Order Holiday gifts Online; Solar-powered Toys, Solar Electronics / Tools, Books on Solar Energy

Solar-powered Toys and Gadgets


Solar-powered hopping frog:



Build a solar car and join the race to save the planet:



Toy Solar Boats and Amphibious solar Toy Vehicles:









Solar Powered Battery Recharger:




eMotion EM-SOL2GIG Solar Powered MP3/Video Portable Media Player with Solar Battery Charger and SD Card Slot:




Solar-powered School Supplies, Charity Gifts


Buy solar-powered calculators for school - ten pack:





Photovoltaic solar power and fuel cell science kits:







Photovoltaic attache case, sun-powered briefcase:




Subscribe to Solar Today magazine online:




Subscribe to Renewable Energy World magazine:




Solar Energy for Home, Cottage, Business

Photovoltaic Solar Garden Lights and Patio Lighting:





Solar-powered camera Home Security System:



Solar-powered products for home pool care:







Solar-electric fence system:








Solar Tools for Home, Garage and Shop


American Red Cross Solar / Windup Flashlight / Radio:




Eton Solar / Windup Cellphone Charger / Radio / Flashlight:





Solar Power Books, Solar Energy Technology Books


Got Sun? Go Solar by Rex Ewing

Homeowner's Guide to Renewable Energy by Dan Chiras

Photovoltaics for Professionals: Solar Electric Systems Marketing, Design and Installation

The Physics of Solar Cells by Jenny Nelson

Power to Change the World by S.L. Klein

Profiting from Clean Energy by Richard Asplund

Real Goods Solar Living Source Book - 30th Anniversary Edition: Guide to Renewable Energy Technologies

The Solar Economy by author Hermann Scheer

Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes Authors by Duffie and Beckman

The Solar House by Daniel D. Chiras

Solar Power Your Home For Dummies by Rik DeGunther

Solar Water Heating by Bob Ramlow, Benjamin Nusz

Stirring It Up; How To Make Money And Save the World, by Hirshberg

Sun-inspired House by Debra Rucker Coleman

Sun, Wind & Light by G. Z. Brown and Mark DeKay


Thin Film Solar Cells by Jef Poortmans and Vladimir Arkhipov

Applied Materials and SunPower solarize parking lot for clean energy generation

AMAT and SPWR team up to build 21st Century parking lot

This type of photovoltaic power plant above an existing patrking lot is a model that can be replicated many thousands of times over across North America, and may even provide plug-in outlets to power the next generation of electric cars.

Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT) and SunPower Corporation (Nasdaq: SPWR) today announced completion of two SunPower solar power systems totaling 2.1 megawatts at Applied Materials' corporate facilities in Sunnyvale, Calif. The systems represent the largest solar power deployment at a corporate facility in the United States.



(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080919/AQF026)

"This is an exciting milestone in the adoption of solar power in
California," said Mike Splinter, President and CEO of Applied Materials (AMAT). "More companies are realizing the wisdom of integrating solar as a non-intrusive, clean, silent form of energy generation into our businesses and communities. We've converted our parking lots to power plants and we encourage others to join us in making solar power a meaningful part of the energy supply."

The system includes a 950 kilowatt SunPower PowerGuard(R) installation and a 1.2 megawatt SunPower(R) Tracker installation atop an elevated parking canopy. The SunPower Tracker follows the sun as it moves across the sky, increasing sunlight capture by up to 25 percent over conventional fixed-tilt systems. Both systems use SunPower solar panels, the most efficient panels available on the market today. SunPower uses Applied Materials' Baccini technology in its solar cell manufacturing process.

Since the first phase of installation in November 2007, Applied reports
that its solar installation has generated 1,413 megawatt hours of power. The system is expected to replace more than 2,700 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, which is equivalent to the annual carbon emissions from approximately 450 passenger cars.

"Applied Materials has joined the ranks of the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Air Force in recognizing the value of solar as a mechanism for reducing exposure to volatile electric rates and promoting energy independence through the use of clean, renewable solar power," said Tom Werner, chief executive officer of SunPower.










Applied's investment is supported by the federal investment tax credit
(ITC) that encourages deployment of renewable energy systems across the
U.S. Due to expire at the end of 2008, Congress is now considering
legislation to extend the ITC.

"Congratulations to the leadership in the U.S. Senate for their efforts
to forge a bipartisan agreement on a long-term extension of the ITC,"
continued Werner. "According to a new study from Navigant Consulting, an
eight-year extension of the ITC would result in the creation of more than
1.2 million job opportunities and $232 billion in investment in the solar
energy sector."





