Turbine Light keeps your night drives safe with wind energy

Concept highway lighting powered by renewable energy.

Concerned about the safety of the ever increasing number of cars on the highways, designers over at TAK Studio have come up with a sustainable lighting system dubbed the Turbine Light. The design is an entry in this year’s Greener Gadgets competition, and it aims to illuminate highways using renewable energy.


The system features a built-in wind turbine that uses the moving air from cars on the highways to generate clean energy, which is then used to power the lights. However, the practicality of the system is debatable as without a working prototype it would never be easy to check if moving cars produce enough wind energy to illuminate the lights all night long.

A green thrill

Niklas Palm, a design student at the Umeå Institute of Design, has shared with us his latest creation, the Audi IceKraft_, which is a wind and solar powered vehicle to make your icy rides green. The vehicle has a computer-controlled sail that is connected to an electrical engine that turns the sail to the optimum position. The power comes from solar cells that are covering the entire body of the vehicle.
The driver is positioned on his stomach facing forward and controls the Icekraft_ with two handles attached to the front blades. When for example the left handle is pulled toward the driver’s body, the vehicle leans to the left and creates a carving effect that makes the vehicle turn left.

Energy starved New York

High-flying kites could generate enough wind energy to power New York.

The energy starved world of today is looking for possible ways using which the maximum amount of renewable energy could be generated that could not just power a city block or a small town but the largest cities in the world and probably the entire world as well. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution and California State University have identified New York as one of the prime locations where high-flying kites can be used to convert high-altitude winds into energy.

Unlike winds close to the surface of earth, winds in the upper regions of the atmosphere preferably those which make the jet streams can be harnessed to produce tens of times of output than conventional wind turbines that are used on the surface. Ideally, the turbines, which would be high-altitude flying kites tethered to the surface, would have be placed at a height of around 30,000 feet.

Jet stream winds are generally 10 times faster than winds near the ground and most importantly they’re steady as well. More wind speed means more energy, which made scientists at these universities believe that they can power entire cities by flying these kites, a process which looks simple on paper but might get complicated if actually planned. These scientists predict up to 40MW of electricity can be generated by the current designs and transmitted to the ground via the tether, which is about four times the output of current designs used on the surface.

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Aeroturbine free energy or a cost disaster

Aeroturbine by Aerotecture are being called the future of urban wind energy. Despite of this positive reputation of Aeroturbine many are arguing that the asking price by Aerotecture is a too high. Assuming that one could get 5 KWH per day out of the 1KW 510V model of Aeroturbine and assuming that the value of the KWH is $0.12/KWH, yearly income equivalent would be;

365days/yr x 5KWH/day x $0.12/KWH = $219/year
Therefore payback time in years would be
$15,000/($219/yr) = 68.5 years

Even if you could get 10 kWH per day (which is doubtful because where are you going to have wind blowing at 30mph 10 hours/day), the payback for Aeroturbine would still be about 35 years. However, Bill Becker’s Aeroturbine its self would probably breakdown long before that.

Being a strong supporter of green energy, the cost of Aeroturbine does not disturb me, but Aerotecture should consider a more sensible pricing for Aeroturbine as green technology should be consumer friendly and so that its implementation can be wide spread. Aeroturbine its self is not an expansive set of equipment, in fact it’s simple and cheaper in terms of manicuring compared to the regular wind turbines. Aeroturbine is a light weight easy to install low thought regular yield equipment that should be sold in bulks on more retail grounds.

Mysterious Maglev wind turbine

Maglev wind turbine has been a big splash on Worldwatch's blog, Treehugger and inhabitat. The original article about Maglev wind turbine
was in Chinese Xinhua News paper, and as per this article about Maglev wind turbine some of the claims from the English and web media are misleading.

First of all Maglev wind turbine won't be levitating off the ground, and won't be frictionless as well, but these may be significantly more efficient than existing windmills. The magnetic levitation that Maglev wind turbine would use is between the rotating shaft and the fixed base of the machine, basically taking the place of ball bearings. Such magnetic bearings have been used for decades in smaller turbines and pumps by Ebara, Leybold, Seiko-Seiki, and others. However, they generally can't handle being bumped around much because the magnetic force isn't that strong enough. Making magnetic bearings strong enough to handle the loads put on them by Maglev wind turbine would be hard, and would use prohibitive amounts of power just keeping the electromagnets running strongly enough. However, the Worldwatch article says the new Chinese device uses "full-permanent" magnets, meaning there are no electromagnets, only cleverly placed permanent ones, so it should use no power. It sounds like they will be used on small turbines (perfect for home use), which would be similar in scale to the pumps and industrial turbines currently using magnetic bearings. But who knows, in a few years it might be possible to scale them up for Maglev wind turbine.
Unfortunately there's not a shred of additional technical information in the article about Maglev wind turbine’s structure. so we can only speculate what their solution was for the mysterious Maglev wind turbine. Some are speculating that they're probably using Halbach arrays in a system like the Inductrack invented at Lawrence Livermore Labs several years ago. Any permanent magnet system would doubtless need lots of Neodymium ("rare earth") magnets, which may have questionable sustainability when mined in large amounts, but as it happens China is rich in that element--in fact, energy.buzz points out that China owns 90% of the world's market of rare earth magnets. Since July 2006 Maglev wind turbine remains a mystery with very little details and even lesser news.

