City Hall Powered with Solar Panels

        By the end of this year, Rancho Mirage's City Hall and the city's vehicle maintenance yard should be getting most of their power from brand-new rooftop and carport solar panels. The City Council gave the go-ahead Monday to a $1.2 million contract with Palm Springs-based Nobell Energy Solutions to add the panels to the city facilities, with construction expected to begin in October and finish in mid-December.
        The council also approved spending $23,000 to put a new roof over the maintenance yard's traffic signal warehouse, which will be able to support the panels. The new panels, which will be leased by the city from Nobell for up to 20 years with an option to buy them out at 10 years, are projected to generate 60% of the electricity needed by City Hall and 95% for the maintenance yard, which is in Thousand Palms.

First U.S. Restaurant's Roof Made Entirely of Solar Panels

      Down in St. Louis, Missouri, there is a restaurant made entirely from solar panels. It's not composed of solar shingles or other roofing materials that help harvest power from the sun; rather, the roof is only made from solar panels. The marvelous restaurant that features this brilliant idea is known as "The New Moon Room," a new bar and dining space at the Moonrise Hotel on the University City Loop.
      This canopy roof over the space doesn't only collect energy from the sunlight, but it also helps bring the light in. Contractor Microgrid Solar had used "translucent, frameless solar panels," which were originally manufactured by Colorado-based company Lumos, that helps allow the light "to peek through," according to CEO Rick Hunter. "

        This rooftop also harvests a useful amount of energy, in which this 25.6 kilowatt array has the capacity to produce approximately 33,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year. According to Microgrid President and Principal Engineer Marc Lopata, this doesn't only help power the New Moon Room itself, but it also aids in powering the hotel's top two floors. The New Moon Room will be opening to the public next week so enjoy and revel in the creativity of solar power manufacturers and contractors.

Las Vegas Flips Power on 15,000 Solar Panels

Tom Perrigo, chief sustainability officer of the city of Las Vegas, "flips the switch" on their new three-megawatt solar panel installation on April 18, 2013

   
     With the action of Tom Perrigo "flipping the switch" on their newfound solar panel installation, city officials are celebrating for the installation would help provide energy to a nearby wastewater treatment plant. The ground-mounted panels have been tightly packed on 25-acres of city-owned land near Vegas Valley Drive and Nellis Boulevard. This site had previously been a vacant strip of land the city had used as a buffer for its wastewater treatment plant, which processes all of the city's wastewater on its way to Lake Mead.
      During the dedication ceremony, Mayor Carolyn Goodman had announced that the project was known to being part of the city's comprehensive sustainability plan, which includes renewable energy, energy efficiency, recycling and waste management. "It's all about sustainability for the city and our citizens to make sure that we're using every resource that we can to keep down the costs of energy," she said. "The council wants the financial resources we have available to go as far as they can."
      The $20 million project will generate 6 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually, enough to provide approximately 20% of the treatment plant's power. "Because the plant accounts for a third of the city's annual energy bill, the solar panels will provide a big savings," Tom Perrigo, the chief sustainability officer, said. "Our energy spend breaks down to about a third for wastewater treatment, a third for street lights and a third for city buildings," he said. "By providing solar here at this facility, we're able to make a big impact on the city's overall energy consumption."

Largest Solar Plant in Africa

    Recently, it has been announced that the largest solar plant in Africa has been ceremoniously brought online in Mauritania. The 15-megawatt plant will be expected to meet a full one-tenth of the nation's electricity demand and keep lights on in some 10,000 homes. Mauritania is currently crippled by its severe energy shortages and thus, its frail power grid is upheld by an unstable network of diesel generators. Therefore, with the help of the Sheikh Zayed Solar Power Plant, this brings good news to Mauritanians everywhere: the country's power demand is quickly growing and with the help of this fresh blast of solar power, it gives power to those in need during peak hours.
     If the name of the solar power plant is a bit unusual, it would possibly be because the construction was done by Masdar, Abu Dhabi's national clean energy company. If the name Masdar brings any recollection, it may because there is such a city as Masdar City, a futuristic town on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi which eventually is to be the world's first 100% carbon neutral city. However, Masdar is currently in the clean energy business worldwide and such as the solar power plant's creator, the Mauritania project is also.

   
    The solar power plant consists of some 30,000 thin-film micrograph panels which are stacked into the ground instead of cemented into a concrete foundation in an installation process that helps decrease the costs and necessary materials needed. "Energy access is a pathway to economic and social opportunity," Mauritania President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz said. "Electrification, through sustainable sources of energy, is critical in ensuring our people have access to basic services and is a step toward improving our infrastructure and long-term economic development."

So you hear that there's going to be a solar storm coming soon, now what?

When this solar storm hits, there will be panic and chaos, we already established that. But, now what? Well, there'll obviously be a strong sense of wanting to survive kick in; so how do we survive?

First, evaluate where you're living. Are you living in an urban area, where skyscrapers and telephone wires are everywhere? Or do you live in a rural area, where the nearest skyscraper would be 1 hour away?
   Be warned people of the city! If you live in an urban area, chances are the electricity, that you're depending on, won't last once the storm hits. Even water and food sold in supermarkets will become scarce. So, my suggestion would be to stock up on food and water as much as you can because once the storm hits, you can definitely bet on it that those necessities to live will go out very quickly.

Example : Remember Hurricane Sandy?

You may also want to consider having a bag with essentials such as toiletries, matches, blankets, extra clothes, medical supplies, etc.

To read in-depth about things you may need, click here!
Good luck.