Capacitors are a curious device that’s been around since 1745. It stores a significant amount of electricity inside a container with a high energy density and the ability to release that energy slowly or very quickly. The most common example is the flash in your camera. It accumulates the low power output of the battery … Read more →

Flywheels have been used for energy storage and load balancing for decades. New carbon fiber flywheels operate at 55,000 rpm and have the capability to store large amounts of power is less weight that batteries can. Major advantages are that flywheels last the life of a car with no loss of capability, they can be … Read more →

Electric cars seem like the future but the batteries available just don’t cut it. Lithium is fine for a cell phone or laptop which has been optimized for low power use. No matter what you do a car requires enormous energy to move a 3000lb vehicle hundreds of miles with frequent stops and starts. This … Read more →

This silly thing isn’t as silly as it looks If you buy a Chevy Volt you’re driving a coal powered car since the majority of electricity in the US is generated by burning coal. Electricity makes up an increasing percent of our energy use so cleaning up electricity production needs to be a top priority. … Read more →

The latest things in the market are solar leases and power purchase agreements. Until recently you’d have to spend 45-60k for a system that would meet your power needs and you were looking at a 20yr payback period which requires you to pour to a ton of money you might not have. Then is was … Read more →

Making a generic performance statement on a web site about a solar pv system can be very difficult. This is because of the dramatically different solar incidence and average hours of sunlight per day in different locations. A 4kw array of 20 panels will produce twice the electricity in sunny Arizona than in cloudy NJ. … Read more →

My focus in solar is to lower costs. I plan to do this by simplifing mechanical and electric installation so that a homeowner can do it or a contractor can do it very quickly. Contractors charge a lot today so do it yourself is the way to go. Solar panel prices have dropped significantly this … Read more →

We have been looking at open source .NET shipping carts to select one that integrates well with client ERP and Shipping systems. nopCommerce looked promising but turned out to be very very slow. dash Commerce also looked good but does not have ongoing community development so it looks like a dead end. While there are … Read more →

I am in the process of launching a new web site and company Anapode Solar. The site is still a work in progress as we determine the best shopping cart software to use. My focus for the new business is to simplify solar to the point that handy homeowners can install it them selves. If … Read more →

Solar power is slowly becoming affordable but is still not there. The main problem I see is that the complex process of installing a Solar PV system can only be done by a qualified engineering company and that company charges as much as the hardware to install a system. For years I’ve dreamed of making … Read more →