No More Batteries – Eco-Friendly Dynamo/Solar Flashlight
If you plan to go on a trip or just hitch-hike and you get angry every time you think about taking the big, heavy flashlight to help you in the dark, this is good news for you. You no longer have to carry batteries in your backpack, because there is a “easier” solution to that.
The Profitability of renewable Energy and Resources
An immediate and comprehensive transition to solar energy must talke priority over all other economic considerations.Any further delay will cost society more than it would to make the transition.The quicker and more comprehensively fossil energy and resources can be supplanted by their solar counterparts, the greater the cost saving to society and the less the strain on government budgets threatened by ever higher clean-up costs in the wake of fossil-fuel-induced catastrophe, be it storm od flood damage or regional wars over energy, the growing cost of waste disposal or the cost of maintaining an ever more bloated environmental protection bureaucracy. Read more
The Higher Productivity of Biological Materials
The long road from extraction of oil, coal or gas, through refining and complex industrial processes to finished chemical feedstocks is matched in the case of solar resources by planting, harvesting, storage, cleaning, drying, separation andtransport.In many cases, transport costs can be held to a minimum by growing the materials near the production plant.
The only disadvantage as far as productivity is concerned is the considerably greater need for personnel, although this also represents a significant social benefit.Giuliano Grassi has calculated that, for each terawatt of energy, natural gas requires 250 employees, crude oil 260, coal 270 and nuclear power 70, whereas producing solid fuels from crops requires 1145 employees and 1000 employees in the case of woodlands.The greater labour input probably also applies to the use of solar materials in the manufacture of chemical products in place of the equivalent fossil feedstocks. Read more
Kinetic Charger nPower Personal Energy Generator
nPower PEG is a kinetic charger designed by Tremont Electric,perfect for your electrical gadgets,that will not remain without power during walks or travels (in motion) … The performances of this devices are not so high, but can load 80% of a mobile phone battery in an hour, during a simple walk.nPower PEG (Personal Energy Generator) is very small, fit in your pocket or purse, and is very easy to use (by simply connecting to your phone or mp3).Tremont Electric say that if everyone would wear such a kinetic charger one hour per day, the energy saved would be enough to power to 21.000 homes for a year. Read more
Android Home Energy Monitor on Your Google Homepage
Energy Monitoring Systems seem to be very practical and efficient, reducing energy consumption, or keeping it under control.These systems could appear in every house because of the need to limit energy consumption. “Smart Grid is a new device which combines the 20th century consumers with 21st century technology resulting in a high efficiency in energy saving.Also ,this product,increases radically the reliability.Designers and engineers who developed this project can brag with the largest sales in 2009 on “Green market”.The U.S. government is about to impose the use of this smart grid in every house…” Read more
Output Amplification Devices for PV Installations
Industries producing alternative energy are evolving more and more, so solar systems launched on the markets are more efficienct and cheaper than systems used until now.Recently SolarEdge and BP Solar announced that they will reduce solar energy production costs by creating smart devices able to increase solar panels output.
This type of devices will appear in the near future more and more because inventiveness is the key to success in this field.Better than manufacturing other cheaper solar panels to reduce costs,researchers will attach amplification and monitoring devices on existing panels.
“The company states that losses due to problems such as shading, dust and a problem in any one panel in an array accounts to a total power reduction of as much as 20%. While solar companies have not succeeded in reducing the cost of panels by much, reducing these losses seems the need of the hour. The team is expected to soon test new products that should help reduce the cost of solar energy by making the panels more efficient. ” – www.ecofriend.org
Diamonds Used to Produce Solar Electricity
When I first read the title of this article I said: This is not possible! How to build a photovoltaic system with diamonds? It is not too expensive? Not require advanced technology too? And then I found out that Dr. Neil Fox from the University of Bristol’s School of Chemistry using thermionic energy converters (TECs), managed to create an efficient solar system (equipped with some parabolic dishes), able to generate a large amount of electricity (multi-megawatts).“The plan is to make use of devices called thermionic energy converters (TECs), which carry special electrodes using nano-particles of industrial diamond powered, which isn’t that expensive and is readily available as well. TECs are commonly used in spacecrafts where they require temperature well above 1,500˚C to produce sufficient electricity to power the craft.” - www.ecofriend.org
How to Check the Solar Radiation for Your Solar Panel
The Pyranometers are mechatronic devices suitable for measurement of solar irradiance on plane surfaces.ISO already stablished performance specifications for the pyranometers.These devices incorporate thermocouple-sensing elements that are imprinted on a thick film substrate.At his turn, this substrate is housed under Schott glass domes.The output signal cording to the specific design lies in the range of mV, which is directly proportional to the incoming radiance.