Maglev wind turbine.

A Maglev wind turbine or Maglev windmill would use magnetic levitation to replace conventional bearings in the design of a wind turbine. A recent design of Maglev wind turbine was developed in China by Guangzhou Energy Research Institute. This design of Maglev wind turbine claims to utilize winds with starting speeds as low as 1.5 meters per second (m/s), and cut-in speeds of 3 m/s. Such Maglev wind turbine should be able to add 1,000 hours of operation annually to wind power plants in areas with an average wind speed of 3 m/s.[1] However, since the energy available in wind varies so the power produced by Maglev wind turbine at such velocities would be lower than conventional wind turbines under higher speed winds.
The rotating turbine shaft in Maglev wind turbine is supported by magnetic levitation instead of ball bearings. Magnetic bearings have been used for smaller turbines and pumps, but they generally can't handle impacts disturbing the shaft, and generally require actively controlled electromagnets. Making magnetic bearings strong enough to handle the loads of a Maglev wind turbine would use prohibitive amounts of power just keeping the electromagnets running. The Chinese design of Maglev wind turbine is said to use permanent magnets to support the rotor shaft.
Little detailed technical information supporting these claims about Maglev wind turbine is available in English.
Chinese company Zhongke Hengyuan Energy Technology invested CN¥400 million in building the base for the maglev wind turbine generators, in which construction began in November 2007. Maglev Wind Turbine Technologies Inc. announced the launch of a wind turbine power generating device based on magnetic levitation called the Maglev Wind Turbine on July 26, 2007.

Sustainable Economy For USA

Sustainable economy is what North Americans are missing the most these days. Times are bad now and I can't spare a cent out of my limited income, this phrase is so common now that sales people at hyper marts and every where else are being trained with rebuttals to cope up with such deal debarment signals. The real question maybe is, was there ever a sustainable economy in USA, if yes then what happened to the sustainability of that sustainable economy. May disagree and argue that the USA never enjoyed sustainable economy.

A sneak peek back into the past 3 decades of USA; shows the glimmering figures of a pliant economy which was misjudged in contrast with the September 11 terrorist attacks. Despite an estimated $120 billion of damage and a great deal of anxiety, one year following the 9/11 attacks considerable recovery was recorded in U.S economy. If we review the federal budgets between FY 1998 and FY 2001 $ 48.3 billion where available in surplus. Still these figures here are not answering the question about how sustainable economy has been in USA.

Sustainable economy by definition should be able to survive all economical jolts it come across, or at least rejuvenate naturally without any assistance from external control. One should not really be troubled while uttering that Sustainable economy never existed in USA; in fact it's rather hard to differentiate North American economy from the economy of UAE. It's about time that Americans should realize that the government can't go on maintaining social welfare funds while funding war fronts in two different countries.

So who is going to develop a sustainable economy in USA? If Americans are expecting the government and the administration to do so, then it's not going to happen; simply because governments develop central economies, if not federal then state based economies.

Sustainable economies are town based economies; they do not originate from Manhattan or Boston they are developed in back yards in suburbs. Sustainable economies are not dependent on huge financial centers they need home base local industry and consumer from the neighboring towns to thrive. Central grid stations, fossil fuel costs and energy crises don't hinder there growth as sustainable economies use simple renewable energy resources to satisfy there energy needs, groceries are picked from local farm markets instead of super market shelves.

Why grow tulips and roses in the back yard and pick cabbage and carrots from the super market, why not pick flowers from the local florist and harvest food from our own gardens. Instead of getting another gas guzzler financed why not get a wind turbine or a photo-voltaic unit leased. Sustainable economies develop through garage sales and local service providers; they depend on surveying local markets instead of flipping the yellow pages.

Times are hard because excess of use is the back bone of AMERICAN economy, swapping plastic money is common and we don't care about the origination of a product. Sustainable economy is based on human consciousness about the resources locally available waiting to be utilized. Sustainable economy USA, sustainable living, solar energy, wind energy, renewable energy, North American economy.

Solar Rickshaw London Lahore

London

Cycle, CNG and LPG rickshaws are common in the developing countries such as India, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Rickshaws are one of the major transport facilities in these countries, but another type of rickshaw is about to hit London January 09, this rickshaw wont be runny on fossil fuel energy, Solar Lab a UK based renewable energy research company is developing a rickshaw powered by sustainable clean green solar & human energy. According to the drawing and design details by solar lab, photovoltaic solar cells will be making the roof of the ride and aid the paddle power. According to solar lad solar rickshaw will consume 75 % or more of the required power through the photovoltaic cells while the remaining power will be generated through the paddling by the driver. This human and solar powered hybrid solar rickshaw is expected to reduce 2 tons of carbon emissions per Annam/each rickshaw. As the design of this solar rickshaw is modular so it can easily be converted into load bearing vehicle. If solar rickshaw is a success next ear in London then we might see them in other major cities all over the world.

