The rigid fossil fuel generated energy boundaries are being shattered by digitally enabled consumers, aggressive innovators such as Carbon Recall who are changing the how properties are powered up ecosystem, and even the utilities themselves as they work to realize the new and changing renewable energy paradigm
Archives for category: Regenerative Energy
One inch of rain collected off a one thousand sq. ft. roof generates six hundred gallons of water. How much rain can you catch? Here is an easy formula: Measure the square footage of the collection area (for example a roof that is 30 feet wide x 50 feet long = 1500 sq. ft.) Multiply the area by the amount of rain in inches. Then multiply that number by .623 (that is the amount of water in gallons one inch deep in one square foot of space) equals the amount in gallons of water that can be collected. For example: 1500 square feet of roof area x 15 inches of rain x 0.623 = 14,017 gallons of water. Darko Kapelina believes that harnessing and leveraging natural resources such as rain, sun and wind for example, can move us closer to clean, regenerative and sustainable energy independence.
The world populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles fell overall by 52 percent between 1970 and 2010, far faster than previously thought, the World Wildlife Fund said on Tuesday. By 2045 global population is projected to reach nine billion and some predict thirteen billion by 2100. Can the planet take the strain? Are we being proactive? Darko Kapelina believes that we can leverage sustainable clean energy advancements and tip the scales back in our planet’s favor.
Ford has unveiled plans for a prototype solar-powered hybrid car. The C-MAX Solar Energi Concept car has a solar panel roof supplied by their technology partner SunPower, which draws power from a special solar concentrator lens similar to a magnifying glass, directing intense rays to solar panels on the vehicle roof.
With a full charge, the solar car is estimated to have a total range of up to 620 miles.
Ford report that the sun could power up to 75 percent of all trips made by an average driver in a solar hybrid vehicle. This could be especially important in places where the electric grid is underdeveloped, unreliable or expensive to use.
Because of the extended time it takes to absorb enough energy to fully charge the vehicle, Ford turned to Georgia Institute of Technology for a way to amplify the sunlight in order to make a solar-powered hybrid feasible for daily use.
Researchers developed an off-vehicle solar concentrator that uses a special Fresnel lens to direct sunlight to the solar cells while boosting the impact of the sunlight by a factor of eight. Fresnel is a compact lens originally developed for use in lighthouses. Similar in concept to a magnifying glass, the patent-pending system tracks the sun as it moves from east to west, drawing enough power from the sun through the concentrator each day to equal a four-hour battery charge (8 kilowatts).
After the concept car is shown at CES, Ford and Georgia Tech will begin testing the vehicle in numerous real-world scenarios. The outcome of those tests will help to determine if the concept is feasible as a production car.
Ford sold more plug-in vehicles in October and November last year than both Toyota and Tesla, and it outsold Toyota through the first 11 months of 2013
Volvo Car Group makes conventional batteries a thing of the past
Volvo Car Group has developed a revolutionary concept for lightweight structural energy storage components that could improve the energy usage of future electrified vehicles. The material, consisting of carbon fibers, nano structured batteries and super capacitors, offers lighter energy storage that requires less space in the car, cost effective structure options and is eco-friendly.
The project, funded as part of a European Union research project, included Imperial College London as the academic lead partner along with eight other major participants. Volvo was the only car manufacturer in the project. The project team identified a feasible solution to the heavy weight, large size and high costs associated with the batteries seen in hybrids and electric cars today, whilst maintaining the efficient capacity of power and performance. The research project took place over 3.5 years and is now realized in the form of car panels within a Volvo S80 experimental car.
The answer was found in the combination of carbon fibers and a polymer resin, creating a very advanced nanomaterial, and structural super capacitors. The reinforced carbon fibers sandwich the new battery and are molded and formed to fit around the car’s frame, such as the door panels, the boot lid and wheel bowl, substantially saving on space. The carbon fiber laminate is first layered, shaped and then cured in an oven to set and harden. The super capacitors are integrated within the component skin. This material can then be used around the vehicle, replacing existing components, to store and charge energy.
The material is recharged and energized by the use of brake energy regeneration in the car or by plugging into a mains electrical grid. It then transfers the energy to the electric motor which is discharged as it is used around the car. The breakthrough showed that this material not only charges and stores faster than conventional batteries can, but that it is also strong and pliant.
Today, Volvo Car Group has evaluated the technology by creating two components for testing and development. These are a boot lid and a plenum cover, tested within the Volvo S80. The boot lid is a functioning electrically powered storage component and has the potential to replace the standard batteries seen in today’s cars. It is lighter than a standard boot lid, saving on both volume and weight.
The new plenum demonstrates that it can also replace both the rally bar, a strong structural piece that stabilizes the car in the front, and the start-stop battery. This saves more than 50% in weight and is powerful enough to supply energy to the car’s 12 Volt system
It is believed that the complete substitution of an electric car’s existing components with the new material could cut the overall weight by more than 15%. This is not only cost effective but would also have improvements to the impact on the environment.