Pyranometers are a class of instruments used for measuring energy fluxes in the solar spectrum.These instruments are configured to measure what is referred to as global solar radiation, direct plus diffuse(scattered) solar radiation incidence on a horizontal surface.The sensing element of the typical pyranometers is protected by the clear glass dome that together protects the sensing element, and functions as filter and prevents the entry of energy outside the solar spectrum.The glass domes used on typical pyranometers are transparent to wavelengths in the range of 0,28 to 2,8 microns.Filters can be used instead of the clear glass dome to measure radiation in different spectral intervals.
Iceland-World Leader in Renewable Energy
Around 80% of energy requirements in western industrial societies are focused around heating or cooling buildings and powering the vehicles that ensure mobility(cars, trains, airplanes).However, most usages of renewable power focus on electricity generation.Some, such as geothermal heat pumps(also called ground-source heat pumps) focus specifically on heating and cooling.Heat pumps move heat around from one place to another transforming the temperature level.
Iceland is a world leader in renewable energy due to its abundant hydro- and geothermal energy sources.Over 99% of the country’s electricity is from renewable sources and most of its urban household heating is geothermal.Denmark was the initial leader in wind energy generation and remains the nation which produces the highest per capita levels of electricity production from wind.
Germany began to build up its wind capacity in earnest from the mid 1990’s with the application of generous political support and now has over one third of all wind generation capacity.In 2004, 6% od U.S. energy comes from renewable sources.Israel notably heats much of its household hot water through solar means and is developing new technologies for the generation of renewable energy from waste.
These countries’ successes are at least partly based on their geographical advantages, though it is worth noting that Germany does not have particularly good wind resources(much worse for example than the UK, where policies have led to much less success) and other factors have thus played an important part in its commitment to wind and other renewables.
Top 5 Renewable Energy Sources
The main interest regarding to alternative energy comes from the undesirable effects of pollution both from burning fossil fuels and from radioactive waste by-products.Renewable energy sources are environmentaly friendly energy sources that capture their energy from existing flows of energy, from on-going natural processes, such as sunshine, wind, flowing water and geotermal heat flows.Taking into account several aspects of costs and efficiency I have created a top of the main renewable energy sources:
1. Solar energy.
Solar energy is viewed as the clean and renewable source of energy for the future.The Sun will exist for a long time, but at any given place on the Earth’s surface the amount of sunlight recived is limited.And at night, or with overcast skies, or in high latitudes where winter days are short and for months there are may be no daylight at all, the sunlight recived is very limited at times.Most solar energy used today is harnessed as heat or electricity.Technologies that enable the use of solar energy may be grouped as below:
-Solar cells or photovoltaic cells;
-Solar heating systems;
-Solar design(is the use of architectural features to replace the use of grid electricity and fossil fuels with the use of solar energy and decrease the energy needed in a home or biulding with insulation and efficient lighting and appliances).
2.Wind energy.
Wind power is another alternative energy source that could be used without producting by-products that are harmful to nature, even if it is noisy.Like solar power, harnessing the wind is highly dependent upon weather and location.The best inland windfarm sites tend to be where air funnels through passes in the hills that are also commonly flyways for birds.The bird kills have caused the Aubudon Society to file law-suits in some areas to prevent wind energy installations.Wind can produce some electricity and can be a significand aid in the total demand, with electricity as the end product.
3.Water energy.
Hydroelectric power comes from the damming of rivers and utilizing the potential energy stored in the water.As the water stored behind a dam is released at high pressure, its kinetic energy is transferred onto turbine blades and esed to generate electricity.This system has enormous costs up front, but has relatively low maintenance costs and provides power quite cheap.
4.Geothermal energy.
