Car Travels 3,107 Miles On $15 Worth Of Electricity

Imagine traveling the entirety of Australia in a lightweight vehicle that occasionally uses a kite for propulsion. A kite! Normally, trips across the rugged terrain are done in heavy duty vehicles with an abundance of spare parts and gasoline. Dirk Gion and Stefan Simmerer had a different plan.

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Car Travels 3,107 Miles On $15 Worth Of Electricity

Feeling the Geothermal Heat in Australia

Robert Eckard asked: When it comes to geothermal energy, Australia may not hold the top spot in the utilization of this renewable energy, but the potential is certainly there. As it has with other renewables, Australia has turned its attention to geothermal energy as a means to reach certain energy generation goals by the end of the year. These goals somewhat mirror the guidelines set by the Kyoto Protocol. Why isn’t geothermal energy as prolific in Australia as in other parts of the world? One reason is that the geothermal energy found in much of Australia is not what is considered “wet.” Wet geothermal is found in areas that contain volcanic activity in which super heated water lies near or on the surface of the Earth. The steam created by this water rotates turbines that generate electricity. Because Australia is not volcanically active, binary power plants are used. As you would expect from something that is binary, it is a two-step process. Unlike wet systems in which the water is already hot enough to produce steam that rotates a power turban, water is injected into hot granite to create steam in a binary system. In Australia, this granite lies 3-5 km below the surface. A heat exchanger transfers the energy from the heated fluid to what is known as a working fluid (such as ammonia). The working fluid vaporizes in the exchanger and is then expanded in a turbine, generating electricity. As you might guess, the multiple steps involved in a binary geothermal system are costlier than in a wet system. Australian authorities have stated, however, that geothermal energy will be cost competitive with that of carbon-based energies. Geodynamics, a company based in Australia, may have found an area in South Australia that would lessen the cost of geothermal energy generation. They claim that the Cooper Basin contains granite measured to be the hottest rocks ever recorded on the planet. And because the overlaying rocks that act as an insulation blanket have been found to be fractured, pressurized water inside them could flow to the surface and the heat would then be extracted to power turbines. The water would then return to the incredibly hot rocks below, allowing the process to start again. Because this water is naturally occurring, the need for outside water sources is eliminated, lowering the cost of geothermal energy production. As further exploration of geothermal energy in Australia is conducted, more hot spots are sure to be found and this renewable energy will become method of energy generation for years to come. Water 4 Gas Read more on Feeling the Geothermal Heat in Australia… Subscribe to the comments for this post? Share this on del.icio.us Digg this! Post this on Diigo Post on Google Buzz Add this to Mister Wong Share this on Mixx Share this on Reddit Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon Share this on Technorati Tweet This!

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Feeling the Geothermal Heat in Australia

U.S. approves Mojave Desert solar power project

Ken Salazar, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior has just approved the construction of a solar power tower plant to be located in the Mojave Desert. The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System will consist of mirrors (heliostats) that will focus sunlight onto a central tower. The concentrated sunlight will turn water into steam Related posts: California Approves Power Lines for Tehachapi Wind Power Project Australia launches project to bury carbon dioxide MSNBC: Power Company CEO ready for Carbon Diet

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U.S. approves Mojave Desert solar power project

