The presence of electric cars today intensified by the large automobile manufacturers in the world.This is also supported by the public awareness in protecting the environment to keep green and furthest from the pollution produced by fuel cars.Its proved by the increasing of the electric car sales,particularly hybrids cars sales such as the Toyota Prius that has been ranked first in car sales in japan.
But the existence of electric cars would not be an easy solution if the facilities needed by the electric car itself is not yet available such as charging stations.In England,the green earth programs and to support the existence of electric cars,now in every major supermarket has been installed a network of electric car recharging points outside the stores.So that consumers can recharge the electric car while shopping.Shoppers with Sainsbury's can be free plug in their car while they go shopping.
Electric cars like the Reva G-Wiz generally have a range of about 70 miles on a full battery and can last up to eight hours for charging. But half past one plugged in to the charging station complete enough for the battery to 80%.
The store is billing the network as an 'electric vehicle superhighway', but at the Islington branch they are yet to be used by a customer.
Jack Cunningham as the environmental Affairs Manager said it was beginning, when the network was open.It was the aim of the initiative for serve the existing customers that use electric cars. It is also intended as a promotion for the community to be more concerned with environmentally responsible and become a good habit in the future.He believe that in the long term, this type of technology will be very important, so it's important for us to offer this early stage.
The recharging points is supplied by EDF, whose electricity the supermarket already sells under its Sainsbury's Energy brand.If the step is large enough, the system will be rolled up to other major cities in Britain.
The system is also suitable for manufacture in order to Mayor Boris Johnson's aim of making London the 'electric vehicle capital of Europe'.Mr Johnson said: 'I warmly welcome the arrival of Sainsbury's network... which will put half of all London's population within three miles of a charge point.'
Charge points can now be found at Sainsbury's stores in Beckton, Camden, Chiswick, Cromwell Road, East Dulwich, Greenwich Peninsula, Islington, North Cheam and Sydenham.The Wandsworth and Whitechapel branches will get them later this month.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Electric Cars Recharge Available In Major UK Supermarkets
Monday, November 2, 2009
The Cross-Wind Bridge Produce Electricity By Self
A creative idea can occur in any form in the search for alternative energy sources that eco friendly.Like about a successful bridge built by the bridge designer Tiago Barros and Jorge Pereira. The brigde called Cross-Wind Bridge, in Lisbon.
The bridge design built in such a way to generate electricity from the wind energy and will light up the brigde in the night with the power generated by the cars that pass below the bridge by the day.With assumption,each car or vehicle passes below the brigde will always increase the speed upto 20% and will produce a large wind energy to optimizing the rotation of the panels.
The cross-wind bridge will role like a multipurpose envelope that will capture the wind energy from a network of 2,188 light-weight rotating panels.The induction power system is very important to exchanges wind power through an electromagnetic band located on each panel. This culminates into a power source which is used to light the bridge by night. This clean and green source of energy will increase the green quotient by 35% because of the punctured membrane utilized in the bridge cladding.Its made from recycled steel from the auto industry.
The length of Cross-Wind Bridge is 40m.The brigde is running southwest / northwest direction over the Segunda circular highway in Lisbon.Cross-Wind Bridge also reconnects and makes accessible the remaining paths of Maria Droste Vila split by the highway and surrounded by Telheiral’s residential park. Its path’s oblique angles are positioned in such a way that they can optimize predominant wind directions.The brigde also has feature provides a tunnel for pedestrians and bikers too.
We hope in the future,all the infrastucture could serve energy they need from energy produce by theyself in anyways.Just like the Cross-Wind Bridge,the energy source produce could be more "green" by built in a recycled materials.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Bacteria Powered Batteries
More researchs and discoverys has give rise to develope providing alternative energy and suistanable energy even more recyclable energy sources like bacteria powered batteries .MFCs(Microbial Fuels Cells) batteries that work with bacteria and other microbes have been created by Harvard scientists working under the Lebone banner.They uses bacteria found in African soil.The battery uses a layer of sand as the ionic membrane, mud with manure as the bacterial substrate, and a graphite cloth as the anode.