My hybrid rickshaw design is a bit different from Sun lab’s solar rickshaw design, inspired by the aero turbines of Dr. Bill Becker I am thinking of harnessing the naturally produced wind energy due to the movement of the rickshaw along with the solar energy as well, integrating paddle power in my hybrid rickshaw for backup will be great, so my rickshaw will have an aero turbine mounted on the top along with photovoltaic cells on the roof as well as paddle power for back up and little exercise for the rickshaw driver, every time the rickshaw will hit 6mph the aero turbine should start producing electricity along with the photovoltaic cells juicing up the batteries not only under sun light but also with the wind drag produced through the movement of the rickshaw, thus making it a very efficient and zero carbon emission rickshaw. Running on the roads in Lahore I’m gona call it URAN KHATOLA
Lahore

Peak Oil Moments

During one hour meeting between the Saudi King Abdullah, and the UN representative on Saturday June 14, 2008 both parties agreed upon lowering the cost of the oil barrel which is drilling holes in the pockets of US citizens and other nations all over the world lately.

With all the recent development in the renewable energy resources, nations are looking forward to meet there energy need through, green and natural resources such as wind, solar, geothermal and biomass. Unfortunately all these very productive and free resources are being kept out of the reach of the common man. In United States, and Europe some subsidy is being provided by the governments if one tends to install any type of renewable energy source for domestic energy production. For example in FL & CA, they offer about 50% subsidy in form of cost sharing which is not bad at all, while its even batter in Germany, France and Spain. Just recently San Francisco decided to take the largest solar initiative. But unfortunately in the third world countries in Asia and Africa installation of solar panels or wind turbines is not really some thing common man can consider affording. Although local use of Biogas plants using dung digesters to produce methane gas is getting common in rural settings.

Monopolistic Capitalists have developed there web of financing R&D of renewable energy resources and patent them to ensure an earning out these natural resources, turning the concept of free green energy into a dream. So what should be done about it and how can we get out of the control of these oil giants, answer simply lays in adopting sustainable living. In other words we need to reduce our dependability on the fossil fuel and cut down our energy needs.

A change in social and individual behaviors is needed, walk or maybe ride your cycle to the market instead of pulling your gas guzzling vehicles out for a 10 min journey, some argue about how to carry the shopping, well pull your four wheel drive out, but not the one with an engine, i am talking about your own shopping cart. How about insulating the water tank with black colored insulation in winters to harvest passive solar energy and with silver and white insulation in summers to reflect light to prevent heating. Last year i pasted CD’s on my water tank in summers to reflect the sunlight, but never considered a base between the tank and the CD’s so the difference was not considerable, this year I’ve place some hardy shrubs on and around the tank in large earth pots and they are being watered with the excessive water pumped to the tank and off course rain, reflecting CD’s along with the plants are keeping the water inside the tank cool. Consider a tower of potatoes made out of large rubber tires placed on top of each other five such towers produce enough potato to feed a family of 6 for 6 months, and can be placed easily on a terrace at a sunny spot. Every electric switch left open and plug left in the socket use vampire voltage, all those appliances the have a small red light on them but we think they are turned off are consuming vampire voltage, and these vampire voltage contribute significantly towards our electricity bill every month. With a little care and we can reduce our dependability on the barrels that are pulled out every day to feed our hunger of consumption toped with our convinces.

TINY WIND TURBINES

Talking about wind energy what comes first in our minds is the larger then life colossal wind turbines and wind energy farms. Think again! Why not tiny wind turbines, charging our electric gadgets, watches, torches and at times our lights and cell phones. We have developed tiny solar powered chargers, MP4 players, and street lights.
As the world focuses more and more on wind energy and wind turbines for power generation, but wind turbines are never considered tiny as long as they are not made out of paper. All this is changing now in the past 2 years we have seen quite a few applications being powered by tiny wind turbines, although most of these are either decorative or in research phase but some of these tiny wind turbines are made for real life power production and are quite astonishingly proving handy.

Take a look at this tiniest, tiny wind turbine, this 2.4 inch rotator blade blow on toy lights its one green and two blue LED lights when blown at. This tiny wind turbine toy can be a great gadget to introduce enthusiasm among the young ones about renewable energy. No charging or batteries are requires as this tiny wind turbine is absolutely self sufficient. Instead of lighting up a lighter in a concert just use these tiny wind turbines during the ballad and pass an eco friendly massage in a silent manner.
£9.99! @ Nigel’s Eco Store.

