Green Building & Manufacturing Articles
Quantum photocells might cheat efficiency limits
Getting atoms into quantum lockstep could curb photon loss
Atoms in a solar cell coaxed into a curious simultaneous quantum state may convert sunlight into electrical energy more efficiently than previously believed possible, a new study proposes.
The laws of thermodynamics set the upper limit of solar cell efficiency at around 80 percent, says the work's author, Marlan Scully of Texas A&M University in College Station and Princeton University. But this estimate doesn't take certain quantum effects into account. Scully's new model shows that the ultimate energy efficiency can be pushed even higher, depending on the particulars of the system.
"I think it's always important to know what the ultimate efficiency is," says physicist Ting Shan Luk of Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, who was not involved in the study. "Without knowing the limit, you don't know what to shoot for."
Photovoltaic cells capture energetic photons from the sun and convert them into electrical energy. In the kind Scully analyzed, photons hit atoms in a semiconductor and knock electrons free, which results in a roaming electron and an electron-hungry area called a "hole." Ideally, the loose electrons are funneled into a path, creating an electrical current. But sometimes, electrons can fall back into a hole and emit a photon, an energy-squandering process called radiative recombination.
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SARINA man Glenn Old says his device can turn water into fuel.
For six months Mr Old has been working with a group of American engineers to design, master and perfect a hybrid fuel cell device that could save motorists money and help reduce greenhouse gases.
"We have developed our HHO generator with safety first, designing a unit that produces enough hydrogen to safely gain up to 60 per cent increase in fuel economy and up to 30 per cent reduction in carbon emissions," Mr Old said.
"We have gained national display rights to our product. Our purpose is to reduce the public dependency on foreign oil and we believe on a large scale with our device we will be able to remove smog from our capital cities within five years.
"Our unique patented device simply converts water from H2O into a gas called HHO, this gas is two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. Thus turning any vehicle into a water/petrol or water/diesel hybrid.
"Although this technology has been available for some time, its new application hasn't. This gas is then fed into any current engine, petrol or diesel. The gas mixes with the current fuel and increases the flame burn rate and reduces GHGE.
"During testing at a government-approved air care facility in Vancouver, Canada, a reduction of 51.5 per cent of emissions was achieved on a 5.9 litre Cummins turbo diesel engine.
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Targeting trucks
Even before millions of gallons of oil started spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, the momentum in this country for cutting our dependence on oil was growing.
Now, with the drilling rig disaster, that momentum keeps picking up speed.
The latest move, announced on May 21 by President Obama, for the first time will set mileage and pollution limits for big trucks. The new standards, still to be worked out and issued in July of next year, will apply to commercial medium and heavy trucks beginning in 2014.
Big rigs in this country use about two million barrels of oil a day and are major contributors to greenhouse gasses. They represent only 4 percent of all vehicles on U.S. highways but consume more than 20 percent of on-road transportation fuels, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Big rigs average 6 to 6.5 miles per gallon, with each long-hauler burning about 20,000 gallons of diesel fuel per year. Improving the average fuel economy of these trucks by 3.7 miles per gallon would reduce American annual oil consumption by 11 billion gallons in 2030, the group said.
That's a plump target to aim at. "We estimate that we can increase fuel economy by as much as 25 percent in tractor-trailers using technologies that already exist," Obama said.
Currently, there is no mileage requirement at all on big trucks. The current corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard for cars is 27.5 miles per gallon. For light trucks and sport utility vehicles, it is 20.7 miles per gallon. By 2016, under an agreement the Obama administration reached with vehicle manufacturers last year, the manufacturers will have to achieve fleet ratings averaging 35.5 miles per gallon for cars, SUVs and light trucks.
One sure sign of building momentum for oil independence is the absence of dissenting voices as new conservation measures move forward. That wasn't the case in the 1970s, '80s and '90s, when vehicle manufacturers argued strongly against the need for more fuel-efficient vehicles.
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Ingeteam to Manufacture Wind Power Generators in Wisconsin.
Ingeteam, a Spanish company specializing in highly engineered renewable energy equipment and services, has unveiled plans for its new $15 million wind manufacturing facility in Wisconsin. At full capacity, the Milwaukee plant will employee 275 people and supply equipment capable of producing 7,500 megawatts (MW) of clean electricity each year for the U.S. renewable energy market.
