Summer may be gone for now, but certain bits of it last on:  memories, vacation photos……new sun spots. 

Several visitors have written to me asking for help reducing the appearance of sun spots and freckles.  Though nothing short of completely avoiding the sun will totally keep spots at bay, being liberal with the sunscreen and choosing a few targeted products will definitely help.

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Scientists have discovered that sunspots are not the only thing from the Sun that have a significant and varied impact on the Earth.

There is a “solar cycle” of approximately 11 years. Variation of the Sun’s impact on the Earth during those 11 years is generally thought to be due to sunspots. The Sun also shoots high-speed winds at the Earth, however, and scientists have just discovered that these super winds significantly affect the Earth in several ways.

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Burning high in the sky, he sits and watches us, just doing his job. Wearing an ironic pair of sunglasses, he keeps us warm during the day, bronzes our skin by the beach, and makes earth inhabitable. He does quite a bit for us, despite his dwelling 93 million miles away. But with concerns over the climate rising faster than the temperature, the Department of Energy is calling on him to play a bigger role.

With the costs of energy walking a tight rope, and an economy struggling to recover itself after a fall, the Department of Energy turned once more to Mr. Sun. Solar energy has been a good idea for a while, but because it can’t be stored, and because it only produces during part of the day, it can’t make the impact that many think it should.

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Summer is upon us. The plants are in full bloom, and the sun feels great on your skin. The longer days give you more energy. There are barbecues, beaches and pool parties with your name written all over them! Since you will be spending all that time soaking up the sun, there a few facts you may be happy to know about sunlight and the healing powers of Vitamin D. Vitamin D has gone on for years as the single most underrated nutrient and only recently did it begin to get it’s moment in the spotlight. Research is showing that Vitamin D is known to help prevent osteoporosis, depression, prostrate and breast cancer and even affects diabetes and obesity. If that is not enough to get you to throw your bikini on, maybe these facts from  “The Healing Power of Sunlight and Vitamin D-an exclusive interview with Dr. Michael Holick”, by Mike Adams will help persuade you.

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Greenpeace calculates that the exploitation of less than 1% of the total solar thermal potential of the sun would be enough to stabilise the world climate through massive carbon dioxide reductions. Some large scale technologies must become viable to even approach this level.

One’s first thought on solar energy is often the photo voltaic systems (PV) that convert sunlight directly into electricity. These small systems seem to have real potential, especially in areas that lack grid based electricity. However, PV material is expensive and has, to date, not found application as a mainstream alternate energy source.

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Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California have suggested a plan to drastically reduce global warming, by painting the world white.  If implemented successfully, it would be the equivalent of taking the world’s 600 million cars off the road for 18 years.

Hashem Akbari and Surabi Meno, along with Art Rosenfeld, California Energy Commissioner and Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, are so convinced that their idea will work, that they have proposed a “Cool World” plan that would use white roofs, and solar-reflective roofs of other colors, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help delay atmospheric heating effects.

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Chicago architecture firm Solomon Cordwell Buenz has produced the winning design for the US Department of Energy’s Solar Wall competition. SCB’s sun wall will be 32,000 square feet and will cover the south elevation of the DOE’s Washington DC headquarters.

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What a shame!

To overcome the current economic and financial crisis Italy plays the card of improvisation without considering the consequences. But what can get worse an unpopular decision? The answer seems to be: the mental instability of the decision maker.

I’m going to explain better what happened..

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New York City goes green by launching a 100% wind and solar powered billboard this Holiday Season.

As alternative energy continues to be the hot topic in our flailing economy, New York City sets an environmental example by launching Times Square’s first 100 percent eco-powered billboard.

The billboard powered entirely by wind and sun, is the first such sign in New York City. It will be erected by Ricoh Company, Ltd., a Japanese company that strives to be outstanding in all areas of the environment, society, and the economy. Their first eco-signage project dates back to April 2003 in Osaka, Japan.

Powered By Wind Turbines and Solar Panels

The electricity for the billboard will be produced entirely by solar and wind power and stored in 16 batteries. No electricity will be purchased from local power companies.

Sixteen wind turbines and 65 solar panels will produce an average of 98 kwh of electricity per day (93 kwh from wind power and 5kwh from solar). To put the savings into perspective: the same amount of electricity required by an ordinary sign would result in as much as 18 tons of carbon dioxide per year. The batteries can hold four days worth of supply. However if there is insufficient wind or solar power, the sign may not light up, an eventuality that Ricoh readily accepts.

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Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered a new way of storing energy from sunlight that could lead to ‘unlimited’ solar power.

The process, loosely based on plant photosynthesis, uses solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. When needed, the gases can then be re-combined in a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity whether the sun is shining or not.

According to project leader Prof. Daniel Nocera, “This is the nirvana of what we’ve been talking about for years. Solar power has always been a limited, far-off solution. Now, we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited and soon.”

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The new polymer could also enable much more efficient charge separation since electrons dislodged by light in the material remain free much longer than in conventional solar cells used in solar powered battery chargers.

The inorganic/organic hybrid polymer material can be made into polymer blends that can “absorb essentially across the entire solar spectrum–they go from about 300 nanometers down to about 10,000 nanometers,” said professor Malcolm Chisholm of Ohio State University.

