Archive for June, 2010

How To Use Solar Panels At Home

Solar panels have been one of the landmark alternative energy gadgets for the home when they were first developed.  Since then it has been demonstrated that they are very useful in helping our planet ween itself from fossil fuels.

Hopefully, we will be seeing that day very soon.  I came across a few videos that are interesting from a prospective of using and understanding solar panels.

Solar Energy Basics for Your Home

www.RethinkSolarPower.info A basic explanation of how your solar panels for your home will work… This video answers the question, “How is solar energy used?” Copyright © 2007 BSW

Solar Cells – How To Make Solar Cells At Home

www.SolarEnergyGuide.net – How To Make Solar Cells At Home Chapter 3 Electrochemistry · Space Exploration Make a solar cell in your kitchen. A solar cell is a device for converting …. If this were to form the roof of a home, each home would be 282 …

How Solar Energy Panels Work – Explained in Detail

www.ecopoweredhome.com This video describes a plausible method for living off grid using the power of the sun. It’s not expensive to build your own cheap Home Solar Panels and eliminate your power bill. To find out how to Make Home Solar Panels visit…

Understanding How A Geothermal System Works

The parts of a geothermal system are really simple. There is a loop system, either closed or open, which is buried outside your house and carries either water or a mix­ture of water and antifreeze. The closed loop system is recommended, and can be installed as a horizon­tal loop system, where the pipes are laid out below ground about 4 feet deep; a vertical loop system, where the pipes are submerged in 200-foot-deep holes; or a water-source system, which operates using a nearby pond or lake.

That buried loop system can be made from a couple different types of material. Most are made of a durable plastic known as high-density polyethylene, which lasts up to 200 years. The joints are made by fusing or melting the pipes and fittings together, which nearly ensures that there will not be leaks. Copper piping can also be used; it allows the heat to pass through directly into surrounding soil, but is subject to corro­sion. After the fluid travels through the loop, or underground pipes, it brings the heat to your home, where a compressor and a heat exchanger release it into your home at a higher temperature.

The heat pump—or, in other words, the geothermal unit—is located inside your home, in an insulated cabinet no bigger than your home’s washing machine or a small furnace. But because the system uses water (or a water-antifreeze combo), it doesn’t need noisy fans the way an air-source heat pump does. In fact, a geother­mal heating system is practically silent, as it moves heat from the ground and releases it via your home’s ductwork, reversing the process during summer months.

Geothermal units are so efficient that they even make good use of the slightly wasted heat they create. This excess heat is known as “super heat,” and current geothermal sys­tems now come equipped with a “desuper-heater” that transfers that extra heat to your water heater, heating your water at the same time it’s heating your home.

How To Build A Magnetic Generator To Power Your Home

Are you getting tired of paying for rising home energy bills?  Have you tried one energy saving device after another and just ending up disappointed and discouraged time after time? Of course, you have been aggravated with this process – so many people have ….

Many of these home energy systems just don’t work so well, but you shouldn’t give you hope altogether because I am about to show you a new type of generator that just might change your mind.

This magnetic generator actually powers itself and creates energy by itself, without requiring solar energy, heat, water, coal or any kind of resource. This generator powers itself and works indefinitely, without stopping, creating a large amount of energy. Here are some of its benefits:

CLICK HERE for access to how to build one of these energy saving  generators for your home.  This one time special promotional offer will be closing soon, so be sure and get your name in the hat right away ….

Renewable Energy vs. Sustainable Energy

Renewable energy is so called because it is energy that comes from sources that are easily replenished. Wind energy and solar energy are renewable, as are biomass sources for fuel (from wood to plants such as corn, sugarcane, and hemp), geothermal (heat from the earth), and hydropower (energy harnessed from moving water). Clearly, it follows that energy sources that are renewable are far better than those that are extracted at great cost to the living world and the creatures that inhabit it.

But sustainable energy takes it one step further. While wood is a renewable resource, cutting down forests, particularly old-growth forests, has devastating effects on the planet, releasing huge stores of carbon diox­ide (C0₂) that contribute to global warming. Sources of energy that are both sustainable and renewable, such as wind and solar, do not leave the planet with long-term conse­quences for their use.

When it comes to renewable, sustainable energy, there are five main contenders: solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and biofuels.

It’s always important to factor in the long-term impact of our energy choices. For example, although growing corn for ethanol may be environmentally superior to drilling for oil, clearing forests to plant those fuel crops is a poor alternative to using wind and solar energy.

Plug N Play 250w Grid Tied Solar Power Kit

Here is about the easiest way for virtually anyone to get involved in green energy and significantly reduce their energy bill at the same time.  The 250 watt grid tie Plug N Play Solar Power Kit has been carefully designed for very simple installation and the inverter can be plugged right into any AC outlet. The kit comprises of two (2) high quality 130w solar panels and a SWEA Plug N Play inverter. Even better is that the Plug N Play starter system can be combined to form larger systems to meet your requirements in the future if you decide to upgrade.  Many folks eventually do this to save even more on this energy bill.

Plug N Play 250w Grid Tied Solar Power Kit can easily reduce a portion of your bill, or even eliminate higher cost electricity in locales where progressively increasing rates are always a problem as consumption increases. This starter kit provides you all the benefits of utility interconnection without a complex and difficult installation process.  You simply plug it into any AC Outlet, just like any regular appliance and watch your meter spin backwards. One 250 watt solar power kit in average conditions will produce 1 kWh (kilowatt hour) of electricity per day.