Ingeteam currently holds between 12-15 percent of the global market share for wind power components and expects to expand its global market share by opening its new plant, which will start production in January 2011. This new facility will strengthen Ingeteam's current U.S. presence, which includes a management office in Mequon, WI that provides operations and maintenance services for U.S. wind turbine farms. In addition, Ingeteam has a sales office in Santa Clara, Calif., that supplies the market with solar photovoltaic inverters.
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AMSC and Sinovel Wind Expand Strategic Partnership to Include Wind Turbine Designs for Global Markets.
American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC) and Beijing-based Sinovel Wind Group Co., Ltd. (Sinovel) have announced that they have expanded their strategic partnership to include additional wind turbine designs for both the onshore and offshore markets. Under the new agreement, Sinovel and AMSC's wholly-owned AMSC Windtec (tm) subsidiary, will design and jointly develop a range of advanced, multi-megawatt-scale wind turbines that Sinovel plans to market and sell worldwide.
Sinovel expects to begin volume production of these multi-megawatt-scale wind turbines by the end of 2012 and, as part of the agreement, will purchase core electrical components from AMSC for these new machines.
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Alstom Building Wind Turbine Nacelle Assembly Facility In Amarillo, Texas.
Alstom, a global leader in power generation, has broken ground on a 115,000 square foot wind turbines nacelle assembly facility in Amarillo, Texas. The Alstom wind turbine nacelle assembly facility, which is scheduled to be operational in 2011, will create 275 full time engineering, production, and technical support jobs in Amarillo, Texas when the plant is at full capacity.
Alfonso Faubel, Alstom Wind Vice President, said, "Amarillo is the ideal location for Alstom's wind power manufacturing hub in North America because it is centrally located in an area that is expected to create a substantial number of new wind power projects over the next several years. In addition, Amarillo has invested in the infrastructure needed to transport the sizeable equipment to potential sites all across North America and the resources needed to train its work force to be as productive as possible."
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Wave Power Could Reduce Dependency on Oil
For four months in 2008, the churning waters 3 miles off the north coast of Portugal were home to a test of the world's first commercial wave energy farm. To most observers, this marine power plant must have looked very odd. Each red device had four cylinders linked end to end, sausagelike and semisubmerged, with their noses pointed toward the incoming waves. The cylinders were connected by hinged joints that moved as the devices rode the waves—an action that pushed pressurized fluid through hydraulic motors, powering generators that sent a flow of electricity down to a single underwater cable.
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Within the rapidly expanding renewable energy sector, wave energy farms like the one tested in Portugal are still a novelty. But not for long. As the push to develop clean alternatives to greenhouse gas-emitting, nonrenewable fossil fuels accelerates, most money, research, and development remain focused on wind and solar technologies. But marine power, particularly wave and tidal energy, might also eventually provide consumers with large amounts of affordable, renewable electricity. Essentially, the science, art, and costs of marine energy are where wind power was two or three decades ago. "It's not ready for prime time—it needs five to 10 years of technical development," says Dick K. P. Yue, a professor of ocean engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "But it could have a huge impact in 20 years."
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BIM Strategies for Building Automation
Whether renovating an old building or starting from scratch on a new design, construction companies rely on BIM (building information modeling) standards to build, design, and plan specific projects. These models provide the essential modeling information for companies in a variety of industries including construction.
The Building Technologies Division of Siemens Industry, www.usa.siemens.com/buildingtechnologies, Buffalo Grove, Ill., a supplier of control products for HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems, safety and security systems, as well as building automation applications, recently partnered with engineering and design services provider Avatech Solutions Inc., www.avatech.com, Owings Mills, Md.
Through this partnership the two companies will collaborate on creating publishing strategies for building product modeling.
The BIM content being provided by Avatech and Siemens will enable contractors to have access to a wide variety of design models. These models will provide the industry with the appropriate standards to adhere to when working on a specific project.
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Panasonic aims for top Japan market share in newly acquired solar-panel business
TOKYO (AP) — Panasonic Corp. is banking on the solar-panel business that it gained by acquiring domestic rival Sanyo, aiming for top market share of at least 35 percent in Japan by 2012.
New solar generation products, being offered in Japan starting next month, combine Sanyo Electric Co.'s solar technology with Panasonic's sales networks in appliances and housing, said Panasonic Executive Vice President Toshihiro Sakamoto.
Panasonic will be able to provide overall energy-saving systems for homes that will include rechargeable batteries, heating and air conditioning, security systems and Net-linking gadgets besides solar panels, which will all be hooked up to each other, he said.
