You are browsing the archives of 2010 September.

According to a press release from Tile Edizioni, 2009 marked the first year in the tile production sector’s history that production fell.

Although Asia’s share of the production and consumption markets continues to grow, Europe and the Americas have experienced a sharp downturn in imports and exports.

According to data collected in a survey conducted by the magazine Ceramic World Review (published by Tile Edizioni), world tile output dropped to 8,515 million m², 0.1 percent down from 8,520 million m² in 2008. This compares unfavorably to average annual increases that were 6 to 7 percent in the period 2004-2007 and a 3.2 percent increase in 2008.

While Asia’s market share is growing and is now at 65.1 percent of world production, the opposite trend occurred in the Americas and  Europe, which experienced a decrease of 24.8 percent since 2008 (equivalent to a drop of 354 million m²) bringing production to 1,076 million m².

Total tile consumption grew by just 1.3 percent, compared to 3.6 percent growth in 2008 and an average 8 percent growth during the previous years. The breakdown in consumption by geographical area mimics that of production. Asia showed the highest growth in demand at 8.2 percent.

Growth was reported in Africa (10 percent) and in Central and South America (1 percent). In North America demand dropped 10.9 percent. In the European Union, demand plummeted 18.8 percent, with the biggest biggest drop in Spain.

But export trends were the worst hit by the world crisis. Imports/exports, which had already slowed sharply in 2007 (2.4 percent) and in 2008 (0.47 percent), dropped by 9.6 percent in 2009. The only exception was Asia, although its exports grew by a much smaller amount than in the past.

Exports from the European Union fell 19.3 percent, and non-EU Europe experienced a 25 percent drop. Central and South America exports fell 20.7 percent, North America fell 16.4 percent, and Africa  dropped 8.3 percent. Asia saw the only increase, up 5.8 percent.

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Sandia National Lab researchers have developed a new system that provides a way for utility companies to predict and prepare for fluctuations in power output due to changes in weather. By observing cloud shape, size and movement, the system can monitor how clouds affect large-scale photovoltaic power plants.

According to a Sandia news release, the effects of clouds on small PV arrays are well-documented, but there is little research on how large-scale arrays interact and function under cloud cover. A small system can be completely covered by a cloud, which drastically reduces its power output, but what’s less well understood is what happens when only part of a large system is covered by a moving cloud shadow, while the rest stays in sunlight.

Sandia researchers’ work is currently focused at the 1.2-megawatt La Ola Solar Farm on the Hawaiian island of Lana’i.

“As solar power continues to develop and take up a larger percentage of grids nationwide, being able to forecast power production is going to become more and more critical,” says Chris Lovvorn, director of alternative energy of Castle & Cooke Resorts, which owns 98 percent of the island. “Sandia’s involvement and insight has been invaluable in our efforts to meet 100 percent of the island’s energy needs with renewable resources.”

Sandia engineers connected 24 small, nonintrusive sensors to the plant’s PV panels and used a radio frequency network to transmit data. The sensors took readings at one-second intervals to provide researchers with unprecedented detail about cloud direction and coverage activity.

“These techniques will allow a developer to place a sensor network at a proposed site, make measurements for a period of time and use that to predict plant output variability,” says Sandia researcher Josh Stein.

La Ola was commissioned in December 2008 by Castle & Cooke and SunPower Corp., a manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells. The project uses SunPower’s Tracker technology. Panels rotate on a single axis to follow the sun, which increases energy capture by up to 25 percent. Since February, Sandia Labs has held a cooperative research and development agreement with SunPower to conduct research on integrating large-scale PV systems into the grid. This CRADA is funded with about $1 million of combined U.S. Department of Energy and SunPower funding and is expected to achieve significant results, which will be disseminated through joint publications over the next two years.

For other news we’ve covered on SunPower Corp., see the following:

Sandia, Sunpower to cooperate on PV-to-grid modeling and tool development

24% PV efficiency

Nitride with silicon: solar cells with 30% efficiency?

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Thomas R. Earnest, Jr., venture leader for DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions, examines a prototype of the solar panels behind him. (Credit: DuPont.)

A new announcement from DuPont gives some indication of just how rapidly the solar energy industry has grown in a relatively short period of time.

According to the company, it expects to report $1 billion in revenue from photovoltaic sales in 2010 alone - a goal that will be reached one year ahead of schedule. A substantial portion of this growth was said to come from innovations improving the efficiency of solar modules.

“Our broad portfolio of offerings spans crystalline silicon cells and modules as well as thin film modules, putting us in an ideal position to capitalize on market growth in both segments of the photovoltaics industry,” says DuPont President David Miller.

Among the DuPont solar-related products Miller cited were its Solamet metallization paste, Tedlar backsheet films and a line of encapsulant resins and films that make modules more efficient.

Miller also indicated that DuPont continues to invest in greater production capabilities for solar energy products, with customers and partners to keep on top of higher demand from around the world. He added that renewable energy generation is expected to be the fastest growing part of the energy market over the next two decades.

To read more about DuPont’s photovoltaic venture, see these related stories:

DuPont opens North American photovoltaic research facility

DuPont completes $295M expansion for PV market

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I am sure some of our glass experts will provide a correction if this claim is wrong, but Greensound Technology has unveiled a line of high-end speakers that they claim is the world’s first wireless, high-fidelity glass speakers and subwoofers, and I have to admit they look pretty cool.

The company is keeping some of the technology that makes the system work close to its chest. When I talked to one of their reps earlier this week, they didn’t want to reveal much about the glass composition or how the drivers that transfer the sound vibration to the glass work. Here is all they are willing to say at this time:

… recent improvements have been made to bring the frequency response from low 150HZ to high 18KHZ frequency responses … The speakers are capable of delivering sound from both sides of the surface of the glass at 360 degree delivering a rich harmonic sound from low to high frequency responses up to 90.6 db. Generally it would seem impossible to be able to hear a low frequency sound from glass, however we were able to achieve a good harmonic sound from low to high frequency responses with our patented approach that is implemented in the base platform of the Serac and Floe speakers to create a combination of low and high frequency sound transferred to the surface of the glass which delivers separated sound from bottom to the top of the glass on both sides of the glass corresponding with low and high frequencies.

Greensound offers their systems in several speaker/subwoofer combinations and each comes with a Yamaha receiver the has the audio and video inputs you’d expect.

So if all this looks pretty sweet, here is a warning. I have saved the “bad” news for last. The company provides a hint of what I am referring to:

“Ideal for venues such as:

• Lobbies
• Large Suites
• Mansions
• Ships
• Large Homes”

Mansions?

Anymore, I am kind of cheap when it comes to buying speakers. Maybe having raised kids that like to amp up the volume to the point of no return cured me of thinking the money was a good idea. But, I still have a lot of friends who have made hefty investments in their speaker systems, so maybe they won’t faint when the see the $8,000–$33,000 price tags on the systems.

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Ceramic sanitary ware and tile manufacturer Ceramic Industries CEO Nick Booth expects to see an uptick in the residential construction market by the middle of next year, which would bode well for the group. In a recent interview, he noted that the manufacturer had achieved “robust results” from its tile division in the six months ended January 31, 2010, despite continued tough trading conditions. Booth speaks openly about wage increase demands, labor discontents, the impact that a three-month labor strike had on output and cost-market share.

Run time: About 6 minutes.

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