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Posts Tagged ‘green living’

Introduction:

Global warming impact to our quality and cost of living is large and really catastrophic. Homeowners are well aware of the increasing energy prices to heat, cool and illuminate their homes. The increasing prices of oil and different fossil fuels are every day headlines. The insatiable demand for vitality to gasoline world growth ensures that the cost of these restricted fuels will proceed to increase. Political/economic forces will determine the speed of improve for fossil fuels. In addition, the increasing cost of worldwide warming utilizing fossil fuels is slowly being recognized.

The world is slowly beginning to grasp the urgent want for renewable energy sources. However, each of these alternative energy sources brings major advantages and disadvantages. An instance is wind generated energy. Wind energy is on the market to the whole world and generates electrical energy competitively with fossil fuels. The technology is known and straightforward to apply. But, there are huge objections to a windmill in “my back yard”. Also, the number of birds and bats that will likely be crushed with wind energy generation just isn’t a warming thought. Wind technology shall be a part of our energy solution. However, due to the above concerns, we need other major solutions to meet our demand for energy sources.

This search leads us to solar energy. The quantity of solar energy placing our world in someday is sufficient to produce our energy demands for a year. We won’t run out of this source within the foreseeable future. The major barrier to harnessing solar energy has been cost and convenience. For example, drying clothes in a dryer is less complicated than hanging garments on an outside line, thus convenience precluded efforts to seek out more energy efficiency. We can convert solar power to electricity but with a significant capital cost. Greater acceptance and use of solar power will lead to lower cost.

Solar Energy:

Energy from solar energy may be divided into two main categories:

Passive Solar Energy: This expertise ranges from clothes drying in the sun to solar heating for warm water and lots of other passive techniques. All are essential for our present and future high quality of life. The expertise is properly understood and could be implemented as economics and house conditions allow.

Active Solar Energy: One of the lively solar energy technologies is converting solar vitality directly into electricity. It is known as photovoltaic cell or PV. This is a device that converts light into electricity utilizing the photoelectric effect. The first working photo voltaic cells have been constructed by Charles Fritts in 1883. These prototype cells were product of selenium and achieved efficiencies round one percent. The silicon photo voltaic cell was created in 1954. The photo voltaic cell has benefited from the development of silicon semiconductors.

Physics of Active Solar Energy:

The physics of photon to electrical energy conversion is nicely understood by physicists. The basic model is of a photon from the solar which strikes the cell materials and excites electrons that emit electricity. This mannequin is simple compared to the complexity of contemporary day semiconductors. The main variables of PV electrical technology are cell materials and impurities in the cell material.

Manufacturing Technology for Active Solar Energy:

Primarily single crystal, high purity silicon has been used to generate photon to electrical energy conversion. The manufacturing strategies for single crystal silicon and limited quantities of pure silicon impose a high price for PV devices. Shortages of refined silicon have been hampering manufacturing worldwide since late 2004. This shortage persists to this date and has slowed PV growth. New materials are starting to come ahead which ought to lower the PV materials hurdle.

Efficiency growth of Active Solar Energy:

Since the silicon PV invention in 1954, cheaper fossil fuel costs largely removed solar energy from the public consciousness. Annual development of electrical technology by PV ranged from 10 to 20% p.c throughout the 1980′s and 1990′s. Worldwide installation of PV reached one thousand megawatts in 1999. Manufacturing costs for PV arrays has been dropping 3 to 5% over the current years. This value drop started to expand using PV electrical energy generation. Total peak energy of put in PV was round 6000 megawatts on the end of 2006. Installed PV is projected to increase to over 9,000 megawatts in 2007. The average lowest retail cost of large photovoltaic arrays has declined from $7.50 to $4.00 per watt between 1990 and 2005.

PV supplies have additionally been enhancing in current years. The most up-to-date materials method is to process discrete cells on silicon wafers reduce from multi crystalline ribbons which form skinny films. This strategy is the least costly of identified technologies. This group of technologies includes amorphous silicon cells deposited on stainless-steel ribbon, cadmium telluride (CdTe) cells deposited on glass, and copper indium gallium dielenide (CIGS) alloy cells deposited on either glass or stainless steel substrates. The efficiencies of these new materials are at the moment at 20%. Many researchers are working to enhance the efficiencies. An added benefit of the brand new thin movies is that they are flexible and are at the moment being utilized in roofing materials.