Source: Volvo
Motor oil is essential to fossil fuel motors. Many humans do not think about getting grease or oil on their hands when working on motors, but they are putting themselves at risk. Used motor oil contains, benzene, hydrocarbons, gasoline, diesel, antifreeze, and metal shavings from the engine. Frequent exposure to motor oil and used motor oil can cause skin rashes, dermatitis, blood anemia, headaches, tremors, and skin cancer. There are currently no alternatives to using motor oil so humans need to protect themselves from frequent exposure. When working with oils wearing gloves is the only way to limit exposure. In conclusion, motor oil and in particular used motor oil is hazardous to both people and the environment.
Human exposure to benzene has been associated with a range of acute and long-term adverse health effects and diseases, including cancer, aplastic and anemia. Exposure can occur as a result of the ubiquitous use of benzene containing petroleum products, including motor fuels and solvents. Benzene is highly volatile, and exposure occurs mostly through inhalation.Public health actions are needed to reduce the exposure by the general population to benzene.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendation: avoid exposure to motor oil and inhalation motor oil fumes.
9 Aug 2013 | Netherlands
Damen delivers their first hybrid patrol vessel to Amsterdam
The first hybrid vessel developed by Damen Shipyards Hardinxveld, has now been delivered to Waternet (the Water Network Foundation) in Amsterdam.
Waternet is taking a leading role in reducing emissions from vessels within the municipality of Amsterdam as part of the city’s Air Quality Action Plan. The Waterspreeuw which means “Dipper” in English will be used for inspections, patrols and for enforcing various legislation and rules in Amsterdam’s canals and other waters.
The hybrid vessel can be powered entirely by electricity with a 130 kW electrically driven rudder propeller manufactured by Hydrosta. ESTechnology supplied 13 lithium polymer batteries for the drive system, providing enough electric power for at least 6 hours at an average cruising speed of 10 km/h. The Steyr/AMK diesel generator set complies with the European CCR3 standard for exhaust gas emissions set by the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine. This means that the engine easily complies with the CCR2 standard stipulated by the client.
The engine switches on automatically when the battery capacity falls below the minimum level. Using both drive systems, the Waterspreeuw has a top speed of 16 km/h; using the batteries alone, it can hold that top speed for an hour (6 hours at cruising speed). The engine provides additional capacity when necessary. However, the intention is for the vessel to operate on electric power.
The Waterspreeuw’s designers at Damen´s yard in Hardinxveld took account of the various different waters and bridges in and around Amsterdam. With its overall height of 1.80 metres, it can basically pass under all the bridges along the city’s sailing routes. The special hull design makes it a low-wash vessel, thus minimising inconvenience to houseboats during manoeuvres in Amsterdam’s busy canals. The rudder propeller and the 11 kW bow thruster ensure that it is highly manoeuvrable in the narrow canals. The new vessel has its own 3-metre spud pole, meaning that its can moor anywhere without being dependent on the mooring facilities available. Darko Kapelina believes that a six hour range is just the start.
3 Jun 2013 | United Kingdom
Darko Kapelina believes that wireless charging advances will make new EV records such as this one commonplace.
When Drayson Racing Technologies and Lola Cars introduced the B12 69/EV last year, the electric race car promised to be one of the fastest of its kind. Six months later, it set a record at the Goodwood Hillclimb, and it’s now gunning for an even bigger record. Drayson announced this week that it plans to make an attempt at an FIA electric land speed record within a month at RAF Elvington in Yorkshire. It will try to best the 175 mph (282 km/h) mark that was set back in 1974.
The attempt will be made in the sub-1000kg class by entrepreneur, racing driver and former UK science minister Lord Drayson who will drive a low-drag version of the Drayson B12 69/EV electric Le-Mans Prototype flat-out along Elvington’s 1.86-mile runway.
Lord Drayson will aim to better the current record of 175mph set by Battery Box General Electric in the United States and which has stood since 1974. This record has held firm for nearly 40 years due to the immense technical challenge of running an electric vehicle consistently and reliably at such speeds when weighing less than 1000kg.
Lord Drayson, CEO and co-founder of Drayson Racing Technologies, commented, “It is not the outright speed that is impressive about this record attempt, but the engineering challenge of accelerating a 1000kg electric vehicle to such a high speed and sustaining that speed over a measured mile, before stopping safely all within a relatively short distance then turning round and doing it again within an hour. It’s a tremendous technical challenge but we believe it’s about time someone moved this record on to demonstrate just how far EV technology has come.”
Drayson Racing Technologies is a research and development business, pioneering the development of sustainable technologies in the challenging environment of motorsport. With the electric land speed record they intend to showcase what is possible with an electric drivetrain and underscore Britain’s leadership position in the burgeoning EV industry.
