I added some footnotes to give a bit more context, a little more texture, a little background shading, some.....
The footnotes show up in the form of big burly numbers at the end of the odd sentence.
College’s Solar Panels Face The Elements
Halifax’s Quest For Solar Supremacy (1)
By: Aaron Williams
For Alain Joseph, shoveling snow is a small price to pay for finding out more about how best to harness the sun’s energy (2).
A research scientist specializing in solar energy at Nova Scotia Community College’s Dartmouth campus, Joseph says last year’s low snowpack didn’t give faculty and students enough information on how solar panels will perform in a typical Atlantic Canadian winter.
Joseph and his colleagues collect data from solar panels on the roof of the Woodside Wing of the Dartmouth campus. With their research they hope to gain an understanding of how solar energy can best be put to work in Nova Scotia.
The research being conducted on all these panels is an important piece in Nova Scotia’s move towards more sustainable energy. The Halifax Regional Municipality recently announced its Solar City program has funding to install subsidized solar panels on the roofs of about 500 houses in the area. Like NSCC, Solar City’s mission is for Halifax to become a Canadian leader in the use of solar technology.
On the roof at NSCC there are two basic types of panel being monitored: photovoltaic, and thermal dynamic.
Thermal dynamic panels -- what Joseph describes as the less glamourous, more practical of the two -- are used to heat water. Household hot water costs are significant and thermal dynamic panels quickly pay for themselves.
Photovoltaic panels take their name from the photovoltaic effect, which creates an electric current when exposed to sunlight. Unlike thermal dynamics, photovoltaic panels produce electricity (3).
“Right now the price difference is huge between the two technologies,” says Joseph, estimating the cost of running a few electric appliances on photovoltaic power would run upwards of $10 000.
The price of photovoltaic panels, however, is expected to come down. Joseph compares it to the way prices for gadgets like iPods have come down over the last several years. The two technologies are made of similar materials(4).
Richard Vinson (5) runs a small company in Halifax called Creative Solar, he praised the research being done at NSCC.
“It’s beyond words, they’re doing new things all the time and we really need that,” says Vinson. NSCC has the resources to experiment and collect data in a way that would be difficult for small startups in the private sector, Vinson says.
Vinson’s company is one of a number of alternative energy companies in Halifax. There is even a society of enthusiasts called Solar Nova Scotia, they advertise drinks and dinner at The Lion’s Head Tavern on Friday nights for anyone interested in talking solar energy.
When asked what he’s learned so far about solar energy and its application in Atlantic Canada Joseph says he is impressed with how effective the panels worked over the course of last winter. Solar energy is often used on homes that are tied into the regular power supply and, “snow can affect you worse if you don’t have the grid to fall back on,” says Joseph, alluding to the fact that solar panels need to be clear of snow in order to properly function (6).
However, Joseph is quick to add that any time you study anything to with climate, there are no quick answers.
More answers could come with worse weather this winter.
******************************************************************************
1 Never got the feeling that there was any questing going on, but “solar supremacy” is catchy.
2 This used to be the end of the story, but my lead was weak and this was better.
3 It took about three hours of interviews, reading and studying graphs to figure out how the hell I would write the previous three paragraphs.
4 He told me what the stuff was but I forgot, this weakens the story but I didn’t have the heart to call Al Joseph back and ask for more of his time.
5 Vinson had so many quotes, he is the Don Cherry of solar energy.
6 They also need to be clear of bird shit.