Houses that could make electric energy for itself and the community
Buenos Aires and got his chance in June this year, and continued their journey home. For two weeks, Buenos Aires had the opportunity to visit the prototype that has the potential to revolutionize sustainable architecture.
The German House, designed by a team from the Technical University in Darmstadt, Germany, beat 19 other teams in the Solar Decathlon. The decathlon is an annual competition, commissioned by the Ministry of Energy of the United States. It aims to design and build the solar-powered house most innovative and efficient.
This year, a team of Virginia Tech University in the United States won the gold medal architecture. The prototype, called Lumenhaus can not only generate enough electricity through solar energy to supply itself, but may also return three times the amount. At first, everything seemed distant architectural vanguard. But then I started considering it more and I realized what it could mean in reality. A home that not only energized but also serves as a mini-power plant could begin to reverse our energy shortage to the point where not even have a need for new power plants.
The whole debate over the safety of nuclear plants and the dangers of mining would become history. I also felt relatively skeptical because I could imagine the home as straight out of a sci-fi. According to Richard King, the creator of the Solar Decathlon, previous attempts to green architecture were not well received by the general public.
“This collection [prototype] is clearly better, collectively, all the last event in 2007,” King said. “They are getting greener, are becoming more technologically advanced. Some of these cases can be handled by an iPhone. “
The houses have facades definitely not traditional, but the benefits far outweigh the sacrifice should be done to adapt to the new aesthetics of environmentally responsible household. In fact, I would consider it a welcome change-the prototypes are smaller than traditional houses. A smaller house, less clean. Moreover, a great design feature Lumenhaus Virginia Tech is the possibility of extension. Each house is composed of parts of expansion, when a couple decides to start a family, for example, can buy and add a piece of another family in the neighborhood who just sent to the university to their own children.
I find many people establishing environmental responsibility as an enormous economic burden. I would like to hear what these people have to say about the houses-the prototype of Lumenhaus cost $ 500,000 and could be mass produced by one half of that. Not only would cost about the same as a house of solar energy that a traditional house, but the days off would be to pay electricity bills and energy. What a welcome day.
The world’s largest wind farm off the coast of British
Thanet is a wind farm located 12 miles off the coast of England, With 100 wind turbines each with a production capacity of three megawatts, the park was located at sea to establish itself as the largest facility of its kind in the world.
The new wind power project is implemented after the national government to manifest the desire to create, by 2020, 15 percent of electricity from clean sources.
As explained from Thuggery, creating the park 32 km2 has been developing since 2008 and required an investment of approximately 1.4 billion dollars.
While there are facilities located on land with higher production volume, offshore wind farms have the advantage of having more wind and have a higher yield. For all the benefits that this brings, it is essential that the change is tipping toward this type of production. Consider ways cleaner and more environmentally friendly is a key point in the fight against climate change.
Restaurants that use solar energy
Located in Chile’s Elqui Valley, north of Santiago, Villaseca Solar gathers a group of families with the help of the University and a section of the national government have managed to reverse the situation: whereas previously they had to fight for firewood and being able to cook with solar cookers the development of the site now forms a renowned restaurant offering international dishes produced from renewable energy sources.
The history of the Solar Villaseca is so interesting and attractive as the productions they do it: Before this initiative, the place was an area of ??extreme poverty. Through aid programs, families were able to get some solar cookers for heating water. Excited about this new possibility, the people they came to go further: this renewable energy source could cook up to create the only restaurant in the country that works entirely with solar energy.
Thus arose Villaseca and today the town is news to national and international level.
The particularities of the Elqui Valley help achieve this type of production with solar cookers: here the sun shine on the town almost every day of the year. Thus, the ten ovens working all day to serve about 70 people.
While it is not possible to offer the widest variety of dishes due to this particular form of development, the fact is that you can enjoy the most diverse vegetable salads and casseroles with various meats and poultry.
Meeting point for both local and national and international tourists, Villaseca today is an example of social and green micro-initiatives that are worth playing.
