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The Melbourne home focuses on small and sustainable living, demonstrating just how good design mitigates the need for a larger home. Recycled materials are elevated by the clean, modern lines of the space to give a comforting, holistic feel to the interior. Judges at the 2014 Australian Living Green Interior Awards commented, “Everything in this house has been considered for its environmental performance … from the design to the paint and even the furnishings.”

Related: Hare and Klein’s Award Winning Australian Bush Infused Green Interior Charms with Local and Recycled Materials

The high point of the design is a private, wooden, rooftop deck planned as an outdoor bedroom for heatwave nights — perfect to take in the fresh air and flowery scents of the newly landscaped garden below. The stairs to the deck act as a thermal chimney to exhaust hot air from the house, so living spaces on the ground floor stay comfortably cool. In the day the staircase functions as a natural clothes-drying room, with a high-level drying rack over the landing. North- and east-facing windows flood this area with sun.

The innovative passive solar design includes a mono-pitched roof over the living room and kitchen to bring northern light into the south side of the house. A polished concrete floor and feature brick wall contribute thermal mass to keep spaces warm in the winter. During the scorching hot summer, a courtyard to the shady south side of the house is used to draw in cool air for cross ventilation through the center of the home and as cool air inlet for the pantry. Windows have been located to provide good cross breezes, and air flow is boosted by ceiling fans to the living room and bedrooms.

The eye is naturally drawn to the kitchen space, where a collection of secondhand cabinets, shelving and fixtures artfully combines with a strong color scheme to produce a Mondrian-esque effect. The extensive reuse and recycling of old materials throughout the abode has added richness and texture to the sharp, modern lines of the remodeled space. All materials and finishes were selected for durability, low toxicity and local provenance. The use of Australian hardwood surrounds for the double glazed windows ensures no rainforest trees have been touched. Instead of cement, Independent Cement Lime Eco-Blend concrete incorporates slag and fly-ash, which are industrial by-products, to ensure the concrete elements of the structure contribute to a 35 percent drop in carbon emissions compared to regular cement.

Related: Architects Turn Around An Aging Victorian Home to Flood it With Natural Light

To avoid reliance on the highly polluting, brown coal powered, city grid, renewable energy is used wherever possible. The 1.5 kW, grid-interactive solar photovoltaic panels on the roof provide sufficient electricity for the energy-conscious household. Solar hot water can be topped up with natural gas, which also supplies the stove top. The lighting scheme creates a gentle atmosphere with LED wall lights located only where task lighting is needed to further reduce energy use.

In preparation for both flood and drought, the house and garden collect rainwater for the irrigation of plants. Permeable surfaces to the majority of the open space to allow for on-site stormwater infiltration. Oversized gutters and downpipes futureproof the house against increasing climate change linked severe weather events. The rear garden is also an intensive food production area. There is good connection to the garden from the cooking zone and greywater provides passive garden irrigation. Rainwater tanks protect against future water restrictions. The rooftop deck grows vegetables that require more sun in self-watering planter boxes, the only danger being they could be raided by guests for a midnight snack!

+ Ande Bunbury Architects

+ Australian Living Green Interior Awards 2014

Images via Australian Living Green Interior Awards 2014

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Martifer Solar, a subsidiary of Martifer SGPS, has built a new PV plant in the Vinnytsia region of Ukraine. The 8 MW PV project, called Shargorod, represents one of the most challenging projects to date that the company has successfully completed in the country.

Kingston Solar LP has selected SMA operations and maintenance (OM) services and central inverters for its 140 MW DC photovoltaic system in Kingston, Ontario, which will be the largest solar project in Canada when complete next year. SMA Service will assume operational management of the Kingston Solar project upon commercial operation, and for the next decade. Later this year, SMA will begin delivery of the 125 Sunny Central 800CP-US inverters that will power the system.

PARIS, FRANCE —(eSolarEnergyNews)—  SunPower announced today that it is supplying 41 megawatts of its high efficiency solar panels to La Compagnie du Vent, a subsidiary of French utility GDF Suez, for the construction of four solar power plants in France under the country’s national tender program administered by the French Energy Regulatory Commission. The first of the projects, the 12-megawatt Langele solar power plant, was dedicated earlier this month in France’s Aquitaine region.

«Since 2012, La Compagnie du Vent has been a valued SunPower partner, and we are pleased to assist them in delivering an additional 41 megawatts of emission-free solar power for homes and businesses in France,» said SunPower Executive Vice President Jorg Heinemann. «Today more than 1,500 megawatts of solar plants around the world are powered using our technology. With high-performance SunPower solar panels, power plant developers may maximize power production and generate reliable returns on investment for 25 years or more.»

La Compagnie du Vent estimates that the Langele solar power plant will generate 17,500,000 kilowatt-hours of energy each year, which may serve the electricity demand of approximately 9,700 people in the region. According to Reseau de Transport d’Electricite 2011 estimates, the plant will offset approximately 14,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year.

In addition to Langele, the other three La Compagnie du Vent solar projects for which SunPower is supplying panels include the 12-megawatt Roc du Doun project in the Limousin region, the 12-megawatt La Foret Marcoles in the Auvergne region, and the 5-megawatt Le Mouruen Signes in the Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur region. All four solar plants are expected to be constructed and operational by end of 2015. In 2012, SunPower worked with La Compagnie du Vent to deliver the 4-megawatt Porette de Nérone solar plant in Aghione, Corsica.

