Solar-California.org Launched To Help California Homeowners Save Money On Energy

San Diego gets props again this week - it was ranked as making its way toward being one of the leading cities in the country in solar use. According to the new website Solar-California.org, San Diego solar energy boasts around 6,000 installations and the most solar rooftops in California.

Solar-California.org is a great informational new website created by green energy lead generation company, Clean Energy Experts. The purpose of the site is to help residents and residence owners of California save money by installing solaire in their home. As an educational site, it explains the benefits of having a solar panel installation on your house, what the homeowner should know before installation and the installation process itself.

Equally a handy tool as it is educational, Solar-California.org assists prospective customers figure out which solar rebates and tax incentives they would be eligible for and how to get financing for a new project. There is a calculator that estimates how much the homeowner will save per year with solar energy and free consultations are available by Clean Energy Experts that provide a price quote from an approved directory of local solar panel installers.

University of California San Diego: Solar Cools As Well As Heats

Let's hear it for the home team: the University of California San Diego conducted a study that says rooftop solar panel arrays keep buildings cooler than buildings without solar panels. Most folks choose to have photovoltaic cells installed on their houses and business because they know it as a source of heat and san diego solar energy, however, they might not be aware that it could help cool the building as well.

In April, the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering conducted a study led by professor Jan Kleissl that showed that rooftop solar panels can passively cool a building effectively. The study was performed with the use of thermal imaging cameras to take pictures of the solar array on top of the Powell Structural Systems Laboratory, which is part of the Jacobs School of Engineering. The results of their study revealed that the parts of the roof under the solar panels remained consistently 5 degrees Fahrenheit cooler throughout the day than the parts of the roof exposed to san diego solar rays. The panels provide a shade from the sun and the majority of the sun's rays are absorbed by the solar panels. Not all panel arrays created equal cooling effects though; the Powell Laboratory building has both a flat array and a tilted array, and the thermal camera demonstrated the roof space under the tilted array to be cooler than the flat one.

UC San Diego's study results could prove to be very valuable to consumers. Professor Kleissl and team did the math from their study and came up with the amount of heat hitting the roof was reduced by 38% and the amount saved on cooling costs would equal getting a 5% discount on the cost of the solar panels. Buildings in windier areas could see an even higher percentage of savings because of the increased cooling effect of wind blowing between the panels and the roof. "There are more efficient ways to passively cool buildings, such as reflective membranes," said Kleissl. "But, if you are considering installing solar photovoltaic, depending on your roof thermal properties, you can expect a large reduction in the amount of energy you use to cool your residence or business."

California's Governor Jerry Brown Pushes For More Solar

Jerry Brown is on his third term as governor of California. Maintaining his avid environmentalist personality he first openly expressed while in office from 1975 to 1983, Governor Brown says he has big plans for solar and renewable energy for the state of California. This couldn't be better news for solar contracting companies like the So-Cal based Solaire Energy Systems.

The Democratic governor was once nicknamed "Governor Moonbeam" by a writer of the Chicago Sun-Times after reading an interview with Brown's then-girlfriend Linda Ronstadt. The name stuck because of his far out ideas for the times, such as purchasing a satellite for California, using less energy day to day and he was the first to sponsor a tax incentive for rooftop solar panel arrays. He's back in Sacramento and he's picking up where he left off.

Governor Brown has plans to raise California's use of solar energy san diego, windmill farms and battery power from the current goal of 33% to 40% by 2020. In 2010, the state was only at 18%, but Brown still sees the 40% goal as a possibility. To show his support for solar, Brown attended the groundbreaking for the Blythe Solar Project in Riverside County, CA. The Blythe Project will be the world's largest solar plant and will produce enough energy to power 300,000 homes. After the groundbreaking last month, Governor Brown signed off on a tax incentive bill that will benefit solar power projects. Assembly Bill 15 makes property-tax reassessment exemptions available for solar installations, which encourages solar companies to grow and expand their businesses.

Kyocera Adds To Solar Power System In Fukushima

Take the first step toward conserving energy with your business by contacting the experts in solar electricity San Diego, Solaire Energy Systems, today.

Japan faces the threat of power shortages this summer due to the earthquake in March of this year. Jack-of-all-trades manufacturer, Kyocera, quickly came up with a solution to do their part to save energy. Kyocera, most commonly known in the U.S. as a mobile phone and telecom company, thought on their feet and decided to expand on their solar panel array on the rooftop of their plant in Tanagura, Fukushima.

The first day of operation of the full installation was on June 30th. The solar power system went from producing 194 kW and now generates 230 kW. This should cover 8.2% of the plant's energy needs; not quite meeting the goal of 15% electricity consumption reduction. Kyocera still intends to meet this goal by taking steps to reduce the electricity - ways in which everyone can do in their homes in businesses. Along with the use of san diego solar, the plant is also planning on using power generators, keeping lights turned off in parts of the building that aren't being used, running computers on the low-power mode and turning the AC up a notch to 82 degrees.