New Solar Tower for Namibia

Solar Updraft Tower

A new proposal for the construction of a solar tower capable of generating 400 MW of electricity has been approved by the Namibian government.

The solar tower, aptly named the "Greentower" will be 1.5 km (about 5,000 feet!) high and 280 m (918 feet) in diameter. The tower functions like a chimney. Air heated in an apron around the tower becomes relatively buoyant and wants to rise. The only path is up the chimney. Turbines on the ground or near the bottom of the tower convert the updraft into electricity.

In 1982, a small-scale experimental model of a solar chimney power plant was built under the direction of German engineer Jörg Schlaich in Manzanares, Ciudad Real, 150 km south of Madrid, Spain; the project was funded by the German government. The tower ran trouble-free for eight years, producing 50 kW of electricity, until it was decommissioned.

In recent years there has been renewed interest in the solar tower concept, a 1 km-high solar tower, capable of producing 200 MW is scheduled to be constructed by 2010 in Australia. (Project Link)

Turbines can be installed in a ring around the base of the tower, with a horizontal axis, as planned for the Australian project, or, as in the prototype in Spain, a single vertical axis turbine can be installed inside the chimney.

He adds that the Australian tower, as well as its Namibian counterpart, will be built out of reinforced concrete, using technology developed for building high-rise buildings.

"Several thermodynamics, structural, wind loading and power generation experts have developed an executive summary for a prefeasibility study for the Namibian project," says intellectual property company Hahn & Hahn MD representative Alan Dunlop.

More at: Sustainable Design Update

Photo: Wikipedia

Via: Engineering News

New Solar - LED Lighting System

Solar - LED Light

This summer in Guatemala we designed a Solar - LED lighting system for people who live without access to electric power.

Our system consists of a 10 watt solar panel and two LED light fixtures rated at two watts each. The system has enough capacity to charge a cell phone and to run a small radio too. The prototype fixture shown above is made in part from recycled water bottles from the Black Cat Hostel in Quetzaltenango, (AKA Xela) Guatemala.

On the hike up to visit one of the families who will be testing our lighting system we were met by one of the children from the household. She knew we were on our way because her mom had called her on her cell phone. We found from our surveys that many people living without power have cell phones. Cell phones are almost free in Guatemala. I purchased my Guatemalan cell phone for about $15.00 U.S., and it came with $15.00 in minutes pre-installed. The phone was essentially free!

This leaves the rural poor with a new problem. Where do they charge their phones? Most have to hike in to the phone store (there are phone stores almost everywhere) and wait while their phone is charged or if they are lucky they have a friend within walking distance who has power or a battery. Whatever the system, it takes hours to charge a cell phone if you live without electricity.

Our Solar-LED system has a 12 volt battery and an automotive outlet (in the old days we called these cigarette lighter outlets). This feature makes our system more like a home power system than just a light fixture. Amazingly, 10 watts is a lot of power if you are accustomed to living with no power at all.

What our questionnaires and conversations with people who will be using our lights uncovered is that people need more than just light. People want to be connected.

Our lighting system will cost about as much as people spend in a year on kerosene lamps, candles and batteries. In addition to having more light and better visibility, they will also be able to save the time and energy spent to keep their cell phones charged.

The estimated savings in Carbon Dioxide per household per year is about 750 pounds. Our system is designed to last over 20 years, with the batteries changed every 5 years.

Later this year when we have the final list of materials and the final circuit board designed we will publish all of the technical specifications on www.apptechdesign.org

This project is sponsored by the Lindbergh Foundation. Our design partner for the project is the Xela Teco Workshop in Guatemala, with special design help from Jose Ordonez and Carlos Alvarez Cahuex.

DIY Air Powered Scooter

There are several air powered small vehicles making the rounds of the eco-blogs. Some have novel engines that claim 100% greater efficiency other companies have been “just about” to release their air powered cars for nearly a decade.

From Wikipedia:

Various companies are investing in the research, development and deployment of Compressed air cars. Overoptimistic reports of impending production date back to at least May 1999. For instance, the MDI Air Car made its public debut in South Africa in 2002,^[13] and was predicted to be in production “within six months” in January 2004.^[14] Most of the cars under development also rely on using similar technology to Low-energy vehicles in order to increase the range and performance of their cars.

As you can see, I’m a bit of a skeptic when it comes to Air Powered Vehicles -but…

This DIY scooter doesn’t rely on inflated claims (sorry) of super efficiency. Rather it is a simple design using recycled materials and easily available parts. No magic - sorry. Just a really cool bike that runs for free if you can find a gas station that still has free air. The range of this scooter is about 7 miles and the top speed is under 20 mph. While this may seem pretty wimpy by motorcycle standards, 18 mph or so on a bicycle is pretty fast, and 7 miles would get me to work and back twice. For free.

From Motorcycle News:

An inventor has created what he claims is the world’s first motorcycle powered by fresh air.

Jem Stansfield says his converted Puch moped produces cleaner air than found in many town and city centres and so can actually reduce pollution.

“It actually fires out cleaner air,” said 37-year-old Stansfield, who used to be a sheep herder.