Plug N Play Kit Advantages:

• Easy Install: Just plug it into an AC Outlet
• Reduce your electric bill
• A fully expandable system.
• Grid-Tie without the difficult installation
• Great kit to “get started with solar power”

Since the inverter can be plugged in directly to an AC outlet. For the first time ever, now renters can enjoy the benefits of the Plug N Play 250w Grid Tied Solar Power Kit.

CLICK HERE to find out how you can reduce your power bill!!

Incoming search terms:

• Greenway Solar plug in

Bill Clinton: An Avid Supporter of Green Energy

It this day of politicians and corporate just not getting it when it comes to renewable energy sources, it cannot be said that President Bill Clinton was one of those misguided leaders.

He has always been an ardent proponent of the pursuit of alternative energy sources.  He realizes not only is our country politically and financially weakened on a global scale because of our addiction to fossil fuels, it is imperative to our planet that we eliminate them entirely.

Here are some of his moments of speaking in favor of the “green” movement:

Earth Day Interview with Bill Clinton! – Digg Dialogg

For this special Earth Day Edition of Digg Dialogg, President Clinton answers your top questions on the environment, Earth Day, and climate change.

Bill Clinton On Green Solutions

Bill Clinton, aqt the Tennessee Democratic Party’s Jackson Day fundraiser, 8/29/09 speaking about green energy policy and solutions

President Bill Clinton talks about green economic growth

Gives examples of conservation reducing costs and creating thousands of new jobs

7 Energy Saving Things You SHOULD Do in Your Kitchen But Probably DON’T

Small things add up when it comes to saving energy.  Here are some actions you can take now in one of the biggest energy suckers in your house – the kitchen.

1)      Run your dishwasher ONLY when it is full. Forget about those half-loads. Keep your dishwasher full to cut down on hot water and energy use. And keep in mind that dishwashers use 37 percent less energy, on average, than washing dishes by hand.

2)      Choose a dishwasher with options. If you are replacing a dishwasher, then you will want to choose an energy-efficient ENERGY STAR model.  These models offer “energy saving” and “short wash” cycles as well as air-drying options, which require much less energy compared to heat-drying. You will also want to choose a compact model if you don’t tend to have a large load.  Although it is more energy efficient than a standard model, that is only true if you are not using it twice as often. Also, if you are installing a new dishwasher, try to keep it away from the refrigera­tor so that its heat and moisture won’t force the fridge to work that much harder.

3)      Air dry dishes. Take the dishes out before when they are finished washing and avoid using the dishwasher’s costly drying cycle.

4)      Consider a convection oven. A convection oven circulates heated air around your food as it is cooking.  This distributes heat more evenly and cuts down on cooking time.  These ovens use about a third less energy than their conventional counterparts.

5)      Use a pressure cooker. These wonderful little cookers not only produce great chilis, soups, stews, and hot dips, they also reduce cooking time considerably and cut energy use by as much as 50 to 75%.

6)      Use toaster ovens for smaller meals. These are much more efficient than cranking up your regular oven.

7)      Microwaves are an energy-smart option. Microwaves use high-frequency radio waves to heat food which require about 50 to 65% less energy than do regular ovens, and they do not produce excess heat either, which will save additional energy during hot months.

15 Fun Facts About Alternative Energy That You Don’t Know About

For those of you who think we can’t live without oil, check out these (15) fifteen fun facts about alternative energy.  You will notice that many of them happened years ago and were actually put on the back burner by the discovery refinement of fossil fuels.

1)  It is estimated that in approximately 5 billion years, our sun will run out of fuel.

2)  In 1767, the first solar energy collector was invented by the Swiss scientist, Horace de Saussure.

3)  During the 1830s, British astronomer John Herschel employed a solar energy collector box to cook his food while on an expedition to Africa.

4)  Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his work with solar energy and photovoltaics.

5)  Each minute, enough sunlight falls on Earth to meet the energy demands of the world for a whole year.

6)  If we were to cover just a small portion of the Sahara desert with photovoltaic cells, we would be able generate all the world’s electricity requirements.

7)  The Gulf Stream contains enough hydro energy to power the entire continent of North America.

8)  All TV and communications satellites are powered by solar energy using photovoltaic cells.

9)  Wind power was actually first used thousands of years ago. In the year 3200 BC, wind energy was used for the first time by the Egyptians in the form of sails to power their boats.

10) Hydroelectric power was a big alternative source of energy in 1920.  At that time, the alternative energy cost was very small, and more than one fourth of all the electricity generated and used in the United States of America this year was generated using hydroelectric power. Unfortunately, today it is just a fraction of that amount.

11) Sun energy was once used to save Sicily. In the year 213 BC, the famous physicist Archimedes used solar energy to save Sicily from Roman warships in an ambitious and unusual plan. He assembled mirrors to concentrate and reflect the energy from the sun onto the Roman ships, which eventually set them on fire so they were no longer a threat.

12) The invention of the windmill took place in China where the energy of the wind was used to help grind plants and other materials. These devices used to capture an alternative source of energy were invented in the year 200 BC.  Interestingly, these devices are still designed and used in basically the same way today as they were then, except now we use the energy harnessed to produce electricity instead.

13) Photovoltaics were first discovered in the year 1839, when scientist Edmond Becquerel happened to realize that when certain materials absorb sunlight they produce electricity from it. This discovery led to lower alternative energy costs.

14) Hydropower as an alternative source of energy in history was first used by the Greeks in the BC period as an alternative source of energy. This invention was used by the Greeks to turn large wheels, which in turn would grind the wheat in the mill into flour to be used for cooking.

15) The first solar water heater was actually designed and built in the year 1891. It was invented by Clarence Kemp, who called it “The Climax”. To purchase a thirty two gallon solar hot water heater at the time only cost $25.