Current Trends in Generating Active Solar Energy:

Commercial businesses like Google, IBM, BJ’s Wholesale, Estee Lauder, Kohls, Target, Tiffany & Co., Wal-Mart are installing PV photo voltaic energy. From “big box” low cost giants to high end commercial businesses PV solar power is discovering acceptance in 2007. The most recent retail-outfitter to turn into part of this development is Macy’s, which introduced earlier this month that it will install photo voltaic powered systems on 26 stores all through California. These leading corporations are turning to solar energy because it makes good business sense and helps their environmental initiative. Creative monetary arrangements allow these firms to afford the upfront capital costs and payback their loans with vitality savings. So what does all this mean to the typical home owner? PV Cost per Kilowatt (kWh):

In the California market, where state incentives and web metering are in place, PV electricity prices are dipping under 11¢/kWh, on par with some utility-delivered power. Moreover, according to the United States PV Industry Roadmap, solar electricity will continue this trend and become competitive by 2010 for many domestic markets. The outlook could be very positive for PV era of electricity. Once the capital investment is made, the price of PV electricity is equivalent to fossil fuels and will continue to decrease.

Cost of PV Installation:

The value of installation is the most important barrier that must be overcome for widespread PV acceptance. Around 59% of world solar product gross sales installed in the last five years were applications which might be tied to the electricity grid. Solar energy prices in these purposes are 5-20 times more expensive than the most cost effective source of conventional electricity generation. This premium is properly beyond the reach of the average home owner.

Fortunately, there are financial models coming forward to enable the buyer to finance PV solar installation and pay for this installation with the electrical savings. In order to make these monetary models successful, federal and state incentives are needed and the installation ought to be connected to the electrical grid. These connections allow the home owner to promote back electrical energy when extreme amounts are available and to receive electrical energy when solar conditions don’t allow adequate electricity. Only fifty % of our states have modernized to permit on-grid PV photo voltaic energy.

Berkeley, California is leading the best way to enable it citizens to avoid wasting electrical cost and meet environmental needs. Here is how their plan works. A property owner hires a city-approved photo voltaic installer, who determines the very best solar system for the property, depending on energy use. Most residential photo voltaic panel systems in the city cost from $15,000 to $20,000.

The city can pay the contractor for the system and its installation, minus any relevant state and federal rebates, and would add an assessment to the property owner’s tax bill to pay for the system. The extra tax would include administrative fees and interest, which would be decrease than what the property owner may obtain on their own, because town would secure low-interest bonds and loans. The tax would stay with the property even if the proprietor sold, though the owner must leave the solar panels. The property proprietor would get monetary savings on monthly Pacific Gas & Electric bills as a result of electricity generated by the photo voltaic panels would partly replace electrical energy delivered by the utility. After the assessment expired, the solar panels, of a easy technology that requires little or no maintenance, would continue to partly replace PG&E electricity.

The Berkeley plan is a map for the remainder of the world to permit us affordable electricity and meet our duties to the environment.

I have a BS and MS in Metallurgical Engineering. Thirty six years spent in the development of semiconductors. Business experience in begin up enterprise plan. Currently, an oyster farmer and enthusiastic about helping the surroundings by deploying photo voltaic energy. Please go to my Web Site http://www.charlestonenvironmentalhelp.com

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The costs and benefits between photo voltaic and wind energy are very subjective. There are necessarily three elements that decide the economics: capitol costs, operating and maintenance costs and fuel costs. These must be considered when comparing renewable power sources with conventional energy sources as well as when evaluating one type with the other. Interestingly enough, the price of renewable vitality is enjoying an inherent decreasing value curve whereas non-renewable sources are growing in cost. Generally speaking, costs for photovoltaic and concentrating solar energy (CSP) produced energy are higher in comparison to overall wind vitality costs. The prices of wind versus nuclear, coal and pure gas are comparable, incidentally.

There is a rise in the cost of renewable energy when you think about the costs related to connecting it to the infrastructure that at the moment exists. Variability in issues such as weather, the load demand, and material prices affect the prices and advantages between solar and wind energy. In the time between 2004 and 2008 the two industries have experienced a large increase in productivity. Solar photovoltaic power production went up more than six hundred percent. Wind powered power production increased by two-hundred p.c in that time. Solar heating and bio-diesel manufacturing saw significant increases during that point also. Wind power became established globally between 1996 and 2008. By this year, world wide wind farm capability reached almost 158,000 megawatts. This shows an increase of thirty-one percent within the last yr and accounts for one level three % of the worldwide electricity consumed.

