September 2014 – Solar Magazine

Kinetic + Solar Energy Floors to be designed by Energy Floors and OTEM2000

Kinetic and Solar Energy Floors by Energy Floors and OTEM2000

Can you picture floors that transform the energy of walking into power? Well, it is possible. The electricity comes from pedestrians and solar panels. The two companies says that a range of products will be destined to citizens and the public sector.

This concept first saw the light of day five years ago and it was called sustainable dance floor. Sustainable energy floor accomplishes this “by means of a patented electromechanical system that converts kinetic energy of walking people into usable electricity.

The Sustainable Energy Floor (SEF) is the world’s most efficient energy converting pedestrian floor system. One step or move on a tile can generate between 2-20 Joules, depending on the weight of the person, type of movement and maximum deflection”, as the definition says.

The many processes implied together with OTEM2000 highlight the fact that novelties can bring benefits to both the efficiency and green energy in general.

As Antoni Orti, product and project manager at OTEM2000, says, “energy Floors has loads of experience with these kind of products; they developed the best technology to harness energy from human movement. In addition to that, the Hybrid Energyfloor® has the potential to create amazing spaces that fulfill a green cause whilst also communicating a cool and green message. All kinds of public areas can benefit greatly from these flooring systems.”

Until now, methods that use kinetic energy can be found on dance floors, train stations, speed bumps, and soccer balls. A good place for kinetic energy to be found is the school. That is why students are present all day. For example, at Webster University a kinetic energy mobile device charging station can be found on the campus in St. Louis; the “EnGo” is the innovation of a New York company called The Volta Group.

Half the energy in Scotland is renewable

Half of Scotland’s power sources are clean

About half of Scotland’s power sources are now green. That comes from the bad weather. Still, some of the renewable heat technologies are unreachable, as the industry group Scottish Renewables reports.

The latest statistics from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) says that renewables reached a milestone. That means the use of electricity has come from 46.4% in the last year, evolving from 39.9% a year before. The Scottish Government believes their country will succeed with its target of 50% until next year, and 100% will be reached in 2020.

The recent growth is possible thanks to hydro-electricity generation growing by 50% thanks to the high rainfall. Wind power also increased by 20%.

Still, the DECC’s figures also say that just three per cent of the country’s warmth is due to “renewable heat” – biomass, solar thermal panels, energy from waste and heat pumps – in 2012. Evolving from 2% in 2012. The target is 11% until 2020, but this domain has been left behind, as Stephanie Clark Policy Manager at Scottish Renewables says: “While Scotland has made great strides towards its 100 per cent 2020 renewable electricity target, our objective of generating 11 per cent of heat from renewables remains worryingly out of reach. Renewable heat has been left behind.

“Half the energy we use goes on creating warmth, but a sector which has such an important role to play in combating climate change and reducing fuel poverty is not even considered important enough to be included as one of the Scottish Government’s National Indicators of progress.

A different study tells us that Scotland’s final energy consumption went down by two per cent in 2012 and was 11 per cent down on the average over the years 2005-2007.

As far as wind is concerned, the energy will grow with 2,451 onshore turbines currently operational, 416 being built and a further 1,435 already consented, as Renewable UK’s Wind Energy Database shows.

California is planning on solving the green energy storage solution

Tehachapi Energy Storage Project

We all know the benefits of green energy. It is free, it’s becoming more and more accessible and it is environmentally friendly. Still, it is not perfect yet. And one of the most challenging issues of green energy sources is identifying a storage solution for the power excess. Although it does not sound as a difficult thing when it comes to home panels, when we speak of utility companies, the situation changes.

But there is still hope as Southern California Edison is prepared to accept that challenge. They have launched the Tehachapi Energy Storage Project, a large-scale project that uses lithium-ion batteries (608,832 of them, to be precise), in order to save electricity. So, in the two couple of years, the 32 megawatt-hours array will gather leftover energy for the close sources and also from a wind turbine area. SCE will study what happens and pay attention to the lithium-ion packs, in order to improve their efficiency.

Even if this will not happen overnight, it is good to know there is a chance of improvement in the green energy field. So don’t expect to see this type of batteries soon, even if the test is a success. The batteries are only working in s small city. It will take a while until they can work a larger city, and even China’s record-setting storage system tops out at 36 megawatt-hours. But this doesn’t make it a less important step for the renewable energy field. SO this will make it easier for those who want to benefit from green enegy.

