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The Complete Guide For Green Power ? Part 1

The Complete Guide For Green Power ? Part 1

The term green power is used in a number of different ways. In the broadest sense, green power refers to environmentally preferable energy and energy tech­nologies, both electric and thermal. This definition of green power includes many types of power, from solar photovoltaic systems to wind turbines to fuel cells for auto­mobiles.

In this guide, green power refers specifically to electricity generated from a subset of renewable resources, including solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass, and low-impact hydroelectric sources. These electricity sources are derived from natural resources that replenish themselves over short periods of time, including the sun, wind, moving water, organic plant and waste material (biomass), and the Earth’s heat (geothermal).

Note that the terms green power, environmentally preferable, clean power, and renewable energy may be used in slightly different ways, which differ primarily according to the vary­ing assessments of the environmental impacts of harnessing specific resources and of the relative significance of each impact. The exact definitions of these terms, while always important, take on added significance when dealing with state and federal government requirements or determining eligibility for government and utility incentives. For more discussion of how each of the organizations that collaborated on this document defines green power, please refer to their Web sites, listed in Chapter 10, Resources for Additional Information.

The Benefits and Costs of Green Power

The Benefits

Green power can offer organizations a variety of environmental, financial, stakeholder relations, economic development, and national security benefits. This Guide is designed to help buyers navigate the costs, contracting challenges, and public rela­tions risks.

Environmental

• Reduce environmental impacts. Conventional elec­tricity generation is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions as well as the single largest industrial source of air pollution in the U.S. The emissions from conventional electricity generation contribute to a num­ber of serious environmental problems, including acid rain, fine particulate pollution, and climate change. Green power generates less pollution than conventional power and produces no net increase in greenhouse gas emissions, helping protect human health and the envi­ronment.

Financial

• Provide a hedge against risks posed by:

• Electricity price volatility. Purchasing electricity generated by renewable energy sources may provide the buyer protection against unstable or rising fossil fuel prices, for example through long-term, fixed-price supply contracts directly with developers or generators. Organizations can also encourage stable electricity prices by supporting new renewable power resources on the local grid, thereby diver­sifying the energy mix with resources that are not subject to the rise and fall of fuel costs.

• Fuel supply disruptions. On-site renewable gen­eration can reduce the risk of disruptions in fuel supplies, like natural gas, resulting from transporta­tion difficulties or international conflict.

• Additional environmental regulation. To address global climate change and regional air quality issues, federal and state regulations could effectivelyincrease the price of conventional electricity, making green power financially more attractive.

Stakeholder Relations

• Meet organizational environmental objectives. Reducing an organization’s environmental impact is one of the main motivations for buying green power and is often important to stakeholders. For example, buying green power can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from electricity consumption. If an organi­zation is interested in creating a third-party certified environmental management system (e.g., ISO-14001 certification for environmental performance) or is conducting an organization-wide inventory of its green­house gas emissions, a program for reducing emissions will be an important part of this certification process. increase the price of conventional electricity, making green power financially more attractive.

Stakeholder Relations

• Meet organizational environmental objectives. Reducing an organization’s environmental impact is one of the main motivations for buying green power and is often important to stakeholders. For example, buying green power can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from electricity consumption. If an organi­zation is interested in creating a third-party certified environmental management system (e.g., ISO-14001 certification for environmental performance) or is conducting an organization-wide inventory of its green­house gas emissions, a program for reducing emissions will be an important part of this certification process.

Demonstrate civic leadership. Being among the first in a community to purchase green power is a dem­onstration of civic leadership. It makes a statement that an organization is willing to act on its stated environmental or social goals. These purchases also demonstrate an organization’s responsiveness to its cus­tomers, the majority of whom favor renewable energy. See Chapter 10, Resources for Additional Information, for details.

• Generate positive publicity. Buying green power affords an opportunity for and builds on existing public recognition and public relations activities. Companies that are in the public eye need to be responsive to the concerns of environmentally conscious custom­ers, shareholders, regulators, and other constituents. Programs promoting green power, such as EPA’s Green Power Partnership or Green-e Marketplace, provide assistance in reaching broad audiences to convey the benefits of green power purchases.

