Category: INDUSTRY

Tibet’s largest solar power plant to become operational in May

The largest solar power plant in Southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region will become operational in May to help ease the plateau region’s power shortages.
The 30-megawatt solar photovoltaic generation project in Xigaze Prefecture, about 3 km northwest of Tibet’s second largest city Xigaze, is perched at 3,895 meters above sea level, the project’s steering committee said Thursday in a press release.

It said the project would cost 800 million yuan (122 million U.S. dollars), funded solely by Linuo Power Group, a leading provider of solar photovoltaic power generation systems based in east China’s Shandong Province.

Construction of the first phase, costing 249 million yuan and covering an area of 30 hectares, began in May last year. It will generate up to 20.23 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, the document said.

German bored piling technology was used to dig through the thick layer of perennial frozen earth on the plateau, said project manager Zhang Daobin. It was the first time such technology had been employed in Tibet.

He said the first phase of the project alone could ease some power shortages in Xigaze Prefecture, by supplying electricity for more than 100,000 farming and herding families.

The clean energy project would help save 7,600 tonnes of coal annually and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by at least 13,800 tonnes, said Zhang.

Last year, a 10-megawatt solar photovoltaic generation project was built in Yangbajing, a town 90 km northwest of Tibet’s capital Lhasa, with a designed power generation capacity of 430 million kwh during its 25-year life span.

Source: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7336743.html

Vestas has plans for building a giant turbine in UK

Vestas has hinted it is considering building a new manufacturing facility in the UK, after unveiling the long-awaited design for its first wind turbine designed specifically for the next generation of offshore North Sea projects.
The world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer today launched the new V164-7.0MW turbine, which is 1MW larger than anticipated – and 1MW larger than the offshore turbines planned by rivals Siemens and General Electric.
Speaking at the launch of the turbine design in London today, Vestas chief executive Ditlev Engel said the company will require a new production facility for the 7MW machine at an undecided coastal location if it secures enough orders.
“This is an investment we are ready to make, but only if we see firm commitment from our customers,” he said. “A commitment that is backed by the political framework.”
Vestas Offshore president Anders Søe-Jensen confirmed the company’s Isle of Wight research and development centre will produce the V164’s 80 metre blades, each weighing 35 tonnes.
He also hinted the UK would be a strong contender for any new manufacturing site for the remaining components.
“[In order to lower costs] we need to build offshore where the wind resources are best, and that happens to be right here at our doorstep in the North Sea,” he said. “The ambitions and the volume definitely seem to be in the UK, but it is vital for the UK not to lose the first-mover momentum. Not least to address the energy gap at the end of the decade, but also to maximise possible job creation benefits.”
Weighing about 800 tonnes and standing at 187 metres high, the giant turbine constitutes Vestas’ largest ever research and development investment. It is expected to be able to produce enough electricity in one hour to supply one and a half households for a year.
The first prototypes are slated for construction in the fourth quarter of 2012, with serial production expected to start during the first quarter of 2015.
Source: www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2038728/vestas-manufacture-giant-7mw-wind-turbine-uk

Eco-friendly seagull

This Eco Solar-Powered Flapping Seagull Kit is a great way to teach children about the abilities of the eco-friendly energy source of solar power. The flapping seagull comes in kit form, once assembled the kit is a plastic seagull that flaps its wings in the sunlight.
The Solar Powered Flapping Seagull Kit is perfect for children who have little experience in creating toys from kit form. The kit includes an illustrated instruction guide and only has 12 parts to assemble but does require you to have diagonal cutters and a pair of scissors. The flapping seagull is created from high density plastic parts, coloured to look like a seagull. The solar panel on the seagull’s back is used to provide power to flap the wings, allowing the seagull to appear to be in flight on a sunny day.
The Flapping Seagull Kit can be used as an educational aid to help teach children about solar power. Due to the model being supplied in kit form the child can get full involved with it, learning how the parts go together and visually experiencing how effectively light energy is converted into electrical power that causes the wings to flap.
The Flapping Seagull Kit is supplied with a suction cup that allows you to secure the seagull to a sunny spot. It is best to place the seagull in direct sunlight to allow it to work in optimum conditions and to help demonstrate the abilities of solar power. The kit is a great way to get a child involved with science and to help them learn about solar energy while providing them with an entertaining toy that will never require batteries.
Source: www.ecosystemdiscovery.com/2011/02/eco-solar-powered-flapping-seagull.html

Energy provided by passing trains

Rail travel is one of the greenest means of traveling across the country, but it could be even more efficient if the infrastructure itself produced electricity. Companies have already come up with plans to harness energy from passing trains using piezoelectric pads, and now two designers have developed a device that could harness the wind energy produced by speeding trains.
Ale Leonetti Luparinia and Qian Jiang’s T-Box is a power generator that captures wind energy from passing trains. It is designed to be installed into the spaces between existing rail tracks – around 150 T-Boxes could hypothetically be installed over 1km of track.
A passing train travelling at 200 kph would produce a wind speed equivalent to 15 m/sec. The T-Box would be able to catch this wind and produce about 3,500 W of power. If the train was 200m long, going at a speed of 300 kph and travelled 1km in 18 seconds, the T-Boxes would be able to produce about 2.6 KWh. This energy could then be utilized to power remote areas that don’t have electricity or rail sub-systems.
Source:inhabitat.com/t-box-harnesses-wind-energy-from-speeding-trains/

