Melting steel with solar power
Posted by Laird on Dec 8, 2008
Melting steel with solar power
AWESOME
Green Your Heating This Winter
Posted by Laird on Nov 24, 2008
Green Your Heating This Winter
Winter is coming and with it the high heating bills not to mention the amount of gases that are sent into the air we breathe. The winter season does not have to be spent wrapped in a blanket or thermal wear and turning the heat full blast. There are many simple ways you can stay warm and keep the air you breathe cleaner.
One of the simplest ways most people do not even think of when they are considering the cold winds blowing is their windows. The windows are one source of cold air that adds to the work your heating system is doing when it is struggling to keep the temperature at the setting you have chosen.
If you do not have storm windows or cannot afford them right now, the next best alternative is to get plastic insulation. It is clear so you can still see out your windows. The type that can be fitted by heating is a good alternative to letting the windows add to the cold air in the room. You will be surprised just how much of a difference this can make in your home.
Another way that is often overlooked and will work for both heat and air is the ceiling fan. They are not as expensive as they once were and one with a low setting that turns slowly can spread the heat or air. Everyone knows heat goes up so what better way to push it back down to where you are than to put up an inexpensive ceiling fan and enjoy the warmth.
Solar power is one source of energy that many people are finding is a great alternative to electrical power. There are many solar appliances becoming more commonplace today. For instance, there are many solar hot water heaters in use. This is an excellent way of heating your water. Solar panels are being installed in roofs to capture the warmth of the sun and distribute it to many different household uses. Much of the recent news about solar power is concerned with using it to actually generate electricity to save on your utility bills.
Here is another way of saving on heating bills as well as energy. The rooms that you do not use do not need to be as warm as the ones you are spending your time in. Besides which the rooms you are in until time to retire will be warmer just by having more people in them. Everyone generates body heat and if there are several people in one room the temperature will go up by more than you would think possible. By keeping doors closed and confining activities to certain areas of the house you will be using less energy and utilizing something you already have. This can also be a way to save energy when you are not home.
By turning the thermostat down to a cooler setting, you are saving energy that would just be wasted when the house is empty. Many people use timed thermostats for this purpose - turning the heat on/up just before rising in the morning, before everyone is due to be home, and this can also be used for turning the hot water tank on and off.
Get the whole family involved. Sit down together and make a list of everyone’s suggestions when it comes to saving energy and making the air we breathe cleaner. You might be surprised at some of the ideas your family will come up with.
Green Web Hosting
Posted by Laird on Sep 8, 2008
Green Web Hosting You Can Feel Good About
Solar Energy Hosting is the conscious solution for green web hosting in an age of global warming and climate change. By using a green Energy Host your website is hosted using solar energy- the energy powering your site comes directly from the sun! This is better than “Carbon Neutral” because it does not involve the purchasing of Carbon Credits. By hosting your website with a Solar Energy Host, you are making a real difference in reducing climate change.
Here are two links to solar powered green hosters.
Green hosting 1
Solar Backpacks and Luggage
Posted by Laird on Sep 6, 2008
Solar Backpacks and Luggage - Green Gadget of the Year
Solar bags are some of the coolest green products out there, and they make a great gift, too! Compare and choose which one best meets your needs and your taste. The name says it all, the Voltaic Backpack Solar Powered Backpack is a daypack that host several small solar panels on the back of the bag.
The idea is that the Voltaic Backpack Solar Powered Backpack can charge your small electronics such as MP3 players, cameras, etc as you travel. You can also switch the sun jar completely off to save power. Keeping the lantern in bright sunlight for 8 hours you will supply it with power for 3 hours. If you need it fully charged then you should keep it in the sunlight for 30 hours.
Rules of thumb for sizing your solar panels
Posted by Laird on Aug 4, 2008
Rules of thumb for sizing solar panels
Whilst each solar hot water system should be designed properly, it is helpful to have a method for estimating the size of the system components. 1sqm per person - This means for each person in the household, there should be 1 square metre of flat plate solar panel area. This rule assumes a south-facing pitched roof.