Geothermal energy is an alternative energy source, altough it is not resourceful enough to replace nore than a minor amount of the fututre’s energy needs.Geothermal energy is obtained from the internal heat of the planet and can be used to generate steam to run a steam turbine.This in turn generates electricity, which is a very useful form of energy.Geothermal energy can be only a minor contributor to world energy supplies, and the end product is electricity, the limitations of which have already been described.
5.Biomass.
Biomass is organic non-fossil material.In other words biomass comprises the mass of all biological organisms, dead or alive, excluding biological mass that has been transformed by biological processes into substances such as coal and petroleum.
World’s Largest Solar Energy Plant Proposed for Australia
We all know that Australia the fifth largest country in the world and the also smallest continent. It is also known as a dry, arid continent because solar energy is very high in the largest part of the country. Because the temperatures generally reach 38 degrees Celsius, Australia is a good place to mount solar panels in a very large area.
Same thinking has been adopted by Austalian , Kevin Rudd, which will invest $ 1.05 million for building the world’s largest solar energy plant.With an output power of 1000MW this solar power plant will be three times larger and more efficient than the largest solar central from California.
Australian Government hopes to obtain the first place in the green energy production field. “We do not want to be followers worldwide clean energy, we want to be clean energy leaders worldwide…The government plans to invest with industry in the biggest solar generation plant in the world, three times the size of the current world’s biggest, which is in California” Prime Minister Rudd said.
Obama’s Green Speech at Notre Dame
Source: www.treehugger.com
NASA’s New SMART Helicopters
“A SMART Rotor using piezoelectric actuators to drive the trailing edge flaps was tested in the 40- by 80-foot tunnel in 155-knot wind to simulate conditions the rotor design would experience in high-speed forward flight. The rotor also was tested at cruise speed conditions of 124 knots to determine which of three trailing edge flap patterns produced the least vibration and noise. One descent condition also was tested.Results showed that the SMART Rotor can reduce by half the amount of noise it puts out within the controlled environment of the wind tunnel. The ultimate test of SMART rotor noise reduction capability would come from flight tests on a real helicopter, where the effects of noise that reproduces through the atmosphere and around terrain could be evaluated…” – www.sciencedaily.com
“Smart” Meters in Every British House in 2020
Few weeks ago we presented a system that can make electricity savings in our homes, keeping all our gadgets under control,reducing consumption, and managing each device separately.“Smart Grid is a new device which combines the 20th century consumers with 21st century technology resulting in a high efficiency in saving energy.Also ,this product,increases radically the reliability.Designers and engineers who developed this project can brag with the largest sales in 2009 on “Green market”.The U.S. government is about to impose the use of this smart grid in every house…” – http://www.mygreentreasure.com/2009/04/advantages-of-using-smart-grid-technology/Your Bike Could Be an USB Gadget Charger
Until now we could see many strange sources of energy,sources used for charging our gadgets.One of the most bizarre was the kinetic energy generated by a shoe in motion. “This electricity shoe generator can be built with a small generator from a rechargeable flashlight( rig it up so you can turn the generator axle when you step down, and channel that energy to a cell phone or other portable device).So wherever you are, with such shoes you will not remain without electricity on your mobile phone.The only thing that you have to keep in mind is,when you build such a device you must give attention on shoe design(to maintain the usual appearance of a shoe).” – http://www.mygreentreasure.com/2009/04/electricity-shoe-generator-for-your-mobile-phone/
This bike you can see in the picture above has attached a Maxon motor rated at 6V, which is mounted behind the wheel brake, and when we are in motion, rotation is transmitted to the motor producing green energy for any device that we want to charge.This motor could be even more expensive than a bicycle, but to produce energy in a green way deserves a little sacrifice ($ 275).
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine ,Insensitive to Wind Direction
How to Build The Most Efficient Wind Farm
Wind is the air in movement with a certain speed due to the pressure gradients over the earth surface produced by solar radiation.In Equatorial Regions the air temperature is greater than in Polar Regions, and air pressure gradient results.Therefore a mass of air flow with a certain kinetic energy is developed.Kinetic energy of the wind can be converted into mechanical energy using wind turbines.Shaft of wind turbines can drive electric generators producing electrical energy.
Wind energy is plentiful renewable, widely distributed, clean, and reduces toxic atmospheric and greenhouse gas emissions if it is used to replace fossil fuel power plants.Wind-powered generators currently with a total worldwide capacity 75 GW produce just over 1% of world-wide electrical energy.Globally, wind power generation more than quadrupled in the last four years.