First floating solar power plant in India

Tata Power is joining hands with the Sunengy Pty Ltd, an Australian solar power company to set up India’s first floating solar plant. It would be a low cost plant as the economic floating solar technology invented by Sunengy is going to be used. According to Mr.Banmali Agrawala, the executive director of Tata Power, India’s private electrical utility provider, Tata Power plans to set this floating solar unit on water that in the company’s quest for providing sustainable energy that is also eco-friendly. As this would be set on water surface land competition can be reduced considerably and it can be used for other purposes.
According to Mr.Phil Connor, executive director and chief technology officer of Sunengy, this plant would be built using their patented Liquid Solar Array (LSA) technology. LSA technology works by converting a large water source like a dam into a battery that can store solar energy. Such a setup would be a better method of water management and does not require acquisition of vast land.
Basically concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) technology will be used to make the solar cells floating on water. This floating reduces the cost of mounting solar cells on costly and strong supporting structures. This also makes the structure cyclone proof. Thus a lens and an array of solar cells would track sunlight throughout the day. In bad weather conditions the lens and cells would get submerged under water. However, this cooling would increase the life and efficiency of the cells and the lens.
The pilot plant in India would be commenced only in August 2011. Meanwhile, Sunengy would establish a larger LSA in the NSW Hunter Valley by mid 2012. Tests for the Indian units would be done at the CSIRO Energy Center in New Castle, New South Wales, Australia.
Thus by setting such a low cost solar plant, Tata Power can make a breakthrough by providing power at a reduced cost. The success of this plant can certainly be an eye-opener for using solar power extensively.
Source: www.ecofriend.com/entry/india-s-first-floating-solar-plant-by-tata-power-and-sunengy/

Green house built by The Fab Academy

Built by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), Fab Lab House is a fully constructed project to provide energy efficiency and sustainability.
One of the features that impressed with this project is that the house is capable of generating up  to three times more energy due to rooftop solar panels. A detail of the construction are the plywood panels that are standardized (1220 x 1440mm) and used throughout the project in this dimension.
The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia is one of the leading educational and research center dedicated to the development of an architecture to address the global challenges in building comfort in the 21 century. Based on the 22 @ district of Barcelona, one of the main cities in the world of architecture and urban planning, IAAC is a platform for sharing knowledge with teachers and students from over 25 countries including USA, China. India, Poland, Italy, Mexico and Sudan. The students work on multiple scales
(urban, design, production) and in various fields (ecology, energy, digital manufacturing, new technologies), to pursue their  own research to develop an integrated skills to effectively in their home country or the world.
IAAC organizes the Master in Advanced Architecture of Vicente Guallart, Willy Müller and Marta Malé Alemany, in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of the UPC. Open-process inventory is open to students of the Master of Architecture PhD worldwide. The Fab Academy is part of the worldwide network of Fab Labs with the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms connected.
Source:www.ecosystemdiscovery.com/2011/02/eco-fab-lab-house.html

In five years iPods will be powered by our heartbeat

According to the American Chemistry Society, researchers including lead scientist Zhong Lin Wang, Ph.D. of Georgia Institute of Technology, have spent the last six years working on a commercially viable nanogenerator that uses the body’s movements to generate electricity. And they’ve finally hit a breakthrough. They’ve created a flexible chip that currently generates electricity when it is squeezed between two fingers (but will eventually use our very pulse) to create a charge.
“This development represents a milestone toward producing portable electronics that can be powered by body movements without the use of batteries or electrical outlets,” said lead scientist Zhong Lin Wang, Ph.D. “Our nanogenerators are poised to change lives in the future. Their potential is only limited by one’s imagination.”
Their latest iteration of the nanogenerator stores generated electricity in a capacitor, and was efficient enough to run LCDs, LEDs and laser diodes. The team is working on ramping up the voltage by 150 times so that it can be functional in daily life, charging MP3 players and other small handheld devices, environmental sensors powered by wind, and even devices in the medical industry like insulin pumps powered by heartbeats.
Source:www.treehugger.com/files/2011/03/ipods-powered-with-our-heartbeat-within-5-years-scientists-say-yes.php?campaign=th_rss_science

