Interesting and useful information for the computer geek inside us all. If you like reading about Apple Computers or Microsoft and their software then this is the Blog for you! I also cover Green Tech and Digital Photography as well as FOREX & Futures trading. In addition you will find Travel topics are covered here as well.
Apple is moving to shrink its carbon footprint, building the nation’s largest privately owned solar farm to run its data center. NBC chief environmental correspondent Anne Thompson reports.
CleanTechnica has an exclusive on a new solar technology that claims to be able to produce power with a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of8¢/kWh. That is mind-boggling, “two-thirds the price of retail electricity and over 3 times cheaper than current solar technology.” If the claim proves to be true (and a lot can happen between prototype and mass manufacturing), it could revolutionize the solar industry.
The company is called V3Solar (formerly Solarphasec) and its product, the Spin Cell, ingeniously solves two big problems facing solar PV.
First, most solar panels are flat, which means they miss most of the sunlight most of the time. They only briefly face direct sunlight, unless expensive tracking systems are added. The Spin Cell is a cone:
The conical shape catches the sun over the course of its entire arc through the sky, along every axis. It’s built-in tracking.
The second problem: Solar panels produce much more energy if sunlight is concentrated by a lens before it hits the solar cell; however, concentrating the light also creates immense amounts of heat, which means that concentrating solar panels (CPV) require expensive, specialized, heat-resistant solar cell materials.
The Spin Cell concentrates sunlight on plain old (cheap) silicon PV, but keeps it cool by spinningit.
Schooling fish, it turns out, have a lot to teach us about setting up wind farms. That’s the conclusion reached by John Dabiri, a fluid dynamics expert from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). One of the biggest current problems with wind farms is the large land area that they require - if you place the turbines too close to one another, they will be adversely effected by each other’s turbulence. By applying principles learned from observing fish, however, Dabiri thinks he might have found a solution.
Dabiri also noticed that the fish and their vortices were arranged in a staircase pattern relative to one another. Again, this runs contrary to most wind farms, where the turbines are placed in neat rows. By conducting a field study incorporating closely-spaced, staggered vertical-axis turbines spinning in alternating directions, he hopes to show just how much more efficient wind power can become. According to Caltech's computer models, he believes his set up could be up to ten times more efficient than traditional models.
London, England (CNN) -- A new type of tidal turbine which its creators describe as an "underwater kite" has taken a step closer to becoming commercially available.
"Deep Green," developed by Swedish start-up Minesto, has just secured €2 million ($2.5 million) from investors to fund testing scheduled to start in 2011. The technology comprises of a turbine attached to a wing and rudder which is tethered to the ocean floor by 100 meters of cable.
Anchoring "Deep Green" and steering the tethered "kite" enables the turbine to capture energy from the tidal currents at ten times the speed of the actual stream velocity, say Minesto.
When operational, the turbine is expected to generate 500 kilowatts of power.
Finding economic ways to capture and convert energy from our largest renewable energy source, the sun, is becoming more urgent as the world’s supply of fossil fuels vanishes. Now, the development of a new generation of solar cells might lead the way toward a better future.
"Iowa ranks 30th among the 50 states in population and 23rd in square miles, but it is number two in wind -- and it wants more.
Iowa now has over 25,000 wind turbines and doubled its proportion of wind-generated electricity from 7% to 14% in 2009, the biggest jump in the U.S. Estimates put the current 2010 percentage of Iowa's electricity coming from wind above 17%.
Because Iowa added 879 megawatts of new capacity last year (enough to power more than 200,000 homes), the state's installed capacity is now second only to Texas. It has 3,670 megawatts of total installed capacity, enough electricity for 880,000 homes -- in a state with only 3 million people. And it has over 14,000 megawatts of wind power awaiting approval.
The state, known for its dairy farms and bucolic rolling cornfields, also became the leading provider of wind energy manufacturing jobs in 2009."
"What if you could light your entire building using no electricity, or artificial lights – but just the natural light from the sun? Conventional sky-lights do this well in certain types of single-story spaces, but are not very adaptable, powerful, and often have problems with excessive solar heat gain and heat loss. Enter the Sundolier, a powerful sunlight transport system that’s like putting a solar robot on your roof to pump sunlight indoors! The manufacturer claims a single Sundolier unit can provide enough light to illuminate a 1000-2500 sq. ft. area without any other sources."
While Solar Energy is great in the day time it can't produce power in the dark. However there are other green energy options such as rooftop mounted wind turbines that might be worth a look especially if you live in an area that is breezy or windy.
The search for clean, renewable energy is turning toward the ocean, but not without some waves of skepticism. Construction has begun off Oregon on what would be the nation's first commercial wave-energy farm, said Sean O'Neill, president of the Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition, a Maryland-based trade association that promotes marine energy. It is planned to supply energy to about 400 homes.
