Solar Thermal Energy has been losing out in the last couple of years to solar photovoltaic energy which is seeing a huge increase in demand amidst very low prices.Some of the major solar thermal energy projects in the globe have been converted into solar pv installations due to its lower costs.Some of the major solar thermal energy companies like Solar Millennium have sold their solar thermal portfolios to other companies while Stirling Power Systems has gone bankrupt.Tessera has sold its solar thermal plants which had gotten DOE Loan Guarantees in California to Solar Developers who have made these solar thermal plants into solar panel ones.However there are some companies like eSolar and Brightsource Energy which are powering ahead with their technologies and projects with backing from big industrial MNC conglomerates like GE and Areva.Their Power Tower Technologies are supposedly more efficient than the mainstream parabolic toughs that are used.

Natural Gas has got a lot of press these days as massive discoveries of natural gas reserves in shale gas formations has meant that the prices have gone down substanitally and new power plants and infrastructure is being developed to use natural gas as fuel.Even as crude oil and coal prices have gone through the roof,natural gas prices have dived.This is due to the new technology being commercialized which is allowing huge shale gas deposits to be used.This has led to forecasts that natural gas will become a more important part of the energy mix in the coming days.The falling prices of natural gas has also led to declining electricity prices in the USA where shale gas development is the most advanced.Natural Gas prices have gone down to as low as $3.5/mmbtu from $8 in 2008 and experts predict that it may go down to $2.5/mmbtu.Shale Gas has its own critics who say that the shale gas deposits are much lower than being said and they deplete much faster.Environmental concerns are also being raised about the fact that it leads to poisoning of the water supplies with France banning shale gas mining completely.Natural Gas is a byproduct of Oil Drilling and in the earlier days it used to be looked upon as an irritant and burned off.But now it is being used to generate power,in chemical and fertilizer plants and also being used in some parts of power vehicles as well.Natural Gas is also used for Heating in most western developed countries and for Cooking as well.With increasing availability it is replacing coal and oil in power plants and transport now.

Solar Cells are the basic building blocks of Soar Panels and it is unlikely that most people will have to buy them or even know about them.But it is good to understand about Solar Cells as they are the most vital piece of solar power generation.Solar Cells are mostly made of Silicon the same material […]

Oil is one of the most important commodities in the world playing an important part in some of the biggest industries like chemicals,transport,power,petrochemicals etc.The high energy density and easy availability have made mankind almost completely dependent on oil for most of his needs.Almost all of the world’s cars run on petrol /gasoline which is derived from crude oil.Despite new evidence that burning oil leads to massive pollution and greenhouse warming nothing had been done to prevent its usage growth.In fact each year billions of barrels of oil are burned to power cars,ships,trains etc.Some countries use oil to power electricity as well though that has been decreasing as oil prices have increased substantially in recent years.The massive oil dependency has been decried by politicians for a long time but little has been done to reduce it.Powerful oil lobbies run by massive industrial conglomerates like Exxon,Chevron,BP etc. have managed to kill legislation which would reduce the subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.The BP Oil Spill after creating a massive hue and cry has faded from the public mind and its now business as usual for the Oil Industry.The only way Oil usage can be reduced it seems is when the world runs out of oil and the prices become too high for most people to use it.

Wave Energy is one of the niche renewable energy technologies which is still in its infancy stage.While other forms of alternative energy like solar,wind and biomass see hundreds of billions of dollars in investment each year,wave energy does not see even $1 billion in investment.This is because Wave Energy is still much behind in the technology curve in terms of costs and reliability.Also there are many varied approaches and technologies to harness the power of the ocean waves.However developed countries like UK are promoting this renewable energy since it has huge potential like solar and wind energy.Given the energy shortages that we are facing,we need to promote all forms of sustainable green energy and wave energy definitely has strong promise.Here we present the various pros and cons of wave energy

Photovoltaic Module demand has increased by more than 50% each year in the last decade as solar panel costs have gone down sharply by almost 80% in the last 4 years alone as scale and technology have improved.Photovoltaic Modules are a combination of solar cells which generate electricity when light strikes them.Photovoltaic is the name given to this process where electrons are released when photo or light transfer its energy to the solar cells.The following article covers a large amount of literature on Photovoltaic Modules from its costs to selling prices as well as the efficiency of the Photovoltaic Module which affects the Energy Output.There are hundreds of Photovoltaic Module Manufacturers but only a few major ones.There are reviews on the major Photovoltaic Module Suppliers and Market as well.