Homes will be able to save on utility costs by selling surplus power from solar power generation systems, and using water heaters at night when utility rates are cheaper, he said.
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Tainted Chinese Drywall Concerns Went Unreported for Two Years
A leading East Coast homebuilder learned four years ago that the Chinese-manufactured drywall it had installed in several Florida homes was emitting foul odors, according to documents obtained by ProPublica and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
The company, WCI Communities, was so concerned that it started planning to tear out the material and rebuild the houses. But it never disclosed the problem to the bulk of its customers or to government authorities.
The drywall problem [1] didn't attract much attention until late 2008 -- two years after WCI first spotted the problem -- when dozens of Florida homeowners complained to state and local officials about bad odors, serious respiratory problems and mysterious failures of new appliances. The foul air, homeowners ultimately discovered, had destroyed their air-conditioners, corroded wiring, and disabled dishwashers, computers and televisions.
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Nissan Breaks Ground on $1.3 Billion Tennessee Battery Plant
Site preparation will start in June and construction in August on the $1.3 billion Nissan North America battery plant that will fuel its Leaf auto scheduled to begin production in 2012.
The automaker held a ceremonial groundbreaking May 26 at its Smyrna, Tenn., assembly plant, when Carlos Ghosn, president and chief executive officer of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., drove one of the zero-emission electric cars.
His passengers included Daniel Poneman, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, which loaned the company $1.4 billion for the project. The entire investment totals $1.7 billion, for the lithium-ion battery plant and modifications to the existing car and truck production plant to make 150,000 of the Leafs annually.
"We will have a year of construction and a year of equipment trials" before full-scale production starts, says Mark Swenson, Nissan North America vice president of production.
Costs for the new building are still being determined as the company works with Albert Kahn Associates of Detroit, which is doing architecture and engineering for the new plant, and W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Co. of Philadelphia, Miss., the general contractor that is also doing design support work on the project.
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How home solar arrays can help to stabilize the grid, Part 1 of 2
We all know that solar power curtails carbon emissions, decentralizes the electrical system, and reduces the nation's reliance on foreign oil resources, but did you know that solar can now help to stabilize the grid? The grid is highly temperamental. It requires careful monitoring to maintain frequency and voltage within very limited ranges to ensure that motors don't burn out, that power surges don't zap computers, and so on. In the U.S. we take quality electricity for granted, but our good fortune comes with a huge infrastructure behind it to make sure it stays that way.
When the grid does get destabilized, the results can be nasty. Blackouts on the West Coast in 1982 and 1996 forced six million people to eat by candlelight. The infamous 1977 New York blackout left deep scars on the city. The 2003 U.S.-Canadian blackout affected 60 million people. In 2004 a joint U.S.-Canadian Task Force compared these events and found that the principal factor common to all was that the demand for reactive power exceeded the supply.
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How home solar arrays can help to stabilize the grid, Part 2 of 2
Electricity has traditionally been distributed using a wheel and spoke grid: power travels from a large central generator to loads distributed around it. In some cases, energy travels very long distances, perhaps 500 to 1,000 miles, before being used. That model is changing. Since solar and wind inject energy at numerous local points, the grid is coming to look more like a network than like a wheel -- making it even harder than it already is to keep power flowing smoothly. Two recent developments promise to help. The first is a new generation of microinverters, and the second is the growth of the interconnected smart grid.
A solar panel generates DC power, which gets converted to AC power by a device known as an inverter. Most inverters require a certain minimum threshold voltage to work. Therefore the panels must be wired together in electrical series to raise the voltage high enough. Experience has shown that this setup is less than optimally efficient, as an earlier Solar at Home post talked about. A cloud shading a single panel reduces the efficiency of the entire string. Moreover, each panel has slightly different electrical characteristics, creating a mismatch that reduces the power generated. Finally, if the voltage from the string is too low, the inverter never turns on; so on rainy or foggy days, the system generates no power at all. The solution to all three problems is to fit each panel with its own low-voltage inverter, or microinverter. It turns on as soon as light falls on the panel and automatically compensates for the panels' electrical differences.
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Iron & steel cos wake up to greenhouse emission
New Delhi: The iron & steel sector, the largest consumer of energy among all industrial sectors, is taking some benchmark initiatives, ranging from conventional energy-efficient measures to cutting-edge technological solutions, to reduce resultant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to FE-EVI Green Business Survey 2009-10.
