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By Ryan, on May 31st, 2009
We’ve all heard the hype: 99 cents per watt thin-film solar panels. Solar energy cheaper than coal. Solar energy for the masses; just roll out a few sheets of Solarply panels on your roof and kiss your utility bills goodbye! But where are they? Why can’t we buy them yet? What has Nanosolar been doing with the $500 million dollars that has been invested in their company so far?
Well, it seems they’ve been busy “building the world’s largest solar cell factory in California and the world’s largest panel-assembly factory in Germany.”
However, not one Solarply cell has been held yet in the hands of a consumer, causing many to point their fingers accusingly and shriek “vaporware!!!!” at the top of their lungs.
In a 2007 interview Nanosolar’s CEO, Martin Roscheisen, stated that:
“Our first 100,000 panels are already set to go into closed, private, utility-scale deployments, with a tall fence around them and not much accessibility to the general public.”
Indeed, much of the investment capital Nanosolar has received has been from large energy companies, such as EDF Energies Nouvelles in Europe, who are apparently eager to get their hands on dirt cheap solar energy harvesting equipment.
Nanosolar has made it known on their blog that they will first be focusing on municipal power plant installations:
“At Nanosolar, we genuinely believe that meaningful scale for solar will come foremost from utility-scale solar power plants, particularly from municipal solar power plants of 2-10 megawatts (MW) in size. These power plants consist of rows of solar panels mounted onto the ground of free fields at the outskirts of towns and cities, feeding electricity directly into the municipal power grid.
A 2MW municipal solar power plant requires about 10 acres of land to serve a city of 1,000 homes — that’s acreage generally easily available at the outskirts of any city of such size in even the most developed countries. With a solar power plant in each of several hundred cities, a Gigawatt of power is delivered locally to where it is needed, in a digestible size.”
In short: green energy utility companies have got first dibs on all of Nanosolar’s initial production.
But don’t give up hope just yet. On April 30th 2008 Martin Roscheisen posted to the Nanosolar blog:
“To those of you who are disappointed that our first product is not for residential homeowners, we can reassure you that we do have a fabulous residential solution on our near-term roadmap — one that will bring the utility scale economics of Nanosolar Utility Panel technology to homes everywhere, and completely redefine how residential solar is done.”
Not only does Nanosolar have plans to enter the consumer market sometime in the near future, but there are in fact two other companies, Solopower and Miasole, who are working to develop CIGS (Copper, Indium, Gallium and Selenium) technology similar to Nanosolar’s Solarply panels. Within as little as five years we might have several manufacturers competing in the consumer thin-film CIGS photovoltaic market.
[You may also be interested in viewing the Nanosolar video in our video section.]
By Ryan, on April 11th, 2009
As some of you may have noticed, the site has changed its appearance drastically (several times) over the past few days. I normally wouldn’t have posted anything, but I checked the site logs today for the first time ever and realized there were quite a few people randomly surfing onto the site.
I’m currently in the process of a complete site redesign. For more information on the software that is running this site please see the about section.
I’ve added a new section to the site called “Videos” where I will be posting interesting, inspirational, and educational building and green living videos of all kinds. Building with Earth TV 1.0 :)
I’ve also switched from the old Simple Machines forum to a simpler forum called bbPress. I’m in the process of integrating the forum with the rest of the site, so the forum might look a bit weird or possibly be broken at random times over the next few days. Hang in there, it will be great once it’s all set up.
Also on the list of things to be added to the site is a Library section devoted to books. It will contain reviews of and links to books that I have found to be interesting or useful with regards to alternative architecture and sustainable living.
If you have any suggestions for videos or books to be added to the site feel free to let me know in the forum (once it’s set up, anyways) and I’ll have a look.
By Ryan, on September 30th, 2008
Welcome to Building with Earth (BwE)! Today is the grand opening, though there isn’t yet much to see.
This website is dedicated to the exploration of alternative house building methods and sustainable living. Everything from cob and hay bale houses to solar panels and greenhouses.
It took me several days to think of and decide upon a name for the website. I finally settled on Building with Earth.
Building with earth is about a shift in how we approach the creation of a building. It’s about observing nature and constructing the building so as to take advantage of natural energy dynamics that are already present (solar energy, wind, water, the seasons, geo thermal). It’s about building with resources and materials that the land you’re building on has to offer. It’s about working with the planet, rather than against it.
Also, it just so happens that several natural building methods literally employ the use of earth as the main building material.
In addition to the website and blog, I’m also in the process of setting up a forum. I’m inviting all who are interested in alternative or natural house building as well as those who are interested in green energy sources, off the grid living, and homesteading to join, ask questions, and share knowledge. I encourage the free sharing of knowledge and I invite all who have experience in these matters to stop by and share. Whether you are experienced in alternative house building, wiring together a solar array, or have been living in the middle of an ancient forest for the past 20 years, we would all love to hear what you have to say.
As for me, alternative house building and sustainable living has been a passion of mine since I first learned about cob houses four years ago. I’ve been researching, gathering information, and learning ever since, but I am by no means an expert at this point. I decided to create this website and open an opportunity for a community to develop so that all who are interested may learn together.
So to sum things up, my objective is this: to create an alternative building and sustainable living information and resource directory and community hub for the purpose of learning, networking, and possibly the organization of events (workshops, classes, yurt raisings etc.).
Thanks for stopping by and welcome to the Building with Earth community!
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