Monday, October 30, 2006

Household water saving Peoject started

New project targeting water usage and water savings in households is on the way in Australia. This project planed to span over three years will gather data, and will provide "bullet Proof" solutions to todays problems in water usage in households.
According to Project leader, Dr Rodney Stewart;
"Until now there has been little hard, specific data available on the effect of different water saving technologies on household consumption.

"Government rebates on items such as tanks and whitegoods are vital to encourage consumers to buy water-saving technology and this study will enable governments to prioritise which technology to subsidise."

The project will involve selecting 100 homes with average-to-high water use in South East Queensland, a region pinpointed as Australia’s fastest growing metropolitan area, and one under massive pressure to meet escalating domestic water demand.

They will collect and analyse data from before and after the installation of the water saving devices then present the findings to local and state government water authorities nationwide.

This will also enable water authorities to tackle the massive water loss that occurs in the supply system before the water even reaches homes.

"Up to 10 per cent of Australia’s drinking water is lost through pressure leaks in the system before it even reaches us," Dr Stewart said.
I think this is not only a problem in Australia but everywhere and any solution this research will benefit all of us.

Links;
Project press release

Sunday, October 29, 2006

A new 3435AH Battery for your Solar Power system


Surrette Battery, a leading Canadian lead-acid battery manufacturer has a new, higher capacity giant for your Solar/Renewable Energy battery needs. I meant Giant, well at least you have to be a giant to lift or carry it at 285 pounds or 130 KG weight.
There is more than the size or weight to this battery, known as 2-YS-31PS, The lead acid battery features the same durability, performance and ease of maintenance as every Surrette battery, but its larger size and additional capacity of 3424AH allow the system to minimize parallel connections in your solar power storage system, thereby maximizing charge efficiency and reliability. The new 2-YS-31PS design maximizes cell size and bank capacity, which reduces the depth of cycles while increasing the battery’s longevity. In addition, the larger capacity allows users to minimize the number of cells in their system, cutting down maintenance time.
Here are the numbers for the battery;
2-YS-31PS Specifications:
Model: 2-YS-31PS
Overall Dims: 15 ½” x 9” x 31 5/8"
Weight Wet Est: 285 LB/130 KG
Max Ht with optional Hydrocaps: 32 1/9”
Weight Est: 200 LB/91 KG
Capacity: 1993 AH 8 HR
2430 AH 20 HR
3435 AH 100 HR
You will be able to get the battery from Surrette or it's dealers. In the USA Rolls battery is the name for Surrette Batteries.
Links
Surrette Battery
Rolls Battery

Friday, October 27, 2006

Solar Power need no pushing, it will pick up speed naturally....

According to Author, fund manager, and former corporate buyout expert Travis Bradford in "Solar Revolution."
The president and founder of the Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development in Cambridge, Mass., says we are on the doorstep of the solar era. He's not forecasting something that will occur in the next century. Bradford offers the evidence of a trend that is well under way and that will gain relentless momentum within the next two decades.

I came across the news on Plenty Magazine (How to go green), which I started reading from Issue 5, Which is now available in digital format. Go register and you will learn a lot. The article was "Lighten Up" by Trevor Stokes. it is an interview with Travis Bradford.

Plenty: Why do you think solar energy will be part of the solution to today’s energy crisis?

Bradford: The answer to that is very simple: Today solar energy costs 10 percent of what it did to install in the mid- to late-1970s. The products have gotten more mature; the efficiencies have improved; the costs have come down—all using the exact same photovoltaic technologies. The more we make, the cheaper it gets. We’ve entered a phase where it’s cheap enough to install the technology in lots of places; every time we install more it gets cheaper.

Read the rest of the article at Plenty.

Friday, October 20, 2006

SEPA award goes to PGandE for its solar energy programs, for the second time!

PGandE has interconnected more than 13,000 customers with solar generating systems to the power grid -- representing more than 100 megawatts and more than any other utility in the nation. In just the past 24 months, PGandE has interconnected nearly 4,000 customers representing 35 megawatts of solar power. PGandE has also provided more than $150 million in rebates to nearly 300 solar customers through the utility's self-generation incentive program, which helps offset the cost of installing solar and other forms of clean, on-site generation such as wind and fuel cells. And for all these work, an award from the Solar Electric Power Association.
his is the second time in two years that PGandE has received SEPA's Solar Business Achievement in the category of public awareness and industry leadership. This is also the first time SEPA has honored any company with a "repeat" award.
PGandE is hosting the Solar Power 2006 conference being held in San Jose from October 16 to 19. King made introductory remarks to welcome over 4,000 conference attendees, which I attended. I plan to attend next year as well.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Is your hot water usage putting you in hot water?