The solar energy industry experienced speedy growth just lately as well. By 2009, it’s estimated that one other one level two gig watts of power will be added to the world supply through photo voltaic energy. There are currently, massive projects underway in Spain and the U.S. The World Bank can also be sponsoring projects for thermal –combined-cycle gas turbine engine vegetation in Morocco, Mexico and Egypt. Spain has one of many world’s largest photovoltaic power plants which can produce 60 MW of electricity. In Germany’s Strasskirchen Solar Park, 54MW is made. Portugal contributes 46 MW of electrical energy to the world production levels as well.

In many cases, these plants work at the side of agriculture, utilizing innovative tracking techniques which observe the suns’ path across the sky, thus producing energy more efficiently than the more generally seen fixed-mounted types. These stations operate without fuel prices and without dangerous emissions. However, when considering renewable power PV systems, it isn’t just the massive arrays that make a difference. Integrated photovoltaic programs built on site and matched to the end use energy needs of communities and individuals may be economical when it comes to supplying electricity close to where it’s needed. So the prices and benefits between solar and wind vitality are very subjective in response to the legal guidelines of provide and demand and native economical factors.

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Making homemade solar panels is not as tough as chances are you’ll think and building them yourself can prevent hundreds and even thousands of dollars over purchasing panels which are already assembled. There are several completely different alternatives in terms of making your own, you’ll be able to build them over fully from scratch using free data off of the internet, and there are also many great web sites that have DIY kits, which we are going to talk briefly about.

There are some basic elements to homemade photo voltaic panels. You need the Polycrystalline Solar cells themselves, which yow will discover from varied outlets, the lowest priced you will find them is on eBay, or another online supply like Amazon. Then there may be the body work, power inverter and storage batteries. Depending in your individual needs, you’ll require two to 5 panels to provide the minimum power for a regular home. You can buy various sizes of cells, but just to avoid wasting time soldering them together, you should try to find 3″x6″ mono-crystalline cells, and you have to 36 of these for a standard panel. Each cell is going to put out about half a volt, so you can be putting out around 18 volts per panel. You have to be extremely careful when handling these cells, as a result of while they’re powerful, they are fragile.

Then you will need the platform in your panel. You will require a sheet of plywood, at the least ½ inch thick and a few 1″x1″ boards,three to 4 per panel. Then you’ll need some pegboard to suit into the wells of the shape, where you will glue the photo voltaic cells to. You must also purchase sheets of plexiglass to cover the entire thing, so as to defend the cells from the climate and debris.

You are going to need to solder the cells together in a sequence, then solder each sequence to find the desired output. It is a good idea to purchase a voltage meter, and when you have got them all together, take them out in the sun and check the ends to be sure to did it right.

Then you have to mount the sections into the frame, and canopy it with the Plexiglass. Until they are secure in the frame, you absolutely should be careful when coping with the cell panels themselves.

Then when every-thing is finished and tested, you can determine on where to position the homemade photo voltaic panels to supply the power. It is ideal to place them someplace that gets at the very least 8-10 hours of sunlight, many individuals put them on their roof. If you need to get really fancy you should purchase brackets and electrical motors that tilt the panels towards the sun no matter what part of the day it is.

While this may increasingly still seem complex, it really isn’t. This is simply a relatively basic overview of the procedure. Mentioned above previously, there are numerous resources to do generate this extraordinarily easily. There are free internet sites that may take you step-by-step via the process, but this is usually after you will have all the materials. While Do it your self kits value some money, they make it easy by supplying step-by-step instructions, itemizing of tools and materials you’ll need, as well as where to buy your supplies. You presumably can make homemade photo voltaic panels, and it is easier than you think.

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Children nowadays can be taught about a wide range of things. We have extra methods to show them about photo voltaic energy. This source goes to be their long run and will depend upon how we handle it in todays world. Energy could possibly be anywhere the sun shines and you are able to feel and see the warmth. energy can heat water, warmth homes, schools, companies, and it will probably create photo voltaic power. Teaching children lately how power works and how we are able to use it wisely will be sure that our enviornment long run and theirs goes to be protected.

