Go electric EU - Blog!

Read a notice in the newspaper a while ago that my local library was going to install solar panels on their roof. No numbers was mentioned else than the calculated power generated in a year would be enough to power 5 villas just as long…

Panel showing power generated

Then I visited the library when I worked (furniture delivery) and saw this sign, displaying current generated watts, total kWh today and MWh since installation. When I took this image it was cloudy with a fine rain and they still generated over 8kW!

ECO Power, taxes spent well.

Solar panels

I read in my newspaper that the local library and two of the schools will be installing solar panels on their roofs. The solar panels (PV panels) will be used to run ventilation and heating and generates per year the same amount of electricity as five regular villas consume. Unfortenatly I can’t find the article online but in my search for that I found another article about the university, LiU.

LiU has had their energy consumption under the magnifying glass for quite some time now. Since 2004 the total energy use for all of campus has been the same, but they have put up new buildings so the total of used energy per square meter has dropped a lot.

Efforts have been made in installing energy efficient lightning and ventilation and the electricity is bought from sustainable sources. As the first university building in the county LiU has installed PV solar panels on the roof of building A. One third is covered and the panels is calculated to leave 50 000kWh per year (meaning up to 20% of the total electricity consumed in a year for that building).

Not actual hijacked tanker. Photo: Andy Muir / SXC

Those criminals!

However I can’t hold myself from thinking that the big oil tankers are unnecessary, or would be at least, if the local wind turbines and solar power plants were extended and used to power our (electric) cars.

No transportation of oil, no fighting over oil, no oil pirates, no oil covered penguins.
What a wonderful world…

Link to CNN:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/11/18/kenya.tanker.pirates/index.html