Improve employee morale. Progressive action and leadership on environmental issues like renew­able energy may improve employee morale, which in turn can reduce employee turnover, attract new employees, and improve productivity. In a survey of 464 organizations, sponsored by the National Wind Coordinating Collaborative, improving employee morale was cited as the third most important motiva­tion for buying green power.

• Differentiate products or services. By purchasing green power, a company may be able to differentiate its products or services by, for example, offering them as “made with certified renewable energy.” Purchasers of green power can also join their power supplier tomarket their products together. In addition, purchas­ers of products certified by the Center for Resource Solutions’ Green-e Marketplace program can display the Green-e logo on their product packaging to indicate a commitment to using 100 percent green power in the manufacturing of the product. Many companies are also finding that producing their products with green power gives them an advantage in selling to their business customers who are trying to “green” their supply chain.

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A Fast And Simple 101 Guide to Solar Power Production

A Fast And Simple 101 Guide to Solar Power Production

Creating a solar panel at home is pretty a challenging task and something that shouldn’t be tried without fully committing yourself towards a lot of work. It might not be rocket science but it’s certainly a tricky and time consuming procedure. If you’re the kind of person who thinks a hammer is nothing but an odd-shaped door stop, it might be to your advantage to leave the solar panel building to experts.

That being said, making your own personal solar panels can definitely be considered a satisfying home project by dealing with this type of project yourself you possibly can significantly reduce your costs – by 50 to 80% – over the commercially ready solar panel.

Ever since the too high price of solar panels is within large part because of the high cost of solar cells, you’ll achieve much of your cost reduction by buying damaged and used solar panels from sites for example eBay. Next, making use of your ingenuity plus some handy DIY skills, the one thing among you and a working solar panel is time and effort.

For the time being however, let’s undertake a much easier task making a single solar cell. This project is excellent fun and may show the fundamental as well as simple concept behind solar power.

What Will You Need:

1. Copper sheeting.
2. 2 alligator clip lead cables.
3. A sensitive micro-ammeter (you could find this at Radio Shack).
4. An electrical stove or perhaps a one burner hot plate should you have a gas range. If you’re purchasing a hot plate ensure it’s at least 1100 watts.
5. A big clear plastic bottle. Think 2 Liter Coke or Mineral Water bottles with all the top cut-off.
6. Just a few tablespoons of salt.
7. Water.
8. Sand paper, steel wool or perhaps a wire brush attachment for the electric drill.
9. Metal sheers.

The way It’s Done:

1. Cut a bit of copper sheeting at around how big is the stove burner. (Ensure that you clean up the copper sheet making use of sandpaper or steel wool to get rid of any sulfide and/or light corrosion.

2. Heat the copper sheet to the burner (in the highest heat setting)

When the copper increases its’ temperature the color will change black having a layer of cupric oxide. That is normal. Allow copper “cook” for approximately half an hour.

3. After half-hour turn off the burner and wait until copper cool. It’ll shrink – also quite common. The black cupric oxide will start to flake and detach as the two oxides and copper dissolve. It may need approximately twenty minutes for that copper for cooling, at which point you will have to remove any excess cupric oxide black film left in the copper. You may scrub lightly together with your hands below your tap.

At this time cut another bit of copper at a similar size and dimensions since the “cooked” copper.

4. Place both copper sheets to the plastic bottle, bending them thoroughly to suit and ensuring they do not touch.

5. Connect both alligator clips to every sheet, connecting the positive lead (through the “Clean copper sheet”) towards the positive terminal of the meter, and also the negative lead (the “cooked” copper sheet) towards the negative terminal of the meter.

6. Combine your 2 tablespoons of salt along with some hot water. Stir till the salt is dissolved.

7. Properly pour the salt water in to the plastic bottle being careful to prevent pouring onto the leads. An excellent guideline is always to leave no less than an inch amongst the water and the leads to help you keep moving around the device with relative ease.

A solar cell is usually a battery, so that you can expect that in the dark your meter will show just a few micro amps of current. Don’t anticipate that it’ll light a baseball field though; also it would take acres of those (literally) to power your home. I sincerely doubt there’d be sufficient power generated with this to power the light bulb. Nevertheless, when you put this device in the sunlight you will notice the meter jump to 30 micro amps of current – which may be sufficient to apply your new solar cell just like a light meter or light detector.