With the discovery of this MFCs expected can provide the electricity sources in remotes areas of Africa.The only non-biodegradable substance used in the bacteria powered battery created by Lebone scientists is probably the 5 pound plastic bucket used to case the battery.Although the electricity power that produce by MFCs is not the same the general batteries power,its enough to power up few LED lights and small electronics.
Actually, bacteria powered batteries work with the chemical energy generated by bacteria and convert it into electrical energy using a relatively simple mechanism.Like regular batteries that consists of an anode (the negative end) and a cathode (the positive end),the bacteria powered batteries also has a membrane capable of filtering electrons (anions) and protons (cations) produced during the chemical breakdown of substances by bacteria.
After the bacterial breakdown begins result ions, the anions are transferred from the cathode compartment through an external circuit and the protons are sent to the cathode from the anode. In a nutshell, the chemical energy generated by bacterial activity is converted to electrical energy.
But not all bacteria are electrochemically active and could be mediator matter to accommodate the ions flow.The matters like thionine, methyl viologen, methyl blue, humic acid and neutral red were used as mediators but their toxicity was a major concern for scientists. A few years ago scientists engineered electrochemically active bacteria, and the science of bacteria powered batteries become the big leap forward. Mediator less MFCs can run on everything from waste water to a simple saline solution and are truly environment friendly batteries.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Liquids Wastewater To Produce Ethanol
ACT have a technology called Sewage Recycling System (SRS).With this SRS,ACT can produces energy sources like electricity and ethanol from alternative energy sources with high quality.It also reducing deposit formation and reduce wastewater treatment plants costs and increase plant capacity.
For six year ACT has developing solutions to integrated waste recycling and claim the companies are the first to show commercial success to produce ethanol by municipal cellulose and agricultural waste water and reduce expenses process.
Qteros have customers who mostly from countries that have waste water treatment plant and making the processing plant is far cheaper to run and assist local governments throughout the world with their limited budgets.
Jeff Hausthor,Qteros co-founder and senior project manager said that an ethanol production plant can produce 120-135 Galon ethanol per ton Recyllose ™.
" Wastewater treatment plant that handles 150 million gallons per day (serving a population of approximately 2 million people) may be enough to supply the smaller scale ethanol plant with cellulose."said ACT President Refael Aharon, Ph.D.
We hope that the application of this technology can be applied not only in developed countries but also in developing countries so that our planet will be more friendly with a friendly waste water recycle.
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Sunday, October 18, 2009
Recharged Electric Vehicles By Renewable
FPL Group and Duke Energy will collaborate with one another and invest $ 600 million to transition all of their company's passenger cars and trucks to plug-in hybrids or all- electric vehicles.FPL Group and Duke Energy is as well-known companies, known because of their commitment to clean energy and green energy.The process will be set into motion by next year and more than 10,000 vehicles will have the ability to return energy from the power grid.
If they can achieve their goals will lead to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by more than 125,000 metric tons during the next 10 years. They hope to finish their project by 2020.That it was announced at Clinton Global Initiative's (CGI) fifth annual meeting in New York City.
"If PEVs replacing all gasoline-powered vehicles in the United States, they will reduce the need for foreign oil imports by nearly two-third.Plug-in electric vehicles to reduce overall carbon emissions by 70 percent (100 percent if charged by a zero-carbon sources renewable energy) and lower fuel costs about 80 percent "According to a press company.But only the initiative of the two companies is not enough. This goal must be done at the national level.
Vehicles that run on intermittent renewables (like solar and wind) and electric vehicles do not provide seamless. They come with Hitches. One common problem is that they all share range. Solar power is produced only during the day. The wind provides power when the wind blows: the range. Plug-ins that come with the vehicles have their range as well. That's as far as vehicles can travel between the length of charging.
Plug-in vehicles containing a battery for energy storage. But as far as renewable energy no energy storage. We can do one thing: using electric cars and trucks to store energy from renewable energy. Another logical step is to install renewably powered, high voltage, fast-charging station costs. This will ease the tension of the owner of the vehicle and make more frequent charging that the old charge period will not be needed.