Then read GREEN TIPS published by UCS, which I am a member! and I urge you to join UCS even if you are not a scientist. It is a good source of information on energy, world and local matters that matters to all of us, and pure good science for cleaner and healthier living. Most of my articles are originated from the ideas I receive from UCS and I am sure you will wonder, why did not I find this site before!

Now back in to hot water, A few years, a decade ago, I worked on a project to introduce Solar Energy to a third world country, factory. This factory needed a lot of hot water and steam in order to operate and they were spending a fortune in heating water that used boilers that were so old I could not even guess the age.
Due to monitory reasons they were not willing to replace the boilers and the project fund was not that big either.
So we decided to construct solar water heaters on the factory roof and feed the boilers with heated water so that it would use less energy to heat the water. All the people were sceptical because the factory was in a cold area higher up in the mountains. But we saw that, when sun shines, it shines better.
The water the factory was getting was from a natural stream, and water was cold to touch.
So we sat out to produce solar water heater, which were very crude, from copper plates, copper tubes and Matt black paint. We produced about 30 panels about one square meter and connected them in serial manner. We fed cold water in one end and checked out the other end, Viola, near steaming water came out on sunny days. Even on cold gloomy days, water temperature was much higher than that of the stream.
The factory workers and the owners (The same) were very happy to see the results. They started saving a lot of money as they connected the output of the solar heater to the input of the boilers. After a decade, now they have much better solar heater and boilers. All made locally by technicians that we trained. This is something I always remember when I think of solar power. It makes me extremely happy.
Now back to the UCS green tips article,

Water heating accounts for approximately 15 percent of the average household’s total energy consumption (and a sizable chunk of its energy costs). If your water heater is more than 10 years old it is likely running at less than 50 percent efficiency—wasting energy and money—but most people don’t replace their water heater until it fails. Upgrading to a new, more efficient model will lower not only your monthly expenses, but also your contribution to air pollution and global warming.

Before you shop for a new water heater, however, make sure you’ve done everything you can to minimize your hot water use. Install water-saving fixtures and appliances, for example, and insulate your pipes. Then, choose the most energy-efficient model that meets your needs and budget; three types are described below.

So I ask you to click on the link below and read the rest of the article, you may get out of the hot water you are in right now!
Links;
Hot water with less worry
UCS Union of Concerned Scientists
Incentives for renewable energy
Tags: , , , , , <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/green+tips" rel="tag">green tips

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Google beats Microsoft! in Solar power

Google asks you to be a copycat, not in search, but saving earth.
We hope corporate America is paying attention. We want to see a lot of copycats' of this project, Radcliffe said, After just revealing plans to install what some say is the nation's largest corporate solar project.

Google plans to put about 9,200 solar panels on six buildings at its Mountain View headquarters by next spring. The project, which will be built by San Rafael-based EI Solutions, will produce up to 1.6 megawatts of electricity -- or enough to supply 30 percent of the campus' electricity on a hot summer day. Or just be able to power about 1000 normal households.

'That would be the record for a solar installation,' said Noah Kaye, spokesman for the Solar Energy Industries Association.

The announcement comes as Silicon Valley hosts the largest solar industry gathering in U.S. history and at a time when companies and government agencies are seeking cost-effective ways to ensure reliable electrical power.

Google seems to be beating Microsost even in this endevour, it is 1.6 MW against 0.480MW! Microsoft's Silicon Valley campus, for instance, flipped the switch on a 480-kilowatt solar-panel system earlier this year. The Santa Clara Valley Water District and Cypress Semiconductor of Sunnyvale also have large solar-panel installations in Silicon Valley.

Industry experts said recent threats of rolling power blackouts along with state-funded economic incentives are pushing solar's popularity.

in addition to this solar power conversion, Google has also installed motion sensors in rooms to turn lights on and off; serves only organic foods in its cafeterias and provides a commuter shuttle that removes hundreds of cars from the road each day, Radcliffe said.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Climate Change in the U.S. Northeast Report is released

Last week, a team of independent scientists and researchers, in collaboration with the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), released a new report detailing how global warming is poised to substantially change the climate in the Northeast.

Please read the report (in PDF format) so you can download and read at leisure.

If you do not have time to read the full report, at least read the The Changing Northeast Climate: Our Choices, Our Legacy (PDF) UCS produced eight-page summary of the NECIA (
Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment) climate change report.
It is a very good read if you are even a tiny bit interested in our world, our earth, and our climate.

UCS is an independent nonprofit alliance of more than 100,000 concerned citizens and scientists. We augment rigorous scientific analysis with innovative thinking and committed citizen advocacy to build a cleaner, healthier environment and a safer world. I invite you to join the alliance.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Off the Grid In Berkshire, MA

Berkshire Eagle reports about Andre Rambaud never gets a case of sticker shock when he opens his monthly electric bill, even in the harsh winter months.

That is because his bill has always been $6.50 for quite a while. Andre say that even electricity company suspected that he is cheating with his electricity usage. But the company was wrong and his secret lies in his basement bunker.
Since 1994, Rambaud's home — and the 35-lot no-frills campsite he built on the 475 magnificent acres he has owned for 46 years — has been "off the grid."

"I started this project because I wanted to be completely independent," the 74-year-old said.
An underground concrete bunker sits next to his house, and within the bunker, housed in a small vault made of 1-foot-thick concrete, is a hydroelectric generator that runs off a spring a mile up the mountainside.

Above the din of the generator, Rambaud explained that the force of the water coming down the mountain creates pressure of 300 pounds per square inch, and the generator translates it into 65 megawatt hours of electricity per year.
The average family home uses about 12 megawatt hours per year.

My only question is why he is not selling his electricity back to the grid. Just only with his electricity about 4 families. But that may be in the coming.

What advise does Andre gives to rest of us?

Rambaud admits that he's in the minority: blessed with abundant acreage; a cold, clear spring; and a steep mountainside to provide gravitational pressure for hydroelectricity, he can go farther off the grid than almost anyone.

He suggests that sustainable energy novices could start with smaller projects, like solar panels and energy-efficient double-paned windows that are insulated with argon gas.
"The average person can't take it to this level," he said. "But something has to be done."
Cynthia Grippaldi from the Center for Ecological Technology agrees with Rambaud and acknowledges that many people feel "powerless" in the face of the mounting energy and ecological crisis.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Flickr

This is a test post from flickr, a fancy photo sharing thing.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

How Solar Power works Part III The final!!

Solar Thermal Concentrating Systems

By using mirrors and lenses to concentrate the rays of the sun, solar thermal systems can produce very high temperaturesas high as 3,000 degrees Celsius. This intense heat can be used in industrial applications or to produce electricity.

Solar concentrators come in three main designs: parabolic troughs, parabolic dishes, and central receivers. The most common is parabolic troughslong, curved mirrors that concentrate sunlight on a liquid inside a tube that runs parallel to the mirror. The liquid, at about 300 degrees Celsius, runs to a central collector, where it produces steam that drives an electric turbine.

Parabolic trough concentrators (33 kb)

Parabolic trough concentrators. Source: NREL

Parabolic dish concentrators are similar to trough concentrators, but focus the sunlight on a single point. Dishes can produce much higher temperatures, and so, in principle, should produce electricity more efficiently. But because they are more complicated, they have not succeeded outside of demonstration projects.

A more promising variation uses a stirling engine to produce power. Unlike a car’s internal combustion engine, in which gasoline exploding inside the engine produces heat that causes the air inside the engine to expand and push out on the pistons, a stirling engine produces heat by way of mirrors that reflect sunlight on the outside of the engine. These dish-stirling generators produce about 30 kilowatts of power, and can be used to replace diesel generators in remote locations.

The third type of concentrator system is a central receiver. One such plant in California features a "power tower" design in which a 17-acre field of mirrors concentrates sunlight on the top of an 80-meter tower. The intense heat boils water, producing steam that drives a 10-megawatt generator at the base of the tower. The first version of this facility, Solar One, operated from 1982 to 1988 but had a number of problems. Reconfigured as Solar Two during the early to mid-1990s, the facility is successfully demonstrating the ability to collect and store solar energy efficiently. Solar Two’s success has opened the door for further development of this technology.