Tips In Going Solar: Producing A Power Self-Sufficient Household

A square meter on earth gets approximately one thousand watts of through the sun’s rays on a normal sunny day. This knowledge motivated researchers and technical engineers the world over to build more affordable ways to “tame” this immense and cost-free energy. With our understanding of our looming fossil fuel absence, together with existing initiatives on alternative lifestyles, nations around the world like the United Kingdom and the US have taken beginning measures to inspire people to make use of alternate sources of electricity. Given many people’s new interest in energy cost reduction , solar energy is certainly one of the renewable energy sources demonstrating substantial prospects for future widespread utilization. Attainability of Solar Energy Due to advancements in environment friendly innovation, today’s technology now enables people to power up their houses with solar energy. With a few steps along with a sufficient spending plan, making adequate power to run one’s home is attainable. You can find, however, a couple of vital issues that might cause snags for city residents, each boiling down to the dependence on space. Solar-powering a residence requires a suitable location for both the solar panels and also the batteries which stock up the power. The solar power systems should be based wherever the sun’s power is soaked up at its optimum. The batteries keep the electricity going throughout the night. This translates that the larger the household, the additional batteries it will demand. The batteries add a substantial cost and degree of maintenance to the structure over time. Essential Components The most recommended battery for solar panel products is a deep-cycle design. It can certainly discharge a sizable quantity of its stored energy while sustaining long life. These frequently used batteries are lead-acid and nickel-cadmium, with the latter priced considerably higher. Essential to extending battery life is the employment of charge controllers. These units safeguard the batteries from getting energy depleted until they’re charged up again. Another necessary component of the solar electrical power system is the installing of inverters. Inverters convert the direct current (DC) generated with the solar energy system into alternating current (AC) which average households make use of. Motivation for the Transition A few nations offer a utility grid where homeowners are able to hook up to and buy electrical power in case their homemade solar panels generate inadequate electrical energy. In turn, the area energy corporation buys surplus electrical energy created by families at market prices. This practice is intended to incentivize homeowners, specifically those based in sun-drenched areas, to take the initiative of generating their own power. Examples similar to these are being practiced in the UK, Canada, Australia, and Spain. Having said that, the utilization of a solar model as a principal supply of power – not merely for residences, but likewise for business establishments – is not thought to happen in the near future. Pundits believe any government’s environmental policies are vital to boosting the demand for alternative sources. To this point, the financial burden of these resources has hugely leaned on tax assistance. However, people are increasingly motivated to find creative energy saving options . For useful info in the sphere of free website traffic – make sure to study the web page. The times have come when concise info is really at your fingertips, use this opportunity. Read more on Tips In Going Solar: Producing A Power Self-Sufficient Household… Energy Tags: alternative energy , biodiesel

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Tips In Going Solar: Producing A Power Self-Sufficient Household

Why Alternative Energy?

A poll carried carried out for the BBC World Service of nearly 20,000 people from across 19 countries found wide support for alternative energy strategies. The poll illustrates a perceived triple threat from the way the world produces and uses energy. Majorities across all 19 countries indicate that citizens fear: the climate and environment are being harmed that the global economy will be destabilised that competition for energy will lead to greater conflict Some eight out of 10 of those questioned were worried about the threat to the environment. In Australia, Great Britain, Canada and Italy the level of concern topped 90%. Doug Miller, president of the poll firm GlobeScan, said: “What’s fascinating is that in the midst of historically high energy prices and geopolitical tensions, the number one energy concern in every industrialised country we surveyed is the environmental and climate impacts.” Creating tax incentives to encourage the use of alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power found favour with 80% of respondents. But there was lukewarm support for more nuclear energy to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. On average, 49% were in favour of building more nuclear plants. Majorities of 60% or more in 18 of the 19 countries polled said they feared energy shortages and prices would destabilise the world economy. The least concerned was Russia, a major oil and gas producer, which benefits from higher prices. Both US and EU leaders have warned Russia not to use energy as a tool of foreign policy. Earlier this year, the nation’s monopoly, Gazprom, cut off gas supplies to Europe during a price dispute with Ukraine. Some 73% of those questioned were worried that energy shortages would lead to greater conflict among nations. In total, 19,579 citizens were interviewed in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Ukraine and the US. Polling was conducted for the BBC World Service by polling firm GlobeScan and its research partners. Full Article on BBC News

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Why Alternative Energy?

