Category Archives: Alternative Energy
Using photovoltaic cells to soak in the sun’s heat isn’t the only way to generate some clean and green renewable energy with solar power. In Spain, a newly opened experimental plant will test new ways to use solar energy to generate electricity with improved efficiency levels. This solar steam generation power plant uses water as the direct working fluid and uses some pretty cutting-edge and innovative ways to store all this energy, enabling it all to be dispensed even on days when the sun hides behind the clouds. Located in the municipality of Carboneras, the plant was built in collaboration with the German Aerospace Centre and Endesa, a Spanish utility company.
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A wind turbine without wind is like a show-fish out of the fish tank, absolutely useless. To make a wind turbine more productive when the winds refuse to blow, researchers at the University of Liverpool integrated photovoltaic cells on the blades of a wind turbine to soak in the sun when the winds are low. A novel and practical idea indeed, this one makes sure energy is generated, regardless of the wind conditions. Computer generated testing however showed up an unexpected problem that could rise using technology like this. Having the photovoltaic cells integrated into the wings that will eventually spin produces a glare that could damage the eye sight of people nearby!
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The Middle East is the land of oil. The world looks up to the Middle East for oil. And your car would probably not move out of its garage without all that oil flowing out of the Middle East. And now, Middle Eastern countries are slowly shifting away uneasily from oil-use, instead looking to renewable sources of energy. The world’s largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, is now planning to invest $100 in solar, nuclear and other sources of renewable energy, probably out of fear with ever-declining oil reserves. This seems ironic in a way given that Saudi Arabia’s major income comes from the world’s dependency on oil. Wikileaks, the controversial and highly informative website has stated that the kingdom has overstated its oil reserves by a whopping 300 billion barrels.
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The Industry Metrolink Station parking lot will have an added touch of green by next year, and a load more of parking spaces too. The station located at Brea Canyon Road in California will have a thousand new parking lots and carports, all covered with a shed that does a lot more than keeping the sun away from these vehicles. The parking lot roof will soak in the heat of the sun and generate renewable energy for the Southern California Edison. That’s not all. This evergreen parking lot will also feature charging points to plug in you EV to juice up! The rooftop alone is expected to generate about 2 megawatts of power, integrating solar photovoltaic cells. The project costing $1.2 million will be built by the city using general funds.
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The people of Virgin Islands can now holds their heads up in pride and bask in the glory of the sun, as St. Thomas is now turning towards clean green solar energy to power up its airport facility, the King Airport. With a sack load of money worth $1.9 million funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the largest solar powered system in the entire territory is now being fitted into place at the airport. The system using photovoltaic panels will stretch 1,500 feet long and 14 feet wide and will generate 450 watts of energy, enough to satisfy 15% of the airport’s energy requirements. This sure will help shorter the airports expensive power bill which usually rises up to $400,000 a month!
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The Long Beach City College in California has just unveiled a shiny new reason to swell up in pride, an installation of 400-kilowatts of SANYO’s HIT Power® solar panels at the 900-car parking. The system will soak in the sun and generate enough electricity to power up the security lights, elevators, four emergency phones on each level and supply juice to the fire protection systems installed. Excess energy generated will be diverted to the surrounding campus buildings. Using 2,100 SANYO HIT Power® 215N panels that offer a cell efficiency of 19.3% and a module efficiency of 17.1%, this is the second largest system in the City of Long Beach. The system is expected to generate about 59,000 kW hours a month and reduce emissions by almost 18.4 million pounds (approx. 9,200 tons) over the warranty period of these panels.
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That chip bag you currently have stuck your hand in took a few precious drops of oil to fry. The oil used in chip manufacture is usually drained away and wasted. PwC however, will now use the fat from the oil used to make chips to generate electricity for its headquarters based in Southbank, London. The firm has inked a deal for a supply of 45,000 liters of cooking oil per month from city centre restaurants which will then be recycled and used to generate energy at the tri-generation facility on-site at More London, producing sufficient energy to meet 25%of the building’s electricity needs and 20%of heating and cooling demand at the same time.
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Chickens have never had much to do with jets before. And neither has their fat, until now. NASA scientists are busy working on developing and perfecting an alternative fuel, made from chicken fat. NASA scientists these days have been driving around in vehicles powered by chicken fuel, having driven an RV across the US. Termed as Hydrotreated Renewable Jet Fuel, the fuel made from chicken fat is currently being tested for emissions and performance by the scientists. 8,000 gallons of the biofuel were provided by the Air Force for NASA testing.
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Kenya will now raise its head up in pride, proudly showing off a wind farm of its own. In Africa, 700 million people have no access to electricity. And with progress, the energy needs of the continent will indeed increase gradually and surely. The best way to go now is to set up renewable energy plants around Africa, the continent where the sun shines bright and the winds blow strong. Kenya will soon play home to the $870 million Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) project, the largest in Africa when completed, with construction scheduled to kick off in December this year. Built besides the Lake Turkana basin, this wind farm will boast a good 360 wind turbines, generating 300 megawatts of power. That’s enough energy to power up thousands of homes and add-on to the Kenyan electricity power grid too.
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Nature contains some of the most cutting-edge and un-replicable technology known to mankind. Researchers are forever trying to match up to God’s own technological genius and are quite successful these days too. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Daniel Nocera, inspired by nature, has developed an artificial leaf. This leaf works somewhat like the green ones we see naturally sprouting out of trees everywhere and splits water into hydrogen fuel and oxygen. Using solar energy, the hydrogen is split up from the water and is then stored in the fuel cell to make electricity. Also, developing a device like this isn’t all that expensive, since it uses relatively cheap catalysts made from nickel and cobalt.
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