Onshore turbines installations in hilly or mountains regions tend to be about three kilometers or more inland from the nearest shoreline.These areas tend to be windy and are good sites for turbine installation, because a primary source of wind is convention caused by the differential heating and cooling of land and sea over the cycle of day and night.
The hill or ridge causes the wind to accelerate as it is forced over it.The additional wind speeds gained in this way make large differences to the amount of energy that is produced.Wind farms or wind parks usually have many turbines installed.Each turbine can affect the wind recived by the turbine behind.Since each turbine extracts some of the energy of the wind, it is important to provide adequate spacing between turbines to avoid excess energy loss by interaction effect.Where land area is sufficient, turbines are spaced three of five rotor diameters apart perpendicular to the prevailing wind, and five to ten rotor diameters apart in the direction of the prevailing wind, to minimize efficiency loss and “wind park effect”.
The kinetic energy of a given mass flow of air m(kg) that travels with the velocity v(m/s) through the swept area A of a wind turbine has a mass per unit of time pAv (kg/s), where p is the specific mass of the air (p=1,201 kg/cubic meter) at atmospheric conditions of pressure and temperature(NTP).
The mass flow of air that travels through the swept area A of wind turbine varies with the wind speed and air density.The relation gives the absorbed power by the turbine due to mass per unit of time traveling at speed v,Pabs measured in watts: Pabs =1/2(pAv)v*v=1/2pAv*v*v , which is proportional to the swept area A and the cube of the wind speed v.The equation shows that for a given wind speed when the area is doubled the absorbed turbine power is also doubled.However for a constant area A if the wind speed is doubled the turbine power increases eight times, but if the speed is halved the turbine power reduces to 12,5%.
This example shows the importance to keep the wind speed as constant as possible.Due to the reduced influence of drag of the surface (rea or land) the wind blows faster at higher altitudes.Near the surface wind speed is affected by topography, surface roughness, and upwind obstacles such as trees or buildings.The increase of wind speeds versus height follows typically a logarithmin profile.This means that doubling the altitude od a turbine it is expected that the wind speed increases by 10% and consequently increasing power by about 34%.
Basic Concepts of the Energy Conservation
Nowadays, all countries, and aspecially those with a high level of development are more dependent on the existence of non-reusable sources of energy.
In this context, the concept of energy conservation acquires new valences, and the energetic policy is more and more oriented towards the management of the demand of energy.
The energy management stands for the assembly of istitutional and functional measures taken in order to guarantee the application of the energetic policy or to ensure on the microeconomic level, the supply of energy , the storage, the transformation, the distribution and the use of the latter and the treatment of the waste resulted according to precise conditions.On the basis of the complex activity of energy management,there are the basic concepts of the energy conservation:
a) Energy saving – measures or results of the actions undetaken by the producers and users of energy in order to avoid the waste(limitation of device empty running;avoidance of the over-heating of the dwelling spaces).
b) Rational/efficient use of energy – use of the energy by the consumers in the most adequate manner for the accomplishment of the purposes, taking into consideration the social, political, financical, ecological restrictions etc.(heating through systems of combined production of electrical energy and heat).
c) Subtitution of several forms of energy and energetic processes with other, better adapted – measures that refer to changes deliberately made as part of an energy policy, beside the economic, technological or ecological reasons(the substitution of the natural gas with carbon dust in the metallurgic funraces or in the cement kilns).
Solar Powered Window Blinds SuniT
These SuniT solar blinds have been designed by Yoon Lee designer and have a lot of advantages that are very useful every day.These solar blinds can warm and light any room where are installed in the cheapest way possible.The exterior of these blinds are equipped with solar cells which can transmit solar energy in an efficient way behind of the blind.There is located the intelligent system that heats the room.This rear part consists of 5 panels, OLED and DSSc panels separated by 3 plastic panels.These blinds are made from organic material, very cheap, as is the installation.The light that is produced in the room can be set by user preference (density,color, contrast).
Pedal-Powered Concert to Celebrate Earth Day
To show gratitude for the earth day was held a concert with electricity produced by a pedal-power system and a group of cyclists: