Keeping a cool head

Merging solar panels, a straw hat and a fan, this invention could save lives in Valley heat.

By Dennis Pollock
The Fresno Bee
01/09/08 22:14:45

About eight years ago, an idea came to Tommie Nellon as he was installing solar panels in Fresno's 110-degree heat.

"It was so hot we had to use gloves to pick up [metal] tools," he said.

The entrepreneur who runs a multimillion-dollar company decided then and there to put solar panels on a wide-brimmed straw hat to power a fan that could cool him off.

It took four years to find the right fan for the job and about the same amount of time to work through the patent system.

In November, he got a patent for a "combined solar powered fan and hat for maximizing airflow through the hat." Nellon said he expects to start making the hats soon and to sell them for $29.95 each.

He said potential customers could range from farmworkers to amusement park visitors. Nellon has made dozens of the hats already, and his workers use them on the job with his company Unlimited Energy Inc. in Fresno.

"There was a guy who offered me $100 for a hat," Nellon said, displaying the slightly tattered one he has worn the past three years.

How green is this house? City of Fresno, partners team up to build home 75% less energy greedy.

[Editor's note: Unlimited Energy donated the solar energy system for this affordable, energy smart home. Photo of Unlimited's CEO Tommie Nellon with new home buyer Jessica Carranco.] 

First-time home buyer Jessica Carranco's new "green" home may not look like it has the latest in energy efficiencies.

But underneath, on top and inside this modest southeast Fresno home are materials and systems that save energy, require fewer resources and ultimately will be cheaper to maintain.

Project organizers estimate the 1,380-square-foot home will use 75% less energy than a conventional home.

"I am excited about having a lower energy bill, especially in Fresno when its gets 110 degrees in the summer," Carranco said Monday during an open-house tour of her nearly completed home.

Power on: Branch Library and Medical Center go Solar

Word on the Street - February 12, 2007

Fresno Bee

Unlimited Energy soon will install solar panels on two public buildings in San Francisco, marking a first for the Fresno-based company.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday approved a contract worth about $500,000 to install a 10-kilowatt solar system on the roof of the Chinatown Branch Library and a 30-kilowatt system on the Maxine Hall Medical Center.

Solar the way to go

Congress Extends Federal Solar Energy Tax Credits Through End of 2008

December 9, 2006

Solar Energy Industries Association