The project to transform the desert into the global solar farm
Universities in Japan and Algeria that seeks to generate energy to the point of supplying 50 percent of global electricity by 2050. The idea is to exploit the conditions presented by the world’s largest desert (Sahara because its soil is silicon with which it is possible to achieve the photovoltaic panels, abundant sunshine and uninhabited space) to create silicon factories there and power plants coming solar to produce 100 gigawatts (GW) of electricity.
The objective of this project, which is still in a stage of research is going replicating the model so that the Sahara desert of North Africa, to become the world’s solar farm. While this plan led by Hideomi Koinuma is somewhat ambitious, if carried out could be extremely successful and beneficial for the environment because it would mean a major step toward independence from fossil fuels.
As we told you on another occasion, and there are other projects that have the potential of desert to develop this type of clean energy. But the “Solar Breeder Sahara Project” draws attention because its purpose goes further, claiming a radical change in electricity production globally.
For now continue the investigation, which is expected to spend $ 2 million. These are based on test the feasibility of implementing this initiative into practice, analyzing the materials and what would be most appropriate machine to have in place.
Can you imagine in 40 years a farm capable of providing 50 percent of global electricity? It may seem strange, and even the most pessimistic possible. However, the “Solar Breeder Sahara Project” is already underway, with large chance of being successful.
Can Eco Cars Perform Up to Speed?
If your shopping for a new car you have probably at least considered getting one of the new eco cars. The new eco models are more flamboyant than the environmentally friendly cars of the past, with sleek designs that rival those of the expensive sports cars.
Going green doesn’t have no mean going slow. Diesel eco cars feature a performance to rival the gasoline guzzling models on the market . In an effort to reduce air pollution, carbon emissions and dependence on foreign oil, the manufacturers of eco cars are introducing a wide range of models to suit all consumer tastes. Simply manufacturing new cars that are green does nothing to reduce air pollution, people have to want to drive these cars. Finally, manufacturers are designing cars that people will want to drive everyday.
There are so many alternation fuel cars being manufactured today including cars that run on natural gas and vegetable oil However, people will only buy an eco car if they know they will be able to get fuel easily. If your natural gas car ran out of fuel along the roadway, what would you do? The chances of someone coming along with spare fuel in the boot would be practically nil. Practical considerations like this will determine our preferred fuels of the future. It looks like diesel fuel will be the fuel of choice for consumers looking for greener new cars who want to be assured they can easily find fuel when they need it.
Green Cars – Giving You a Ride to Remember
Just a few years ago, the only people who bought green cars were those that were those with an environmental conscience. Really, people needed a strong environmental conscience to purchase a green car because they certainly were not buying the car for the driving experience. Performance was sacrificed for the environment and this was not something most people were willing to sacrifice for themselves. Ever try to pull out into heavy rush hour traffic in an electric car? It’s like taking your life in your hands.
Not only were green cars not all that fun to drive, they were not all that much to look at either. Fortunately all that’s hanged. There are new cars that are not only green, they are sporty and fun to drive. There are a wide variety of good-looking, sleek models to choose from as well.
The new cars coming out now have greatly reduced CO2 emissions but these green cars have all the features any driver could want like air conditioning and a big boot for storage. Not that there are more choices that just a few electric cars that were slow and incredibly tiny maybe more drivers will opt for environmentally friendly cars. The prices have come down considerably on green cars as well. You no longer have to be a celebrity to care about the environment.
The development of green initiatives bring benefits to the environment
Such is the case of the Barefoot College project (“Barefoot College”) in Tilonia, India, where not only is promoting renewable energy production but also is changing completely illiterate women’s lives and their communities . The initiative is based on empowering hundreds of women, most of them grandmothers to make them specialists in solar energy. After learning about installing solar panels and batteries, they return to their communities and work to provide the only source of electricity in the area.
While the United Nations estimates that about 1.5 million people on the globe still live without electricity, projects such as the Barefoot College can not only offer this resource to thousands of people but also contribute to the development of the region changing lifestyle for all inhabitants of the area, especially for those women able to carry out the project.
