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Archive for the ‘Going Green’ Category

It is all about the wind. Wind farms are the most profitable, the most effective with a steady strong wind coming from one direction. But wind strength is variable and unpredictable. And how good the construction spot is chosen, the average operating level is on average only about 30% of its maximum yearly capacity.

Off-shore wind farms
In the middle of the ocean would be ideal, wind wise. And so Off-shore wind farms are being built at least 5 miles from shore. But obvious problems are appearing quickly from around the corner with this configuration. The construction costs are high so far out in the ocean, and maintenance costs are also considerable due to the remote location and the salty water will corrode away structures continuously.

The largest off-shore wind farm is Thanet, located 7 miles off the coast of the United Kingdom. The farm covers an area of 13.5 square miles and its 100 turbines have a total installed capacity of 300 MW.

The farm is located in the English Channel. With wind tunneling through between Continental Europe and the British Island, this area is a high wind area year round.

On-shore wind farms
An easier location is the construct the wind farm on land. Here access is no problem, but discontinues winds and winds from different directions are. Each wind turbine needs to have the ability to direct itself towards the wind. Land wind farms are created in high wind areas like passes and gorges.

Land wind
The largest on-shore wind farm is the Roscoe Wind farm in Texas, USA. The farm covers an area of 155 square miles and its 627 turbines have a total installed capacity of 780 MW.

Sea wind
Another on-shore wind farm is the Biglow Canyon Wind Farm near Portland, USA. This farm covers an area of 40 square miles and its 217 turbines have a capacity together of 450 MW.

The farm is located just in front of the Columbia River Gorge, the place where the Columbia River cuts through the Cascades Mountains.  The average wind speed in the Columbia River Gorge, where the steep walls can act as a funnel, is 10 miles per hour. The place is also known as “one of the best kitesurfing and windsurfing mecca of the world”.

The world
The leading country when it comes to wind energy is Denmark, producing 21% of its stationary electricity via wind power. More than 70 countries have operating wind farms and total worldwide installed capacity is a soaring 194 GW.  Currently humans use about 7 TW from all sources globally, so there is still a way to go. But wind farms are hot, and the USA and China are moving forward fast. The USA with the Alta Wind Energy center, an on-shore wind farm under construction, with an installed capacity of 800 MW. And China with the proposed off-shore Gansu Wind Farm, with an installed capacity of 20 GW. One day the world will be switched over to renewable power with conventional energy only as a back up.

How can you be prepared for a cloudy day? Wind mills or wind turbines are the answer. When already having installed a solar panel system, the investment for a wind powered energy source as a backup system is very low. The wind turbine can in this case be simply be hooked up to the existing power inverter and battery pack.

The wind-wheel of the Greek engineer Heron of Alexandria in the 1st century is the first windmill ever recorded. Having advantaged via old fashion windmills, the current commercial windmills are very effective and deliver power for about 10 million households. But what can you do at home, what about personal windmills?

Old windmills
Windmills were back in the days used for pumping water and grinding wheat. Now most of these old windmills are out of commission and converted into living spaces or for recreational purposes. But some are still in use, and some are converted into modern power suppliers. For example the currently rebuild windmill “de Kameel” in Schiedam is planned to be connected to the electrical net and will supply 15 Mega Watt of free energy.

Three Personal windmills
We all have seen the fields of commercial windmills. But what about personal windmills. It turns out there are many on the market and for a reasonable price.

The Air-Breeze
The Air-Breeze wind turbine claims to be the most sold small wind generator on the market. For an average wind speed of 12 mph, the system can deliver up to 38 kWh/month.

The Air-Breeze system however looks like a view invasive system. Suddenly a large windmill is situated near your house. Luckily there are other smaller systems on the market.

The Eddy
Urban Green Energy has several beautiful looking wind turbines on the market. The in step model is the Eddy. This turbine delivers for an average wind speed of 12 mph an output power of 80 kWh/month. A lot more than the Air-Breeze system.  The system can be installed on a pole but also straight on the roof is an option.

The Eco 1200
Another interesting system is the Eco 1200 from WindTerra. The blades of the windmill are fixed vertical, making it an omni-wind directional system. This turbine delivers for an average wind speed of 12 mph an output power of 164 kWh/month.

Home use
The power output of these systems is depending on the wind availability in the area. Check the internet for local wind info and start calculating the saving a wind turbine can provide you.

With average North American household consumes 750 to 1000 kWh /month these systems are not enough to deliver enough energy. But when your investment is paid back, all the energy they deliver is renewable and for free. Not a bad deal in the end.

In 1974 the International Energy Agency was formed, a forum of 28 advanced economies. Their key areas are: Energy Security, Environmental Protection, Economic Growth, Engagement Worldwide.

Within the Environmental Protection area the ECES Implementing Agreement was established in 1978. The full name of the ECES is: Implementing Agreement for a Program of Research and Development on Energy Conservation through Energy Storage.

