Showing posts with label Renewable energy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Renewable energy. Show all posts

May 24, 2009

Energy saving tip of the day



MOVE THE ELECTRICITY METER FROM UNDER THE STAIRS


Energy saving tip of the day is:
The little gadget available in the market that has certainly cut our electricity use - proving that gadgets can help save the world. It's a little device that takes the electricity meter out from under the stairs to tell you how much electricity you are using as you are using it. It has found a permanent home on the kitchen worktop and I can now tell which appliances and lights are on around the house just by looking at it.

May 8, 2009

Energy saving tip of the day


Trees that lose their leaves in the fall (i.e., deciduous) are the most effective at reducing heating and cooling energy costs. When selectively placed around a building, they provide excellent protection from the summer sun.

April 16, 2009

Energy saving tip of the day


Energy saving tip of the day is to paint the walls of your home with light colors. Dark colors tend to absorb light, requiring you to use more energy from light bulbs to achieve the same effect.
Not only to light colors on your walls help conserve energy in your home, they also make your rooms feel brighter and more cheerful!

April 14, 2009

Energy saving tip of the day

Energy saving tip of the day is to keep your appliances off a million tonnes of greenhouse gases are pumped into the atmosphere every year, by Switching off appliances at the mains and not on standby would save enough energy to power 2.7 million homes for a year.
Make it a habit to switch off appliances even to mobile phone and MP3 player chargers. It all makes a difference, but 71% of us admit to forgetting to switch off.

April 9, 2009

Energy saving tip of the day


Switch to cold when doing your laundry. 85 – 90% of the energy used to wash your clothes is used to heat the water. By turning the dial to cold on your washing machine, you help the environment, save energy, and yourself by saving money.

April 6, 2009

Energy saving tip of the day


Energy saving tip of the day is use curtains and shades to keep the room cool and give your air-conditioner and bill a break

April 5, 2009

Energy saving tip of the day


Energy saving tip of the day is to keep your mobile screen resolution low ,so that it need lesser recharge and save energy.

March 7, 2009

Energy Saving Tip Of The Day


Energy saving tip of the day is to Clean air filters regularly. Air filters clogged with dust trap heat in the air ducts.

February 25, 2009

Energy saving tip of the day




Energy saving tip of the day is to invest in a good exhaust system instead of a clumsy old air conditioning.

February 24, 2009

Energy saving tip of the day




Energy saving tip of the day is to use a fan instead to keep cool during the summer. Energy saving by fans is dramatically more than air conditioners

February 22, 2009

Energy Saving Tips Last Week


1: Energy Saving Tip of number one was to replace standard incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and save 75% of lighting costs.


2: Energy saving tip number two was to use a clothes line to dry the clothes instead of electric dryer. It’s energy efficient to dry small loads such as socks and underwear, on indoor drying rack.


3: Energy Saving Tip number three was to set refrigerator temperature to 36-39F (2-3C)
Set freezer to 0-5 F (-18 to-15C.

4: Energy Saving Tip number four was Unplug electronics, battery chargers and other equipment when not in use, A lot of energy saving is possible by this little effort cos together these small items can use as much energy as your refrigerator.

5: Energy Saving Tip number five was to Caulk on the inside of doors and windows. It not only energy saving but also sustainable.

6: Energy saving tip number six was to turn your thermostat down by 1oC.

February 20, 2009

Solar Balloon Creates 400 Times More Energy Than The Average Solar Cell


There are many new forms of alternative energy but maybe none as interesting as the Cool Earth Solar “Balloon.” The concept behind this design is that they create an “inflatable plastic thin-film balloon (solar concentrator) that, upon inflation, focuses sunlight onto a photovoltaic cell held at its focal point.

