Related Sections: Green Tech Household
Thinking solar for your home? Armageddon it
Four-leaf clovers might bring you luck, but Armageddon Energy's three-leafed SolarClover solar panels promise something more concrete — cheap, green energy.
Using standard silicon solar cells embedded in a Teflon medium, each three-panel unit generates about 400 watts. By comparison, a typical American household needs about 4000 watts to keep running, but even a few SolarClovers will go a long way to defraying your monthly power bill.
Setting up a single SolarClover — including triangular frame, micro-inverter and three lightweight silicon hexagonal solar panels — takes minutes, says Armageddon management.
And because they use polymers in their structure versus the usual glass, each unit weighs less than 13 pounds, or less than half that of a typical glass-and-silicon rooftop solar panel. And it's lighter on your wallet too, with Armageddon's power costing $6/watt versus an industry standard of $7/watt, once they get up to commercial scale production.
By Realist at 1:16 PM ON 11/17/09
This will just confuse the giant bees....
*sarcasm*
By lnwolf41 at 8:44 AM ON 11/19/09
Notice the end? Once production is scaled up. So if you got it right now you would pay just as much or more for it, though it is a good design.
By Borg at 9:02 AM ON 11/19/09
Not a name to trust... "Armageddon"?? Come on.
Plus, website has only one page, no info.
Plus, who would design a house where all the rain/snow funnelled into the middle? Duh!
Rectangles work just fine, this is just a gimmick.
By dvnobles at 9:39 AM ON 11/19/09
This isn't much of a story...any word when these will be available...where to get them? What it takes to fully implement them - Armageddon management says it takes minutes to set them up, obviously making no reference to the batteries, converters and electric company conversion behind it. I like a good 'product of the future' story, but now and then it would be nice to see something that is available now and not all company hype.
//dan
By Souless1 at 10:25 AM ON 11/19/09
If you're looking for solar, these are the guys you should keep an eye on: http://www.ascentsolar.com/
They've been doing military applications for years, and have expanded recently into the civilian sector. They just opened a plant in Thronton, Colorado geared to civilian applications.
You can also see a FOX News item here:
By Wayne at 12:46 PM ON 11/19/09
Borg, Houses are designed with the "funnel" to collect rainwater for irrigation and for some brave souls, home use.
If you think about it, having such a system and a cistern to store the water could reduce your need for city or well water significantly for gardening, landscaping and the like. Also, if your plumbing is set up for it, you can use cistern water to flush toilets and if properly filtered, wash clothes.
Heck some people pay for fabric softeners to get the fresh rain smell, with that system you get it for the cost of setting up your plumbing correctly!
on your cellphone!
Text DVICE to 72434
editor@dvice.com
Wayne:
Borg, Houses are designed with the "funnel" to collect rainwater for irrigation and for some brave souls, home use...More »