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This little rotating devil is my favorite by HYmini, this tiny wind turbine is installed in a device that make it a personal wind energy portable cell phone charge. Walk, jog just attach this with your arm or fix it with your handle while riding your bicycle. It’s ideal for camping and outdoor activities, as well as those days when you are nomadic: in and out of trains, cabs, or airports. Better yet, it can be combine with solar panels or even when there is just no wind around.
HYmini is offering these along with straps and charging pins for $ 49.99 + another $10 for accessories.

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There is a tiny wind turbine in this watch by High-end watchmaker Urwerk , who is bringing new meaning to the term “tiny wind turbines” by replacing the traditional self-winding mechanism in their UR-202 watch with miniature wind turbines. While this small scale turbine installation isn’t solving any energy crisis, it is a step towards better design, and a wind-driven move that extends the life of this distinctive timepiece. While we’ve seen wind turbine technology in many forms, from large, powerful designs that can power neighborhoods, to small hand-held devices that can charge your mobile gadgets, we can’t recall any innovation that used wind power in such a small (yet significant) detail.
The UR-202 uses compressed air generated by the tiny wind turbines to regulate the winding mechanism. With traditional self-winding watches use a slipping mainspring to prevent over winding. The main rotor, which is constantly moving back and forth (as the user moves his arm), tends to wear as time goes on, due to the friction generated as it winds. What the tiny wind turbines do is to regulate the velocity of the winding rotor to ensure that it doesn’t spin too fast, or too slow. In principle, this will extend the life of the winding mechanism, not exactly revolutionary in the big picture, but cool nonetheless. The watch is certainly distinctive enough, and has a number of features which make it quite interesting, and a little intimidating.

All these tiny wind turbine are another stem towards, Next generation wind energy.

Floating Wind Turbines

Wind turbines floating in the sky may sound like an absurd idea, but absurdness of this bizarre new concept in the field of wind energy is the beauty of the concept itself. Like most developments in the felid of renewable energy, floating wind turbines came with simply a concept backed by the fact that energy is all around us we just need suitable and sustainable means to harness it. We all know that there is a steady wind for consistent production of energy some where above 600 to 1000 feet above ground level, but to put a wind turbine at 1000 Feet on a pole is not only expensive but also quite hard to maintain.
Magenn Power of Ottawa has developed a prototype of these floating wind turbines, and they are calling it MARS (The Magenn Air Rotator System). MARS is a blimp that floats with the aid of helium gas and is connected to grid stations with a series of cables. Centrifugal turbines mounted on both ends of the MARS and these floating wind turbines start producing, clean renewable energy. Floating wind turbines produce double the average production of conventional wind turbines as the winds at 1000 feet are steady and more productive.
Floating wind turbines not only thumps conventional wind turbines with there low impact ability but also are much easier to maintain. Mobility of floating wind turbines is another remarkable feature which makes this technology tremendously practical in times of emergency. These amazing floating wind turbines can be easily installed for instant power availability at disaster struck sites.
Floating wind turbines research and development is promising 40 to 50 % efficiency compared to the conventional wind turbines as the double production capacity of a single unit is possible. Farms of floating wind turbines can be placed near the demanded area and this can save on cable cost and line loss.
Conventional wind turbines only produce energy in wind speeds between 3 meters/sec and 28 meters/sec. Magenn’s floating wind turbines (MARS) should start production between 1 meter/sec and in excess of 28 meters/sec.
These floating wind turbines can be easily raised to different heights between 400ft-1000ft, thus capitalizing of stable and speedy winds will be very much possible.
Critics talk of hazardous these floating wind turbines might bring for air traffic, but air traffic is not some play station game any more every new development is update with aviations world wide. Some say that these floating wind turbines might break down and fall, disasters strike but can be controlled as well, as with such huge investments backups are always designed.
Another type of floating wind turbines is under research by Sky Wind power Corporation. These floating wind turbines will use helicopter technology to reach desired heights and stay afloat, now these heights can be 30,000 feet up in the jet stream where the wind is strong and steady, Sky Wind power Corporation, envisage clusters of these floating wind turbines, as many as 600 units, generating as much as 12,000 megawatts, far more than your typical nuclear plant.
Floating wind turbines might prove to be the next generation of wind energy, making it a flexible source of renewable clean energy ready to install in remote areas, according to Magenn Air Rotator System, first batch of these floating wind turbines should be launched soon for sale fit for domestic use.

RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES

Cleaner air and a greener world is the best gift we can give to our next generation. Use of Renewable energy is the key to an environment friendly world in which the human foot steps are much cleaner and greener, for the past eight decades with our carbon foot steps we have been marching all over mother earth making her ugly and less productive by every passing minute.
Renewable energy and its sources are not new at all; in fact planet earth is a composition of renewable energy resources. Today not only the modern and power full nations of the world are utilizing the renewable energy but also the poor and the third world countries are working hard to exploit these free and unlimited means of energy, careful use of renewable energy is a smart choice over fossil fuel, as environment friendly and renewable sources of energy help maintain the delicate balances created by nature for the survival of this planet.
Definition renewable energy:
If we wish to define renewable energy, it can be stated that renewable energy, are practically inexhaustible resources of energy, that are available free and in abundance and there exploitation is not harmful towards the life and any type of natural environmental balance on the planet.
Resource and types of renewable energy.
Life is renewable energy, if we look around carefully we should be able to find means of renewable energy all around us, in fact it is safe to state that renewable energy is what makes our days, days and nights, nights. We eat them and breath them, they satisfy our thirst, and hunger. In there natural and pure states they help improve our mental and physical health. There organized exploitation is ancient, and common.
Energy that is generated form SUN, WIND, WATER, TIDAL WAVE, BIOMASS and GEOTHERMAL POWER IS renewable energy. All these resources are naturally produced by actions and reactions that take place either on or with in the planet. On the other hand Sunlight, and solar reflection on the moon are coming to us from the atmosphere and space above the ozone layer, and solar energy is the major or basic driving force behind all resources of renewable energy.
Renewable energy and world’s energy production:
The share of renewable energy in world energy production and consumption is very low at the moment, according to the stats collected for 2006 only 18% of the global energy needs were being fulfilled through different sources of renewable energy, out of which 13% came from traditional wood and biomass burning, while the next biggest source of renewable energy is hydro power with 3% of its contribution in world energy production. Renewable energy was also generated through hot water, and its share was on 1.3%, rest of the 0.8% came from modern means of renewable energy such as geothermal, wind, solar, and ocean energy together.

Renewable energy and negative propaganda:
There is a great deal of negative propaganda against the different sources of renewable energy. Non-predictability, high cost, low production are the most common threats that are propagated against renewable energy. So much so that a large number of environmentalist accused windmill as a threat to the birds and other wild life. Close study of the situation reviled that due to large slow moving propeller modern wind turbines are not a threat to the wild life, in fact the number of birds and animal killed in road accidents by small and large vehicles is far more then those killed from renewable energy resources. On the other hand environmental contamination caused by conventional fossil fuel is responsible for the extinction of many precious species of wild life.

Renewable energy potential:
Though currently renewable energy makes a small portion of world’s energy, but renewable energy posses the potential to fulfill all global energy requirements. The market for renewable energy is increasing at a great pace in fact 100% growth in both solar and wind energy has been recorded in the past 5 years. Wind energy has installed capacity of over 100 GW worldwide, and this source of renewable energy is chiefly being utilized in Europe and USA. While 2000 MW was the manufactured photovoltaic products worldwide by 2006.
While Germany is investing in photovoltaic projects, Spain and USA, are concentrating on solar thermal power projects of renewable energy. The largest of solar thermal renewable energy power project is located Mojave Desert, with the production capacity of 354 MW at SEGS power plant, and the world's largest geothermal power installation is The Geysers in California, with a rated capacity of 750 MW.
Bio ethanol is another type of renewable energy which is driven from biomass, it wont be wrong to call it the an organic diesel. Brazil is the largest producer and user of bio diesel and ethanol now fulfils over 18% of the country’s fuel requirements.
Although large-scale renewable energy projects are a great relief to the environment, but the concept and the technology of renewable energy is best suited for small scale off the grid power production to avoid line loss. Small-scale renewable energy projects done on local and individual bases are a huge step towards sustainability.
It is evident that the cost and labor required supplying and maintaining power in far-flung isolated areas is often to high, and renewable energy seems to be the most efficient solution. Installation and implementation of renewable energy resources, such as solar power projects, wind energy, biogas and other alternative means of energy help create self sufficiency on individual and small scale community grounds.
Kenya for example has the larges ratio of individually owned over 30,000 solar power systems ranging from 20 to 100 watts as a source of renewable energy.
Fossil fuel and renewable energy:
Means of renewable energy and there application face a lot of opposition and competition with the multi trillion dollar fossil fuel industry. So much so that the capitalist involved in the oil and power business invested to promote negative press over the resources and utilization of renewable energy. The most common propaganda against renewable energy has been the major initial cost and inefficiency. Luckily with the passage of time, factors such as climate change, peak oil price and fuel insecurity helped renewable energy and its resources to gain the popularity and respect it deserved. Fossil fuel has been a major cause of centralization in distribution allover the world, an event-taking place in Asia has been effects felt all over Europe and USA. Now the increase in the cost of oil and the on going conspiracy scam of war on terror has created a great deal of instability and insecurity for people all over the world both in terms of fuel and food. Other then this our world is changing every day in terms of the environment, and climate. The air we breath in the water we drink and the food we eat is not safe and healthy any more all this again because of the increasing pollution. The delicate life cycle has been tempered and its taking its toll on mankind. In an era of such insecurity renewable energy seems to be the solution, which suits the best to modern human society. Renewable energy is able to fulfill our energy needs with little or no compromise on our luxurious lifestyles. Today in our much aware world its not hard to state that renewable energy is the source of keeping the civilization alive.
Renewable energy and global commitment:
With an increasing awareness about the global warming and environment change, the commitment towards a carbon free environment friendly world is becoming strong. More and more businesses and governments are working hard to look green. Use of renewable energy in public and private sector is also growing; companies that were doing huge businesses in the power sector are investing extensively in renewable energy. On the other hand governments are committing and working hard for switching on renewable energy. In march 2007 leaders of EU agreed on producing 20% of there energy from renewable energy resources, in order to cut carbon emissions at a significant rate.
The capital being poured in renewable energy was $ 80 billion in 2005, which jumped to $100 billion in 2006 and is mounting at a great pace. In 2007 the investment in renewable energy and alternative means of power increased even more. According to the renewable energy fuel mandate, USA is committed to an increase of 500% in the production of renewable energy fuels by the year 2022. this mandate is the part of EISA singed by president bush in December 2007, Read more [http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2008/March/20080305175150xjsnommis0.5022394.html].
Companies like, BP, GENERAL ELECTRIC, SHARP and the ROYAL DUTCH SHELL are investing in solar energy and other means of renewable energy sector.
Renewable energy employment and revenue:
According to the ASES report on renewable energy, 8 million people were employed in renewable energy production and distribution by 2006, this number is increasing significantly since then, ASES also stated that $ 933 billion were generated in the direct sales of renewable energy products and services in USA only, with profits of $100 billion. The increased federal and local government tax generation on renewable energy was $150 billion. According to this 2006 report 196,000 people were directly employed in the field of renewable energy and about 452,000 were involved indirectly employed one way or the other in renewable energy application and production.