The design produces 400 times the electricity that a solar cell would create without the company’s concentrator.” Cool Earth has already began construction on a power plant in Livermore, CA that will utilize this new technology. The plant is modest in size, creating only 1.4 Megawatts but if this plant works as well as they expect it to, they plan on launching a full sized plant next summer. One great thing about this device is that it’s made up of a very common and cheap material. “Plastic thin film is abundant and cheap,” said Cool Earth Solar CEO Rob Lamkin. “It only costs two dollars for the plastic material necessary for our solar concentrator.”

It’s ideas like this that I think will stick. It’s cost efficient. It’s made of an easy to find material and it’s an environmentally sound concept.

Energy saving tip of the day

ENERGY SAVING

Energy saving tip of the day is to turn your thermostat down by 1oC.

EPA Sues Louisiana Coal-Fired Power Plant to Install Required Pollution Controls, Seeks Civil Damages

EPA announced that it would be filing a lawsuit against Louisiana Generating, a subsidiary of NRG Energy for violations of the Clean Air Act. While not the greater move to regulate carbon emissions that many are hoping will come out of the EPA on Lisa Jackson’s watch, but nevertheless it’s a step in the right direction. Here are the details of the suit:

The EPA alleges that the Big Cajun 2 Power Plant which Louisiana Generating operates in New Roads, Louisiana did not have new pollution controls installed when the plant was renovated. For the past ten years the plant has been operating without the level of emissions controls to limit sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions as stipulated in the Clean Air Act. The lawsuit seeks to force Louisiana Generating to install the required pollution controls and seeks civil penalties “up to the maximum amount authorized by law.”

The Big Cajun 2 plant consists of three coal-fired steam units with a total capacity of 1700 MW and has been in operation since 1981.

We Need to Go Beyond Pollution Controls
While this is a positive step by the EPA, let’s not forget that even with those pollution controls in place coal is the largest source of electricity in the United States, responsible for about 70% of sulfur dioxide emissions in the country, as well as being one the prime factor in carbon dioxide emissions and accelerating global warming. No matter what you do to it, coal is dirty, when mined and when burned. It may be abundant, but if we want to prevent catastrophic global warming we need to do more than just make sure minimal pollution controls are in place, we need to phase out the burning of coal. Period.

February 19, 2009

Energy Saving Tip of the day


Energy Saving Tip of the day is to Unplug electronics, battery chargers and other equipment when not in use, A lot of energy saving is possible by this little effort cos together these small items can use as much energy as your refrigerator.

February 18, 2009

SunCat Solar Batteries Powered by Sun shine


Designer and inventor extraordinaire Knut Karlsen recently unveiled SunCat, Solar Batteries Powered by Sun shine an inspired approach to portable power that can’t be beat for its elegant simplicity: a prototype battery capable of charging itself when exposed to sunshine. His slick set of SunCat C-cells are wrapped in flexible photovoltaic panels and will slowly recharge when left to bask in the sun - just like a cat.
Rechargeable batteries like SUNCAT are a boon to eco-enthusiasts who use portable electronics, however all too often they require additional peripherals in order to keep them charged. These devices generally take the form of a black box loaded with non-biodegradable plastics and heavy metals - not very earth-friendly.

Karlsen’s SunCat batteries circumvent chargers completely by integrating solar cells within the batteries themselves. To make these prototypes he attached 1.8V flexible photovoltaic cells onto 1.5V NiMH rechargeable batteries and connected them with a conductive silver pen and a few flat wires. The effect is similar to a trickle charger, which slowly charges a battery and can be left attached indefinitely without overcharging.

Karlsen plans to continue to tweak the batteries, adding capacitors to charge the batteries more efficiently and electronics to check when the batteries are full. We’re excited to see the results of his testing - finally, a justification for all those see-through gadgets with clear cases!

February 17, 2009

Energy Saving Tip of the day


Energy Saving Tip of the day is to replace standard incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and save 75% of lighting costs.