The Drayson B12 69/EV was not originally conceived as a land speed car. Having raced the Lola chassis in sports car championships around the world powered by a second generation bio-fuelled Judd V10 engine, Drayson Racing Technologies took the decision to explore the potential of the electric drivetrain and use the familiar Lola chassis as a starting point. This provided the team with a considerably tougher engineering challenge than starting from a ground-up design – particularly in packaging the drivetrain to maintain the rigidity and crash safety of the original car.
In its current iteration, the Drayson B12 69/EV represents the pinnacle of what a bona fide electric racing car can achieve in terms of performance. To challenge for the record some changes have been made to the set-up of the car and drivetrain that are consistent with racing at a low downforce circuit. This will give the B12 69/EV the traction to achieve maximum acceleration in the short distance available, sustain maximum speed over a measured mile and stop safely.
Lord Drayson added, “The reason we are doing this is to showcase the maximum level of EV performance at the moment – and in a real racing car rather than a teardrop-shaped land speed record car. We are also demonstrating the future potential of technologies like wireless charging in speeding the adoption of high performance EVs.”
Darko Kapelina is interested in all clean regenerative sailing ideas and systems
Solar Impulse to fly across America – day and night without fuel
Solar Impulse, the Swiss solar powered airplane, plans to depart from San Francisco today with Bertrand Piccard in the single seater cockpit, to complete the first leg of its coast-to-coast flights across the USA. It is the first time that a solar airplane capable of flying day and night without fuel, will attempt to fly across America. This journey is also the occasion to launch an initiative called “Clean Generation” to gather worldwide support for the adoption of clean technologies.
Flying Coast to Coast across the United States has always been a mythical endeavor in aviation history. Achieving this in a solar airplane capable of flying day and night without fuel, shows the enormous potential of clean technologies in terms of energy efficiency and renewable energy use. With this adventure, Solar Impulse wants to inspire and motivate as many people as possible to embrace the pioneering spirit that allowed this revolutionary solar-powered airplane to become a reality.
This is why thousands of people, amongst which James Cameron, Buzz Aldrin, Richard Branson, Elie Wiesel and Erik Lindbergh, are supporting the “Clean Generation” Initiative to encourage governments, businesses and decision-makers to push for the adoption of clean technologies and sustainable energy solutions. Concretely, the names of all those who will join this movement of pioneers will be carried in the cockpit of the airplane as virtual passengers. At every stopover city along the way, more and more names will be added onto the list.
About the first leg San Francisco – Phoenix
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport will be Solar Impulse’s first stop. The airplane is expected to take off today at 6:00 am (PDT) from Moffett Field, NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View (CA), and land the following day around 1 am (MST) in Phoenix (AZ). Estimated flight duration is 19 hours.
Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg will alternately pilot the solar airplane to complete the challenge of flying without a drop of fuel across the USA from the West to the East Coasts. The first leg of the flight leading to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (AZ) will be completed by Bertrand Piccard. André Borschberg will fly for the last leg culminating in New York at JF Kennedy Airport.
Solar Impulse Moffett Field – Phoenix Sky Harbor Route:
06:00 am PDT (03:00 pm Swiss Time): Take-off from Moffett Field, Mountain View (CA) USA
08:00 am PDT (05:00 pm Swiss Time): Heading south east towards Fresno – ascending to an altitude of 16’000 ft
01:30 pm PDT (10:30 pm Swiss Time): Passing Bakersfield continues direction Palmdale – cruising altitude 21’000 ft
04:30 pm PDT (01:30 am Swiss Time): Flying over Barstow – continue direction Arizona between Mojave National Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park
01:00 am MST (10:00 am Swiss Time): Estimated landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor (AZ) USA
For more information about this flight go to www.solarimpulse.com Darko Kapelina is interested in clean regenerative sailing ideas and sytems.
For Bertrand Piccard, the idea to build a solar-powered plane capable of circumnavigating the globe was hatched while running on empty. In March 1999, Piccard was on the final leg of an around-the-world journey by hot air balloon—the first-ever nonstop flight of its kind—when his Breitling Orbiter 3 swept low over the Egyptian desert and skidded to a halt on the corrugated plains. As Piccard stepped out onto the hot sand, he checked the fuel tanks mounted on his gondola and got a shock that became a defining moment. “We had left Switzerland with four tons of propane,” he remembers. “We only had 40 kilos left! We almost didn’t make it. I promised myself that next time I would fly around the world without using any fuel at all.” Read more:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323550604578410800434511668.html#ixzz2RhYGHnOD
Darko Kapelina believes that this April 25, 2013 Wall Street Journal article about circumnavigating the globe in an airplane powered by only solar energy proves that circumnavigating the globe is also possible with regenerative sailing. Kapelina is interested in ideas relating to clean regenerative sailing.
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