50Litres/sqm - For each square metre of solar panel area, there should be around 50 Litres of hot water storage in your hot water cylinder.
Example
Lets say there a 4 people in your house. You would want 2 solar panels of 2sqm each (2m x 1m). To suit this system, there should be around 200 Litres in your hot water cylinder at least.
Solar dyes give a guiding light
Posted by Laird on Jul 29, 2008
Current solar plants need large mobile mirrors to produce energy
A new way capturing the energy from the Sun could increase the power generated by solar panels tenfold, a team of American scientists has shown.
The new technique involves coating glass with a specific mixture of transparent dyes which redirect light to photovoltaic cells in the frame.
The technology, outlined in the journal Science, could be used to convert glass buildings into vast energy plants.
The technology could be in production within three years, the team said.
“It makes sense to coat the side of [very tall] buildings with these new panes,” Professor Marc Baldo, one of the researchers on the team, told BBC News. “It’s not far fetched at all.”
Colour trick
The most advanced attempts to generate large amounts of electricity via the Sun require the use of a solar concentrator.
These are often bulky mobile mirrors that work by tracking the progress of the Sun and concentrating its beams on the cell at its heart.
But there are downsides to this technology: the cells at the centre have to be constantly cooled, and each concentrator requires a large amount of space to avoid shadowing its neighbour.
The technology collects and focuses different colours of sunlight
The technology collects and focuses different colours of sunlight
The new technology does away with the need for mirrors and mobility.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) team has found a way
to coat panes of glass or plastic with a mixture of several dyes that essentially do the same job.
“What we have is a piece of glass, with a very thin layer of paint or dye on top,” explained Professor Baldo.
“The light comes in and hits the dye and which absorbs it and re-emits the light, but now it’s inside the glass so it bounces along there until it gets to the edge. So you only need to mount the solar cells around the edge.”
The idea was first developed in the 1970s but was abandoned because much of the light energy was lost en route to the cell.
But using its expertise in optical techniques and a specific mixture of dyes, the MIT team has found a way to make the light travel much farther without losing as much energy along the way.
Window future
“When you do this there is a little bit of energy loss with the dye,” said Professor Baldo.
“The main benefit is with the cost. You use a far smaller amount of solar cells. For the same area of solar cells, you get much more electricity.”
Existing solar installations could also benefit from the new concentrator, he said.
“You could take this new kind of glass and put it on top of an existing solar cell so the cell still generates electricity but this glass pane with the dye on top captures a certain part of the spectrum and converts it more efficiently than the solar cell would do on its own.”
The MIT team believes it could improve existing panels by 50%.
In addition, the system is simple to manufacture, requiring little more than to coat glass or plastic with the combination of dyes. It could be in production within three years, the researchers believe.
If that becomes a reality, one obvious application, they said, was converting windows into energy plants.
“The coated glass would let through about 10% of the Sun to light up the room, and the remainder would be captured and funnelled to the edges to solar cells to generate electricity,” said Professor Baldo.
“It would look like smoked glass because of the dyes.”
By Matt McGrath
BBC science correspondent
Green Tip of the Week
Posted by Laird on Jun 30, 2008
Green tip of the Week
Use the (Free) power of the Sun to recharge ipods, MP3 players, Cell phone’s, Camera’s and a whole bunch of other gadgets, there are some wonderful little Solar wallets coming onto the market, not only do they save money on Electricity bills but are also portable devises allowing you to charge up your gizmos while out on the road or at home.
The Solar Wallet is is a win win device.
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Solar Lighting Brightens Our Nights
Posted by tich on Jun 13, 2008
There has been a boom in environmental awareness across the nation. It is a wonderful thing to hear but why has it taken us so long? In the 1980’s we had solar cell calculators and were becoming aware of the importance of recycling.
Did we listen? Only a few people took the information to heart. Now with this massive want for going green you can take these words to heart and put it to good use. solar lighting
is here and now. It is available in indoor and outdoor lights.