Solar materials work by using incident light to boost the energy of electrons, thereby separating then from the hull of atoms in the material. They can then be harvested to generate electricity.

However, separated electrons fall back into their host atoms if not collected quickly. Usually, solar materials either fluoresce (called singlet emisson) or phosphoresce (triplet emission). The new hybrid material does both, further increasing potential efficiency.

“The materials we have made show both singlet and triplet emissions,” said Chisholm. “The singlet state lasts a relatively long time, in the region of about 10 pico seconds; the triplet lasts a lot longer–up to a 100 or so microseconds, which should be good for separating the electrons and the hull.”

Danish company AC Sun recently made news with the “invention” a new solar-powered air conditioning system.The new systems are pollution-free, low-noise, and use only 10% of the energy of conventional systems. The only problem is they’ve already been invented, several times over.

Lars Stigel, director of Østjysk Innovation, an investor in AC Sun, spoke with enthusiasm about AC Sun’s design. “It is a groundbreaking technology in relation to renewable energy and energy savings,” he says.

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Similarly, I do not think it is a hard proposition to imagine that Africa’s actual solar generation is miniscule, compared to the rest of the planet.

But rather than trying to focus blame within Africa, I think the blame must, as it does with much of the anthropogenic global warming, be laid at the feet of western nations for not doing more for Africa. Because while Africa may see the Sun create an average of 5 to 7 kilowatts per hour for every square meter across its surface, the money is simply not there for governments to spend on solar technology.

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Made from traditional mason jars, Sun and Moon Jars use a highly efficient solar cell to charge rechargeable batteries that power three LEDs.  Leave the jar in direct sunlight for a few hours a day, and voila, you have an eco-friendly night light. The frosted glass gives off a soft light kids love.

Our Sun and Moon Jars happened to arrive on the day of my daughter’s first sleep over.  These jars were a big hit with the girls, and I have to admit, I was fascinated by them too.  As kids will do, they began to experiment with the jars by taking them into closets, the playhouse, etc. to see if they could trigger the lights.  Further experiments discovered that direct sunlight outside works better at charging the Sun and Moon Jars than light through a window. The jars are waterpoof, so if you accidentally leave them outside over night, there are no worries.  In fact, we were warmly greeted by our jars on the deck coming home in the dark one night.

Related posts on eco-friendly toys:

• Maggie’s Organics Adorable Sock Monkeys

• Have a Haba and Play Time is Endless with Baby Bear Ankle and Wrist Rattle

• Soft And Organically Cuddly - Aurora Eco Plush

“Vast farms of solar panels in the Sahara desert could provide clean electricity for the whole of Europe, according to EU scientists working on a plan to pool the region’s renewable energy,” reports the newspaper.

As the world continues to investigate energy sources that are environmentally friendly, there is a need for developed countries to actively promote both technology and skills transfer to poorer nations. The fact is the problem of climate change is a sum of its parts. If one part of the world lacks appropriate solutions, the problem will still come back to haunt even those countries that have access to perceived technological solutions.

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Not many bloggers are able to witness the technologies we research and write about. It’s one thing to be able to buy afford a cool “green” gadget (usually not very green), but another to see the many forms of solar, wind, geothermal, etc., which are always changing and developing around the world. So when my employer decided to go solar, you might imagine my excitement.

At the moment I work for Magco Inc., a Tecta America company. Tecta is a national commercial roofing corporation that can install green roofs, solar lighting, and solar panels alongside a variety of traditional roofing systems. This solar project is pretty straight forward: our building has a big, flat roof on top of a hill without any shade. You’d have trouble finding a sunnier spot for solar panels.

I was double delighted when I heard that they ordered thin-film solar! Naturally inquiring minds wanted to know: why and what kind?

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Europe is pushing to help solar power spread and Italy is reacting by going forward quickly. The country’s demand is rising even if a large part of Italians are quite doubtful about the advantages of installing solar panels on their homes. The lack of a national strategy, together with an insufficient information, is impeding the use of alternative energy and producing confusion about prices, productivity and maintenance costs.

Despite that, is very surprising what can be done locally. I recently learned about an ecological cemetery in a small town near Milan, in the north of Italy.

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To help children learn how the sun moves across the sky and how shadows are formed, the human sundial project takes a whole day.  First thing in the morning when the sun is up, go outside with your child and trace their shadow with some chalk.  Mark an X where your child is standing so they can return to the same spot.  Switch roles and have your child trace your shadow in a different spot. Then, return every hour and repeat tracing your shadows and recording the time on each shadow. By the end of the day, your child will see how their shadow moves in accordance with the sun’s path, as well as changes shape.

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An article in Canada’s National Post summarized weather around the northern hemisphere and concluded that arctic ice is back, heavier than ever in some areas, and China is reeling from its worst winter in a century.

Of course, it doesn’t mean global warming is a non-entity, nor does it mean we’re headed for a mini ice-age. The author, Lorne Gunter, took a swipe at environmentalists this way:

“Ok, so one winter does not a climate make. It would be premature to claim an Ice Age is looming just because we have had one of our most brutal winters in decades.

But if environmentalists and environment reporters can run around shrieking about the manmade destruction of the natural order every time a robin shows up on Geeorgian Bay two weeks early, then it is at least fair game to use this winter’s weather stories to wonder whether the alarmist are being a tad premature.”

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