China's Inverter Market: Pricing Pressure

Thanks largely to China's national feed-in tariff (FiT) implemented last summer, the domestic market for PV inverters quintupled in 2011 to surpass 2.5 gigawatts (GW) of shipments, some 2.4 GW of actual installations, and $300 million in revenues, says IMS Research.

Among the firm's findings in a new report:

• Local Firms Rule.
• China's rapidly growing solar PV market
• Bigger Is Better.
• Prices Are Low.

Volkswagen runs 258 miles per gallon

From conception to production: 3 years and the company is headquartered in Hamburg , Germany .

• Will be selling for 4000 yuan, equivalent to US$600..
• Gas tank capacity = 1.7 gallons
• Speed = 62 - 74.6 Miles/hour
• Fuel efficiency = 258 miles/gallon
• Travel distance with a full tank = 404 miles

DIY Solar Hot Air and Water Collector from Recycled Materials

A hot water storage tank where one of the heat sources is solar heating A, that is sent into the hot water storage tank via a smaller pump B (circle with triangle) and the heat exchanger spiral in the hot water storage tank. The other spiral C can be used for a e.g. oil-fired boiler or a wood burner. At D the hot water gets out and domestic cold water is sent back at the bottom at E. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Copper/Aluminum Collector Concept

The most common commercial collectors consist of copper fins that are soldered or welded to copper pipes. In operation, the sun heats the fins, which in turn transfer their heat to the copper pipes and then to the water flowing through the pipes.

The collector could be made of a simple glass topped insulated box with a flat solar absorber made of sheet metal attached to copper pipes and painted black, or a set of metal tubes surrounded by an evacuated (near vacuum) glass cylinder. In industrial cases a parabolic mirror can concentrate sunlight on the tube. Heat is stored in a hot water storage tank.

But, the design, does have some drawbacks from a build-it-yourself viewpoint: 1) the materials have become very expensive, 2) soldering or welding the copper pipes to the fins is time consuming and not a common DIY skill.

This is a simple design that can be build using common recycled material.