A simple glass sphere could change the future of Solar Power

A new type of glass sphere can revolutionise the solar energy field.

It is not a secret anymore that the sun in one of the biggest sources of energy available on our planet. Still, we haven’t reached a point where we are using it to its maximum power. Most of the photovolataic panels around the world can only perform as high as 15% or less, and if they don’t use a tracking device, their efficiency is even lower. So, we learn that the energy from the sun is not as productive as it could be.

Andre Broessel, a German architect living in Barcelona, can solve the problem. He purpose is to “squeeze more juice out of the sun.” And that is how he designed Rawlemon.

If you put together spherical geometry principles with their dual axis tracking system, Rawlemon can produce twice as much energy as a normal solar panel, if both are located on a vertical set-up. Moreover, the sphere can minimize the cell surface to 1%, as a lot more cells could fit into a specific area and also concentrate its power to make a lot more sustainable, cheap power.

As opposed to conventional solar panels, this new invented device, can benefit from a fully rotational weather-proof natural optical tracking system that can be used on inclined areas, walls, and any other location with sunlight. The unit can use a modular collector system that is able to charge and store power day and night, both from the sun and the moon.

Green energy can be cheaper with Hydrogen

Hydrogen for cheap and clean energy

We all know that nowadays our wellbeing is strongly connected to fossil fuels. The fact is that they destroy our planet and affect our climate change. But new researches show that the latest hydrogen breakthrough could offer cheap renewable energy.

Researchers from the University of Glasgow found a way of hydrogen production that can be almost 30% faster than the method is being used now. In addition to this, the breakthrough also gives a way of solving some problems that often come with the green energy sources most frequently used such as wind, solar or wave.

Scientists have found a way to craft hydrogen fuel on an industrial level without the need of methane. They say that this is an important discovery in the process of making hydrogen a solution in the detriment of fossil fuels.

“Around 95 percent of the world’s hydrogen supply is currently obtained from fossil fuels, a finite resource which we know harms the environment and speeds climate change,” lead researcher Lee Cronin from the university’s School of Chemistry, said in a statement.

“The potential for reliable hydrogen production from renewable sources is huge.”

Hydrogen is not hard to produce, especially when using electrolysis, a process that involves using electricity to break the connections between water’s hydrogen and oxygen components and releasing them as gas. In opposition to other gases, hydrogen can be used with no harm for the environment.

“The process uses a liquid that allows the hydrogen to be locked up in a liquid-based inorganic fuel. By using a liquid sponge known as a redox mediator that can soak up electrons and acid we’ve been able to create a system where hydrogen can be produced in a separate chamber without any additional energy input after the electrolysis of water takes place,” Cronin added.

This allows “hydrogen to be released from the water 30 times faster than the leading PEME process on a per-milligram-of-catalyst basis,” he concludes.

Sweden recycles almost 100% of its garbage

Zero waste for Sweden

Sweden is witness to a “recycling revolution”, a country that could easily reach zero waste.

There’s a “recycling revolution” happening in Sweden – one that has pushed the country closer to zero waste than ever before. In fact, less than one per cent of Sweden’s household garbage ends up in landfills today.

The northern country has reached a managing point where they are able to import garbage from UK, Italy, Norway and Ireland in order to support their 32 waste-to-energy (WTE) plants, thing they’ve been doing for years.

“Waste today is a commodity in a different way than it has been. It’s not only waste, it’s a business,” explained Swedish Waste Management communications director Anna-Carin Gripwell in a statement.

Each year, a person from Sweden makes only 461 kilograms of waste, a number that is about half of the rest of the European countries. Sweden is also special because of the controversial program that incinerates almost two million tons of trash every year. It is the same process that transforms the garbage into power.

“When waste sits in landfills, leaking methane gas and other greenhouse gasses, it is obviously not good for the environment,” Gripwell said of traditional dump sites. So Sweden focused on developing alternatives to reduce the amount of toxins seeping into the ground.

Before the waste goes to the incinerator plants, it is sorted regarding home and business owners, organic waste is collected, paper is collected, and things that can be used are filtered.

According to Swedish law, producers have to take all costs that is related to the disposal and recycling.

Vermont is 100% renewable

Vermont goes 100% green

Vermont’s biggest city has succeeded to convert all its energy sources in renewable ones and it is 100% renewable with the help of wind, water and biomass.

