Happy water day 2008

World Water Day 2008 will be celebrated by the UN on Thursday, 20 March. In 2008 the day will highlight issues on sanitation in accordance with the International Year of Sanitation 2008. People around the world are encouraged to celebrate the day to draw attention to the world’s sanitation challenge.

Maglev Magnetic Levitation in Wind Turbines

During the last decade, countries like Germany, China and Japan, installed a high speed train system based on magnetic levitation. These trains are known for there energy efficiency, on time performance and low maintenance.

The advantage of using magnetic levitation in wind turbines is that of reduced maintenance costs, and increases life span of the generator. The magnetic levitation that they use is between the rotating shaft and the fixed base of the machine, basically taking the place of ball bearings. Such magnetic bearings have been used for decades in smaller turbines and pumps by Ebara, Leybold, Seiko-Seiki, and others. However these magnetic bearings can't handle being bumped around much (the magnetic force isn't that strong), and they need actively controlled electromagnets (to keep the levitating magnets from crashing--play with some magnets for a minute or two and you'll see why). Making magnetic bearings strong enough to handle the loads a wind turbine would put on them is hard, and would use exorbitant amounts of power just keeping the electromagnets running strongly enough. However, the World watch article says the new Chinese device (invented by Guangzhou Energy Research Institute and Guangzhou Zhongke Hengyuan Energy Science & Technology Co.) uses "full-permanent" magnets, meaning there are no electromagnets, only cleverly placed permanent ones, so it should use no power. It sounds like they will be used on small turbines (perfect for home use), which would be similar in scale to the pumps and industrial turbines currently using magnetic bearings. But who knows, in a few years it might be possible to scale them up.
Hopes are that maglev wind turbines, will be 20 time proficient then usual wind turbines, and the maintenance would drop to as low as 50 %. Maglev wind turbines should also have the advantage of 1000 amplified production hours compared to the traditional ones, and they might prove to be the solution for carbon free clean world.

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.