Here is an excellent assessment of the possible, and I consider it to be good news. The main thing that should concern those of us in the U.S. is that the stranglehold carbon energy has on our Federal government is going to seriously retard America's progress. This is the intersection to two major trends: the transition out of carbon energy, and the increasing deterioration of the United States because we are falling further an! d further behind as a result of that corruption.
Over time I’ve grown more and more suspicious of stories about breakthrough technologies. I always think back to those heady days of EEStor, the guys who were going to make a battery that would revolutionize grid storage and electric cars alike. “EEStor CEO says game-changing energy storage device coming by 2010”! As you may have noticed, 2010 came and went and the game remains unchanged.
All of which is to say, regarding the post to follow: caveat lector. Still, this looks very, very cool.
CleanTechnica has an exclusive on a new solar technology that claims to be able to produce power with a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of 8¢/kWh. That is mind-boggling, “two-thirds the price of retail electricity and over 3 times cheaper than current solar technology.” If the claim proves to be true (and a lot can happen between prototype and mass manufacturing), it could revolutionize the solar industry.
The company is called V3Solar (formerly Solarphasec) and its product, the Spin Cell, ingeniously solves two big problems facing solar PV. First, most solar panels are flat, which means they miss most of the sunlight most of the time. They only briefly face direct sunlight, unless expensive tracking systems are added. The Spin Cell is a cone.
The conical shape catches the sun over the course of its entire arc through the sky, along every axis. It’s built-in tracking. The second problem: Solar panels produce much more energy if sunlight is concentrated by a lens before it hits the solar cell; however, concentrating the light also creates immense amounts of heat, which means that concentrating solar panels (CPV) require expensive, specialized, heat-resistant solar cell materials. The Spin Cell concentrates sunlight on plain old (cheap) silicon PV, but keeps it cool by spinning it. It’s just so damn clever.
Next week, diplomats from around the world will gather in Geneva to negotiate a treaty on global emissions of mercury – a lethal neurotoxin that includes, among an inventory of grim effects, brain damage and the loss of IQ points in unborn children, injuries to kidneys and heart, and results in tens of billions of dollars in healthcare costs every year in the US alone. The Geneva conference is the final of five meetings, with a treaty expected soon thereafter.
While global mercury emissions are on the rise, negotiators, unfortunately, appear to be leaning towards a treaty with soft measures unlikely to prevent continued catastrophic impacts from this deadly and debilitating poison. Ironically, signatories propose to ink their treaty in Minamata, Japan, a town that famously suffered widespread mercury poisoning.
Health experts first described mercury poisoning, then called “Minamata disease”, in Minamata city, in Japan, in 1956. Mercury discharges from the Chisso chemical plant contaminated finfish and shellfish, devastating the community's human and animal population for decades. Many of the region's citizens died and tens of thousands of people suffered mercury-related illnesses.
Oil sands production in Canada has contaminated surrounding lakes with substances linked to cancer, according to a new study. The scientific findings may help the case against building Keystone XL, a pipeline that would connect Canadian oil sands with American refineries.
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Production at the world's third largest source of oil has polluted surrounding waters with toxic substances, according to a new study. The findings add fuel to a fiery debate over a proposed pipeline connecting Canadian oil sands with US refineries.
Lakes as far as 56 miles away from production facilities near Fort McMurray, Alberta, show unnaturally high levels of substances linked to cancer. Researchers say they are the result of roughly half a century of development at the Athabasca oil sands.
While concentrations of carcinogens remain low compared with those found in urban lakes, scientists at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, called the findings, released Monday, “worrying” and warned of future effects from the spread of oil sands contaminants.
Utah State University presented a first-of-its-kind electric bus that is charged through wireless charging technology in a demonstration Nov. 15, 2012.
The Aggie Bus rolled onto the streets carrying passengers today; just 16 months after USU demonstrated the first high-power, high-efficiency wireless power transfer system capable of transferring enough energy to quickly charge an electric vehicle. In July 2011, the USU Research Foundation demonstrated 90 percent electrical transfer efficiency of five kilowatts over an air gap of 10 inches. The demonstration validated that electric vehicles can efficiently be charged with wireless technology.
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USU’s Aggie Bus has achieved several significant milestones. It is the first bus developed and designed by a North American organization that is charged with wireless power transfer technology and is the world’s first electric bus with WPT technology combining the three following performance metrics: A power level up to 25 kilowatts, greater than 90 percent efficiency from the power grid to the battery and a maximum misalignment of up to six inches.
Phi Beta Iota: “Low” technologies capable of providing free power and clean water to the masses have been repressed for decades. They are finally creeping out of their corporate patent prisons. Free localized energy and wireless energy recharging of free cell phones (OpenBTS) are the first priority. Everything else follows from those two.
The week long power outage here in New Jersey, after hurricane Sandy, made me realize that we need simple, scalable, cheap, and locally produced power. Removing all distractions and giving an engineer of German lineage a week to think on a problem often gets the problem solved. After pulling out the 7-pocket expanding file with all my past Stirling designs, a couple notepads, my favorite gel pens, a dry erase board, and some reference books, I began designing. As with any engineering project, you need to describe what you want to accomplish, and your limiting factors. Due to cost constraints, engineering is always compromise.
What is the goal? An always-on (24 x 7 x 365) power supply that is inexpensive to produce, can be bulk produced with readily available materials, can be manufactured in any nation using 1950′s or earlier technology, and has a working lifespan greater than 20 years. (That sounds really simple, doesn’t it?)
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What are the design criteria?
Low Temperature Differential (LTD) Stirling based design.
All parts must be designed for high-speed manufacture and assembly.
All materials used must be inexpensive and readily available.
The Stirling design must have the least number of wear points possible.
It must use inexpensive solar thermal panels for gathering energy.
The solar panels must be easily produced in an automated fashion.
It must have inexpensive (dirt cheap) energy storage.
It must produce at least 3 kW of power continuously (24 x 7 x 365 x 20).
On a daily basis, it must be capable of gathering two to three times the energy required for a 24-hour period, on the least sunny day of the year. (NREL solar radiation manual)
It must be capable of storing the energy required for 3 to 5 days of continuous usage with no energy input.
Any person with basic mechanical skills should be able to install the system.
Here is an excellent assessment of the possible, and I consider it to be good news. The main thing that should concern those of us in the U.S. is that the stranglehold carbon energy has on our Federal government is going to seriously retard America's progress. This is the intersection to two major trends: the transition out of carbon energy, and the increasing deterioration of the United States because we are falling further an! d further behind as a result of that corruption.
All of which is to say, regarding the post to follow: caveat lector. Still, this looks very, very cool.