First of all, learning about the dangerous affects of our energy usage today is essential for them to comprehend why there ought to be more methods to create power. Simply as a result of the electrical power that we use lately comes from non-renewable resources, because of this, we are setting ourselves up for a large fall. When that supply runs out we’ll then have to depend on some other source to produce us with our energy. Scientist are working lately to make it possible for when we do run out of that source we can be in a great solid position to modify over to the new source with out missing a beat.

The huge concern is that we must not wait till our energy source we use today is not completely gone when we do switch. We should be in a position to switch to a new energy source within the near future and to be able to preserve what we’ve left of the supply we make the most of now. One extra issue with our energy production lately is that it is dangerous to the atmosphere. It pollutes the air and can eventually make it not possible for us to use the solar has a natural solar vitality source. We cannot afford to lose this important natural resource. So that we are able to save our atmosphere we have to teach the children how we can all be part of together to preserve their energy for their future and their childrens future.

Solar energy can generate various power using natural sources and synthetic solar sources which is able to attract the solar power to the source. So that we will make this happen we have to be in a position to discover energy sources that aren’t costly however can provide the vitality that we require. A customary house can profit greatly by switching over to solar energy. It’s easy to do. Also in constructing a brand new home you would have the ability to construct it utilizing solar energy as a way to naturally create electrical power to your home, warmth your water, alongside with other functions that might be controlled by utilizing solar energy. In the long run, we profit by not paying for a supply that’s slowly taking away from our pure resource. Our children will likely be rewarded for our cautious planning.

All ages can benefit from conserving energy however it needs to begin now in order that we all can benefit within the future. Teaching the children the best way to conserve and save power and how we’d like to give you a methodology to preserve the solar energy in the long run with a view to supply heating, water, along with different necessities in large quantities moderately than by individual houses, which is how we do it these days. One day we might not must run power lines via fields, streets and yards because we will all have solar power boxes within the back yard instead.

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From the operators of www.build-a-solar-panel.info — providing education regarding how to build a solar panel, green home tips, and green DIY projects.

Solar hot water heating systems are a basically simple design.  Solar collectors warm up water during the day, which is stored in an insulated container to keep it warm for ongoing use.  But icy temperatures can bring this kind of system to a standstill.  But new and improved methods have been developed that allow solar hot water systems to operate effectively even in cold climates.  Here is a basic depiction of how they work.

After a few decades of testing with solar hot water systems, most qualified users have decided that the closed loop design is the most successful for climates with freezing temperatures.   Because oxygen is eliminated from the system, pumps will not corrode and will have a greater lifespan, saving you time and money for upkeep and replacement parts.

The system is filled with an antifreeze blend (propylene glycol) at the time it is installed.  It then circulates between the solar collectors (where it is heated by the sun all through the day) and the storage tanks, which provide heat during the day and night.  There are several smaller components that allow the antifreeze to expand and contract, and which inhibit too much pressure from building up in the system, among other things.  But the solar collectors, the pump and the tank with heat exchanger are the central components.

Drainback systems are so named because the solar collectors drain when they are not being used.  Due to this, you can utilize either water or antifreeze in the system.  But for maximum assurance that the system will not freeze, people regularly choose to use antifreeze as an extra precaution, principally in regions that frequently experience temperatures below zero.  

A thermosiphon system also uses a detached solar collector, along with the pull of gravity. And it allows for the use of an insulated storage tank for more dependable hot water delivery. When using either of these systems in cold regions where freezing is an issue, both the piping and the storage tank should be placed indoors and suitably insulated to provide hot water even on the coldest days.

Even though the collectors drain when not in use, they drainback system is still a closed loop system. It needs a strong pump in order to return the drained liquid to the solar collector as soon as it has been drained.  But it is a first-rate choice for a homeowner who wants a solar heating system that is painless to maintain.

Solar hot water heating systems are relatively simple to install, easy to maintain and the most cost effective way to introduce your home to solar energy.  They can save considerable energy and cost when they replace an electric hot water heater.  And they can be successfully used even if you live in a climate where freezing temperatures are common during the winter.

Solar energy for home houses is nothing new. It has just been relegated to the background in lieu of skyrocketing cost of real estate ; more moderen more complicated building materials, design and the limitation of resources.