Sun and renewable energy:

Almost all types of renewable energy are directly or indirectly driven from sun, in direct types of sun driven renewable energy, photovoltaic panels, solar heaters, solar thermal power plants are common. Sun is the driving force behind wind as well so wind driven renewable energy such as electricity generated from modern wind turbines, or renewable energy in form kinetic power for crushing wheat floor in traditional windmills. A large amount of solar radiation is absorbed by oceans and other water bodies and stored in form of thermal energy, which is another type of renewable energy. Solar energy is also responsible for wave motion which helps turn mechanical energy into electricity another great source of renewable energy. Sun light is responsible of photosynthetic in plants and other biomass which is becoming a popular source of renewable energy solar energy is also responsible for hydroelectric projects and power generation.

Main and modern renewable energy technologies:


· Sun driven renewable energy: Photovoltaic, solar water heating and solar thermal power plants.

· Wind driven renewable energy: wind mills and wind turbines.

· Water driven renewable energy: Hydro power projects, dams, wave power, tidal and tidal stream power, hydroelectric.

· Bio fuel and biomass renewable energy: biogas, bio ethanol, bio diesel, and solid biomass.

· Geothermal renewable energy: heat from earth core used for heating and power generation.
Solar renewable energy:
In the world of renewable energy the power directly driven from sunlight is termed as solar energy. Solar renewable energy can be produced in many ways but the most basic include:
Generating electricity using photovoltaic solar cells.
Generating electricity using concentrated solar power.
Generating electricity using by heating trapped air to rotate the turbines in a solar updraft tower.
Other solar renewable energy utilization includes, solar ovens and cookers, solar water heaters, solar chimneys and solar air conditioning. Even satellites are powered using solar renewable energy. Heating buildings using sunlight, and solar water and air heating does passive use of solar renewable energy.

Wind renewable energy:
Renewable energy through wind is not new; our primordial were using windmills for generating kinetic energy, in Persia, and in the Mediterranean. Netherlands been using wind mills to dry out shallow marshy areas for more land.
Modern wind turbines use this kinetic energy and convert it into electricity, this is one of the major sources of renewable energy with carbon emissions, airfoils or propellers are pushed and rotated due to there aero dynamics by wind, this rotation works on creating power from the dynamo generator of the wind turbines. Wind turbines range from 600 KV to 500 MW in terms of power, the most commonly used commercial wind turbines generate about 1.5-3 MW.
Wind power is the fastest growing source of renewable energy, not only huge wind turbine farms are being installed but also wind turbines are coming in small size for local community and individual use. With hybrid, savonius, darius types of wind turbines and efficient aero turbines wind mills are becoming the most common and wind spread source of renewable energy at the end of 2003 renewable energy produced through wind was over 40,000 MW. Currently the annual growth rate of renewable energy produced by wind turbines is about 30% annual. EU is switching to wind energy at a very fast pace in fact UK plans on switching all its power need and production on wind renewable energy by 2020. wind energy is not only being harvested on land but also from sea shores and off shore wind turbine farms as well. Off shore wind harvesting is 90% grater compared to the on land wind renewable energy production.
Wind speed near the earth surface varies so continues power generation can’t be garneted until combined with some sort of power inverter, and storage system. It is roughly estimated that conventional capacity of 1000MW of wind powered renewable energy results in only 333MW of continuous power.
In the UK, a licence to build the world's largest offshore windfarm, in the Thames estuary, has been granted. The London Array windfarm, 12 miles off Kent and Essex, should eventually consist of 341 turbines, occupying an area of 90 square miles. This is a £1.5 billion, 1,000 megawatt project, which will power one-third of London homes. The windfarm will produce an amount of energy that, if generated by conventional means, would result in 1.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year. It could also make up to 10% of the Government's 2010 renewables target.
Read more about Aero turbines at: http://thegreenbend.blogspot.com/2008/04/aeroturbine-next-generation-wind-energy.html