The findings of the survey will be made public in New Delhi on the World Environment Day (June 5). The FE-EVI Green Business Leadership Awards 2009-10 will also be given on the occasion. Organised jointly by The Financial Express and Emergent Ventures India, a climate change & sustainable development advisory firm, in association with knowledge partner Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, the event is expected to bring together green leaders from the industry and policy making.
Elaborating on companies that are following the best practices to reduce emissions, FE-EVI Green Business Survey 2009-10 quotes numerous examples. Jindal Steel has set up a power generating facility using waste gases generated from the blast furnace in steel making. This is a CDM project generating carbon credits for more than 10 years.
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Record Growth in Photovoltaic Capacity
An estimated 7,300 megawatts (MW) of new solar photovoltaic (PV) power capacity was installed in 2009—20 percent more than was added in 2008. With this record addition, global installed PV capacity surpassed 21,000 megawatts, producing enough power to satisfy the annual electricity use of about 5.5 million households. In addition, 127 MW of solar thermal electric power plants came online in 2009, bringing the total operating capacity of such plants to 613 MW. Solar energy harnessed by PV and thermal electric plants now meets about 1 percent of electricity demand in Germany and more than 2 percent of demand in Spain.
Europe continues to be the center of global PV demand, installing 5,280 MW in 2009, equal to 72 percent of the global total.5 (See Figure 1.) Germany alone was responsible for more than half of global PV installation, with a total of 3,800 MW installed.6 Much of this record capacity increase was completed only in December, as solar developers rushed to complete projects before Germany's feed-in tariff was reduced by 10 percent in January 2010.7 Installations by the previous record holder, Spain, plummeted from 2,700 MW in 2008 to about 70 MW in 2009.8 This decline came as no surprise, however, as Spanish policymakers sharply reduced the solar feed-in-tariff and introduced a new project approval process to control costs and project quality.9
Italy was the second largest market for PV, with 580 MW installed.10 Japan took third place with 480 MW installed, spurred on by a new obligation for utilities to purchase surplus PV electricity.11 The United States was the fourth largest market, with about 470 MW installed, and the Czech Republic was fifth, with 410 MW installed.12
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A Bullish View of Wind Power Out West
Wind energy has plenty going for it: it is clean, unlimited in supply and the most economical source of renewable power. Its clearest drawback is unreliability: sometimes the wind just does not blow.
But that intermittency – long considered a major shortcoming – may have little impact on the potential for wind to power much of the electric grid in the western United States, according to a new study by the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Lab.
The study, released in late May, found that the power grid for five western states – Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming – could operate on as much as 30 percent wind and 5 percent solar without the construction of extensive new infrastructure.
"If key changes can be made to standard operating procedures, our research shows that large amounts of wind and solar can be incorporated onto the grid without a lot of backup generation," Dr. Debra Lew, project manager for the study, said in a statement.
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Showing the Benefits of 'Green' Retrofits
The practice of retrofitting buildings with simple, environmentally friendly technology like more-efficient boilers and better-quality windows has been around for years, but there is little research on how much energy these changes actually save — and by extension, how much money they can save landlords and lenders.
In an effort to supply that information, Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the German bank, is financing the creation of a public database of several hundred retrofitted buildings in New York City and a companion report to determine the savings from such moves.
"Retrofitting buildings is considered the low-hanging fruit in carbon reduction, but despite its simplicity, it is still not mainstream," said Gary Hattem, president of the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation. "The largest obstacle to making these practices go mainstream is data that will convince building owners to retrofit their properties and at the same time increase underwriters' willingness to finance the projects."
The project, called the Deutsche Bank/Living Cities Building Energy Efficiency Data Report, was begun last fall when the bank brought together an advisory committee that included utilities like Con Edison, city agencies like the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and lenders like the Community Preservation Corporation.
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"Greening" Fisheries Could Calm Troubled Waters
The global fishing industry is suffering from a "failure of management" that will likely lead to the collapse of several fisheries unless unsustainable subsidies are scaled down or phased out, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
Fishing is a critical means of providing food, livelihood, trade, and economic growth in many developing countries, as well as the United States and other developed countries. In many small island developing nations and coastal countries-such as Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, and Ghana-fish provide at least 50 percent of the population's total animal protein intake. And approximately 43.5 million people's year-round incomes depend on fish production while another 4 million people depend on seasonal jobs as fishers and fish product workers.