You can power your garden fountain with solar energy. You can charge your cell phone or ipod with solar energy. Instead of using non-renewable fossil fuels why not use the FREE power of the sun. Online sites offer catalogues and shopping services for solar powered products. There are over 300 different solar lighting products available through a single site online.
You can find decorative lighting for your walkway, a street lamp, a street sign, address/house numbers and much more. These lighting methods do not give off any harmful fumes or use coal or oil to light. Your item charges during the day as the sun shines brightly and at night your lights are luminous and brilliant.
Why would we continue to use electricity that harms our environment and ourselves when we have a safer version available? See for yourself by trying a solar powered product today. Take some time to search solar lighting or solar power and you will be amazed that in the year 2030 we may all be using solar power in our homes.
Source: power of the sun
What is Alternative Energy?
Posted by tich on Jun 4, 2008
There is a lot of energy that we can harness if we only seek to research and develop the technologies needed to do so. We can get away from the fossil fuels and the old electrical grids by turning to alternatives to these energy sources.
One of these alternative energy resources is wind power. Wind turbines continue to be developed that are progressively more energy efficient and less costly. “Wind farms” have been springing up in many nations, and they have even become more strategically placed over time so that they are not jeopardizing birds as former wind turbines did.
Another alternative energy resource is the one that is most well known: solar energy. This involves the manufacturing of solar cells which gather and focus the energy given off directly by the sun, and translate it into electricity or, in some cases, hot water. As with wind energy, solar energy creates absolutely zero pollution.
Ocean wave energy is seen by governments and investors as having enormous energy generating potential. A generator in France has been in operation for many years now and is considered to be a great success, and the Irish and Scots are running experimental facilities.
Hydroelectric power has been with us for a while and where it is set up, it is a powerful generator of electricity and cleaner than a grid. However, there are certain limitations to the availability of the right places to set up a large dam. Many run-of-the-river, or small and localized, hydroelectric generators have been set up in recent times due to this limitation.
Geothermal energy is extremely abundant, since it lies directly beneath our feet, just a few miles below the earth’s surface. This energy is produced by the heating of water through the actions of earth’s fantastically hot molten core. The water turns to steam, which can be harnessed and used to drive turbine engines which in turn generate electricity. Great amounts of research and development should be put into geothermal energy tapping.
Waste gas energies, which are essentially methane, reverse the usual energy-pollution relationship by creating energy from waste that lies in the dumps and from some air pollutants. This gas is used in fuel cells and can be used in standard gasoline generators.
Ethanol is a gasoline substitute and is created from such things as wheat, sugarcane, grapes, strawberries, corn, and even wood chips and wood cellulose. There is controversy over this fuel with regards to its ever becoming truly economical or practical except in very localized areas, but technologies for its extraction and admixturing are continuously being refined.
Biodiesel energy is created out of the oils contained in plants. So far, the commercial stores of biodiesel have been created using soybean, rapeseed, and sunflower oils. At the time of this writing, biodiesel is typically produced by entrepreneurial minded individuals or those who want to experiment with alternative energy, but commercial interest from companies is on the rise. It burns much cleaner than oil-based diesel.
Atomic energy is created in atomic energy plants using the process of nuclear fission. This energy is extremely efficient and can generate huge amounts of power. There is concern from some people about what to do with the relatively small amount of waste product atomic energy gives off, since it is radioactive and takes hundreds of years to decay into harmlessness.
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Source: Nuclear Energy
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Making Solar Power Portable
Posted by Laird on May 27, 2008
Solar energy is a clean and efficient for of energy. The demand for it is greater than the supply. The cost of supplying electricity to remote locations is expensive and time consuming. Solar power is an excellent alternative. Portable solar power has been referred to as packaging sunlight. The concept is using an adapter to allow you to use solar power that has been accumulated during times when you do not have enough solar energy. They are mainly used at night.
Battery chargers with solar power are very popular. They simply plug into your cigarette lighter and charge your car ..
Source: alternative energy
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