Solar In The City

From high-rises to brownstones, new installations help quench power demand in New York City.

The Lower East Side apartment/office building stands out from the New York City skyline with its system of 22 Shell 110-watt solar modules, installed by Solar Energy Systems Inc.

There’s nothing like a massive blackout to spur a little energy introspection. When the lights went down across eastern Canada and the United States on Aug. 14, 2003, everyone with a theory and a voice began offering up explanations, remedies and told-you-so’s. But more than a year later, a palatable explanation has yet to emerge. In New York, where the loss of light is an affront to the natural order, there’s only one point that everyone can agree on: Demand for electricity keeps growing while the construction of power plants and transmission lines in the densest place in the country becomes more and more challenging.

New York’s solar industry is hoping that some of this introspection will lead to the conclusion that the city should install as much solar power as possible—ready to crank out distributed, pollution-free electricity during those peak summer hours when air conditioners are set to high, electricity prices are soaring and the grid is strained to the point of browning or blacking out. And though solar power installations may be hard to imagine in a landscape of skyscrapers and shadow, more and more systems are cropping up in unexpected places all over the city.


*** well, i came across this article and i feel that it would be a nice to topic to chat for. so.. gambate>>

actually one of my many dreams is to build a 100% solar house villa in one of Langkawi's islands.
While renewable energy is getting popular in most of europe countries..unfortunately not in tropical malaysia due to extreeeeeemly cheap electricity, petrol, gas and lower subsidy energy bill.
I'd once calcuated the cost of building one big powerful solar house complete with 4 greedy 24 hours high voltage air-cond services ..I need to pay US$64,000 for the solar penals. But a bit nonsense in malaysia.. for max if my monthly electricty bill is RM200, it would take me up to hundred years to acumulate US$64,000 electricity bill.
Unless one day malaysia is no longer an oil producing country and the goverment stop subsidizing malaysian energy consumption like the gas, petrol..etc etc and all the energy bills are equal to those in europe...Very unlikely.
If not this still could be a hobby for rich people.. for those who could spend on million bungalow house. US$64,000 is nothing to them. There are plenty of these people in malaysia judging the expensive imported cars on highways.

www.bpsolar.com

The next big thing should be electrical car. Though I can't afford to own a solar house in malaysia at the moment. I'm actually saving up to buy a electrical car in London which is very cheap just around 7000 pounds. The governmennt should consider importing these cars to fight pollution in big cities ..hehe.. :) :)

http://www.goingreen.co.uk

:)

one thing for sure that Malaysian government has actually stop subsidising petrol prices

yea ... agree with u. can anyone imagine that malaysia government spent nearly 14% of the nation's total budget? it's getting more and more ridiculous. that has to stop. our goverment should be promoting new alternatives which can reduce the usage of nature minerals such as petrol. renewable energy is getting popular. so the government should promote more on solar energy.. the govenment should plan for the future.. instead of wasting all the taxpayers' money in solving problems like pollution.

one thing for sure that Malaysian government has actually stop subsidising petrol prices

Not fully yet...petrol is still very cheap in Malaysia compare with other developing countries such as Thailand and Philipines..indonesia too??
I think petrol in malaysia is still cheaper than mineral water??

The star
Tuesday July 26, 2005


Solar cells are notoriously costly. But this will soon change with the launch of a project aimed at making them affordable for Malaysians, reports TAN CHENG LI.

Solar energy advocate Ahmad Hadri Haris is hopeful that Malaysian property developers will warm up to the idea of developing solar townships, much like Solarsiedlung in Germany and Nieuwland in the Netherlands.

“PVs can be included in new housing developments as a new marketing ploy. Such projects can gain developers a niche market as well as add value to the property,” says the technical adviser to the Malaysia Energy Centre.

He believes the cost of photovoltaic (PV) systems would not be felt since it would have been added to the total property price.

But while the private sector mulls over the idea of solar townships, the Energy, Water and Communications Ministry is moving ahead to incite interest in the renewable energy.

Next year, it will launch a programme, Suria 1000, which gives the public the rare opportunity of generating their own solar power. Based on similar projects in Europe and Japan, the project will offer building-integrated PV (BIPV) systems at discounted prices to make the technology accessible and affordable for the public.

People have to bid for the systems, however, because they are limited in numbers. Bidding will start at 25% of the capital price, which is about RM25,000 for a 1 kilowatt (kW) system. A 2kW or 3kW system is typically needed for an average household. The starting bid will be raised annually, to encourage public participation early on in the project. For the first of the four-year project, BIPV systems with a total capacity of 1,000kW will be offered.

Suria 1000 is part of the ministry’s five-year RM100mil Malaysia Building Integrated Photovoltaic (MBIPV) project to develop the local solar energy market, launched yesterday. The Malaysia Energy Centre is implementing the project on behalf of the ministry.

“The key objective is to reduce the long-term cost of BIPV technology. This cost reduction will lead to sustainable and widespread use of BIPV, which will ultimately avoid greenhouse gas emissions,” says Ahmad Hadri.

The project will promote BIPV technology – which covers PV that can be incorporated into building structures such as the roofs, façades, walls, windows and shades – instead of the traditional mounted solar PV.

Partially funded by the United Nations Development Programme/ Global Environment Facility, the MBIPV will include training workshops to build up awareness of solar energy, promote a local PV industry and build up expertise in BIPV technology. Laws and policies that encourage BIPV development will also be addressed.

Several facilities – one is the new Malaysia Energy Centre building – will incorporate BIPV technology to serve as showcase sites.

By 2010, a minimum of 1.5 megawatt (MW) of solar energy would have been added to the grid. Presently, PV installations in rural areas have a capacity of 2.5MW, while urban installations have 500kW connected to the grid.

Households participating in Suria 1000 will use the solar energy directly, and any excess will be fed into the electricity grid and sold to Tenaga Nasional Berhad – a system known as “net metering.” This differs from Germany’s “feed-in” approach, where all the solar power is fed to the grid.

Ahmad Hadri says the feed-in system could not be implemented here because of low tariffs. In Germany, energy producers are paid tariffs that are higher than the normal electricity price.

However, he believes the feed-in system should eventually be introduced here as it has boosted the PV sector in many countries. These countries also have various fiscal incentives to boost the solar market, some of which can be adapted to suit local conditions.

In Spain, building developers who include PV in their buildings can offset up to 95% of the construction tax while for consumers, 10% of the investment cost of PV systems is tax deductible.

When Japan started its 70,000 Roofs programme in 1994, it subsidised 50% of the cost of PV systems.

The subsidies stopped in 1997 with the introduction of feed-in tariffs but low interest rate on loans for PV products have made private investment affordable.

http://thestar.com.my/archives/2005/7/26/lifefocus/f_p17fireStation.jpg
In this fire station in the Netherlands, transparent photovoltaic modules not only form the shell of the building, but also enhances its architecture. Highly visible use of PV technology in such public facilities will boost public awareness and confidence in solar energy.


http://thestar.com.my/archives/2005/7/26/lifefocus/f_p17Freiburg.jpg
Building design can be enhanced by incorporating photovoltaic modules into the building shell and facade, such as seen here in the Solar Information Centre in Freiburg, Germany.

that also means daylight lightings of buildings should also change, we can use sunlight to light up the interior. instead of hours of electricity running at increasingly costly rates,