Buy Renewable Energy Books Online

Research Geothermal Power Stocks Info

Invest in Wind Energy Stocks

Solar Energy Stocks by Market Capitalization

Solar Power Stocks Investing Info

A Rough snapshot in time, from Google Finance, closing prices September 12, 2008:


Name Exchange Symbol Mkt Cap


General Electric Co. NYSE GE 266B


Applied Materials Inc. NASDAQ AMAT 21.78B


First Solar, Inc. NASDAQ FSLR 17.18B


Schneider Electric SA EPA SU 15.55B


MEMC Electronic Materials NYSE WFR 7.76B


SunPower Corporation NASDAQ SPWR 7.09B


Q-Cells AG Solar QCLSF 6.7B


Energy Conversion Devices ENER 6.7B


Suntech Power Holdings NYSE STP 6.35B


LDK Solar Co. Ltd. NYSE LDK 4.34B


Cypress Semiconductor Corp NYSE CY 4.23B


SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. OTC SANYY 3.54B


JA Solar Holdings Co. NASDAQ JASO 2.20B


Yingli Green Energy NYSE YGE 1.74B


Fairchild Semiconductor NYSE FCS 1.31B


GT Solar International, NASDAQ SOLR 1.31B


Evergreen Solar Inc. NASDAQ ESLR 1.04B


ReneSola Ltd. (ADR) NYSE SOL 942.89M


Canadian Solar Inc. NASDAQ CSIQ 888.95M


Trina Solar Limited NYSE TSL 701.34M


Ener1 Inc. AMEX HEV 667.66M


Solarfun Power Holdings NASDAQ SOLF 643.60M


China Sunergy Co. Ltd. NASDAQ CSUN 350.22M


Valence Technology Inc. NASDAQ VLNC 301.12M


5N Plus Inc. TSE VNP 284.83M


Ascent Solar Tech NASDAQ ASTI 132.88M


Beacon Power (BCON) energy storage company, Solar energy inverters, flywheel technology


DayStar Technologies NASDAQ DSTI 95.42M


Spire Solar NASDAQ SPIR 78.7B


SIMTEK Corporation NASDAQ SMTK 42.61M


Carmanah Technologies Corporation TSE CMH 42.33M


ZBB Energy Corporation AMEX ZBB 31.54M

more to come!!!

Complete list of publicly-traded wind energy stocks

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3 Best Alternative Energy Stocks plus Pundits Picks

My top two renewable power equity investments are very easy for me; I really like the Geothermal energy powerhouse Ormat Technologies, and believe that Suzlon Energy, the windpower giant from India, is another extraordinary long term opportunity. In the near to medium term, the oil price has plenty of downside risk, which will create some short sharp buy-opps on the above two names.

Most people would expect First Solar to be near the top of my list, and though they are an awesome first-mover play in thin film solar, the technology and markets are wide open and everyone already knows about that stock. I'll play safe today and use Vestas as my 3rd pick. They are the number one wind energy company in the fastest growing green power sector.


Here are the 2007/2008 choices of other alternative energy bloggers / writers / analysts:

Tom Konrad AltEnergyStocks.com Dec 2007 #10, 9, 8




Tom Konrad AltEnergyStocks.com Dec 2007 #7, 6, 5, 4



Tom Konrad AltEnergyStocks.com Dec 2007 #3, 2, 1




Andrew Ling Top 5 Alternative Energy Stocks +10 Honorable Mentions



Twenty Top Alternative Energy Stocks from WindIntell.com



Five Alternative-Energy Stock Picks from Jim Jubak



Phillip Lyon likes Beacon Power, at Seeking Alpha

Microturbine and Fuel Cell Technology Companies; Capstone and Fuel Cell Energy

Alternative energy investors are likely familiar with the excellent renewable power investing website www.AltEnergyStocks.com run by Tom Konrad, so some of you may have already read the company profiles below. Turbine manufacturer Capstone Microturbine (CPST) and molten carbonate fuel cell company Fuel Cell Energy (FCEL) are presented in the context of how their clean energy technologies can provide efficiency and find success in the emerging pure fuels economy.

Since it was written, CPST has risen to $2.72, while FCEL has dropped to $6.94, having been clubbed in recent days by widening 3rd quarter losses. Both names may still offer excellent capital gains potential for the speculative and long term investors looking to build diversified portfolios of emerging clean energy technology growth stocks.

Happy Sunday!

Joe T


Combined Heat and Power (CHP) technology, distributed generation

(excerpted from a late '07 post by Tom Konrad on AltEnergyStocks.com)


Capstone Microturbine (NasdaqGM:CPST) $1.62 (30dec07), and

FuelCell Energy Inc. (NasdaqGM:FCEL) $10.30 (30dec07)

I'm bullish on both these companies because I'm bullish on distributed generation and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) technologies. My intuition is that 2008 or 2009 will be the year that distributed generation and CHP grab the attention of Wall Street, the way thin-film PV stole the show in 2007. Both FuelCell and Capstone stand to benefit. They may even get a boost from making ethanol production more efficient.