April 3, 2008

Rainbow flux


Researches at PrizmaTech Labs have recently revealed an incredible breakthrough in solar technology that’s sure to brighten your day. The development utilizes specially calibrated ROYGBIV panels to collect solar energy over a broad spectrum of wavelengths, yielding an unheard-of energy efficiency rating that is 7 times greater than conventional panels. The fortuitous find employs rainbows as naturally occurring instances of refracted light, paving the pathway towards an exciting new source of renewable energy.

The development has spawned a new breed of crack solar-savvy meteorologists dubbed ‘Rainbow Chasers’, who are ready to mobilize at a moments notice to deploy the new arrays. For optimal efficiency, these polychromatic powerhouses can be set up at each end of a rainbow, although expandable photo-voltaic archways are in development that would take advantage of the entire length of a rainbow.

Such structures will figure prominently in the world’s first Rainbow Farm, currently in development and slated for a 2012 grand opening.

February 14, 2008

Living green!


Switch on your TV browse through the times magazine or readers digest, or pick your daily news paper it is no surprise that on an average day one would watch hear and read about the global warming and environmental problems our planet faces because of ever increasing human consumption. More over one gets to know about all those great and large measures being taken worldwide by G8 and developing nations to protect the delicate balance of nature. Every day we get to know about the large number or wind farms being installed or about the solar energy being used instead of fossil fuel, but most of the time all this information comes under a cooperate banner who wishes to publish its efforts of going green while devising new means of profits as well.
Most of us do feel a lot contended after our daily dose of these going green news but unfortunately all those green life and business efforts go wasted because man kind is not ready to adopt the green monk hood as an individual. Yes we might be environment friendly people, nationally or socially, but most of on individual level are destroying our environment at an express pace. Most of us are concerned about the air we breath in but never even think about cutting down on fossil fuel we use at our homes and for our vehicles. We are a species who stands tall among others when it comes to esthetics but most of us don’t bother caring a cloth bag or a basket to the market. A large number of us spend 1/18 of our income over drinking bottle water, but never mind contaminating our water resources with lavish use of cleaning Chemicals at home. Time to time a lot of us do try to adopt to a green life style but find it hard to maintain and there is no denying to that adopting a greener life and leaving behind our comfortable lives of lavish power use and convenient soft toilet paper is had but still there are some real small things that can bring a very positive difference if we adopt them in our private and family life.
So the top ten hot shots one can play to go green with simple efforts.

· ECO bags!
Carry a bag made out of fabric or a basket for grocery, most of want to but forget it until things are packed in plastic bags or paper bags for us. Tip, keep two or three in your car all the time or hanging to your bike. This done on community level can virtually clean out an area from plastic bags in about 6 months.

· Cut down on subscription!
Instead of ordering 12 catalogs and 5 magazines a month surf over internet and save your hard earn cash, along with miles of Rain forest.

· Engines off!
Yes turn off your cars engine while waiting in the parking lots of schools and shopping malls because by doing so 10 minutes per day can keep 550 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the air every year.

· Eat healthy!
While we are putting our efforts in living green, its time we start thinking healthy as well. Simplest possible favor we can do to our body is stop drinking bottle drinks, and start eating fresh fruits, this simple effort can help produce a hole generation of healthy and physically fit humans in 20 years.


· Recycle!
Recycle is a term most of us know about since even before we were familiar with types of pollution, and global warming theory, cloth towels, cloth napkins, personal mugs instead of paper napkins, tissue papers and paper cups. Washing instead of toilet paper is not only green but hygienic as well. Such small deeds can save hectors of rain forest. We need to make sure that we are disposing off our garbage in a proper manner by simply separating recyclable one from the non recyclable one.

· Stop buying!
Next time when you need furniture make sure you paid your visit to the auction for old and vintage furniture. If new is what u need then prefer artificial wood over real wood.

· Chemicals at home!
We use a large number of cleaning Chemicals and detergents at home which are equally harm full for human beings pets and contaminate our sewerage and water resource to an irreversible level. Solution, use natural cleaning product like lemon juice, and if you find that difficult at least go for products are made with natural essential oils, are biodegradable and phosphate-free, they might be slightly expensive but the money you would save on your catalog subscription, fuel, bottle drinks, and expensive furniture can be well spent for keeping our waters clean.

