Alternative Energy, Why do we address it as Alternative?

The sun is something that has been used for it's energy for much longer than modern day man has walked our planet, cold bloodied animals have used it to warm their blood, plant life uses Photosynthesis to produce energy to grow and humans use it to keep warm.

Why is it then that we see Solar energy as an Alternative Energy Source?

Solar energy is responsible for our global weather, the wind, the rain both rely on the solar energy to drive our weather patterns across the planet.

Currently our technology for creating energy from the sun (Solar Photo Voltaic) is primitive, we are achieving somewhere in the region of 20% efficiency, I believe with better funded research and time we will be able to extract much more power in the form of DC Electricity, maybe nearer to 70% I would imagine this will make Solar PV installations much more common place.

Whilst the Sun shines and the wind blows we should strive to harness our energy needs from these sources, learn to minimise our waste of heat and power and become much more energy efficient.

We can do it, we all just need educating on how to tackle our individual power requirements before we are beyond the point of no return.

Google Enters the Energy Business

I read on the Google blog that they plan to begin installation of 1.6 megawatts of solar photovoltaic panels (PV panels) at their Head Office in Mountain View, California. They reckon it will be ‘the largest solar installation on any corporate campus in the U.S., and think it’s one of the largest on any corporate site in the world’. But something puzzled me – do they have enough room for all those panels?
Apparently ‘The panels will cover the roofs of the four main buildings of the Googleplex, and also those of two additional buildings across the street. There will also be a portion of this installation on new solar panel support structures in a few parking lots. The amount of electricity that will be generated is equivalent to powering about 2,000 UK or 1,000 average California homes. 'We’ll use that electricity to power several of our Mountain View office facilities, offsetting approximately 30% of our peak electricity consumption at those buildings.’

You can see how much roof space they have available in this photograph I came across (from Google Earth). So I looked into how much space you’d need to generate 1.6 megawatts from solar PV panels. According to one set of calculations I found on a mail order PV panel site ‘Solar Solar’, Google are going to need 919 PV modules generating 185 watts each. This will cover 13,250 square feet or one third of an acre. The campus covers 22 acres, so it would seem that giving up 1.36% of that space in roofing and parking isn’t such a big deal.
For you or I the cost of 919 PV panels would be anything from £0.5 million to £5 million. For some reason prices in the UK are at the higher end. Luckily for Google, the California Energy Commission has a very good rebate system for homes and businesses, particularly if Google use a ‘Grid tie’ system – putting electricity into the grid during the day when the sun’s out (so the meter goes backwards) and drawing it back at night on an off peak or reduced rate. So it seems Google may now technically be entering the energy market. Googlejuice! Googlegreen!
I dare say it won’t be too long before we can see something demonstrating how many greenhouse emissions have been saved by Google’s solar move - like this one at the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Institute.

Home Made Battery Cubicle!

This is my homebrew battery cubicle and inverter setup. The red batteries are Hawker SBS60's and above them is a set of Yuasa deep cycle UPS cells.

Between them they provide me with the power for my conservatory and also the downstairs lighting.

They are charged from a combination of solar, wind and Lister CS sources. The bank is 12VDC with around 1600AH (10 hour rating)

On the top of the battery cubicle I can monitor the charging coming from the wind generator (Amps and Volts) and the condition of the bank (Volts)

Over the December months (2006) We have had some very strong winds and they have given me the opportunity to see what my wind machine can do. It stood up to the battering without fault and I am confident I can create a larger set of rotors to harness more power. The PMDC motor I am using has much more power to give up!

Still not got around to De Coking the Lister yet as the weather is sat just above freezing here in West Yorkshire..... I am also awaiting a head gasket and no not want to split the head without taking the opportunity to replace the existing one as a matter of course!

Andy Mahoney