Category: Europe

Empower your iPhone with the solar window charger

Solar energy undoubtedly is one of the best eco-friendly discoveries in the world.

The XD Design solar window charger uses the solar energy to the optimum level.

This window charger can be attached to the window easily and it comes with a small as well as big USB output.

The charger works on a simple mechanism – the outside body catches the sunlight and the smoothly designed inside charges the gadget.

It comes with a 1400mAh rechargeable lithium battery and a mini usb cable and costs a whopping 49, 90 €.

It’s made of plastic and weighs a light 0.135 kg.

This small solar gadget is a wonderful eco-friendly product and am sure many households would welcome such a product with open arms.

With the rising problems in electricity supply and burning of non-recyclable energies, solar energy seems to be a superb way out.

Beauty always comes with a price.

Green kitchen system powered by solar energy

Whenever we think of kitchen appliances, numerous contraptions like refrigerators, stoves and ovens come to our minds.

But what if there was a conception that included all of these mechanisms into a single exclusive system? Well, Iran’s Milad Taleghani has exactly conceptualized that, and rather notched up a green level by envisaging this system to be powered by clean solar energy.

Christened as the Funva, this avant-garde appliance (already runners-up in LG conceptual life contest, 2011) will feature a plethora of kitchen friendly attributes.

The artistic form of Funva goes along practical lines, as the collective element is conspicuous in the whole system.

One end of the sole-shaped table features the main control panel (the ‘kitchen’s heart’ according to the creator).

This panel is the major component that is fed by the house solar system, and it will comprise of numerous features that range from solar lighting fixtures, cooking system, dishwashers to even holographic displays and digital color pallet.

The other end of this table is incorporated with a small refrigerator and flanked by futuristic seating arrangements.

Mirroring the collective element of the design, Taleghani has also thought of kitchen walls as giant LED screens.

One can fascinatingly change the colors of LEDs and, in effect, of the walls by controlling aforementioned digital color pallet.

So at the end of the day, we have an advanced appliance that caters to all kitchen considerations by itself, albeit with a clean, sustainable demeanor.

Another kind of renewable energy: Human Waste

Another renewable source is biomass and is a biological material produced from living organisms and their byproducts, such as food waste, wood, excreta etc.

An excellent biomass is now considered the human waste.

More companies are turning to renewable energy from biomass.

The anaerobic digestion is the best method, which produce biogas, comprising of methane and carbon dioxide, which is used directly as cooking fuel.

The advantages of using human waste is that this will help protecting natural resources when the resultant product is used for cooking, fueling and will benefit to lower the greenhouse effect.

Audi engines will use wind power

Audi wants to build vehicles with clean power and zero- and low-emissions.

The manufacturer plans to use wind power for its upcoming electric and natural gas vehicles.

Like other large companies, Audi is financing the construction of four wind turbines off the North Sea that will generate annually up to 53 GWh of electricity and from this electricity, the manufacturer plans to use a portion of the wind power to charge its electric e-tron vehicles.

Audi can power fuel cell vehicles, including the Audi Q5 HFC by harnessing the power of wind to produce hydrogen through electrolysis.

Audi currently uses e-gas to power a CNG version of the A3.

The A3 TCNG will be even more environmentally friendly; Audi plans to break ground on its own synthetic methane facility in July. Using CO2 from a connected waste-biogas plant, Audi’s facility will produce annually 1,000 metric tons of e-gas.

This fuel will be added to Germany’s natural gas network, which serves 900 CNG stations.

Solar Impulse completes world’s first solar powered flight

Solar Impulse, first solar energy plane made the world’s first international flight powered by the sun.

The solar plane took off from an airfield at Payerne in western Switzerland on Friday morning, the Solar Impulse completed its solar powered trip to Brussels airport after 13 hours of flying.

The 10 year project worth 90 million Euros and was demonstrate what the technology can do in terms of renewable energy.

The Solar Impulse project has involved engineers from Swiss lift maker Schindler and research aid from Belgian chemicals group Solvay.

The solar plane which requires 12,000 solar cells embarked on its first flight in April 2010 and completed a 26-hour flight, a record flying time for a solar powered aircraft, three months later.

