Monthly Archives: June 2015

29 Likewise, the concept of energy resilience is making its way into the American lexicon today. The concepts are interrelated, referring to the ability of individuals and communities to adapt to unanticipated situations and rapidly changing conditions, using contingency plans and backup systems. Energy independence is critical today, for individuals and businesses, to ensure human safety and uninterrupted access to critical resources. What are Energy Resilience and Energy Security? There is little question that American homes and businesses require electricity to function and survive. Unless you adopt contingency plans to ensure an uninterrupted supply of power, however, your home, family or business remains vulnerable to the whims of nature, equipment failure or attack. Energy security means just that: the peace of...

Talk of living off the grid is popular these days, but the term seems to mean something different to each person who uses it. In its most extreme sense, the term relates to dropping out of society and living off the land in a remote location. That option is neither realistic nor desirable for most people, and therefore won’t help end your financial dependence on municipal utility sources. For the purpose of this discussion, on-grid and off-grid relate to ending your reliance on public electricity providers through the use of a renewable, alternative energy generating system. Ending Your Reliance on Public Utilities Although using less municipally generated electricity is beneficial for many reasons, most people are concerned with rapidly rising...

Investment in solar technologies makes good business sense. What many savvy business people already knew has become even more apparent of late, as some of the biggest companies in the U.S. are investing in solar energy systems. As much as alternative energy investments benefit large companies, smaller local businesses can enjoy similar overhead reductions and tax advantages. Read on to see if investing in a solar energy system could benefit your business. Who’s Investing in Solar Energy? A recent report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) revealed several noteworthy trends. Not only are more major U.S. companies adopting solar technologies, they are sticking with it. Fossil fuel generation costs continue to increase sharply but the cost of solar has...

Hybrid solar energy generating systems are the key to having the resources you need in the event of an emergency. In the Mountain West region of the United States, storms and civil disasters can wipe out the power grid for hours, days or even longer. When conditions become dire, you need to be prepared with your own hybrid solar energy solution. A reliable power supply is critical for keeping your family safe and comfortable, no matter what happens out there. Must-Haves in Time of Disaster The basics for comfort and convenience when the power goes out are simple. Your family needs water, food, lights, sanitation and, depending on the time of year, you may need heat. Experts also recommend having...

What’s hot in 2015? Wind. Wind power is the fastest-growing electricity sources in the world. According to the Worldwatch Institute, an independent research group that studies global environmental concerns, it has grown 150 percent since 1990. At the same time, nuclear energy growth has remained flat at around 1 percent. Coal is still the dominant energy source, but it isn’t growing. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the vast majority of wind power’s growth is happening in Europe and China. The United States, slow to accept change around where its energy comes from, is lagging far behind its more progressive peers across the pond. Slow and steady wins the race, however, and this may indeed be the case with this renewable energy source. Extra...

Wind turbine farms are the way of the future. Once thought of as exotic or unreliable methods of harnessing energy, these farms have spread from their experimental stage in California to almost every state in the nation. Wind turbines were common sights in the West and Midwest just before and after the turn of the 20th century, when Dust Bowl farmers desperately needed water for their crops and turned to wind power to draw it up from the ground. Useful but not magical, the turbines fell out of favor when they couldn’t save the millions of acres of farmlands from blowing away. Making the Switch As the years passed, the United States began its long and dirty love affair with...

The solar carport silhouette is becoming ubiquitous throughout the Intermountain West. Construction of solar carports, also known as solar parking canopies, is one of the most popular ways to adopt alternative energy systems in the business environment. Today, solar canopies are also helping homeowners generate their own electricity, saving money and reducing their dependency on municipal utility companies. The Evolution of Solar Parking Covers You may have first noticed solar carports in use at the schools in your community. The educational community was one of the first to widely adopt energy-generating canopies, especially in the western United States. Due to budget constraints, many schools started with a single span, and they used the cost savings from to increase system capacity...

Mobile solar generators are an excellent source of backup power, useful for individual homeowners, on-site construction projects and for use in natural disasters. Many people have solar cells on their roof or a windmill in a nearby field, and these are good sources of energy, but are not always reliable as a backup in the case of a power outage. Alternative energy sources hooked up to the grid go off when the grid goes out, leaving you in the dark. Battery Power But you can use a mobile solar generator even when the grid goes off. Solar panels constantly absorb energy from the sun and store it for use at a later time. These generators do not require gasoline —...

Hybrid power systems are an ingenious method of collecting and returning power to the grid while also being available for backup power when needed. Many renewable energy gathering systems such as solar or wind power allow you to supply most or all of the power to your own home, and in some cases selling excess back to the local power company. It’s a great resource, but you can’t use it when the grid goes down. So despite having your own power supply right in your own yard, you may be left scrambling in an outage. Convenience and Security The solution is a hybrid system. Hybrid systems use solar panels or wind turbines to draw power from the sun and wind,...