Solar Power Networking Neighbor to Neighbor Rooted in Peer-to-Peer Communities

""Rooftop solar gets a sharing economy option from Yeloha, which allows you to subscribe to solar panels installed on someone else’s roof.

One of the biggest barriers to wider solar adoption continues to be the initial cost of a solar energy system, which can keep solar inaccessible to many solar advocates, even though solar can be a low cost and high return option over the long run. Ponying up tens of thousands of dollars for a rooftop solar installation simply isn't an option for many of us, and if you don't own your roof, or your roof is less than optimal for producing solar energy, there really isn't a simple way to purchase solar electricity for your home otherwise.

Companies such as CloudSolar are making it easier to invest in solar energy through a solar PV farm, which might be a viable option for those with cash to purchase panels, but a recently launched solar sharing platform looks to be an even more accessible way to go solar.

Yeloha, which bills itself as a peer-to-peer solar sharing network, will allow anyone to receive the benefits of solar energy at home through the purchase of a solar subscription, which is said to be cheaper than the cost of electricity from their utility. And those with adequate roof space to host an array of solar panels can opt for free installation of a solar PV system, which will give the hosts access to a portion of the generated solar electricity in exchange for sharing that clean electricity with others.

"Yeloha has created a peer to peer marketplace that turns consumers into hosts and partners, allowing both to reduce their electric bills. Roof owners can register as "Sun Hosts" and receive free installation of solar panels in return for sharing access to a portion of the solar energy they generate. Residents whose roofs are shaded, live in apartment or don’t wish to install panels can now, at the click of a button, become “Sun Partners” and purchase as much or as little solar energy as they choose.""

http://www.treehugger.com/solar-technology/solar-sharing-network-aims-make-solar-simple-and-accessible.html

Equinox Phenomenon of the Solar Eclipse Through Time and Space

""A solar eclipse is set to darken the sky over Europe, as well as parts of Asia, North West Africa, and North America in the biggest eclipse since 1999. Expected to plunge some countries into 98 percent darkness, the event, which corresponds with the March equinox, will “skirt the south of Iceland, pass over the Faroe Islands and the Norwegian territory of Svalbard, and finish over the North Pole” this Friday, according to NASA.

This rare and spectacular astronomical alignment, when the Moon passes directly between the sun and the Earth and shadows the surface of the planet, has always given humanity pause. The event of midday twilight is said to even quiet birds. They stop singing, thinking night has somehow come. This significant occurrence was seen as so traumatic or ‘unnatural’ to humanity that since prehistoric times myths and legends have sprung up throughout cultures in attempts to explain the event, or protect against it. 

Solar eclipses were seen by the ancients as symbols or messages. The ancient Greeks believed they were portents, and warnings of disaster. Certainly a disruption of the established order was seen as frightening and a sign of doom, especially as so much depended on the movement of the sun, guiding beacon for many cultures. The sun or moon being devoured by supernatural entities was a common theme in myths and legends, and a way to explain their sudden and temporary disappearances. 

The Examiner writes it was believed in Vietnam that a solar eclipse was evidence the sun was being eaten by a giant frog. In Korea it was thought the sun disappeared due to attacks by gigantic hounds. Mythical fire dogs called Bulgae were bid by the lord of a dark realm to chase down and bite the sun and moon. The sun was too hot and the moon too cold to bite for long, and the injured dogs would return without their prize. According to the Serrano natives of California, “an eclipse is the spirits of the dead trying to eat the Sun or Moon. So during an eclipse, the shamans and ceremonial assistants sing and dance to appease the dead spirits while everyone else shouts to try and scare the spirits away,” writes StarrySkies.com. The Vikings explained that eclipses were the doing of sky wolves, or warg, which would chase and eat both the sun and moon.

National Geographic writes about a legend wherein Hindu demon Rahu attempted to sneak a taste of an elixir of immortality. The sun and moon told the god Vishnu about Rahu’s crime. Vishnu sliced off Rahu’s head as the demon was drinking, so Rahu’s head became immortal, but his body died. In rage and frustration, Rahu’s head continues to chase the sun and moon, occasionally swallowing them. Because he has no body, however, the moon and sun disappear only momentarily, and fall out the bottom of his head.""

http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-general/ancient-myths-and-legends-served-explain-startling-phenomenon-solar-eclipse-002788

First Massive Solar Storm of 2015 Delivers Spectacular Auroras from Bursting Plasma Shoots of Sun

""A severe solar storm reached the Earth on Tuesday, contributing to a display of the aurora with the potential to stretch as far south as Oregon in the US, as well as being visible across unexpected reaches of the southern hemisphere.

Two blasts of magnetic plasma left the sun on Sunday, eventually combining and arriving on Earth on Tuesday about 15 hours earlier and much stronger than expected, said Thomas Berger, director of the Space Weather Prediction Centre in Boulder, Colorado. 

Authorities warned of possible disruption to power grids, GPS tracking and communication systems, but Berger said that in this case there were none of the bursts of radiation that can affect satellite operations.

The storm ranked a 4, called severe, on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s scale of 1-5 scale for geomagnetic effects. It is the strongest solar storm to reach Earth since the fall of 2013. It’s been nearly a decade since a level 5 storm, termed extreme, has hit Earth."" 

""Striking images came from Estonia and Alaska, while forecasters said there was the possibility of a sky show in much of Russia and northern Europe, as far south as central Germany and Poland.

In the southern hemisphere, displays were reported from Dunedin, New Zealand, and mainland Australian locations including Perth and Goulburn.""

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/mar/18/solar-storm-delivers-spectacular-aurora-displays-and-pictures

Measuring Billions of Elusive Neutrinos Flowing Through the Earth, UMass Amherst Physicists Learn More about the Sun

 ""AMHERST, Mass. - Using one of the most sensitive neutrino detectors on the planet, an international team including physicists Laura Cadonati and Andrea Pocar at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are now measuring the flow of solar neutrinos reaching earth more precisely than ever before. The detector probes matter at the most fundamental level and provides a powerful tool for directly observing the sun’s composition.

Pocar, Cadonati and colleagues report in the current issue of Physical Review Letters that the Borexino instrument has now measured with high precision the flux of the beryllium seven (7Be) solar neutrino, abundant, low-energy particles once below the observable threshold. With this advance, they can now precisely study the behavior of solar neutrinos with kinetic energy below 1 megaelectron volt (MeV). Borexino scientists also recently reported the first observation of neutrinos produced in a little-studied solar nuclear process known as proton-electron-proton, or pep, and set of stringent limit on reactions involving carbon, nitrogen and oxygen (the CNO cycle) in the sun.

Cadonati says, "Borexino is the only detector capable of observing the entire spectrum of solar neutrinos at once. Our results, the culmination of 20 years of research, greatly narrow the observation precision. The data confirm the neutrino oscillations, flavor changes and flow predicted by models of the sun and particle physics."""

http://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/newsreleases/articles/138249.php