Making a solar panel is definitely an entirely different beast out of this; nevertheless, you now have a practical concept of how a single solar cell functions. To make a solar panel you will need to buy a lot of prefabricated solar cells – used (as outlined above) if you would like cut costs. After you have the cells, you’ll need a water-tight and robust enclosure to maintain the elements from damaging your solar panels. Solar panels are very delicate. The entire process of making the panels work within your panel enclosure is really a relatively easy process.

That’s it, Solar Power 101. For unique interest, give this a try some day when you’re bored. There’s anything satisfying than creating power from just sunlight.

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A Guide to Install Solar Panel at Home

Solar energy, with its emission-free energy, is gaining popularity among people staying in different corners of the world. Today, people are recognizing its worth as it is available in abundance. That too for free of cost.

This renewable source of energy can be installed easily at homes or any other places all without any big hassle. It only requires your knowledge about how to install a solar panel accurately. A solar panel installation is a specific process that involves placing of solar panels at a place wherein it can absorb the maximum energy from the sun and convert the suns ray into electric energy.

How to install a solar panel at home?

Once you have made your decision to install a solar panel at home, it is the time to get the best equipments fixed at most suitable corner of your home. With right equipment, right corner can help you to get unperturbed flow of energy meeting your daily requirements. Some of the important solar panel equipments include solar panels, cables, devices, tools and other safety equipments.

After you have gathered all the required equipments, you need to contact a professional installer who can help you to draft a plan catering to your requirements. Now, draw a plan with the help of a professional installer taking everything in consideration from installation of the equipment, selection of the right place, to connectivity of panel to your home etc. In addition, you should take care of running cables that already exist around the workplaces to prevent any accident. With a detailed plan in hand, you can easily install a solar panel at home or any other preferred place.

However, roof top installation is considered as a very good idea as there is a high probability of getting maximum energy requirements without incurring anything extra on it. Also, most people live in high-rise buildings or apartments and they do not have permission to construct any addition to the building. Undeniably, roof tops serve as perfect options for many in need of installing a solar panel at home.

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The guide to renewable Energy!! – Facts, review and user feedback

Half a lifetime ago, when my wife and I first got a taste for remote RV living, we decided very early on that solar power had to be the way to go. Despite rapid advances in solar technology — even way back then — many fellow travelers were surprised when they learned our RV was “solar powered”.

Granted, that tiny house-on-wheels was getting on in years, and there was still a general belief among caravanners and motorhomers that solar power was “too expensive” and “too technical”. But whatever their reasons, I’m here to tell you that solar-charged 12 volt battery power was then, and still is, worthy of serious consideration — regardless of the size or age of your traveling rig.

In fact, even the most basic system — such as ours was then — provides not only a significant boost in self-sufficiency, it also saves enough money to recover your outlay in under three months. Even today.

For example, a 30-watt, self-regulating solar panel costs around $280 to $350 here in Australia. If you then factor in a no-maintenance, deep-cycle battery of at least 75 amp-hour capacity — to be installed in the RV — at maybe $180, plus suitable cabling, a salable plastic battery box (vented to the outside), and miscellaneous hardware for, say, $50 more, your total outlay shouldn’t be much over $600.

After that, every night you make use of your on-board power, on a “no hook-ups” campsite, you stand to save between $15 and $25 on tourist park fees. Sometimes more. On those figures, the whole set-up pays for itself in maybe 30 nights or less!

True, sufficient power would normally be available from your towing vehicle’s standard battery over one or two nights, but if the vehicle doesn’t move for two or three days the engine will almost certainly need a run for an hour or more to “top up” the charge taken out of the battery. And with single-battery set-ups, there is always a risk of over-using your power, resulting in a flat battery!

On the other hand, if you prefer the overnight security and companionship of a tourist park, an unpowered site — those nice, quiet spots down the back — saves maybe $3 – $8 per night. Which means you could still have your investment back in the bank within six months.

No matter how you look at it, solar was — and is — the way of the future. It’s clean, efficient, silent, and requires almost zero maintenance. And once the initial outlay has been covered, basic power needs from that point on are free.

