Bosch Acquires Ersol Solar, Large Industrials Moving Into Solar Sector | Alternative Energy Stocks

Bosch Acquires Ersol Solar, Large Industrials Moving Into Solar Sector | Alternative Energy Stocks We had one of the first fridges in our small west of Ireland town and would be still working if my mother hadn't foolishly bought a new one after 25 years. Our fridge was made by Bosch. Now we see Bosch positioning themselves for the future in the solar industry. For a firm so associated with the automotive industry - just look under the car bonnet - it is true that a company such as Bosch is first in it for the money, and don't usually get it right. So now we have yet more proof that the sector is viable,vital and growing. As if we needing telling.

World-first as Irish firm supplies tidal energy to grid - Irish, Business - Independent.ie

Here in Ireland we have been blessed by nature in many ways. Most readers will of course be familiar with images of the natural beauty of this country. Indeed, it is the very thing which most people think of when asked. But we also have huge assets we are only now beginning to realise we can harness,situated where we are, out on the western edge of Europe. Here we endure/enjoy -depending on whether we have the right clothes on for the conditions - the full force of the Atlantic rolling in from the west. This gives us lots of wind resources,and we have lots of wind farms, a lot of which were pioneered by Airtricity, a firm I have written about previously. But one resource which was known of and harnessed by the monks of 1500 years ago is only now coming to commercial application. Who knows when Tidal Power was first harnessed? Yet all around the Irish coast are inlets which have the archaeological remains of tidal mills,used for grinding wheat and other cereals. Several technologies are being developed,and which will emerge as the dominant one only time will tell. Several are being tested at serious prototype level, and as an Irishman, I would hope that the winner will be one developed here. However,I suspect that a variety of viable methods will emerge,each suited to a different location. But is great to see that that one technology has now gone live and is feeding power to the grid. I'll return to this and give it the coverage it deserves in a future post. Meantime let's hope for an IPO and for the success of the company. World-first as Irish firm supplies tidal energy to grid - Irish, Business - Independent.ie

Time for the AC/DC House

Every tool or gadget I acquire these days seems to come with another transformer.I suspect I won't be alone in being unable to say how many of the machines I possess are plugged in and consuming power even when the device is absent and the transformers still carry on eating power. From where I sit I can count 30 occupied sockets,and I'm sure many should have been unplugged months ago. So why not deal with this demand by running a parallel DC supply into homes and business consumers? If Utilities were to put an a smart transformer at the point of supply,there are many start ups aching to supply the kit. This measure alone would save on the energy wasted when we convert AC in to DC using all those transformers. Now, let's go one step further.and put solar PV panels on your roof. One of the biggest costs of photovoltaics is for the inverter used to turn the electricity generated by the roof from DC into AC. So what if we took a feed from the roof-generated supply to feed our devices? We would save the energy used converting the energy from DC to AC before turning it back into DC and this can eat up to 40% of the energy. The renewable locally-generated power will be used most efficiently this way, and the balance can be sold on. Perhaps the next generation of homes will have dual DC and AC circuits with smart tech organising power supply according to needs? Just an idea.