• Category Archives: Alternative Energy

    Wind Powered Battery Storage Pilots in Texas


    Duke Energy Renewables has developed a way of saving extra power generated by batteries at its Notrees Windpower Project in Texas. The $44 million battery-storage system holds excess energy from the 153-megawatt Notrees farm and releases it when power supplies dip. This innovation is particularly helpful because winds often blow more strongly at night, when power needs are less, and more gently during the day, when power demands are higher. With this battery storage system, wind generated power can be kept and used, as and when needed, thus stablising the grid. Data from the project is being collected and analysed for scale-up by the US Department of Energy, who helped fund Duke Energy Renewables’ wind power, storage battery.

    Posted in Alternative Energy on January 25, 2013
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    Evonik Pioneer Solar Kite Journey Across Australia


    Evonik have pioneered a solar powered journey across Australia, by kite! The 3,000 mile trip across Aussie was braved by extreme sportsmen Dirk Gion and Stefan Simmerer, of Germany, and used less than $15 worth of fuel. Powered by exclusive technology from Evonik, that is a complex mixture of lithium-ion batteries, Evonik’s Litarion electrodes and Separion ceramic separators which allow the battery cells to store energy generated from a wind turbine, the Wind Explorer covered up to 225 miles per day in its pilot test down under. A body made from Evonik’s Rohacell sandwich carbon fiber, and tires made from lightweight materials and a special rubber formula that reduces resistance, also contributed to the energy efficiency of the Wind Explorer.

    Posted in Alternative Energy on January 25, 2013
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    World’s Largest Single Unit Solar Plant to Launch in Abu Dhabi


    Abu Dhabi is taking big steps in the direction of renewable energy. Within the first quarter of this year, Shams 1, otherwise known as the world’s largest single unit concentrated solar power plant, is due to light up its facilities. It is hoped that Shams 1 will reduce carbon emissions in Abu Dhabi by 175,000 tons every year, which would be the same as taking 15,000 cars off the road. It works like this: parabolic trough collectors track the sun throughout the day, directing the sunlight onto embedded tubes filled with a synthetic oil-based heat transfer fluid. The fluid can reach up to 400 degrees celsius in the tubes, before it is heated a further 140 degrees in a natural gas powered booster. The heat is then used to boil water and produce steam for steam turbines.

    Posted in Alternative Energy on January 22, 2013
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    Japan Plans World’s Largest Renewable Energy Farm


    The epicentre of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan is undergoing drastic changes. Following the disaster in Fukushima, Japan is shifting its reliance on controversial nuclear power to renewable energy. The largest development is a proposal for 143 wind turbines on platforms 10 miles off the coast of Fukushima. If plans go ahead, this will be the world’s largest wind farm, surpassing Britain’s Greater Gabbard farm on the Suffolk coast, which has 140 wind turbines.

    Posted in Alternative Energy on January 18, 2013
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    Yeti 150, the portable solar energy generator


    Plugging into a grid connection for a bit of juice isn’t always a luxury one can enjoy. There are times, particularly during emergencies, when grid connections fail the best of us. As a solution to off-grid power requirements, Goal Zero recently unveiled the Yeti 150, a solar energy generator, at CES 2013. In essence a portable plug-and-play solar generator, this one powers up your devices on the go without harming the environment.

    Posted in Alternative Energy on January 15, 2013
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    iShack, the solar-powered makeshift house


    People living in slums and makeshift houses have their fair share of trouble trying to stay connected with urban grids. Giving the inhabitants of in the windswept slum of Enkanini, South Africa, some respite, is the iShack. A clever overhauled version of a slum, the iShack uses solar energy to its advantage. By researchers at the University of Stellenbosch, the iShack sports a rooftop solar panel that soaks in the sun to generate enough energy for those living inside to use.

    Posted in Alternative Energy on January 11, 2013
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    Pavegen concept generates energy from footfalls


    As technology soars higher, we keep coming across newer and cleaner ways to power up our lives. Recently, we caught up with designer Laurence Kemball-Cook’s brain child, the Pavegen system. Simply put, this concept generates energy as you walk over specific energy-harvesting tiles. The Pavegen can easily be incorporated in footpaths and the like.

    Posted in Alternative Energy on January 7, 2013
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    Plug & Save Solar System allows you to generate solar energy just about anywhere!


    Solar power has caught on quickly and the world is realizing the true potential of using renewable energy generated from the rays of the sun. And as several companies around the globe are building new technologies everyday to make the best use of solar energy, Sun Invention’s Plug & Save Solar System has literally revolutionized it all! The system is the world’s first mobile solar panel and comes fully equipped with a built-in battery storage and inverter!

    Posted in Alternative Energy on December 27, 2012
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    Hong Kong engineers generate energy from water gushing through pipes!


    Generating energy from gushing water isn’t new. However, the engineers from the PolyU’s Department of Building Services Engineering and the Water Supplies Department (WSD) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government have come up with a fantastic concept that uses the principal of hydroelectricity to generate energy from an untapped and promising source of clean energy, water passing through pipes!

    Posted in Alternative Energy on December 20, 2012
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    Electromagnetic energy harvester generates electricity from rail-track vibrations


    In a world with quickly depleting fossil fuels, looking for alternate ways to generate electricity is the need of the hour! Recently, researchers from the Stony Brook University have come up with a device that generates electricity from vibrations. When extensively used on railways tracks, these simple devices are help generate clean and green renewable electricity!

    Posted in Alternative Energy on December 3, 2012
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