The University of Bristol aeronautics graduate fitted the Puch with high pressure carbon fibre air cylinders used by fire fighters as breathing apparatus in burning buildings.

The cylinders power two rotary air engines which in turn drive the chain to the rear wheel.

Unlike electric scooters, it takes just seconds to recharge from larger air tanks filled by a diving compressor.

With a top speed of 18mph and a range of just seven miles between air top-ups, Stansfield admits it’s never going to be good for trans-continental touring. But hesaid: “You could definitely run a fleet of delivery bikes on it.”

Via: Sustainable Design Update

New Wind Turbine

FloDesign Schematic for New Wind Turbine

EcoGeek has an interview with one of the engineers at Flow Design about their new wind turbine design.

If you think this looks more like a jet engine you’re right. The engineers at FloDesign have experience in designing components for turbine engines.

The features that make this wind turbine design innovative (I will add the word “potentially” to this, they have yet to produce a working prototype) is that they use a shroud and nozzle combination to decrease pressure and suck more wind into turbine blades. They also use a stator (stationary set of turbine blades) to aim the air at the moving blades to extract the maximum amount of energy from the wind stream.

This may all prove not to work when they actually build a prototype, but I have hope that FloDesign can get this very innovative wind turbine up and running and that it will produce energy more efficiently than what is currently on the market.

Check out the interview over at EcoGeek

Via: Sustainable Design Update

Save Energy With Kill-A-Watt

Kill A Watt

Want to make your home more energy efficient? Want to find the real energy hogs in your house? Then the Kill A Watt is the Tech-Tool for you.

Professionally, I have used a variety of power monitoring tools and the Kill A Watt is the best balance for price and quality.

How it works:

You just plug the Kill A Watt in a standard power outlet and then plug into it whatever it is that you want to test. That’s it. You can forceast your costs with a little data from your electric bill.

At home we are energy geeks to begin with and yet we still found hidden energy hogs using the Kill A Watt.

(BTW – our oven has a built in analog clock that drew an unusual amount of current. It must have been defective. We never look at the oven clock so I opened the back of the oven and disconnected the clock. One small step for energy efficiency.)

Kill A Watt is available at Edmund Scientifics - type in “Kill A Watt” in the search field on the left side of the page after the jump.

Check out Kill-A-Watt and more sustainable tools at: Access to Tools

You can purchase a Kill-A-Watt at Edmund Scientific, just write Kill a Watt in the search box on the left side of the page after the jump.

Edmund Scientific

The Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation was originated by friends of the Lindberghs at The Explorers Club in New York City. It is a non-profit organization whose mission is “Supporting Great Innovations that Foster the Environment for a Planet in Balance”.

One of the programs of the Foundation is the Lindbergh Grant program where each year grants are made in support of research that promotes a balance between technology and the environment.

From the Lindbergh Foundation Website:

Each year, The Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation provides grants of up to $10,580 (a symbolic amount representing the cost of the Spirit of St. Louis) to men and women whose individual initiative and work in a wide spectrum of disciplines furthers the Lindberghs’ vision of a balance between the advance of technology and the preservation of the natural/human environment.

To date, 270 men and women in the United States and abroad have received more than $2.6 million to support their work.

“The concept of a technology/nature balance, in which Charles and Anne Lindbergh so firmly believed, is now coming to the forefront as the answer to some of our global problems,” said Clare Hallward, Chairman of the Lindbergh Foundation Grants Selection Committee. “The projects of our grant recipients have, since 1978, made significant contributions to such a balance. Because of the standards employed by the Foundation’s grants program, it has earned international credibility which enables many Lindbergh Grant recipients to secure additional funding to continue their important work.”

The value of the Lindbergh Grants program as a provider of seed money and credibility for pilot projects that subsequently receive larger sums from other sources to continue and expand the work has again been confirmed. Seventy-four percent of Lindbergh Grant recipients responding to a recent survey by the Foundation said they had received additional funding for their research or educational project earlier supported by a Lindbergh Grant, with 34% receiving funds ranging from $50,001 up to $500,000 in supplementary support.

SDU will be posting on Lindbergh Grant recipients over the next several weeks leading up to the announcement of the 2008 Lindbergh Grants.

If you have a research or educational project that promotes a balance between technology and the environment you may want to apply for a 2009 Lindbergh Grant.

While no official announcement about the 2008 Lindbergh Grant Recipients has been made, check out This Link.

Via: Sustainable Design Update

Open Source Block Maker

Blocks Made From Compressed Earth

Schematics for the machine that made these blocks is going to be available free to anyone who wants to make inexpensive construction blocks.

The Liberator Project, the design for a Compressed Earth Block (CEB) machine is an online collaboration, with the final design to be available to all.

The tech. literature for CEBs should show somewhere that working with CEBs is a little tricky. The blocks don’t do well in tension. When the wind blows on an exterior wall it causes the wall to want to bend, possibly making one face of the wall “stretch”. CEBs are a brittle material and they don’t really stretch, instead the walls crack. Designers must overcome this tendency by designing CEB walls and their applied loads heavy enough to keep the inside face from stretching.

You should check out some of the following cool links:

BoingBoing

CEB Press

Sustainable Design Update