MiraQua: the green car without carbon footprint

Today there seems to be more and more and yet more vehicles on the road than ever. Everybody wants to have their own transport and a smaller car with least carbon emission seems to be an ideal solution for this inexhaustible number of cars that seem to be coming up. Tiny cars electrically driven but looking unique in design and performance may be the ideal solution, according to Chaoyi Li, designer of the MiraQua car. Though he designed this as a solution for Australia and China’s excessive traffic congestion, this car can become popular all over.
MiraQua designer, Chaoyi Li, has done a thorough job of designing this unique-designed small green concept car tailor-made for improving urban life quality. He had carried out through sketching, body storming practices, mock-up modeling in various media include styling foam, crafting clay and metal wire etc., and digital model making in Autodesk Studiotools. The name also refers to the smooth flow of the vehicle-traffic like that of a water stream.
With MiraQua being a totally electrical car, there are no carbon emissions. The very driving force behind the development of this car was the desire of its designer to reduce fossil fuel dependency and using optimally minimal road space for commuting and parking. This he has achieved with the creation of MiraQua.
It is heartening to see more and more efforts focused to contain the carbon print on our universe and reduce fossil fuel dependency. When individual transportation becoming a way of life, it is good to have a small car that will not hog road space. It is all the more better in having a green sensitive vehicle that will be eco-friendly and leave no carbon footprint.
Source: www.alternative-energy-news.info/miraqua-electric-car/

Today there seems to be more and more and yet more vehicles on the road than ever. Everybody wants to have their own transport and a smaller car with least carbon emission seems to be an ideal solution for this inexhaustible number of cars that seem to be coming up. Tiny cars electrically driven but looking unique in design and performance may be the ideal solution, according to Chaoyi Li, designer of the MiraQua car. Though he designed this as a solution for Australia and China’s excessive traffic congestion, this car can become popular all over.MiraQua designer, Chaoyi Li, has done a thorough job of designing this unique-designed small green concept car tailor-made for improving urban life quality. He had carried out through sketching, body storming practices, mock-up modeling in various media include styling foam, crafting clay and metal wire etc., and digital model making in Autodesk Studiotools. The name also refers to the smooth flow of the vehicle-traffic like that of a water stream.With MiraQua being a totally electrical car, there are no carbon emissions. The very driving force behind the development of this car was the desire of its designer to reduce fossil fuel dependency and using optimally minimal road space for commuting and parking. This he has achieved with the creation of MiraQua.It is heartening to see more and more efforts focused to contain the carbon print on our universe and reduce fossil fuel dependency. When individual transportation becoming a way of life, it is good to have a small car that will not hog road space. It is all the more better in having a green sensitive vehicle that will be eco-friendly and leave no carbon footprint.
Source: www.alternative-energy-news.info/miraqua-electric-car/

The new Wave Power Device

Ocean Power Technologies Inc. has announced that it has completed the first of its new generation utility-scale PowerBuoy device, the PB150. The PB150 Powerbuoy has a peak-rated power output of 150 Kw and is the largest, most powerful wave power device build by the company.
Ocean Power Technologies Inc. is a leader in wave energy technology. The PB150 PowerBuoy will have the equivalent to the energy consumption of approximately 150 homes – the PB150 is designed for use in arrays for grid-connected power generation projects worldwide, according to a press release.
The device is currently being prepared for ocean trials at a site approximately 33 nautical miles from Invergordon, off Scotland’s northeast coast. These sea trials are expected to commence as soon as weather conditions permit. The company is seeking additional financing for the commercial utilization of the buoy after the trial phase is completed, including its possible deployment at various potential sites.
A second PB150 is already under construction in the US for a proposed utility-scale project in Oregon, and the company is involved in other planned projects in Australia, Japan and Europe that may utilize the PB150.
Source: http://www.tomorrowisgreener.com/the-next-generation-wave-power-device/

Using cerium oxide to create solar energy

Newer and more exciting devices are being invented to harness renewable energy – especially solar energy. One such device is a prototype which uses one of the rare earth metals – ceria, otherwise known cerium oxide – utilizing its natural propensity of alternatively exhaling and inhaling oxygen as it heats up or cools down.
Formulated by US & Swiss researchers, this prototype has a quartz window and a small cavity to focus sunlight on a ceria-filled cylinder. With water and/or carbon dioxide being pumped into the vessel, hydrogen and/or carbon monoxide are created. Hydrogen by itself is used in hydrogen cells and by mixing hydrogen and carbon monoxide, fuel syngas can be produced.
As against the conventional photovoltaic cells, hydrogen and syngas are fuels which can be stored, are portable and can be used any time. The metal ceria is abundantly available being the most commonly found rare-earth metal. Professor Sossina Haile, from California Institute of Technology, has claimed that ceria is most suited for this process and fit for massive-scale production of fuels like hydrogen and syngas. She also said that saying that this prototype mimics plants’ photosynthesis is too generalized and over simplistic though the basic ingredients and working may be the same.
Daniel Davies, from Solar Century, a British firm called the research as ‘exciting’. The possibility of large-scale production and portability of the fuel are the plus points of this device according to him. But Professor Haile strongly contends that making or marring of this and other such prototypes depends very much on national and state-level carbon policy.

Source: www.alternative-energy-news.info/ceria-mimics-plant-life/