Rabobank and SolarCity ® try to achieve the above goal in partnerships in California. The companies have jointly stated, "a partnership to create the world's first enhanced solar energy, fast-charge an electric car charging corridor. When complete, the corridor will include four locations between San Francisco and Los Angeles (Salinas, Atascadero, Santa Maria and Goleta), which allows all-electric car to travel by using solar energy and provides the fastest charge time available to the public electric vehicle (EV) charges. "
SolarCity will own and control stations in the corridor. They will work with electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors. Solar charging, using 240-volt charging will give a full charge in one-third the amount of time the other station. The corridor will provide an example of the first inter-regional effort of its kind. This will be the first again is included solar charging station. Rabobank has set up the first 30-kilowatt array at a bank branch. They considered installing solar power at an additional location. When not used to charge cars the power will offset power used at the locations.
We can use intermittent renewables energy to our advantage. We can extent this green electricity to our home. A plug from car to house can power-up a house overnight.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Improve Hydrogen By Adding Lithium
Superconductor materials have no electrical resistance and paves way for electrons to travel through them freely. Superconductor materials also carry large amounts of electrical current for long periods of time without losing energy as heat.Researchers believe that metallic hydrogen may prove to be a High Temperature Superconductor.
We know that hydrogen is the lightest element present in this universe, and lithium is the third lightest element. We find that hydrogen gas and lithium metal as a certain temperature and pressure present on the earth. The hydrogen atoms are strongly coupled, and each hydrogen atom contributes one electron to the bond.In chemistry shorthand, hydrogen is called H2.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week published an article written by a team of researchers from Cornell University and State University of New York. She shared that a small amount of lithium if we add hydrogen, and if we keep the pressure on about a quarter of a pressure (hydrogen is converted to a metal) hydrogen is transformed into a metal with superconductivity properties.National Science Foundation (NSF) has provided finances for this project.
Hydrogen and lithium react with each other and form a stable non-metallic material. Its looks like LIH and known as lithium-hydrogen compound. Jupiter and Saturn experience the intense gravity and the hydrogen pressure is found in metallic form. Scientists try to create situations so that they can extract the hydrogen electron. How? They try to squeeze between the facets of a diamond anvil cell under pressures up to 3.4 million atmospheres. We know that the air pressure at sea level is one atmosphere and in the center of the earth is around 3.5 million atmospheres. Researchers have found many problems with this method of constant pressure. They tried shock-wave methods. This is a kind of advanced computer.
The program is a theoretical calculation that hydrogen can be metal coated by combining a lithium atom with varying number of hydrogen atoms. The programs also calculate, metallic hydrogen under pressure can be achieved in a laboratory. Hydrogen and lithium combinations predicted by the studies have not checked in a laboratory until now.
The research team is testing out different combinations of hydrogen and lithium. A combination of a lithium atom contains six hydrogen atoms or LiH6. The complex calculations predict that in the imaginary compound Li atom is activated to a single outer electron, which is then distributed among the three H2 molecules discharge. It has already confirmed that pressure, forms the hypothetical reaction of a stable composition and metallic hydrogen. The calculations also LiH6 which may be a metal at normal pressure. But under these conditions was unstable and decompose to form H2 and LIH.
"The stable and LiH6 metal compound is predicted to form approximately 1 million atmospheres, which is about 25 percent of the pressure required for hydrogen metalize themselves," says Eva Zurek, head of the paper and an assistant professor of chemistry at the State University of New York, Buffalo.
"Interestingly, between approximately 1 and 1.6 million atmospheres, all of the LiH combinations studied were stable or metastable and all were metallic,” said Roald Hoffmann, co-author, recipient of the 1981 Nobel Prize in chemistry and Cornel
One of the hypothetical compounds studied by the team was composed of a lithium atom and two hydrogen atoms or LiH2 (see right).
"The theoretical study opens exciting possibilities for the non-traditional combinations of light elements under high pressure can produce metallic hydrogen under experimentally accessible pressures and lead to the discovery of new materials and new states of matter," said Daryl Hess, program director of NSF Division of Materials Research .
"Again, these researchers have taken a new boundary chemistry," says Carol Bessel, a program director at NSF Chemistry Division. "They described their theories and calculations, molecules that test our basic assumptions about atoms, molecules and structures. Experimentalists do the challenge to what they thought in their minds a reality will be held in his hand. "
Group members believe that the information gleaned from the study show that large amounts of hydrogen can combine with other elements. The information can also further help with the design of a hydrogen-based metal Superconductor.
