Tidbits

Solar trains and other tidbits

Published 1.19.2017
Offline life impeded this week's publication schedule, but here are some recent items of internet in optics and solar energy.

Trains in the United Kingdom (UK) may soon be powered with solar power. Track side solar panels to be used to power trains.
Currently Network Rail is investing billions in electrifying the UK's train lines, this combined with increased renewable energy generation means train travel could be significantly decarbonised by 2050. However in many rural areas the electricity grid has reached its limit in both integrating distributed energy generation and supplying power to the train companies.
The plan is to connect the panel directly to the train line, bypassing the grid. These trains apparently run during the day, so power is provided when it is needed. This would be the first attempt on the globe to make this work.

Nuclear power plants closing early because they are no longer profitable. This is not happening because of renewable energy. but because of cheap natural gas, which is abundant in the US. Natural gas of course, is not intermittent. Nor are renewables in a position to challenge natural gas yet.
Nuclear plants generated 20% of U.S. power in the past 12 months, following natural gas at 35% and coal at 30%, according to federal energy data. The balance was 7% hydro, 6% wind and 1% solar.
Power generation is heavily regulated, so lawmakers in Connecticut, Ohio, and Pennsylvania will have to decide in a few years whether to raise rates, or shutter more plants.

Light Emitting Diode (LED) streetlight in Britain will offer WiFi. It’s a proof of concept project outside the football grounds of the MK Dons. The system is modular and designed to be future-proofed.
The Shuffle can be upgraded at any point to include additional functionality such as mobile device charging and specialist advertising features.

Light is a drug? Although only at the animal study stage, light is proposed as a way to treat Alzheimer's. LWRAS has previously covered the efforts to use of light for therapeutic purposes.

Lighting as a Service (LaaS) is a new potential growth market for LED manufacturers.
The lighting industry is in the midst of upheaval. LED lighting is rapidly taking over from incumbent technologies and lighting controls systems are greatly expanding the abilities and sophistication of the technology that operates the lights; these changes set the stage for the rise of LaaS. Click to tweet: According to a recent report from @NavigantRSRCH, global revenue for lighting as a service is expected to total nearly $5.8 billion from 2016 to 2025.

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