To date, the parabolic trough has had the greatest commercial success of the three solar concentrator designs, in large part due to the nine Solar Electric Generating Stations (SEGS) built in California’s Mojave Desert from 1985 to 1991. Ranging from 14 to 80 megawatts and with a total capacity of 354 megawatts, each of these plants is still operating effectively.

As a result of state and federal policies and incentives, more commercial-scale solar concentrator projects are under development. Modified versions of the SEGS plants are being constructed in Arizona (one megawatt) and Nevada (65 megawatts). In addition, Stirling Energy Systems received approval from the California Public Utility Commission in October 2005 to build a 500-megawatt facility (with the option to add 350 megawatts) in the Mojave Desert using the parabolic dish design. Beginning in January 2009, the plant will supply power to Southern California Edison under a 20-year contract that will help the utility meet its requirements under the state’s renewable electricity standard.

Photovoltaics

In 1839, French scientist Edmund Becquerel discovered that certain materials would give off a spark of electricity when struck with sunlight. This photoelectric effect was used in primitive solar cells made of selenium in the late 1800s. In the 1950s, scientists at Bell Labs revisited the technology and, using silicon, produced solar cells that could convert four percent of the energy in sunlight directly to electricity. Within a few years, these photovoltaic (PV) cells were powering spaceships and satellites.

The most important components of a PV cell are two layers of semiconductor material generally composed of silicon crystals. On its own, crystallized silicon is not a very good conductor of electricity, but when impurities are intentionally added—a process called doping—the stage is set for creating an electric current. The bottom layer of the PV cell is usually doped with boron, which bonds with the silicon to facilitate a positive charge (P). The top layer is doped with phosphorus, which bonds with the silicon to facilitate a negative charge (N).

The surface between the resulting “p-type” and “n-type” semiconductors is called the P-N junction (see the diagram below). Electron movement at this surface produces an electric field that only allows electrons to flow from the p-type layer to the n-type layer.

When sunlight enters the cell, its energy knocks electrons loose in both layers. Because of the opposite charges of the layers, the electrons want to flow from the n-type layer to the p-type layer, but the electric field at the P-N junction prevents this from happening. The presence of an external circuit, however, provides the necessary path for electrons in the n-type layer to travel to the p-type layer. Extremely thin wires running along the top of the n-type layer provide this external circuit, and the electrons flowing through this circuit provide the cell’s owner with a supply of electricity.

Most PV systems consist of individual square cells averaging about four inches on a side. Alone, each cell generates very little power (less than two watts), so they are often grouped together as modules. Modules can then be grouped into larger panels encased in glass or plastic to provide protection from the weather, and these panels, in turn, are either used as separate units or grouped into even larger arrays.

Click on the graphic above to
see a full-size diagram of a
PV cell. Illustration: Amanda
Wait/DG Communications

The three basic types of solar cells made from silicon are single-crystal, polycrystalline, and amorphous.

  • Single-crystal cells are made in long cylinders and sliced into round or hexagonal wafers. While this process is energy-intensive and wasteful of materials, it produces the highest-efficiency cellsas high as 25 percent in some laboratory tests. Because these high-efficiency cells are more expensive, they are sometimes used in combination with concentrators such as mirrors or lenses. Concentrating systems can boost efficiency to almost 30 percent. Single-crystal accounts for 29 percent of the global market for PV.
  • Polycrystalline cells are made of molten silicon cast into ingots or drawn into sheets, then sliced into squares. While production costs are lower, the efficiency of the cells is lower tooaround 15 percent. Because the cells are square, they can be packed more closely together. Polycrystalline cells make up 62 percent of the global PV market.
  • Amorphous silicon (a-Si) is a radically different approach. Silicon is essentially sprayed onto a glass or metal surface in thin films, making the whole module in one step. This approach is by far the least expensive, but it results in very low efficienciesonly about five percent.

    A number of exotic materials other than silicon are under development, such as gallium arsenide (Ga-As), copper-indium-diselenide (CuInSe2), and cadmium-telluride (CdTe). These materials offer higher efficiencies and other interesting properties, including the ability to manufacture amorphous cells that are sensitive to different parts of the light spectrum. By stacking cells into multiple layers, they can capture more of the available light. Although a-Si accounts for only five percent of the global market, it appears to be the most promising for future cost reductions and growth potential.

In the 1970s, a serious effort began to produce PV panels that could provide cheaper solar power. Experimenting with new materials and production techniques, solar manufacturers cut costs for solar cells rapidly, as the following graph shows.