Since man started building homes, sunlight played a major influence in the design. In fact, even in the more sophisticated urban planning methodology of the Ancient Chinese and Greeks, the orientation of the buildings is as much as humanly possible steered towards where it could capture the most daylight.

The ancients would possibly not be as intellectually complex then to use slogans as passive solar and thermal mass but when they build, they were building in compact proportion, employing overhangs, manufacturing insulations and building in manners that direct the airflow within the structure and manufacturing well lit, well ventilated spaces using the relative position of the sun to the orientation of their structures.

Recently, as the typical sources of energy became more expensive, householders were once again turning to the sun for energy wants.

Since the 1950′s, harnessing the sun’s rays has been developing and today the solar cell technology has achieved awfully efficient levels that modern ( supposed green house ) designs apply the sun’s power to provide energy for the home.

While solar energy is free, the device which will convert it to run our appliances isn’t. To provide solar energy for the home, solar cells called photovoltaic made from semi-conducting materials, are grouped into modules. These solar panels are mounted on rooftops, yards or open spaces where it can capture the maximum amount of sunlight.

Whenever possible, the panels will be installed facing south to get the most out of the daylight but tracking systems are also used to follow the direction of the sun. The solar panels collect the energy from the sunlight. The method basically is that when the panels are exposed to daylight, the electrons are separated form the atoms. This movement of the electrons creates electricity.

To store power, pumps are sometimes used – circulating water in the cells. The water goes into a storage tank where the power is stored, ready for use. Sometimes, the use of gravity is employed if it will just the same store the heated water in to the tank.

In spite of all the development in solar energy though, the use of this technology is not enough to provide power to the entire house. The best method so far can only meet about 80% of a households power wishes. The employment of solar energy for the home will still need the utilization of the typical power distribution technique.

Powering the houses by solar means will still, for a bit be enlarged by a local power distribution agency. To several, this is a good starting point. Homeowners that feel that the high cost of powering their houses through solar power, is justified when compared to the price that is now being paid for typical electrification technique where horrible amounts of CO2 are getting dropped into the atmosphere just to generate a pathetic amount of electricity.

However, due in part to the rising costs of energy, the technology for solar energy has been undergoing rapid phases of development. Gurus are assured that within five years, powering the home through the solar system will be made widely available for people that like it as its sole energy source.

By Jason Livingston-the operator of www.GreenLivingRocks.com where you can learn how to build solar panel, construct a homemade windmill, and begin living green.

It seems like the recognition of using solar power is rising every day.  And people are becoming more interested in how they can add solar energy to their lifestyle in inexpensive ways.  That is why solar panel kits are now available for a wide variety of solar applications.  Here are a few of the solar panel kits that you can obtain.

One of the most reasonably priced kinds of solar panel kits to buy is a 45 watt model, for around $200.  It is sizeable enough to run common home electronic equipment, like T.V.s and computers, and even to power lighting.  It will even charge a 12v battery so you can store its electricity for use at night.  The equipment is now advanced enough that the PV cells can generate electricity even on gloomy days.  And its little size (about 36inches square) makes it straightforward to find a suitable location.  Kits typically include the panel or panels, mounting hardware and wiring.  A few kits may include an inverter; otherwise you will have to buy that separately.

Other kits develop on that fundamental concept of assembling the panels, mounting hardware and wiring for more specific applications. For instance, solar kits for power boats may include solar panels, and array and mounting hardware that is made from stainless steel or other materials that survive exposure to salt water.  They may also include tracking apparatus that will position the panels according to the sun’s location.

Kits intended for cabins may consist of the basic solar panels and wiring.  But they may use a shaft mounted array and hardware so that the panels can be positioned in a clearing away from foliage.  And the kits might additionally include a battery back up system for cabins that will be off the grid.

Solar panel kits designed for R.V.s start with a simple set up that provides basic power for lights and trickle charging the battery.  Yet luxury RVs that contain a lot of electrical equipment, ranging from built-in global positiong to home theater systems, might need a system as complicated and complex as an off grid home.  And there are kits available for these extremes as well as many RV requirements in between

There seems to be a kit available for very nearly any solar panel you can think of for home-based, commercial or recreational use.  The best way to acquire them is to hunt online.  And the best way to pick one is to compare their features and customer service.