The Green Power Plan » Solar energy

How does the solar energy effect our health?

curt — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 08:38:58 +0000

Poluttion vs. health

Using solar energy (or any other renewable form of energy) causes diminishing of harmful by-products of burning fossil fuels since we replaceit with renewable technologies.

By-products like carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, smog, particles from soot and dust are inducers of many health problems.

Carbon monoxide effects cardiac system and causes headaches.

Longer exposure to smog causes damage to lungs, asthma, aggravation of respiration.

Nitrogen oxide also weakens respiratory system, irritates lungs, sometimes defiance bronchitis and pneumonia.

Heart attacks, arrhythmia, respiratory and cardiac aliments are consequences of small particles from dust or soot.

Many people in highly polluted cities around the globe already feel the outcomes of polluted air. There’s a list of cities where industry with its eager for the money, sufficient energy supplies and car emissions in the city polluted the air over the maximum. All these effects health problems in a big scale. The list of 10 cities from 2008: Chernobyl (Ukraine), Sumkayit (Azerbaijan), Vapi (India), Tianying (China), Sukinda (India), Norilsk (Russia), Linfen (China), La Oroya (Peru), Kabwe (Zambia), Dzershinsk (Russia). With typing the name of one of the cities into your computer you will realize the heavy load the earth and people carry on its chests….time to rethink, time to react!

Solar power – Interior daylighting – Can we catch the light?

curt — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:19:54 +0000

There is a lot of talking about solar panels and solar powered electricity production lately. Though this is not the only way to collect energy and use it as lighting. We can also use so called daylighting for interior spaces.

What is the daylighting?

Daylighting is the use of natural sunlight to brighten up house interior. You can achieve daylighting by placing windows on the roof in proper sizes and locations or by special designed solar daylighting devices. And solar daylightind devices are the subject of which I would like to say a few words.

Daylighting devices are in shape of tubes or cables:

Tubular daylighting device

is special device, which is placed on the roof and from there it brings light into interior place of the house. It’s composed out of three basic parts:

Solar collector – head of the device is clear multi-faceted dome, which can catch sunlight from almost all angles.

Solar tube also called solar tunnel – is the body of device. When sunlight is collected it’s channeled through highly-reflective tube to the room to be lit. Tubes usualy have10 inches (25,4 cm) in diameter. The UV rays that could fade subjects in the room (carpets, clothes,..) are removed by device.

Diffuser – creates steady, even light through the lit space, without creating any glare. It is set on the end of the tube on the ceiling.

This is it, device you just mantle and forget about it. It gives you satisfaction without any current expences.

Fiber-optic daylighting device

collects and channels the light through cables. This device is also composed of three parts:

Solar collector – it can be placed on top of the roof or any south-facing sides of the building. Collector is a rectangular panel composed of small lenses, which catch light from many angles.

Fiber-optic cables – cables which can channel sunlight up to two stories deep! It means also underground basement can be lit. UV rays are removed by special filtres placed near the surface of the lenses.

Fixture – creates steady, even light, without glaring. It is fixed on the ceiling at the end of the optic cable.

Interesting, powerful, healthy solution for perfect interior lit.

Solar traffic lights and road signs – efficient, safe and easy to use

curt — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 06:13:32 +0000

In the past few years solar powered traffic lights are used a lot in third world countries since there are many troubles acquiring electricity specially in remote areas. In countries with sufficient electric supply and developed network, solar traffic lights and sign systems are used owing to another reason. Solar traffic lights and signs are environmental friendly, affordable and easy to assemble. The handiness of solar traffic lights and signs manifests the most in temporary settings, placed for a set period of time. It can be mounted easy and quickly by one person, supported on a post or trailer mounted. Lighting is produced by extra bright LEDs, that are high energy efficient and long lasting, so little maintenance is needed. Energy supply is assured with solar panels mounted on top of signs or traffic lights, which convert sunlight into electricity. Its activity is controlled by timer and can be activated directly, producing time sequence intervals or radar controlled. In case of solar traffic lights or sign sets, wireless control is reestablished between separate signs to synchronise its function. In case of electric cut this traffic lights and signs are still in function and therefore safer for drivers and all participants in road traffic. Besides technology is safe and easy to use what gives the weight when determining what kind of technology should be used for these purpose.

Low-cost solar cells to be printed like newspaper

curt — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:57:59 +0000

Solar renewable energy in higher extent is still not in reach of homeowners. Therefore young scientists and students of Austin University in Texas are making big research to develop a new type of solar cells with ability to be printed like a newspaper.

Main problem of high expenses is gas-phase deposition in a vacuum chamber, which should be replaced with new nanomaterial that would be in normal expense range.

The cells are based on the use of specialized inks that can be printed using a roll-to-roll printing process on a plastic substrate or even stainless steel. The light-absorbing nanomaterials are 10,000 times thinner than a strand of hair and because of this microscopic size they carry better physical properties that can enable their use in higher-efficiency devices.

For now the efficiency is not high enough, but the team is already working on it with great optimism!

Via: University of Texas At Austin [Press Release]

Outdoor solar lights – The best way to Save Money and be Environmental Friendly

curt — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:03:46 +0000

Our way of life brought us so far, we have to count every cent we spend, and at the same time we want to be friendly to environment for the purpose of saving nature and revitalize it for today’s and future generations.

Technology is developing with high speed and at this moment we have this great opportunity to use its result. One of the most useful, simple and clean product invented is solar power. At this very moment outdoor solar lightning is most affordable option and it gives a lot of benefits to our homes and community.

Outdoor solar lights are practical from many aspects:

An outdoor solar light doesn’t require any cables for installation purpose, that means that there is no facing problem of power cuts.
It gives visibility equivalent to the conventional lightning, and all are extremely easy to use.
There is a huge versatility of outdoor solar lights on the market, that can be used for yards, streets, security, camping, fountains, pools, walls and much more,
Initial capital for outdoor solar lights is higher in comparison with commonly used lightning, but after some time, costs are lower, since there is no cost for electricity, cables, digging soil,…
Environment is safe, since there’s no production of electrical energy and therefor no pollution.
Buying outdoor solar light It is a one time investment.
It means reduction of electric bills of housekeeping.

Outdoor solar lights usually uses LED bulbs ( light emitting diode ), which use very little power (they can function about 100,000 hours), so lights can stay illuminated longer with each charge. Ordinary solar led gives only 4 watts of light, newest super bright led technology enables solar led to give up to 50 watts of light. These lights are combination of several LED’s and forming them with special lenses and reflectors.

Solar light also includes battery which is charged during day with solar power. When charged it holds enough charge to power the bright LED up to 12 hours.

There are diverse models of solar lights therefor also different ways of charging:

one panel charging single light,
one panel charging several solar lights. Automatic on/off switch eliminates need for using timer