Source: NREL

One approach to lowering the cost of solar electric power is to increase the efficiency of cells, producing more power per dollar. The opposite approach is to decrease production costs, using fewer dollars to produce the same amount of power. A third approach is lowering the costs of the rest of the system. For example, building-integrated PV (BIPV) integrates solar panels into a building’s structure and earns the developer a credit for reduced construction costs.

Innovative processes and designs are continually reaching the market and helping drive down costs, including string ribbon cell production, photovoltaic roof tiles, and windows with a translucent film of a-Si. Economies of scale from a booming global PV market are also helping to reduce costs.

Historically, most PV panels have been used for off-grid purposes, powering homes in remote locations, cellular phone transmitters, road signs, water pumps, and millions of solar watches and calculators. Developing nations see PV as a way to avoid building long and expensive power lines to remote areas. And every year, experimental solar-powered cars race across Australia and North America in heated competitions.

More recently, thanks to lower costs, strong incentives, and net metering policies, the PV industry has placed more focus on home, business, and utility-scale systems that are attached to the power grid. In some locations, it is less expensive for utilities to install solar panels than to upgrade the transmission and distribution system to meet new electricity demand. In 2005, for the first time ever, the installation of PV systems connected to the electric grid outpaced off-grid PV systems in the United States. As the PV market continues to expand, the trend toward grid-connected applications will continue.

This distributed-generation approach provides a new model for the utilities of the future. Small generators, spread throughout a city and controlled by computers, could replace the large coal and nuclear plants that dominate the landscape now.

The Future of Solar Energy

Solar energy technologies are poised for significant growth in the 21st century. More and more architects and contractors are recognizing the value of passive solar and learning how to effectively incorporate it into building designs. Solar hot water systems can compete economically with conventional systems in some areas. And as the cost of solar PV continues to decline, these systems will penetrate increasingly larger markets. In fact, the solar PV industry aims to provide half of all new U.S. electricity generation by 2025.

Aggressive financial incentives in Germany and Japan have made these countries global leaders in solar deployment for years. But the United States is catching up thanks particularly to strong state-level policy support. The rolling blackouts and soaring energy prices experienced by California in 2000 and 2001 have motivated its leaders to create new incentives for solar and other renewable energy technologies. In January 2006, the California Public Utility Commission approved the California Solar Initiative, which dedicates $3.2 billion over 11 years to develop 3,000 megawatts of new solar electricity, equal to placing PV systems on a million rooftops.

Other states are following suit. Arizona, Colorado, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania have specific requirements for solar energy as part of their renewable electricity standards. Many more states offer rebates, production incentives, and tax incentives, as well as loan and grant programs. Even the federal government is offering a 30 percent tax credit (up to $2,000) for the purchase and installation of residential PV systems and solar water heaters.

As the solar industry continues to expand, there will be occasional bumps in the road. For example, demand for manufacturing-quality silicon from the solar energy and semiconductor industries has led to shortages that have temporarily driven up PV costs. In addition, some utilities continue to put up roadblocks for grid-connected PV systems. But these problems will be overcome, and solar energy will play an increasingly integral role in ending our national dependence on fossil fuels, combating the threat of global warming, and securing a future based on clean and sustainable energy.

All work belongs to UCSUSA.ORG,

Another British University goes green

The University of Bath has committed to buying 'green' electricity for its Bath and Swindon campuses, reducing emissions of carbon dioxide by about 10,000 tonnes each year.

The majority of the University’s energy will now come indirectly from a variety of renewable sources, including on-shore wind farms, hydro schemes, biomass plants and combined heat and power schemes.

The University has signed contracts with its current supplier, Scottish & Southern Electricity, to guarantee its renewable energy prices over the next two years. Its spend on electricity, gas and water for the next academic year is predicted to be in the region of £5 million.

“This decision reduces the emissions of carbon dioxide that we are responsible for, and helps make a contribution to reducing the impact of climate change,” said Peter Phelps, the University’s Energy & Environment Manager.

“It is planned that all future electricity supply contracts, including those for all our off-campus properties, will be negotiated on the basis of using green electricity where possible.

“Additionally, a study into renewable energy options for the campus is now underway and a large scale energy-awareness initiative is due to start soon.

“Like many large organisations, the global rise in energy prices is affecting the University, so any additional reductions in energy use that staff and students can make will have clear financial, as well as environmental, benefits.”