The authors consider wind, solar, hydraulic, nuclear, coal and gas as potential energy sources. In their model, the energy demand and availability are cast as random variables. The authors simulated the behaviour of the mix for a large number of tests of such variables, using so-called Monte-Carlo simulations.

For a given mix, they found the energy cost of the mix presents a minimum as a function of the installed power. This means that if it is too large, the fixed costs dominate the total and become overwhelming. In contrast, if it is too small, expensive energy sources need to be frequently solicited.

The authors are also able to optimise the energy mix, according to three selected criteria, namely economy, environment and supply security.

The simulation tested on the case of France, based on 2011 data, shows that an optimal mix is 2.4 times the average demand in this territory. This mix contains a large amount of nuclear power, and a small amount of fluctuating energies: wind and solar. It is also strongly export-oriented.

Calyxo GmbH has concluded an agreement with the IBG Beteiligungsgesellschaft Saxony-Anhalt, the current financing of the futuristic cadmium telluride photovoltaic technology — Made in Germany!
The IBG is involved in technology-oriented, innovative companies and projects, as it has found in the business model of Calyxo. The integrated value chain from the production of CdTe thin-film modules to the implementation of so-called EPC Projects [Engineering, Procurement and Construction] has the IBG convinced to finance.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA —(eSolarEnergyNews)—  SeeControl™ today announced that Neighborhood Power Corporation (NPC), Hawaii’s solar company, has selected SeeControl as the Internet of Things (IoT) platform to bring a suite of innovative high-touch operational and market-facing services to thousands of NPC customers across the islands.

NPC’s existing service management processes presented an opportunity for enhanced efficiencies and customer intimacy. With SeeControl, NPC launched enhanced «big data» scale infrastructure for information capture from machine-to-machine (M2M) gateways and sensors at consumer homes. This infrastructure coupled with SeeControl’s no coding toolset enabled rapid solution development for applications that have dramatically improved billing, remote diagnostics and field service. Most importantly for NPC customers, the new solar management suite delivers industry-leading online and mobile interfaces that allow NPC customers to take full charge of their energy generation and consumption.

«We chose the SeeControl platform because it allows us to get new services in front of our customers faster than any of the competing approaches we evaluated. And because it’s a no coding platform, we don’t have to hire programmers or expand our IT management staff,» said Stephen Gates, CEO of Neighborhood Power Corporation.

Bryan Kester, CEO of SeeControl stated, «We are proud to partner with a world-class industry innovator such as NPC. Virtually overnight, NPC has created a true cloud-driven company that senses and responds to customer needs with cloud IoT, CRM, billing and finance—fused via APIs to create a true 21st century enterprise.»

BELMONT, CA —(eSolarEnergyNews)— SunEdison, a leading solar technology manufacturer and provider of solar energy services, today announced new zero white space (ZWS) solar module technology. The technology can increase solar module power output by up to 15%, effectively decreasing the total system cost by up to 8%.

«SunEdison’s ZWS technology is a major achievement that will significantly reduce the cost of solar energy,» said Dave Ranhoff, president of solar materials at SunEdison. «Most high efficiency solar modules rely on expensive solar cells, but ZWS technology boosts performance by optimizing the solar module itself. Our RD centers in St. Peters, Missouri (US) and Bengaluru, India, developed module prototypes which delivered a 10% increase in peak power output, using commercially available PERC cells – and this is just the beginning of where ZWS can take performance.»

ZWS technology works by reducing the unused area on the front surface of the solar module not directly involved in electricity production.  Specifically, ZWS utilizes the area between cells, eliminates losses due to bus bar shadowing, and reduces electrical losses.  A reduction in losses and an increase in active area results in higher power output.

Ranhoff added: «This technology is particularly well suited for area-constrained residential installations. By increasing efficiency without adding cost, we can increase the economic value of solar – in many cases by thousands of dollars. And as an added benefit, ZWS technology creates a beautiful black finish which is highly valued by homeowners.»

Using proprietary solar module technology, SunEdison is currently capable of producing 350 watt peak modules in a 72 cell format.  ZWS technology will first be utilized to transform these modules and boost the performance up to 400 watts. High volume manufacturing is expected to begin in the second half of 2015.

CHANGZHOU, CHINA — Trina Solar, a global leader in photovoltaic  modules, solutions, and services, today announced that its high-efficiency Honey solar module has set a new world record for peak power output for P-type monocrystalline silicon PV modules, as independently certified by TUV Rheinland. The module was developed in the Company’s State Key Lab of PV Science and Technology and is composed of 60 156mm x 156mm high-efficiency Honey monocrystalline silicon cells. It generates a peak power output of 335.2W, breaking the previous world record of 326.3W, set by Trina’s Solar’s original Honey module in April 2014.

«We are thrilled to once again break the power output world record for P-type monocrystalline silicon PV modules just six months after we first set it. Through our advanced State Key Lab of PV Science and Technology Trina Solar is delivering on its commitment to be the innovation leader in the industry,» said Dr. Zhiqiang Feng, Technology Vice President and Director of the State Key Laboratory of PV Science and Technology of Trina Solar. «The fact that we have broken the world record twice within just half a year gives us confidence in the huge potential to commercialize modules with higher efficiency, thereby reducing the cost of achieving grid parity and providing high-efficiency solar energy to more households in the near future.»