The Solar Impulse has an average flying speed of 70 km/h (44 mph) which can not be compared with existing jets velocity which is much higher.

A larger prototype is scheduled to fly around the world in 2013.

Solar power installations had a huge growth rate in 2010

Solar energy is racking up major increases in installed capacity year after year.

2009 was a bad year for solar energy, because the growth rate slowed to 24% which was a disappointing pace.

According to PVNews, 2010 saw a growth increase of 141% over the previous year, more than doubling the amount of new solar installations from 7.2 GW to 17.5 GW.

It seems the weak performance of 2009 was due to economic uncertainties.

Chinese manufacturers have contributed greatly at this increase with cheaper crystalline solar cells.

China’s market has little to no environmental regulations in place and the production of solar cells is a toxic business.

The thin film solar cells have the potential to be much cleaner to produce than crystalline cells and are largely manufactured in the west.

Thin film solar cells still only make up about 5% of the solar market.

Nine of the top fifteen producers of PV cells are based in China or Taiwan.

In the next years will be a significant challenge on solar market and subsidies are critical for the expansion of solar power.

Investment continues to occur at a rapid pace, and the solar industry has shown a remarkable ability to change with the times and continue expanding.

Britain raises support for renewable heat

A lot of Britain’s available energy is used to heat homes and buildings.

The British government plans to provide incentives for renewable energy.

The focus on renewable electricity has tended to sideline renewable heat.

But now finally, the Coalition government has specified the regulations of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).

The regulations will be approved by Parliament in summer 2011.

These subsidies will be for a wide range of technologies including solar thermal, biomass, heat-pumps and biogas.

RHI program is a vital step towards ensuring that British homes and businesses  take greater  control of their energy while also reducing carbon emissions.

Clean energy collaboration between Moscow and Stockholm

Russia and Sweden will cooperate on energy efficiency and international trade; the government ministers from Russia and Sweden have signed a memorandum of understanding.

In a joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Frederick Reinfeldt on 28 April 2011, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin did add one detail – the planned creation of a joint research facility.

“We are interested in developing close cooperation in energy efficiency and renewable energy sources and we have agreed to work through our energy agencies and draft a project for a Russian-Swedish centre on innovation and energy efficiency,” Putin said.

Italy will add 7000 MW by June

Since 2007 Italy has targeted legislative incentives to make a transition to clean energy sources.

2010 was a record for Italy with 4000 MW, but 2011 will be a mega because by mid-year total installed capacity is expected to reach 7 GW of solar power on the grid.

“Some 200 MW out of these 4,000 MW became operative in December, and I believe that at least another 3,000 MW will be connected by the end of June,” Gerardo Montanino, director of the state services agency told Reuters.

How far Italy has exceeded that required EU standards by the Kyoto agreement, the government wants to suspend subsidies.

This forces companies and investors to review their business strategies for Italy.

Solar steam generation power plant opens in Spain

Concentrated solar power plants use lenses or mirrors to heat fluid – such as synthetic oil – which in turn is used to generate high-pressure steam to drive a conventional turbine. A new experimental solar steam generation power plant that opened last week in southern Spain is aiming to improve on the efficiency of existing systems by using water as the direct working fluid and incorporating novel methods for storing the energy, so it can be dispensed even on cloudy days or at night.
The pilot plant is located in the municipality of Carboneras, and is the result of a collaboration between the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, or DLR) and Spanish utility company Endesa. It was officially put into use on March 31st.
The water in the receiver tubes is kept at a pressure of up to 120 bar (1740 psi), which results in the creation of superheated 500C (932F) steam. That higher temperature allows the whole process to work more efficiently, bringing down the cost of solar thermal power generation and making it a more viable option.
Heat gathered by the plant can be stored in both sensible and latent forms, for use in creating energy when the sun isn’t brightly shining. In the sensible heat system, heat from the steam is absorbed by a concrete storage system, so it can later be released to create more steam and drive the turbine. In the latent heat system, the steam is used to heat salt, which absorbs energy when it reaches a temperature of 305C (581F) and changes from a solid to a liquid state. When the salt cools back down below 305 degrees and reverts to its solid form, that energy is released.

Source: www.gizmag.com