Yet, despite the important role of fisheries in maintaining economic and social wellbeing, "fisheries around the world are being plundered or exploited at unsustainable rates," said Achim Steiner, UNEP executive director. Speaking about the release of the UNEP's Green Economy Initiative Report, Steiner argued that the current fishing industry suffers from "a failure of management of what will prove to be monumental proportions unless addressed."
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Thermal Imaging Getting More Use In Homes
Law enforcement and the military have been using thermal imaging technology and night vision gear for decades. But now more homeowners are using it to determine the energy efficiency of their home.
A forward-looking infrared radiometer, also known as a FLIR camera, can pinpoint more than just cold and warm air moving through a home.
"You can look for termites in the walls. See where they're colonizing in the walls. You can see HVAC problems, cracked heat exchangers, condenser coils outside where they are clogged," said David Doerhoff with the FLIR Corporation.
Extremely sensitive cameras pick up just a 10th of a degree in thermal differences. Doerhoff placed his hand on the wall and the device could see the body heat left behind.
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Inspectors Using Thermal Imaging To Appraise Home
Home inspectors are going high tech to get a snapshot of what a home is worth.
Thermal imaging has become the hottest trend in real estate. Using an infrared camera an inspector can spot temperature differential in the ceilings, walls and windows. Hot spots show where there is faulty wiring, or busted heating vents, and cold spots show where outside air is leaking in.
That type of information can lower a home's price tag by thousands of dollars.
"The colors and the temperatures, it's showing us that there's a problem there, which you never could see before," said Ken Vandervort, Home Inspector and certified Thermographer."
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Significant fuel savings possible for cars, SUVs
WASHINGTON -- A prestigious research panel has concluded that technology already widely available could significantly cut fuel consumption by cars and light trucks without sacrificing safety or performance.
With some technologies, the fuel consumption by passenger cars, sport-utility vehicles, minivans and light trucks can be reduced by nearly half, but at a price - anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars per vehicle, the National Research Council said in a report released Thursday.
Critics of offshore drilling pounced on the findings as further evidence that there is a host of options beyond drilling for solving the nation's energy woes.
Said Trevor Jones, chairman of the panel that wrote the report: "Consumers will need to consider the trade-offs between higher vehicle prices and saving fuel and money at the gas pump."
The report, which looked at three-types of automotive engines, found:
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Chemists Report Promising Advance in Fuel-Cell Technology
ScienceDaily (June 8, 2010) — Creating catalysts that can operate efficiently and last a long time is a big barrier to taking fuel-cell technology from the lab bench to the assembly line. The precious metal platinum has been the choice for many researchers, but platinum has two major downsides: It is expensive, and it breaks down over time in fuel-cell reactions.
In a new study, chemists at Brown University report a promising advance. They have created a unique core and shell nanoparticle that uses far less platinum yet performs more efficiently and lasts longer than commercially available pure-platinum catalysts at the cathode end of fuel-cell reactions.
The chemistry known as oxygen reduction reaction takes place at the fuel cell's cathode, creating water as its only waste, rather than the global-warming carbon dioxide produced by internal combustion systems. The cathode is also where up to 40 percent of a fuel cell's efficiency is lost, so "this is a crucial step in making fuel cells a more competitive technology with internal combustion engines and batteries," said Shouheng Sun, professor of chemistry at Brown and co-author of the paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
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Why Wait for a Climate Bill, G.E. Argues
Given the dicey odds for congressional approval of climate legislation, at least in the near term, a company that sells equipment for reducing carbon dioxide emissions is promoting a new strategy: federal money for tactical planning.
That company would be General Electric, which makes equipment that removes carbon dioxide from coal through a gasification process and stores it underground, preventing it from entering the atmosphere. Coal is the most carbon-rich fuel in common use.
The technology is expensive and will remain that way until several commercial-scale projects have been built, said Monte Atwell, general manager of gasification at G.E. But few emitters in the United States will deploy the capture equipment until there is a government mandate to do so or a charge for carbon dioxide emissions, the thinking goes. By that time, the world may be in a big hurry to slash carbon dioxide emissions, Mr. Atwell said in a meeting with reporters.
G.E.'s proposal? Have the federal government provide money for the planning work on carbon capture and storage, such as the drafting of designs and the drilling of wells to gauge the ability of rock deep beneath the surface of coal plants to hold carbon dioxide. The idea is to speed things up.
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