However, there is a downside. (Isn’t there always?) A fixed solar array — on the RV roof, for instance — needs to be receiving the sun’s rays long and strong to adequately replenish the battery’s charge. Parked too long in the shade, or suffering through a lengthy stretch of rain-filled skies, can knock out a single-battery power supply in two or three days, even with judicious use. For that reason, some travelers have an additional, portable solar panel that can be constantly repositioned to catch the sun’s most direct rays, for as long as possible.

Nevertheless, in the four years we owned that well-traveled little van we had very few problems. (Mind you, we have always carried “conventional” backup in the form of a small petrol generator, and our vehicle has always been dual-battery equipped to share the campsite power needs.)

And about that tricky technology? Well, if a techno-slouch like me can have the whole system installed and operational in under two hours, anybody can! What we did was: (1) mount the solar panel directly onto the RV roof (with sealant carefully applied in and around the screw holes), then (2) run the panel’s cabling down into the van (through the corner of the all-seasons hatch) into a cupboard. Being a self-regulating solar panel, a regulator was not necessary between panel and battery, so the cables were fixed directly onto the battery. The battery was housed in a robust plastic storage bin with a close-fitting lid, which I further sealed with silicone. Two lengths of 6 mm plastic hose vented the box to the outside through the caravan floor (inside the cupboard). Battery terminals were fitted with heavy-duty extension straps that passed through the side of the box to the outside to facilitate normal connection via alligator clips, a portable 12 volt socket, or sometimes a low capacity inverter. All holes in the floor and the battery box were fully sealed (both sides) with silicone sealant.

As for maintenance, all that’s required is an occasional wipe-down of the solar panel, and a general examination of wiring and seals from time to time. I also put a multimeter across the battery terminals every so often to see how it was tracking. (Of course, this reading is only accurate after the battery has “rested” for a half hour or so, i.e, no charge in or out.)

OK, we’ve learned a bit more about solar power since then, so we did some things differently second time around. But these differences were, essentially, because our fulltime travel now needs more than twice the power, with quite a lot more in reserve. So gizmos and gadgets are scattered throughout. But when we think back on that tiny, “drag-it-anywhere” caravan, with its most basic, D.I.Y. solar power set-up, we still get to feeling warm and fuzzy. (Self-sufficiency in the bush will do that!)

For our money, solar power and RVs are made for each other; it’s impossible to imagine a wandering life without either.

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A Quick Review About Power 4 Home – Diy Solar Panel Guide

Power 4 Home is a DIY solar panel guides that written by an experience electrician, John Russel. Just as the book title implied, you are going to generate your own power or electricity to power your house.

If you are wondering that what is the purpose of doing that, the reasoning is simple, reduce your utility bills and save money. Just imagine this, if you can generate enough electricity to run your house appliances instead of using the power company, then you will pay less to the power company in every month.

This is where you start to save money. Perhaps the money you going to save is not big for one month but if you accumulated it for 1 year or 10 years, you would be surprised with the amount of the money that you have just saved.

Not only that, if you are living in a state where the power company have the policy to buy back the excess energy, you can earn some nice profit by selling those excess energy that you generated at your home back to them. Not a bad trade, isn’t it?

The way to generate your own electricity is pretty much straightforward. All you need is to install a solar panel at your home and it would generate the power for your home by simply harnessing the power of sunlight. There is need very little maintenance for panel.

Despite of all the advantages and benefit that solar panel can offer to anyone, a pre-built panel is very expensive and costly. Even the cheapest would cost you more than thousands of dollars. So this is what made Power 4 Home actually worth for everyone attention.

Power 4 Home will layout a complete diagram or blueprint on how to assemble a homemade solar panel by your own. It will show you how to get those materials and required parts that you need with a very affordable prices. In fact, you only need to spend around $300 or less to build your own version of panel and it will work as good as a pre-built panel.

To make sure that you able to properly build your system and will deliver the maximum output, Power 4 Home will walk you through every part of the process with complete step-by-step video tutorials and photo illustrations. Irrespective of what you may have heard, you don’t have to be genius to build your own solar system panel. All you need is your personal dedication and willing to put effort, and of course, a good instruction that deliver.

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