"On a national perspective, it's great news. They're making tremendous progress," he said.
Wave power draws from the energy of ocean surface waves, according to Phil Pellegrino, spokesman for New Jersey-based developer Ocean Power Technologies, which is developing the project.
A float on a buoy rises and falls with the waves, driving a plunger up and down, he explained. The plunger is connected to a hydraulic pump that converts the vertical movement into rotary motion, driving an electrical generator. Electricity produced is sent to shore over a submerged cable, he said.
The first buoy will measure 150 feet tall by 40 feet wide, weigh 200 tons and cost $4 million, Pellegrino said.
Nine more buoys are planned to deploy at a site in Reedsport, Ore., by 2012, at a total cost of $60 million, he said.
Our Comments: This seems to be a very inefficient and expensive source of energy for the following reasons: 1) Anything placed in the Ocean will have more wear then say a solar plant in California, Arizona or Texas. 2) This projects costs $60,000,000, divided by 400 homes, works out to $15,000 per. Divide $15,000 by $95.66, the average electric bill, looks like it'll pay for itself in 1568 months, 12 months to a year, that's 130 years to just break even!
"Ready to chuck his electric bills, Camarillo resident Marc Weinberg last year asked his homeowners association for permission to put solar panels on his roof.
When the Spanish Hills Homeowners Assn. said no, Weinberg sued the group. Under the state's Solar Rights Act, he argued, a homeowners association can't unreasonably block solar installations.
Weinberg won, and the Spanish Hills Homeowners Assn. was ordered to not only permit the solar panels but to cover the tens of thousands of dollars that Weinberg had spent on legal fees. Since last fall, when he installed a double row of matte black panels, three other homes in the hilltop neighborhood of luxury estates have added panels. "
Interest in green-collar jobs is surging among workers from struggling industries. Colleges like California's Cerro Coso are scrambling to help fill the lack of technical education for the field.
"Hard times have brought them to a classroom in rural Kern County to learn a different trade. Tonight's lesson: How to avoid death and dismemberment.
This is Wind Technology Boot Camp at Cerro Coso Community College, where eight weeks of study and $1,000 in tuition might lead to a job repairing mammoth wind turbines like the ones sprouting up across this region.
The work requires smarts and stamina. It is potentially dangerous. Candidates need good knees, a cool head -- and a stomach for heights.
"I've seen guys just freeze halfway up the tower," said instructor Merritt Mays, a baby-faced former Marine, who at 29 is already a grizzled veteran in this young industry.
For those who can hack it, starting pay ranges from $15 to $20 an hour. Crack technicians can make six figures a year. Wind farms are hiring and probably will be for years to come. That's luring hard hats like 49-year-old Chuck Patterson back to school, despite the inherent risks of working 300 feet in the air."
Rooftop solar panel installation is often a time-consuming and complicated process, but Armageddon Energy's new prefab panels are practically roof-ready when they come out of the box.
A solar "clover"--enough to provide 400 watts of power--is made up of three 10 to 12 pound silicon hexagonal panels, a triangular frame and a micro-inverter. The panels can be easily connected with a series of uncomplicated tab and slots. Then all that's left is for a professional, or mechanically-inclined homeowner, to secure the clovers to the roof, angle them towards the sun, and plug them into the home power system. According to Armageddon, the process only takes a few minutes.
WEINBOURG, France (Reuters) - Bright winter sun dissolves a blanket of snow on barn roofs to reveal a bold new sideline for Jean-Luc Westphal: besides producing eggs and grains, he is to generate solar power for thousands of homes.
Economic crisis has cast doubt on funding hopes for many big renewable energy projects, but the giant panels built into roofs on this sloping farm at the foot of the Vosges hills in eastern France are attracting attention from farmers to financiers.
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The Spin Cell concentrates sunlight on plain old (cheap) silicon PV, but keeps it cool by spinningit.
The technology comprises of a turbine attached to a wing and rudder which is tethered to the ocean floor by 100 meters of cable.
"Iowa ranks 30th among the 50 states in population and 23rd in square miles, but it is number two in wind -- and it wants more.
"What if you could light your entire building using no electricity, or artificial lights – but just the natural light from the sun? Conventional sky-lights do this well in certain types of single-story spaces, but are not very adaptable, powerful, and often have problems with excessive solar heat gain and heat loss. Enter the Sundolier, a powerful sunlight transport system that’s like putting a solar robot on your roof to pump sunlight indoors! The manufacturer claims a single Sundolier unit can provide enough light to illuminate a 1000-2500 sq. ft. area without any other sources."