Water renewable energy:
Hydropower is an ancient type of renewable energy; Dams were made on streams, rivers, and deltas, for irrigation and production of renewable kinetic or mechanical energy. Water carries an amazing amount of motive and temperature difference renewable energy.
The renewable energy harnessed from water is 800 times denser then air.
Hydroelectric renewable energy is a term usually reserved for large-scale hydroelectric dams. Examples are the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State and the Akosombo Dam in Ghana.
Micro hydro renewable energy systems are hydroelectric power installations that typically produce up to 100 kW of power. They are often used in water rich areas as a Remote Area Power Supply (RAPS).There are many of these installations around the world, including several delivering around 50 kW in the Solomon Islands.
Damless hydro renewable energy systems derive kinetic energy from rivers and oceans without using a dam.
Wave power uses the renewable energy in waves. The waves will usually make large pontoons go up and down in the water, leaving an area with reduced wave height in the "shadow". Wave power has now reached commercialization.
Tidal power captures renewable energy from the tides in a vertical direction. Tides come in, raise water levels in a basin, and tides roll out. Around low tide, the water in the basin is discharged through a turbine.
Tidal stream power captures renewable energy from the flow of tides, usually using underwater plant resembling a small wind turbine. Tidal stream power demonstration projects exist, and the first commercial prototype will be installed in Strangford Lough in September 2007.
Ocean thermal renewable energy conversion (OTEC) uses the temperature difference between the warmer surface of the ocean and the colder lower recesses. To this end, it employs a cyclic heat engine. OTEC has not been field-tested on a large scale.
Bio fuel and renewable energy:
Photosynthetic is a natural process under which plants produce biomass, which helps them grow. This biomass is also known as bio matter, and can be used directly as fuel or can be processed into bio fuel.
Bio fuel driven from agro products is bio diesel, ethanol or biogas.
Liquid bio fuel:
Liquid bio fuel is usually either a bio alcohol or bio ethanol fuel, such as bio diesel and vegetable oil. Bio fuels can be used in vehicles with little or no modification. Use of bio fuels reduces carbon emissions by 20% to 40%. Corn, sugar beet, switch grass, sugar cane and corn stalks are being grown in South and North America as well as Asia as specifically to produce different types of bio fuel renewable energy, such as ethanol a liquid fuel that can be used to run combustion engines. E85 is an example of renewable energy bio fuel that contains 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline and is being sold to the consumers.
Liquid bio fuel has reached its third generation and is now being produced from algae.
Read more about 3rd generation bio fuel at : http://environment2energy.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-02-14T23%3A13%3A00%2B05%3A00&max-results=1
Biogas or anaerobic digestion renewable energy:
Biogas is a great source of renewable energy; this renewable energy is driven from organic waste produced by animals, humans and plants. For example bio methane gas is a renewable energy that is driven from a process of digestion done on animal dung and organic wastes, in this process bacteria breaks down the organic input which as a result releases methane gas, this methane gas can be used for producing electricity or an be used directly for fire. Renewable natural gas is a biogas which has been upgraded to a quality similar to natural gas. By upgrading the quality to that of natural gas, it becomes possible to distribute the gas to the mass market via gas grid. Alternatively biogas can be produced via advanced waste processing systems such as mechanical biological treatment. These systems recover the recyclable elements of household waste and process the biodegradable fraction in anaerobic digesters.
Bio gas renewable energy is being produced all over the world, India and other third world countries are using this renewable energy.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JYmOb4mDdUE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gklJIPFyhIc
Geothermal renewable energy:
Heat trapped under the earth surface is another type of renewable energy, Such geothermal power sources exist in certain geologically unstable parts of the world such as Iceland, New Zealand, United States, the Philippines and Italy. The two most prominent areas for this in the United States are in the Yellowstone basin and in northern California. Iceland produced 170 MW geothermal power and heated 86% of all houses in the year 2000 through geothermal energy. Some 8000 MW of capacity is operational in total
Read more about geothermal renewable energy at : http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/renewable/geothermal.html

Renewable enrgy and world feature:
Although renewable energy is cattering a very tiny of the worlds current energy use but with factors like peek oil price and climate change it seems that renewable enrgy will be fueling the world with in next 3 to 4 decades.
Renewable energy is becoming cost effective day by day, new and cheaper types of solar panels and efficient aero turbines are becoming more and more available. Out put of renewable energy are also improving, alternative energy resources such as biogas and ethanols are also very promising. Huge companies that run on means of renewable enrgy, such as are launching products and daily use commodities like Air cars, solar motor bikes and solar mp3 players.
Read about these products that run on renewable energy at;
http://thegreenbend.blogspot.com/2008/04/air-powered-car.html
http://environment2energy.blogspot.com/
http://www.jessenbug.com/articles-categories/17-technology/25-solar-powered-mp3video-player.