Neil W. Ashcroft, who co-author and Cornell's Horace White Professor of Physics, Emeritus said: "We have already had contact with the laboratory experimentalists on how LiH6 can be made, starting perhaps with a very finely divided form of joint compound along the LIH with additional hydrogen.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Produce Electricity While You Drive
This can be achieved by using piezoelectric materials under busy roads. The property is aptly known as piezoelectricity and it’s the ability to produce electric power in response to applied mechanical stress, and in this case this stress is the movement of vehicles on the roads.The concept was originally developed by Innowattech and now the company is laying down a sort of test road in Israel. Is it a solution to the global energy and environment crisis? It could very well be.
According to Innowattech (in fact, it should be common knowledge) massive amounts of mechanical energy go waste when millions of vehicles move on the roads. The piezoelectric generators harvest that energy and save them in roadside batteries that can be used by people. This process is also known as Parasitic Energy harvesting.
Under the upper asphalt there is a layer of piezoelectric crystals that produce electricity when squeezed.
According to people at Innowattech the Piezo Electric Generator (IPEG™) should be able to produce 200KWh, while a four-lane highway would produce about 1MWh of electricity, per kilometer, enough to provide power to 2500 households. Considering that Israel has about 250 kilometers of roadways suitable for the technology, in terms of volumes of traffic, and the mass of vehicles taking the roads, you can very well imagine how much electricity can be produced.
The same technology can be implemented on airport runaways and rail systems. The system also has the capacity to deliver real-time data on the weight, frequency and speed of passing vehicles as well as the spacing between vehicles.
Although initially revealed last year, this is a really exciting project and large green energy corporations and environmental organizations are closely monitoring its progress. No infrastructure is required. You don’t need to set up wind farms or solar panels and use up vast areas. You simply have to use the roads that you already have.
“The technology is based on piezoelectric materials that enable the conversion of mechanical energy exerted by the weight of passing vehicles into electrical energy. As far as the drivers are concerned, the road is the same,” according to Dr. Lucy Edery-Azulay, the project manager.
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Friday, October 2, 2009
Getting Biofuel from the World’s Garbage
There is plenty of garbage on this planet; in fact there is so much garbage that many developed countries are trying to dump their garbage on the lands of lesser developed countries, at a fee of course. But does dumping garbage on other places solve the problem?
On the contrary it spreads pollutions and diseases. In fact it is more dangerous to dump garbage in the less developed countries (because there are neither technologies available to process it nor enough awareness). Even creating landfills wastes precious resources.
Rather than having to dump, what if garbage can be used to generate power?
Global Change Biology has published new research that claims replacing gasoline with biofuel from processed garbage could cut global carbon emissions by 80%. A dream come true, isn’t it?
Great strides are being made in the field of creating biofuels but a galling problem is that the biofuel production causes food shortage. Additionally, farmers are adopting controversial techniques and methods to increase their production and rather than helping the climate, it is harming it.
But garbage is abundantly available, fortunately or unfortunately. Second-generation biofuels like cellulosic ethanol obtained from processed urban waste may the sort of solution that kills two birds with one stone (just an expression, throwing stones at birds and killing them is bad): take care of the garbage and produce fuel.
According to the study author Associate Professor Hugh Tan of the National University of Singapore, “Our results suggest that fuel from processed waste biomass, such as paper and cardboard, is a promising clean energy solution.”
He further says, “If developed fully this biofuel could simultaneously meet part of the world’s energy needs, while also combating carbon emissions and fossil fuel dependency.”
Data from the United Nation’s Human Development Index and the Earth Trends database was used to arrive at an estimate of how much waste is produced in 173 countries and how much fuel the same countries annually require.
The research team has calculated that 82.93 billion liters of cellulosic ethanol can be produced by the available landfill waste in the world and the resulting biofuel can reduce global carbon emissions in the range of 29.2% to 86.1% for every unit of energy produced.
“If this technology continues to improve and mature these numbers are certain to increase,” concluded co-author Dr. Lian Pin Koh from ETH Zürich. “This could make cellulosic ethanol an important component of our renewable energy future.”