The most frequently used storage technology is the Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage technology. The term Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) reference to the temporary storage of heat or cold in underground layers. These layers can be sand, sandstone, clay, chalk which all consist ground water. In combination with a heat pump and a heat exchanger, buildings but also whole neighborhoods can be heated or cooled.

The technology
At a depth of 250 to 600 feet two storage wells are created, a warm site and a cold site near each other. A heat pump and an plate heat exchanger are installed and connected to the wells.

In the winter
In the winter warm water with a temperature between 60F and 70F is pumped to the surface with a heat pump from the warm well. Energy from this water is transferred to the local water circuit, and the 40F to 50F left over cold water is re-injected back into the ground into the cold well. The warm water in the local water circuit can now be used inside buildings for heating or straight as warm tap water.

In the summer
In the summer cold water is pumped up from the cold well. Via a plate heat exchanger, heat from the house is transferred to the cold water. In this way energy from the house is extracted and the house is cooled. The warm water is re-injected into the warm well and stored for uses again in the winter.

Savings
The initial investment in the system is earned back over a period of 5 years. After that period a saving of about 75% on the electricity bill is not unheard of for people who use their air-conditioning system in the summer. The availability of ATES is dependent of a suitable geologic formation underneath the area of the building.

Example
With hundreds of systems installed, here is one example. The data of a complex existing besides a cruise ship terminal, out of office buildings, a hotel, an art center and apartments.

Key data Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage System (project fully operational):

Sun sun sun. Using the free energy of the sun is not a bad idea. Many states offer good rebate programs when installing solar panels on your roof. But what are solar panels actually, how do they work.

A solar panel is a packaged interconnected assembly of solar cells and to understand the working of a solar panel, man has to understand the working of an individual solar cell.

Another name for a solar cell is a photovoltaic cell (PV-cell), with photo meaning light and voltaic meaning electricity. The name points to the capability of the cell to convert light directly into electricity.

The main material of a PV-cell is doped silicon.

An atom of silicon has 14 electrons, two in the inner shell, eight in the middle shell, and 4 in the outer shell. The outer shell has 4 places left empty, which in the crystalline form are filled with electrons shared with four neighbor atoms. This means there are no free electrons in crystalline silicon, making it a very poor conductor. If the silicon is doped with for example phosphorous, which has 5 electrons, one free electron is introduced in the system. A little energy from the sun is needed to knock this “extra” electron free, and a free carrier is created.

Silicon doped with phosphorous is called N-type silicon, because of the extra free electron. Silicon doped with boron, which has 3 electrons in its outer shell, is called P-type silicon for its extra free opening. When putting the P-type and the N-type silicon structures together things get interesting. A free electron on the N-side will try to fill an empty hole on the P-side. As more holes will be filled crossing the junction will become harder for the free electron and eventually equilibrium will be reached. In other words, a diode is created with a voltage across its junction.

Sunlight photons will disrupt this equilibrium by breaking apart electron-hole pairs. The extra freed electrons will start traveling across the diode junction and create an electrical current. With an electrical voltage and an electrical current across the junction, we now have electrical power.

Adding metal conductors on both sides of the diode, a solar cell is created. Connecting several solar cells together and cover them with a glass plate finish up the design for a solar panel. Power now can be drawn from the system to be used in your house.

To calculate the amount of solar panel area needed to power your house, takes several variables into account. The amount of energy needed, the insolation in your area, your roof angle and orientation and the efficiency of the solar panels you are looking at. A good rule of thumb is to calculate your average daily usage of electricity and multiply it my 0.25. This number gives you a rough estimation of the number and size of solar panels you need in kWh.

With prices dropping still every day, solar panels should take over our energy resources soon.

Yes, it is not a bad idea to put a solar panel on your roof when living in a sunny area. There was however a reason to centralize our energy sources and distribute it from central points across the country, cost! Have many centralized energy generating sources become polluting processes though; there is one facility in the USA approaching it from the renewable energy perspective.

The largest solar energy facility in the world is the Solar Energy Generation System (SEGS), located in the California Mojave Desert. On a bright sunny day the average insolation of the earth is about 250 watts per square meter (W/m2). Here in the South of California, with 340 days of sunshine, the insolation is among the highest in the world and average out on 310 W/m2.

The nine SEGS installations use parabolic mirrors shaped like a half pipe to collect the sun energy. A normal aluminum based mirror reflects about 70% of the light, but with special coating the mirrors used at the SEGS can reflect up to 95% of the light. Have some of the first NASA Rovers on Mars run out of power due to dust on their solar panels, the SEGS mirrors have an automatic cleaning system build in.

The SEGS exists of about 936,384 mirrors (many break due to high winds in the area) on more than 1,600 acres of land which are tracking the sun when it moves across the sky. The mirrors reflect the sunlight to the center of the parabolic where a tube filled with synthetic oil is situated. By directing the light from the bigger reflector onto the 75 times smaller central tube, the oil inside the tube heats up to about 750F. The heated oil is transferred to a central point where it is used to heat up water. The water in its turn powers the Rankine cycle steam turbines. By using only water at the turbine location and oil for the rest of the system, the pressure in the transportation tubes from the mirrors to the turbine can be kept much lower.