· Look before you leap!
Next time when you go shopping investigate where your product came from, purchasing animal fur and ivory products means you live to see the extinction of a large number wild life, shark fin soup and whale fish might taste heavenly but its still not worth to have oceans with out them.

· Buy green!
A lot of us look for the green spiral sing over the packets of our food and other daily use items. Next time when you shop for electronics look for products which come with energy saving built in technology. Energy saving bulbs and fans are common now.

· Plant smart!
Yes one can make a difference by planting smart yes that means planting green, you sure can plant flowers in your garden but ever thought about planting vegetables instead, of course there is nothing wrong in planting an expensive palm from tropics but a fig or a pomegranate tree is even batter, this way you are not only living green but also healthy and thrifty, as you will be saving on the weekly grocery cost.

Small things like setting our home temperature thermostat to a more economical level reducing the screen brightness of our mobile, and computer screens, lowering down the volumes of our TVs and music systems can make a considerable difference.

December 13, 2007

Renewable energy















Utilization of natural resources such as sunlight, wind, water and biomass to fulfill our energy need in such an efficient manner that it dose not damage the delicate environmental balance is called renewable energy.
Simplest possible example can be that of biogas generation, Biogas is considered to be a source of renewable energy. This is because the production of biogas depends on the supply of grass, which usually grows back each year. By comparison, the natural gas used in most of our homes is not considered a form of renewable energy. Natural gas formed from the fossilized remains of plants and animals-a process that took millions of years. These resources do not “grow back” in a time scale that is meaningful for humans.
With our ever increasing human race and its limited resources it is important for us to work in a consistent manner to create a world that fulfills its energy needs through resources that are not destined to drain out like fossil fuel.

Renewable energy technologies are sometimes criticized for being unreliable or unsightly, yet the market is growing for many forms of renewable energy. Wind power has a worldwide installed capacity of 74,223 MW and is widely used in several European countries and the USA.The manufacturing output of the photovoltaic industry reached more than 2,000 MW per year in 2006, and PV power plants are particularly popular in Germany. Solar thermal power stations operate in the USA and Spain, and the largest of these is the 354 MW SEGS power plant in the Mojave Desert. The world's largest geothermal power installation is The Geysers in California, with a rated capacity of 750 MW. Brazil has one of the largest renewable energy programs in the world, involving production of ethanol fuel from sugar cane, and ethanol now provides 18 percent of the country's automotive fuel. Ethanol fuel is also widely available in the USA.
The majority of renewable energy technologies are directly or indirectly powered by the sun. The Earth-Atmosphere system is in equilibrium such that heat radiation into space is equal to incoming solar radiation, the resulting level of energy within the Earth-Atmosphere system can roughly be described as the Earth's "climate." The hydrosphere (water) absorbs a major fraction of the incoming radiation. Most radiation is absorbed at low latitudes around the equator, but this energy is dissipated around the globe in the form of winds and ocean currents. Wave motion may play a role in the process of transferring mechanical energy between the atmosphere and the ocean through wind stress.Solar energy is also responsible for the distribution of precipitation which is tapped by hydroelectric projects, and for the growth of plants used to create biofuels.
Renewable energy flows involve natural phenomena such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat, as the International Energy Agency explains:
"Renewable energy is derived from natural processes that are replenished constantly. In its various forms, it derives directly from the sun, or from heat generated deep within the earth. Included in the definition is electricity and heat generated from solar, wind, ocean, hydro power, biomass, geothermal resources, and biofuels and hydrogen derived from renewable resources.Each of these sources has unique characteristics which influence how and where they are used. All in all it should be our utmost responsibility to work steadily to enhance the chances of producing the world which fulfil its energy needs through environment friendly renewable resources.