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OUR OBJECTIVES IN THE SOLAR INDUSTRY

Developing practical solar cookers that are priced $100-$200.
Developing solar and wind collector(s) that are capable of generating electricity between $.20-$.25/ kWh for residential, $.15-$.20 kWh for commercial / industrial applications.
Our ultimate goal is producing competitive, affordable, practical and clean energy between $.06 to $.08/kWh.
Our Solfoqus Generator (2kW) produces heated air, heated liquid (for storage) and electricity. Residential unit is estimated to retail for $8,000-12,000.

A- Disadvantages of traditional Solar Technologies

Solar energy is collected either directly (parallel rays) or the rays are focused by mirrors or optical devices to achieve higher temperatures. Sun’s energy is converted to heat or electricity by following means:

Flat Plate Solar Cookers use reflective materials to concentrate sun’s energy for cooking. Major problem is need for constant aiming the cooker to efficient direction. Cookers are often flimsy and damaged by wind or abuse. These ovens are open and some of the heat is lost in convection.

Concentrator Type Solar Cookers use spherical (dish) or semi-cylindrical reflectors to focus sun’s energy. Efficiency is higher but manual or mechanical tracking is required to align the solar cookers with sun. Heat losses due to convection and radiation are typical.

Passive solar technologies are means of using sunlight for useful energy without use of active mechanical systems. By-product is often used for heating and air conditioning. Efficiency is low and costs are high.

Active solar technologies are employed to convert solar energy into usable heat, cause air-movement for ventilation or cooling, or store heat for future use or desalination. Active solar uses electrical or mechanical equipment, such as pumps and fans and solar panels to increase the usable heat in a system. Solar energy collection and utilization systems sometime use external (non-solar) energy. Costs are high at higher efficiency.

Solar Concentrators technology utilizes mirrors or optical devices for focusing sun’s energy to achieve higher temperatures. Concentrators however require tracking devices and electronic parts that are expensive and subject to mechanical failures. Efficiency is high but requires much higher maintenance and operating costs that are nor practical for average person or developing nations.

B- Disadvantages of traditional Wind Technologies

Wind energy is collected by horizontal or vertical axis windmills and transferred to end users or stored for future use or when wind is not blowing.

Horizontal Axis Windmills (HAWM) - Most common are the farm type windmills or Mega Size machines in wind farms. These windmills often operate in certain wind speeds and are incapable of storing energy when wind speeds is outside of their operational range or compensating for winds gusts. Generators and gear boxes are located on top and hard to reach and maintain. These windmills are also noisy and turbine blades often throw ice spears during winter. There is always danger of huge rotor blades breaking loose and creating major damage.

Vertical Axis Windmill (VAWM) - They are more quite than horizontal axis and generators are usually on bottom or closer to ground. VAWM are hard to start and usually have smaller wind sweep area.

Towers- Setup and erection of windmills are costly and often requires huge and expensive crawler type cranes. Regular maintenance again, requires bringing the expensive cranes and work crew to repair or replace the windmill generators or blades, all adding to overall operational costs.

Energy Processing and Storage- Extra energy is either pumped into the local grid (permitting capacity) or stored in batteries, flywheel, compressed air, super conducting storage or other means that are often costly or complicated.

3- Our Solutions

We have several projects at work that fulfills the above mentioned needs.