Australia: Alternative Energy Grants

Geothermal Plant From geothermal power to better batteries, millions have been spent on alternative energy research grants in Australia, according to Rod Myer writing for The Age of Australia. The AUD $23 million (approximately $17 million) spent by the Australian Federal Government under the first tranche of its $100 million (US $73m) pledge to aid the alternative energy sector has highlighted innovations by local companies to cure Australia’s fossil fuel addiction. Two companies awarded grants under the Renewable Energy Development Initiative (REDI) have developed a no-emissions alternative for base-load generation. Geodynamics received $5 million grant to help develop its geothermal electricity plant near Innamincka in the north of South Australia. Scope Energy, another betting its future on geothermal energy, received $3.9 million grant to aid development. Its principal, Roger Massey-Greene, says the grant will help finance a drilling program of 500-metre deep holes to prove up its resource. Scope plans to open a 50-megawatt plant, but Mr Massey-Greene says he hopes to see this expand to 1000 MW in the longer term. Scope has a geographic advantage, he believes. Its site is near Millicent, in the south-east of South Australia, meaning it is close to transmission lines and the population centres of Melbourne and Adelaide. “We expect the cost to be very competitive with combined-cycle gas power plants,” Mr Massey-Greene said. Scope’s geothermal technology will tap hot water heated deep in the earth and run it through a heat exchanger to generate electricity. Mr Massey-Greene likens this process to a “fridge operating in reverse”. Geodynamics’ system will pump water through hot rocks and use the resulting steam to generate power. Scope’s wells will be as deep as 4.5 kilometres. The technology that Scope is planning has been in use at a plant in Italy that has operated for 101 years, Mr Massey-Greene said. Stage one of the plant is expected to cost $4 million per megawatt to construct, compared with about $750,000 for a combined-cycle gas plant. “But we have no fuel costs,” Mr Massey-Greene said. Geothermal plants run at an output of about 98 per cent of rated capacity. Mr Massey-Green believes geothermal power has a great future. In New Zealand it provides 7 per cent of power needs and this could rise to as much as 15 per cent. Some in the market believe that Scope will float in the first half of 2006. Melbourne-based Katrix will use its $811,000 Renewable Energy Development Initiative grant to further develop its new fluid expander that may enable solar energy to be harnessed for electricity. Founder Attilio Demichelli says the expander, which does the job of a turbine, will allow solar thermal energy to be adapted for small-scale use far more cheaply than photovoltaic systems. Katrix is developing units in which solar energy will heat refrigeration fluid that will run through an expander linked to a generator to produce power. The expander is cheaper than a miniature turbine to build and has a number of advantages, including its ability to take gas or steam at 22 atmospheres (twenty two times atmospheric pressure) back to one atmosphere in one step. Katrix projects that in the Californian market once government solar energy grants are factored in its system will return its cost to consumers in two to three years, compared with 15 years for photovoltaic systems. Mr Demichelli, a private investor, and inventor Yannis Tropalis have invested over $3 million in the technology in three years. Another REDI grant, of $290,000, has gone to V-Fuel , which is developing a vanadium bromide redox battery. The funding will help develop a prototype of a battery that its promoters hope will be efficient enough to use to store power from renewable energy plants. Efficient storage would enable technologies such as wind power and solar energy to get over a bugbear unpredictability, because no one knows when the sun will shine or the wind will blow. V-Fuel principal Michael Kazacos says the grant is crucial to the company, which has raised only $400,000 up to now. V-Fuel has developed a five-kilowatt battery but is aiming to produce a 50-kilowatt prototype. That, he says, will cost $1 million, and further funding is being sought from another federal grant scheme. “There is a lot of interest in Europe,” Mr Kazacos said. “We have had offers of collaboration from there.” The battery was 85 per cent efficient, he said, and “we are aiming at having a $200-per-kilowatt production cost”. The vanadium bromide process was developed at the University of NSW by Professor Maria Skyllas-Kazacos , who is a principal of V-Fuel. according to Origin – Sliver Cells are “long, ultra thin, quite flexible & perfectly bifacial” Origin Energy received a $5 million grant to aid development of its facilities for manufacturing solar energy cells using photovoltaic sliver technology . The technology aims to cut the cost of solar energy cells by reducing silicon usage by up to 90 per cent. Sliver cells are micromachined to less than 70 microns thick with solar cell efficiency running at over 19%. Silicon is the most expensive part of a solar energy cell. Origin Energy says it costs $11,000 to fit a house with a one-kilowatt unit. This would take 20 years or more to pay itself off. However, as energy prices rise and production costs fall, this payback time will be cut. Origin Energy also owns a 19% stake in Geodynamics and offers Green Earth electricity from 100% renewable sources to Australian electricity consumers. For more green energy in Australia see the government Green Power website . Geothermal Energy: Hot Dry Rock Article in The Age on Australian Alternative Energy Grants

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Australia: Alternative Energy Grants

Alternative Energy Hungary: First Windfarm in Hungary

Kaposvar Austrian company ko-Energia GmbH is to invest Ft60 billion ($284.6 million) in establishing the first wind farm in Hungary, in the south Rbakz region, 150km west of Budapest. Forty-eight wind turbines will be built, at a price of between Ft500-800m ($2.37-3.79m) and producing 2,000 kilowatts per hour. Although the company has yet to sign any agreements with the landowners, according to Lajos Takcs, the mayor of Dnesfa, this won’t hinder the project. “I am sure the company will be able to come to an agreement with the property owners,” Takcs said. Budapest Sun Article on Hungary’s First Windfarm

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Alternative Energy Hungary: First Windfarm in Hungary