How I built an electricity producing wind turbine Several years ago I bought some remote property in Arizona. I am an astronomer and wanted a place to practice my hobby far away from the sky-wrecking light pollution found near cities of any real size. I found a great piece of property. The problem is, it's so remote that there is no electric service available. That's not really a problem. No electricity equals no light pollution. One thing I noticed right away about my property is that most of the time, the wind is blowing. Let me state up front that I probably won't be able to help you out much if you decide to build your own wind turbine. Since no one seems to be reading the FAQ, I will answer the No. 1 question I get many, many times a day right here up front. Update: Here is a video of the wind turbine in operation. Update: Here is a video of me assembling and setting up the wind turbine on my remote off-grid property. I started the process of designing my wind turbine by Googling for information on home-built wind turbines. .
How it Works | Sheerwind Watch this: Watch 3 actual turbines in action! SheerWind’s INVELOX Wind Delivery is simply a better way to harvest wind energy. Wind is captured at the top of the funnel shaped INVELOX system. The omnidirectional intake area allows wind collection from any directionWind is funneled through the systemWind is concentrated and further accelerated in the Venturi Effect* section of the INVELOX system. This system of capturing, concentrating, accelerating, and harvesting wind power in a funnel is a patented system we call INVELOX™ (for INcreased VELocity). SheerWind’s mission is to provide sustainable, affordable, electrical energy to anyone, anywhere. INVELOX is scalable, equally suitable for use in major wind farms or micro-generation settings. inShare213
World record solar cell with 44.7% efficiency The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Soitec, CEA-Leti and the Helmholtz Center Berlin jointly announced today having achieved a new world record for the conversion of sunlight into electricity using a new solar cell structure with four solar subcells. Surpassing competition after only over three years of research, and entering the roadmap at world class level, a new record efficiency of 44.7% was measured at a concentration of 297 suns. This indicates that 44.7% of the solar spectrum's energy, from ultraviolet through to the infrared, is converted into electrical energy. This is a major step towards reducing further the costs of solar electricity and continues to pave the way to the 50% efficiency roadmap. Back in May 2013, the German-French team of Fraunhofer ISE, Soitec, CEA-Leti and the Helmholtz Center Berlin had already announced a solar cell with 43.6% efficiency.
A Material That Could Make Solar Power “Dirt Cheap” A new type of solar cell, made from a material that is dramatically cheaper to obtain and use than silicon, could generate as much power as today’s commodity solar cells. Although the potential of the material is just starting to be understood, it has caught the attention of the world’s leading solar researchers, and several companies are already working to commercialize it. Researchers developing the technology say that it could lead to solar panels that cost just 10 to 20 cents per watt. Solar panels now typically cost about 75 cents a watt, and the U.S. Department of Energy says 50 cents per watt will allow solar power to compete with fossil fuel. In the past, solar researchers have been divided into two camps in their pursuit of cheaper solar power. The new material may make it possible to get the best of both worlds—solar cells that are highly efficient but also cheap to make. “Between 2009 and 2012 there was only one paper.
How Much Can You Save With Solar Panels? Just Ask Google If you’re considering solar power but aren’t quite sure it’s worth the expense, Google wants to point you in the right direction. Tapping its trove of satellite imagery and the latest in artificial intelligence, the company is offering a new online service that will instantly estimate how much you’ll save with a roof full of solar panels. On Monday, the company unveiled Project Sunroof, a tool that calculates your home’s solar power potential using the same high-resolution aerial photos Google Earth uses to map the planet. After creating a 3-D model of your roof, the service estimates how much sun will hit those solar panels during the year and how much money the panels could save you over the next two decades. “People search Google all the time to learn about solar,” says Google’s Joel Conkling. Click to Open Overlay Gallery The service is now available for homes in the San Francisco Bay Area, central California, and the greater Boston area. How Google Parses Your Roof Go Back to Top.
Funny Looking Tower Generates 600% More Electrical Energy Than Traditional Wind Turbines The Sheerwind wind turbine promises to produce 6 times the electrical power than traditional wind turbines. This funny looking wind tower acts like a funnel, directing the wind from any angle, down through a tube to a ground based turbine generator. The funneling of the wind through a narrow passage effectively creates a “jet effect” increasing the velocity of the wind, while lowering the pressure. This is called the Venturi Effect. As such it can capture and generate electricity at a much lower wind speed than current wind power technologies. The idea is so simple, so elegant, and promises to produce so much more energy at lower cost and more efficiently, that it might just be the answer to many problems with current wind turbine technology. This technology is not really new in the science of fluid dynamics, however this is a new way to generate electricity, and if successful, promises to grow the wind energy in a more eco-friendly way than ever thought possible. via: Sheerwind Comments
Solar Panels Cost Guide | Prices and Calculator HOW TO CHART THE SUN’S MOTION IN RELATION TO YOUR HOMESTEAD Learn to track the sun before you design your home to determine the best orientation for it, as well as how to take advantage of the sun rays, because the position is also important for the passive cooling and heating of the house. Understanding the sun’s motion relative to a site is an important aspect of a good permaculture design, as various elements like plants, animals and solar devices depend on sun for their functionality. A good appreciation of the earth’s rotation about its axis, its revolution around the sun and the consequences of these motions on the sun’s position and availability at a given location on the earth’s surface, is essential for maximizing plant productivity, harnessing maximum energy, minimizing energy usage and maintaining a comfortable indoor environment for humans and animals alike. For a given site, if we can create a chart that shows the areas of year round shade and year round sunshine, one can plan and design the various elements for optimal functioning.
Solar energy rolls out like a carpet with groundbreaking Roll-Array photovoltaics | Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building Solar power is easier to install than ever before thanks to the latest innovation: the Roll-Array. John Hingley and his team at the renewable energy company Renovagen designed a high power PV array that rolls out like a carpet. This flexible and easy-to-transport instant microgrid has the capacity to bring alternative energy to places we never thought possible. Check out the video below to see it in action. The Roll-Array is easily towable by a standard 4×4 vehicle such as a Land Rover. When connected to the back of the car, the flexible solar panels are pulled out of a spool and create ground cover in a matter of minutes. Not only is this new technology installed quickly, but the fuel cost savings during transportation is noteworthy. According to Renovagen, a standard rigid solar field takes 22 hours of man-power to install, while the thin, flexible sheets roll out in just 2 minutes. + Renovagen Via Treehugger Images via Renovagen