Burlington Electric Department managed to achieve the 7.4-megawatt Winooski 1 hydroelectric project on the Winooski River at the city’s edge. To do so, the 7.4-megawatt Winooski 1 hydroelectric project on the Winooski River at the city’s edge that gathers about 11,000 clients in the city.

‘‘It shows that we’re able to do it, and we’re able to do it cost effectively in a way that makes Vermonters really positioned well for the future,’’ reports Christopher Recchia, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Service.

It is all part of a program that has the purpose to get 90% of Vermont’s energy from renewable resources by 2050, including electricity, heating, and transportation.

The movement is bigger than this, as governments and businesses and businesses search better ways to get rid of unenvironmentally friendly fuels.

Diane Moss, the founding director of the Southern California-based Renewables 100 Policy Institute, believes that it is a big achievement for cities all around the country to have such purposes.

‘It shows that we’re able to do it, and we’re able to do it cost effectively in a way that makes Vermonters really positioned well for the future.’

Almost 1000 local businesses managed to commit to 100%

‘‘They are selling the renewable energy credits to customers in other states. Those customers have the renewable and clean energy benefits of that power,’’ Sandy Levine, of the Vermont office of the Conservation Law Foundation said. ‘‘Simply using accounting measures to make claims about clean energy doesn’t get us there.’’

3D printing solar panels are finally here

Shawn Freyne and Alex Hornstein from the Philippines can print solar panels within 15 seconds

Open Source technology has seen a huge progress lately. Moreover, a lot of persons are familiar with the source movement and this leads to a lot more creative ideas in the domain. The newest idea of the kind is delivered by Shawn Freyne and Alex Hornstein from the Philippines, that discovered a way to print solar panels within 15 seconds.

The “Open Source Solar Factory”, conceived by the two developers, consists of a small kit that could easily fit on a desktop and its efficiency high enough to make 300 thousand solar panels a year, meaning a solar panel could be printed every 15 seconds.This is not at all complicated, as the materials involved in the process are simple: glue, silicon cells, glass and plastic.

With this way of printing, the solar panel prices can be very low. If time and effort are invested, they can produce sufficient solar panels for important items such as cars and homes. And because the project is DIY, the producers have succeeded in reducing the price by almost 50%, as there is no labor work necessary.

The two scientists that made this possible have a big passion for inventions and they support green, free energy. So that is why they put a lot of effort into making this as economical as they could. In addition to this, they uploaded tutorials on Instructables.com for the kit, so that everybody can make their own solar panel.

At the moment, the duo have completed an entire round of successful funding on Kickstarter, a major crowd-funding site. They managed to raise $70,000 and are now aiming for $100,000 for their continued research on the topic.

Wind energy to reduce electricity bills

Wind energy can reduce electricity bills

Green energy has always been seen as a great opportunity for the environment and the energy costs. If we take a deeper look into the economic aspects, we should pay attention to the cost of the feed-in tariff systems. First of all, we should take into account the aspects of the incentives and whether they are as expensive as they have always been and secondly we should analise whether the effect of wind is similar to other renewables.

A study made by the UPV/EHU’s Bilbao Energy Research Team (BERT) shows that wind is the most profitable of all green energy producers and in the meantime, solar is growing.

The UPV/EHU study takes a look at the power market in Spain between 2008 and 2012, a period of prosperity for the green energy in the country. Then, power production within the Special Scheme has a 57% increase- and quantifies its cost.

In order to make this happen, they had to measure the market savings made by green power sources but also had to calculate the quantity of incentives in renewable energy. The difference between them is the net cost of green energy.

This study is different from others because in this work the separate results for renewable technology are presented for the first time, demonstrating that the general conclusions cannot be applied to all the technologies across the board,” says Cristina Pizarro-Irizar, the lead author of the research.

The most important results are those obtained in 2008-2009 when the installed capacity was small, buut the savings generated on the electricity market had outcome the costs of the system. “It signified savings of between 25 and 45 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), depending on the year,” added Pizarro-Irizar.

Still, from 2010 onwards when green generation began to rise, the regulatory costs grew much, making a positive net cost on the system. “The penetration of renewable energy starts to be so high that the market prices do not fall any further and yet the costs of the incentives do in fact rise. There is a turning point and it is at that precise moment that the system is no longer sustainable. On the Spanish electricity market, that turning point was reached in 2010,” points out Cristina Pizarro-Irizar.