide you with the right size geyser.

But even if you are draining the geyser every evening, and then again in the morning, at the very least you will be using solar to reheat the geyser during the day. So compared to before you had solar, when you had to use electricity to heat water day and night, at least now you’re only using electricity at night. You can’t tell me that’s not a saving!

And perhaps it is also true that some kind of behaviour change is called for. If you were draining a full geyser every evening and then using hot water again in the morning, it might be time to think about the amount of energy you’re using. We see installing a solar geyser as a positive in this respect – it often gets families thinking more carefully about the energy they’re using and monitoring it more closely.

Finally, I have to bring in the example of clients we have who now switch off their geysers for approximately eight months of the year. Of course, they can do this because their solar systems are correctly sized. Still, you can’t tell me that they’re not saving a heap of money during those eight months!

Comments welcome – perhaps there’s something I’m missing?

Ed.

Solar Science is a supplier and installer of solar water heating systems to the greater Cape Town area. Get in touch if you’re interested in a free quote.

Some interesting facts have cropped up along the way. The first is that, after the discovery of oil in Texas, the US really was the Saudi Arabia of oil suppliers (this is back in the early part of the 20th century). Nobody could hold a match (pardon the pun) to the amount of crude oil that they were extracting.

Little goes on to look at how things have changed in the US. They passed their peak oil production moment in the 1970s, and since then it has been getting harder and harder for them to extract the stuff. As an example she points to the deep sea drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (we all know how well that’s been going recently).

Second interesting fact – these deep sea oil rigs can’t actually be moored to anything, so they have four thruster engines – one on each leg. These thruster engines are constantly at work to make sure the rig stays in the same spot. Each one is 9,500 horsepower and in combination they use 27 MW at full throttle – that’s enough to power 21,000 homes!

I’m just moving on to chapter 2, so I’ll be sure to blog again in a few days time with some more interesting bits and pieces. Like, for example, why an American Marine Corps Major General put in a request for solar panels and wind turbines to power a military base in Fallujah, Iraq in 2006.

Ed.

Solar Science is a supplier and installer of solar water heating systems to the greater Cape Town area. Get in touch if you’re interested in a free quote.

For a start, check out the weekly matrix by enmasse – the company is the brainchild of Murray von Hirschberg. The matrix is also a child of his brain, and an interesting one at that. Follow some of the links to the youtube clips – the tippex one has a ‘choose your own adventure’ ending that I haven’t seen anyone do on youtube before.

Also worth a visit is the Porters Estate Produce Market, every Saturday from nine till one. It’s in Tokai, in a field surrounded by beautiful forests, and you can buy fresh produce directly from source – stuff you wouldn’t be able to get in a supermarket. Solar Science were there this Saturday, and will probably be back in a couple of weeks time.

I recently signed up for PushPlay, which I think is awesome. It’s basically Netflix for South Africa. What surprised me is that the coolest thing about it is putting together a list of movies that you really want to watch, and then not knowing which one they’re going to send you next. It’s kind of like the night before Christmas, only you know you’re going to like your present.

Final shout out for this evening is to Pinion Insurance Brokers, who are apparently working with major insurance companies to secure lower premiums for people who take steps to reduce their carbon footprints (story here), for example by driving a hybrid car or installing a solar water heater. They reckon we greenies are lower risk than the petrolheads. Nice one.

OK, that’s all for today, might do this again next Sunday, so keep an eye out.

Ed.

Solar Science is a supplier and installer of solar water heating systems to the greater Cape Town area. Get in touch if you’re interested in a free quote.

The concept originated in Australia, where solar powered vehicles raced across the outback. The first South African version of the race took place in 2008, and this is the second time it is being held. The plan is for it to take place every 2 years.

There are different classes for hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, solar vehicles and biofuel powered vehicles. There are five local teams and three overseas teams, with the favourites being the team from Tokai University in Japan, who were the winners of the inaugural event in 2008.

The event is organised by the Innovation Hub and the Advanced Energy Foundation. They’re pretty excited about it, with race director Winston Jordaan claiming that “..[t]he SA Solar Challenge is the World Cup of renewable energy racing.”

Solar Science were thinking of entering Simon on his bicycle and claiming that his diet of organic vegetables counted as biofuels, but instead we’re going to have see if we can build a solar powered car by 2012…

Ed.

Solar Science is a supplier and installer of solar water heating systems to the greater Cape Town area. Get in touch if you’re interested in a free quote.

He was telling me about an initiative that they started up a little while ago called Greenpop. It’s a tree planting initiative aiming at mitigating the effects of green house gas emissions. Rowan and his team came up with the idea when they were racking up airmiles (and growing big carbon footprints for themselves) flying around Europe on a film project.

Instead of just paying someone else to offset their carbon emissions, they decided to set up Greenpop. The aim was to plant 1000 trees in some of the most ‘under-greened’ parts of Cape Town. There’s a website where you can donate money towards having a tree planted, and you can also volunteer to help on planting days.

The initiative has attracted a lot of interest, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they eventually end up planting even more than 1000 trees. So get on over to their website and donate a tree – it only costs R50, which is about the same price as a beer from &Union…

Ed.

Solar Science is a supplier and installer of solar water heating systems to the greater Cape Town area. Get in touch if you’re interested in a free quote.

Today was the launch of the wine and the website. Organized by Catherine Bolton of goactive8, we were treated to an awesome lunch at the  Roundhouse. Solar Science felt privileged to be amongst some of Cape Town’s most dynamic green entrepeneurs, foodies and journos.

So go on over to Sauvignon.com and check out what they’re putting together. The site went live today (ten minutes before the lunch started apparently). It’s a non-commercial site, so it’s not an online shop for the wine (the wine will be available from retailers from the beginning of November, and will be a reasonably priced, easy drinking Sauvignon Blanc.  I’m no expert, but I found it went down very well).

The site is rather a space for celebrating green ideas and the green people who come up with them. Which we think is cool.

Ed.

Solar Science is a supplier and installer of solar water heating systems to the greater Cape Town area. Get in touch if you’re interested in a free quote.