Sustainability and renewable energy
Many argue and contradict about the productivity of renewable energy, some say that they will pollute the environment, others argue about the cost and production myth. There are some who say that renewable energy covers vast lands, and there are those who say that production of renewable energy with agro product will create food insecurity.
All this negativity is just another organized capitalist gimmick in the favor of fossil fuel and globalization. Although the current fossil fuel powered globalization is the cause of famine, hunger, food and fuel insecurity and forged war on terror which was only started to capture the remaining hubs of oil.
Renewable energy is some thing very close to human nature of freedom and self-stuffiness. Renewable energy brings sustainability by freeing us from centralized grids. Renewable energy is responsible for a much cleaner air to breath and more over almost all sources of renewable energy start putting money back into our pockets in a few years. SO invest in renewable energy today and make money for the rest of your life.

Aeroturbine Next Generation Wind Energy.

Aero turbines can be easily considered as the next generation of small-scale wind energy generation. As most of us are aware that installing a windmill on individual basis is not preferable because of both, cost and production efficiency, and that’s why till now wind energy was limited to windy regions all over the world, other factors like noise pollution and dangers of bird killing made windmills non popular amongst many for the past 2 decades. But all this is about to change with the invention of Double-helix wind turbine, more commonly known as aero turbines. This invention of DR. Bill Becker of university Illinois & Chicago is down to earth and simple when it comes to design but the approach to harvest the wind energy is very efficient and cost effective. The propellers of these aero turbines look more like an electric beater then a blade, because these wind turbines are absolutely silent and not very large they can be easily placed on rooftops and fixed on windy edges of high raised buildings. Aero turbines are caged in a pipe frame are light in weight, and slow moving wind energy generators so they do not propose any threat to wildlife, and work fine in heavy snow fall. Hence special zoning, code exemptions or high insurance rates are not required for installing these wind machines. With two different types of propellers infused in the same structure aero turbines are efficient starters and efficient producers, at the same time. The inner savonius wind blades are efficient starters, with low production rate and start working in wind speed as low as 6mph, no matter if the wind is gusting and irregular or non directional, while the outer darius wind blades start working in high winds, though these blades are poor starter but efficient producers, and can continue to generate electricity up to 70 mph., yet there unique design prevents them from a run away in high winds. Aerotecture International has developed two models, 510V AND 520H with a production capacity of 1kw and 1.8kw respectively. The cost of these aero turbines is $15,000 for the 510V and $21,000 for 520H, which is quite high but is expected to reduce with mass production, but the simplicity of the design has actually made it possible for many to attempt and make one for personal use. Once the technology hits China, the cost should drop to as low as $ 1500 to $ 2000 a unit or may be even lower which is not bad for such a low maintenance windturbine. It wont be a surprise to find these wind machines installed under the bridges or on the roof tops of urban sky scrapers, maybe railway stations or highways to full fill the never ending energy needs.

Electric ivy.

Every day literally every day some thing new and ground breaking is happening in the world of renewable sources of energy. If we look 5 to 10 years back alternate sources of energy were big PV panels, good old 3 propeller wind mills and bio gas plants, but its different today not that the sources of eco friendly energies changed, it’s the shapes , sizes and efficiency, that don’t fail to amaze us with the sustainability and compatibility along with there pleasing shapes that attract our aesthetics.
Here is some thing that should be able to amaze most of us who like to peep into the world of alternate energy Teresita Cochraine’s sustainable design group, SMIT (Sustainability Minded Interactive Technology) has a gripping new project called GROW that’s an innovative and aesthetically arresting solar and wind power solution. GROW draws inspiration from ivy growing on the side of a building - resulting in a hybrid energy delivery device of leafy, fluttering solar shingles that provide power via both sun and wind. Teresa began working on GROW after cutting leaf-shaped solar panels for her brother’s project. What followed was GROW as SMIT’s first product offering, which now exists in 2 versions, GROW.1 (currently at the Museum of Modern Art), and GROW.2, a residential application built on top of a stainless steel mesh system, allowing ivy and other crawlers to grow with it.
Using a series of flexible solar cells as leaves, GROW takes the shape of ivy growing on a building- the leaves are solar cells while the wind that causes them to flutter is harvested as viable energy. Teresita hopes that the modular system would be readily available via the Moma store or Design Within Reach, rather than a commercially out-of-reach system like many traditional solar components. GROW also integrates an energy monitoring system for users to visualize their consumption. The leaves are made of 100% recyclable polyethylene, and are available in a variety of colors and opacities.
To learn more about Teresita Cochraine’s GROW & (Sustainability Minded Interactive Technology) visit http://www.ecolect.net/limelight