Silicon Energy and Outback Power Promote Solar Energy

Tim Nelson, of Fire Mountain Solar, discusses Silicon Energy's solar panels with area homeowner Ron Nichols at Silicon Energy's Marysville facility on September 21

     Two local companies, Silicon Energy in Marysville and Outback Power Technologies in Arlington, served as hub sites for this year's Snohomish County Solar Tour, whose informational walk-throughs on Saturday, September 21, were designed to answer the questions of area residents and prospective industry professionals.
      "We're trying to show local homeowners and contractors what's possible with solar power," said Phil Undercuffer, director of product management at Outback's recently opened facility just east of the Arlington Municipal Airport. "We want them to see the advantages of changing over to solar, and even the visitors we've had, who were already knowledgable about this field, weren't aware of a lot of the new technologies."
      Vice President of Arlington Electric, Russell Tilton, also claims that "only 1% of the state is on solar. Just because it's cloudy, people think that you can't rely on solar here, but we get more than enough sun. We get more sun than Germany, and they rely on solar more than anybody."

Students use Solar Power for "Sun Grand Prix"

     
         Friday, June 28, 2013, was featured the hottest day of the year, defining that it was also one of the best days to solar race at the Circuit of the Americas track in Texas. The event was known as the "Formula Sun Grand Prix." The cars are made by college students from 11 universities, who are putting their young engineers to the test.
         "If we had another month and another $10,000, it would probably look slick, but we had neither of those things so we use duct tape," Raul Molina with the University of Texas Solar Team said. The students design, build, and raise funds for their teams, just as any other business technique would be used for their own products.
          "There is a reason that the company is having you look at this and it's to make profit for the company and not for you to test out your cool little widget," race organizer Gail Luek said. Joel Thongson with Western Michigan University had to combine his book knowledge with a little elbow grease to get the job done. "This really applies to what most of us are going to do in our jobs so it is really great real world experience," he said.
            The solar cars have the capacity to reach speeds up to 60 miles per hour, but they were only hitting about 35 on Friday. The race continues today (Saturday, June 29, 2013) at the track from 9am to 5pm EST.

Recreation: Building a Solar-Powered Plane

       For those arts and crafts fans, get ready to take a new level by building your very own solar-powered plane. Instructables user jeffmazter406 have provided a step-by-step guide, along with detailed instructions and photos, in creating one, which is a similar yet mini version of the Solar Impulse plane. It also links to two Powerpoint presentations by Texas A&M University to help walk you through the procedures.
     

         This project has been constructed by Newman Smith High School students with the help of faculty in Carrollton, Texas and has been sponsored by the Texas A&M University Society of Flight Test Engineers. The team, in addition, notes that "the project is not for the beginner as it gets complicated." However, if you may feel the need to want to experience and create a solar-powered plane, click here. 

Solar Plane completes its 2nd quarter of it's cross-country flight

A solar-powered plane with its side by side propellers and the pilot named Andre Borsche along with Bertrand Piccard, the ones in charge of the project, took on a challenge of travelling cross-country  powered only by the sun. The plane had gotten airborne off the ground of California early May headed to  Phoenix, Arizona taking part in completing its 1st quarter of its travel. After it's take off from Phoenix, Arizona last Wednesday, the plane landed safely at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Texas finishing off it's 2nd trip cross country. After preparations, the plane is expected to take off from Texas to Washington, then crossing the finish line at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. Each trip is measured to take about 20 hours with several of days for inspection at each of the cities.