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Sunday, September 27, 2009
World’s Largest Solar Power Project Planned
Gujarat, a state of India, is quite eager to opt for alternative sources of energy. It started out as a small dream. The Gujarat government visualized only 500 MW of solar power generation by 2014.But this humble goal may now be increased to 3,000 MW. The Gujarat Government is undertaking a $10 billion project and it will hold the distinction of the world’s largest solar power facility in India. This project will be backed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton. The 3,000oMW project will get aid with logistics and financial support from the William J Clinton Foundation. This foundation is a charitable organization founded by the former President. The foundation and the Gujarat government signed a preliminary agreement on Sept. 8, 2009.
Recently a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by Mr S. Jagadeesan, Principal Secretary, State Energy Department, and Mr Ira Magaziner, Chairman of the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI). Jagdeesan stated, “The Clinton Foundation will help us in bringing manufacturers and power generators and also in providing access to international funding at cost-effective interest rates. They are facilitators. We will invest in the infrastructure.” The project would be allotted a 10,000 hectares of land spread across three locations within an area of 150 square kilometers (58 square miles) in Gujarat.
The Clinton Climate Initiative which is a part of the foundation will assist in identifying producers of solar thermal equipment. Jagdeesan said, the manufacturers will be selected in three to four months. The Gujarat government will establish the solar parks in special economic zones. They will focus on in developing manufacturing facilities close to the generation site to reduce costs.
The project would be completed in the time span of five years. Gujarat Government along with CCI will try to arrange cheap funds from multilateral agencies such as the Asian Development Bank. The state government will also try to incorporate hybrid plants in the project that use both solar energy and natural gas to generate power.
“When there is sunshine we’ll generate using solar and when the sun is not shining we’ll generate using natural gas,” Jagdeesan said. “Gas is available to us in Gujarat. We will provide gas connectivity.”
The proposed solar energy park will cover an area of around 5,000 hectares. The solar site will be in the cities of Banaskantha, Patan, Surendranagar and Kutch. This area is mostly an infertile desert land and an ideal site for harnessing solar energy.
In January, the State Government had announced a solar energy policy to harness the potential of the inexhaustible source, and has allotted a capacity of over 700 MW to 34 national and international developers for setting up solar power plants in the State.
According to the MoU signed with the CCI, the State Government would look after identification of land and provide the infrastructure for setting up the solar power plants. It would request national and international developers to set up these plants on chargeable basis for the infrastructure created. The power created by these installations would be purchased by the State power utilities.
The projected 3,000-plus MW solar power installations would produce over 5,200 million units of energy. They will naturally help in reducing carbon-dioxide emission to the extent of 5.2 million tonnes per year. This project is also expected to generate employment opportunities for over 20,000 people.
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Thursday, September 24, 2009
New IMEC Solar Cells: 18.4% Conversion Efficiency
IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Center) has presented a large-area solar cell with 18.4% conversion efficiency at the ongoing European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference (Hamburg, Germany). A world leader in its own right, IMEC is an independent research center working on nanoelectronics and nanotechnology. It is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, and has offices in Belgium, the Netherlands, Taiwan, US, China and Japan.
IMEC’s new solar cell incorporates a shallow emitter and uses copper plating for advanced metalization, compared to the standard i-PERC cell process. When the results were obtained on large-area cells (125cm2), the industrial viability of the process was verified.
According to Dr. Jef Poortmans, IMEC’s Photovoltaics Program Director, “These cells and the new metalization stack involved are a further successful step in IMEC’s target to develop ever more cost-effective, efficient crystalline Si solar cells - eventually targeting cells that are only 40µm thick with efficiencies above 20%.”
The higher conversion efficiency is obtained when the shallow emitter originates an enhanced blue response.
A novel metalization stack is added for the front contacts and this is applied to local openings in the anti-reflective coating. Dr. Joachim John, team manager at IMEC, explains it better, “Using copper instead of silver adds to the sustainability of solar cell production. IMEC was able to do this because it has extensive experience with copper plating on silicon. A similar efficiency result was obtained with screen printed contacts, but the long-term sustainability and low-cost potential of Cu-based contacting solutions and the fact that this was a first result obtained without dedicated fine-tuning makes this result particularly encouraging.”
This has been referenced from the recent IMEC press release.
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