Founded in 1972 by social activist Sanjit ‘Bunker’ Roy, the Barefoot College believes that solutions to the problems of the poor in rural areas are in the community, their traditional heritage and new technologies. With this in mind, from the 1990′s began to train young men and women are illiterate or semi-literate as engineers of solar energy. Since then, those most involved with the project were grandmothers, showing enthusiasm and ease in learning.
The first step is from the institution, bringing together citizens to inform them about the benefits of solar energy. Then he chooses women who take courses in Catalonia, who for six months will be prepared by other people who performed the training. Beyond the incentive is produced from the Barefoot College to the success of the project is fundamental commitment to the community, who must work collectively to monitor, manage and decide on installing solar panels.
As explained by the very founder of the institution, school trained 150 grandmothers from 28 countries, enabling around 10 000 households receive electricity from solar energy. It is, in short, a role model for their ability to teach about the natural and human potential to transform a community and grow hand in hand with sustainability.
Attempts to inflate the reality of clean energy
The development of clean energy is an increasingly tangible reality in different countries around the globe. Believing in the not too distant future the entire planet’s electricity could be produced without the use of fossil fuels, countries like the United States recently announced its plan to incorporate new technologies and so develop more alternative sources.
In line with these proposals, the protagonist is now Uruguay, which made ??further announcements regarding the production of clean energy. The government’s goal is to advance the development model to arrive at 2015 with 50 percent of its electricity from renewable energy.
To comply with the proposal in just four years the country would be carrying out the goal of the Energy Policy 2015-2030, which states that 50 percent of total energy matrix should come from renewable sources.
Other initiatives set forth in this program include the treatment of 30 percent of aggro-industrial and urban waste to generate energy, a 15 percent reduction in oil consumption of transport and that the scope of electricity within the country is a 100 percent.
As explained from Discover the Verde, the immediate projects to achieve the increased power of this type consist of the installation of wind farms, which come to provide a total of 500 MW. This is an important advance in clean production. Energy efficiency is becoming a priority in the agenda of many countries, this being beneficial to the environment and social and economic development locally and globally.
The wind and the sun becomes a real source of power
alternative sources around the globe are increasingly developing wind turbines for the production and photovoltaic panels for solar power. But why not merge the two into one? This position is the one that emerged from the University of Liverpool, where a group of scientists developed a wonderful mill can continue to generate power even when the wind does not blow.
This is thanks to photovoltaic technology built their palettes, making the device a major distributor of electricity thanks to its dual functionality.
However, as explained from In habitat, a team led by Dr. Joe King must face great challenges before finishing the final design and install the devices. It is one of the problems of “solar wind mills” that can generate radiation is capable of affecting the visibility of airplane pilots, or emit rays that affect the surrounding buildings.
Given this, the team came up solar panels with a particular color for not reflecting the sun’s rays. Now is definitely thinking about where to install these devices, looking abroad more feasible given that Britain is a country that is characterized by having large amounts of these natural resources.
While there are still some studies and tests for the effective operation and installation of this new device, it is a very interesting proposal that could be implemented to facilitate and greatly increase the production of alternative energy.
How to increase the use of clean energy
The rise of the Internet, new media and social networks often makes us think we connect, share and be part of the digital universe is cheap, simple and harmless.
Fortunately Greenpeace always on time to show our true relationship with the planet: the campaign “Unfriendly Coal” (or “Do not be a friend of coal”) was created to encourage users of the Facebook social network – and from that to the social network itself – to become aware of the enormous energy demand required to operate and how this non-renewable energy use promotes global warming.
The campaign is based on the release of ads (for a recent TV ad) and dissemination of a Facebook page that is close to 100,000 fans. The ultimate goal is that Facebook is committed in this upcoming Earth Day to become green.
More specifically: to increase the use of clean energy, to develop a plan to abandon the use of energy from coal by the year 2021, that educates users on energy and carbon footprint and to defend this type of clean energy level local, national and international levels.