Regular readers may be surprised that I am recommending a fuel cell stock, since I call Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles "a politically inspired boondoggle." But there are more types of fuel cells than hydrogen: molten carbonate or solid oxide fuel cells. FCEL makes a variant of molten carbonate fuel cell, called the Direct Fuel Cell (DFC), a different beast than the hydrogen fuel cells, because it can work without an external mechanism to reform the hydrogen.

FuelCell's DFCs burn methane rather than hydrogen, and are very tolerant not only of low heat content methane (which is often produced in anaerobic digestion or wastewater treatment.) Note that on page 10 of this EPA study [.pdf] of combined heat and power installations at wastewater treatment plants, a 300kW fuel cell requires a less expensive fuel treatment pressurization facility than a much smaller microturbine system. This is almost certainly due to the lower need for fuel pressurization.

Biogas can be a particularly tricky fuel given the presence of impurities such as H₂S and siloxanes which build up as deposits in combustion chambers. Microturbines, fuel cells, and internal combustion engines need fuel treatment if siloxanes (which are usually present in waste water treatment plants as a byproduct of deodorants) are present. Fuel cells and reciprocating engines also require the removal of H₂S. Nevertheless, wastewater treatment facilities combine an abundant source of free fuel (biogas) with a need for heating, and so present excellent opportunities for CHP.

Fuel cells are more efficient (47% fuel to electricity conversion) than comparably sized microturbines (30-35%) or internal combustion generators (about 40%), which not only translates into fuel savings (or higher electricity output), but also leads to only 85% or less CO₂ emissions than the less expensive (per kW) or internal combustion generators. Both microturbines and fuel cells get a large system efficiency boost when the heat is also used; both FuelCell and Capstone claim that their products can reach 80% overall efficiency in a CHP context, while the relatively small size of microturbines and fuel cells are particularly well suited to small scale industrial facilities and commercial buildings.

Rising fuel prices make efficient energy generation important and new fuel sources such as biogas and other waste gasses (such as the Ford plant using a DFC to make electricity from paint fumes) will present opportunities for both DFCs and microturbines in CHP and distributed generation applications. While DFCs have the advantage of working well on low energy content gas, microturbines are better suited to many projects due to their smaller size, and more fuel flexibility. Microturbines are much more tolerant of a wide variety of fuels, and can even handle the H₂S in digester gas, as noted above. Capstone sells versions which can run on liquid fuels such as diesel, propane, and kerosene. While fuel cells also have this capability, they are less tolerant of impurities, and FuelCell does not currently sell products for these markets.

One final advantage for microturbines is their ability to ramp up and down quickly, meaning they can used in remote locations with irregular fuel supplies, or when demand for electricity is not constant. DFCs are less able to ramp up and down because of the need to maintain a high temperature in the fuel cell stacks, so they will only be used when they can be always on, but their ability to supplement biogas with natural gas from the pipeline system still means that they can be used with fuel of variable availability.

FuelCell's DFC and Capstone's microturbines should be able to compete effectively with internal combustion engines in distributed generation applications, since reciprocating engines are too large for many potential projects. Rising energy prices and tightening emissions limits should allow DFCs to slowly increase their market share in a rapidly growing market. Incidentally, there has also been a successful test of a fuel cell/microturbine hybrid system [.pdf], with a Capstone turbine generating electricity from the waste heat of a fuel cell.

Capstone finished 2008 with a year-end surge because of new rules which streamline the installation of microturbines in New York City, but could easily continue higher, if I am right about distributed generation taking off. The new NYC guidelines could easily be one sign of the beginning of this trend. On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised to see a small price retreat in January. It may be wise to wait a couple weeks and see what happens with CPST.

Above analysis excerpted from: 10 Alternative Energy Stocks for 2008

More Renewable Energy Investing links:

WindIntell.com Wind Energy Stocks Investing

Geotherma.info Geothermal Power Investments

Solar Power Stocks, Alternative Energy Companies

Global Clean Energy: Top Ten Renewable Power Stocks

August 2008 Top Ten Alternative Energy Companies

Publicly-traded major green power stocks:


General Electric alternative energy - Leader in wind energy, solar power and water purification


Suzlon Wind energy turbine manufacturer - Only Vestas and GE are in this league


Vestas global windpower leader, gets a premium for its quality wind energy turbines


Ormat Tech USA geothermal power industry leading company


First Solar leading thin film solar energy company


Toyota clean vehicle manufacturer


SunPower Corp solar panel manufacturing company


Q-Cells AG European photovoltaic solar power company


Energy Conversion Devices, USA alternative energy technology company


Honda pioneering clean car technology




More Alternative Energy Investing Links:

Full list of Solar Power Stocks

Publicly-listed Wind Energy Companies

Geothermal Power Stocks Investing