The Rankine cycle describes a model of steam operated heat engine. The rejection in the condenser is isobaric and can be broken down in 4 steps:

1. The water in the turbines is pumped to high pressure, which doesn’t take much energy, because the water is in its liquid state.
2. The pressurized water is then heated at constant pressure into a dry saturated vapor.
3. The vapor expands trough a turbine and generates the power.
4. The now wet vapor is condensed again at a constant pressure to become the saturated liquid it started the process in.

Together the nine installations generate a total power of 75 MW. Next time you are standing in the big traffic jam Kramer Junction can be, look at the SEGS facility and think happy thoughts; free energy!

Energy
In the modern world, energy is delivered to each household in the form of electricity. The definition of electricity is according to the dictionary: electrical current used or regarded as a source of power. The unit of energy is Joule (J).

The definition of power is: the rate in which energy is generated or consumed. The unit of power is Watt (W), which is joules per second (J/s).

Combined together we can now rewrite the unit of energy: Joule = Watt second (Ws). Taking into account the general consumption of an average household, electrical companies use kilo watt hour (kWh) for residential electrical bills.

In practice, a 1000W heater running for 30 minutes will use 0.5 kWh and a 60W lamp burning for 5 hrs. will use 0.3 kWh.

Energy sources
Electricity has been generated at central stations since 1881. Today the USA mostly relies on coal and natural gas for its electrical needs. A smaller part comes from nuclear and hydroelectric, and only very small amounts from renewable sources like solar energy, wind generators, geothermal sources, and tidal harnesses.

Distribution
The main consumers of electricity are of course industries. With rising energy prices in the last couple of years, major cut backs have been made. More has to be done, and that is up to all of us, us the employees. It is an easy thing to turn off that computer leaving for home. It might be a little harder, but why not develop that new product process to a more energy saving way of producing. It saves the company some money and gives our environment a break.

Residential energy use still accounts for a fifth of all the energy used. Here the individual can make a quick difference. There will be always people around telling that small steps don’t have any effect. Don’t get encouraged. If everybody makes that small step, it will add up in the end. We can make a difference together.

Storage
Still a main flaw in the electrical network is the lack of a storage capability. Demands for electricity fluctuates throughout the day and electrical companies can only react in a binary way; an extra generator is turned on, or turned off. There are many small start-up companies focusing on generating renewable energy, but the main breakthrough will come from companies concentrating on energy storage. Smaller batteries with higher capacity and other still to be developed technologies will send us more comfortable into the 22nd century.

Night rates
With a low demand for electricity at night, energy companies can offer electricity at a lower rate. With the residential Day-Night service, the nighttime service rate is about two-thirds the cost of the daytime service rate. However, there is a higher monthly meter charge, and the cost per kWh for electricity used during the daytime service hours might be higher than normal. Therefore, it’s important to review your use of electricity carefully before switching to Day-Night service rate. Check with your local energy provider about their Day-Night service package.

Home Automation System
With a Home Automation System, many appliances can be programmed to run during the lower night rate, the washing machine, the AC, the electrical water heater, and the dish washer. No more delay calculations, but a simple close of the door of your appliance and things will be taken care of for you. Maybe can you can save some energy and money in an easier way than you think.

Going Green is easier than most of us think. The initial step to take is to look into the facts. Seeing the numbers in front of you might drag you over that hump and start changing your daily routines. Once you take that first step, everything else falls in place like magic.

Let’s talk about some numbers and actions one can take, to save you some hard earned money and spare resources we all are meant to share:

1) To see the impact of all your consumption and the impact of your reducing effort, install an Egauge Energy Monitor. The eGauge can be connected directly to your local area network and the collected data exported to a spread-sheet program such as Excel. In this way your daily energy usage is displayed right on your screen and a starting point for your next actions.

2) Unplug your chargers and turn off your appliances. Vampire electricity represents about 5% of U.S. residential electricity consumption (adding up to more than $3 billion in annual energy costs). A cell phone charger still consumes 0.26 W when left plugged in, without even being attached to a cell phone. A 42″ LCD screen television can even draw up to 34W in standby. All energy wasted and paid for. The solution is simple, use a power strip which can be turned off to avoid standby of your appliances.

3) Buy Energy Star labeled appliances. In 2006 energy star appliances saved American households about 14 billion dollars and they are eligible for tax write offs. The government has a site about the Energy Star Label.

4) Follow Europe’s lead, and change your light bulbs. Since September 2009 there is a restriction on the sales of incandescent bulbs and the new compact fluorescent lamps are the only ones found on the shelf today. Yes, instead of €0.70 for a bulb, the cost for the new lamp can be up to €10. With 80% less energy consuming and a longer lifetime, the new bulb will pay off about €50 a year nevertheless when used for all lights in your household. An investment for now, but worth it in the long run.

5) Install an automatic sensor on your water taps. No more dripping, no more spilling. On average, the return on investment for sensor devices is about 30 percent. The payback period is about 3-6 months.

Let the numbers speak for themselves and start taking action right now!