Find Your Car on the "Cash for Clunkers" data-set and get up to $4,500 from the government!!!:
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I hope this helps you get that money, good luck... B-)
/rbs:.:.:
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RBS Enterprises is Robert B. Stretton Enterprises at http://RBSe.us | . A conservationist at heart, merchandiser, consultant, webmaster, automation specialist, and all-around engineer, serving the Earth online since 1997... | "To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk" -- Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) | "True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing." -- Socrates (469-399 B.C.E.)
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
"Son of String Art"... Nice Webware... B-)
"Son of String Art" This project uses the pen to make String Art between the blue dots that you can drag around: http://tr.im/v5SW B-)
Solar - Powering the future using Micro-inverters:
A relatively new option for optimizing solar system efficiency is to use a micro-inverter for each individual solar panel, instead of using a single inverter for the entire system. The chief benefit of the micro-inverter topology is that the system will continue to convert energy even when one inverter malfunctions. Each panel having its own micro-inverter has other important benefits as well, including the ability to adjust conversion parameters on each panel using a high resolution PWM (Pulse-Width Modulator).
Clouds, shadows and other environmental conditions can vary the output of individual panels. Equipping each panel with its own micro-inverter allows the system to accommodate its changing load, which provides optimal conversion efficiency for both the individual panels and the entire system.
Micro-inverter architectures also enable simpler wiring, which translates into lower installation costs. Panel and system monitoring is also improved. Large solar panel farms, in particular, require subsystems to communicate with each other to keep loads in balance and plan in advance how much power will be available and what to do with it.
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With continual advancement and miniaturization, control systems can be put just about anywhere.
/rbs:.:.:
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Clouds, shadows and other environmental conditions can vary the output of individual panels. Equipping each panel with its own micro-inverter allows the system to accommodate its changing load, which provides optimal conversion efficiency for both the individual panels and the entire system.
Micro-inverter architectures also enable simpler wiring, which translates into lower installation costs. Panel and system monitoring is also improved. Large solar panel farms, in particular, require subsystems to communicate with each other to keep loads in balance and plan in advance how much power will be available and what to do with it.
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With continual advancement and miniaturization, control systems can be put just about anywhere.
/rbs:.:.:
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Friday, July 31, 2009
Why Should I Choose Reusable over Recyclable?
Addressing the skeptics about reusable vs. disposable water bottles
By Collin Dunn
Corvallis, OR, USA | Tue Jul 28 12:30:00 GMT 2009
Getty Images / Tsuneo Yamashita
READ MORE ABOUT:
Ever heard this one? "I don't need to carry my own reusable water bottle. I'll just recycle this disposable one later." It might sound like a reasonable compromise, but let's not delude ourselves here. Sure, recycling can have a green impact, but it's important to be able to triage one supposedly green action above another. For the skeptical among you, getting lulled into the recycling catch-all can seem like an easy way to be green -- or, in the case of skeptics among us, feel like you're being green. Add to that that it can be easy to confuse greener and green, and it can become quite problematic.
Recycling vs. reuse turns out to be a matter of perception, most of the time. When you think of recycling, you might think of a shiny, efficient factory where old plastic bottles are processed and turned into new bottles at the snap of a finger; old stuff goes in, new stuff comes out, but that's not the whole story; plastic's chemistry, and a couple of other factors, give the reusable water bottle (and other objects with similar lifecycle designs) a big edge. In short, there's a reason that it's Reduce, then Reuse, then Recycle.
How Plastic Recycling Works
Let's take a look at how plastic recycling works. First, we have to consider where the plastic bottle comes from to begin with. It should surprise no one that plastic is a petroleum product, a non-renewable resource; once the oil gets used to make that plastic, that's pretty much all it will ever be -- there's no going back. When it comes time to recycle it, and you drop it in the blue bin and forget about it, but that's just the beginning. Recycling involves essentially re-melting and re-casting the plastic. Though, according to the U.S. EPA, manufacturing new plastic from recycled plastic requires two-thirds of the energy used in virgin plastic manufacturing, recycled plastic isn't often used for the same products over and over again.
But, as any chef who has ever tried to re-heat a Hollondaise sauce will tell you, the quality isn't quite as good the second time around; the same goes for plastic. Plastic is made from a series of polymer chains -- you might remember the term from high school chemistry -- and those polymer chains (learn more about them from Wikipedia) often break during the heating and melting process of recycling. What does this mean to you? Plastic is often downcycled as it is recycled, leading to a lower and lower-grade product; eventually, all it's good for is as another space hog in the landfill. And that ain't green, no matter how you look at it.
How Reusing Plastic Bottles (and Other Stuff) Works
Contrast that with reusable water bottle model: You get one (if you prefer plastic, BPA-free, please) and haul it around with you. Enjoy bottle after bottle of fresh, clean, delicious tap water, while cosidering this number: Tap water has less than one percent of the environmental impact of bottled water. Recycling, and bottled water, and most everything else on the planet, does not exist in a vaccuum; that is to say, it is totally unreasonable to just compare the vessels and leave the contents (and everything else associated with them) out of the equation. There really are a million reasons to ditch bottled water; you can take my word for it or read all our coverage of the topic.
Back to the reusable scenario. Some of you might be saying, "Hey, come on, I reuse all my water bottles, and that's good, right?" It's not bad, but it comes down to a matter of design. Truly reusable water bottles -- Sigg, Nalgene, whatever you like -- are designed for reuse and will stand up to normal day-to-day wear and tear. Disposable water bottles are designed for just that -- disposability -- and, while that can be convenient, there's a big price to pay for the convenience. And I'll pit my two year-old Sigg against your 'reusable' disposable bottle any day.
Bottled water can be a little tricky to avoid entirely, but there's no reason to use it every day, and no reason to think that you can simply recycle your way out of disposability. All of our stuff has to go somewhere, so it's best to keep as much of it with you for as many cycles as possible.
More about plastic recycling and bottled water
Does Recycling Waste Precious Water?
Recycling is Bullshit; Make Nov. 15 Zero Waste Day, not America Recycles Day
Get to Know Your Recyclable Plastics by Number
How to Never Drink Bottled Water Again
Which is Healthier: Tap Water or Bottled Water?
There is a lot to read here but it sends home the thoughts that are needed to change the way we do things... Always: Reuse, Reduce, & Recycle, in that order...
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Thursday, July 30, 2009
"Crude oil prices 1861 - 2008" Visualization Update...
Crude oil prices 1861-2008 data-set from:
Statistical Review of World Energy 2009
The Visualization!:
See the full version at the following URL:
http://socrata.com/d/4hf3-fkt3
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Statistical Review of World Energy 2009
The Visualization!:
See the full version at the following URL:
http://socrata.com/d/4hf3-fkt3
/rbs:.:.:
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Crude oil prices 1861 - 2008
"Crude oil prices 1861-2008" data-set from:
"Statistical Review of World Energy 2009"
Entire report available:
http://socrata.com/d/x9rz-thuv
/rbs:.:.:
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"Statistical Review of World Energy 2009"
Entire report available:
http://socrata.com/d/x9rz-thuv
/rbs:.:.:
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Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
VIVACE (Vortex Induced Vibrations Aquatic Clean Energy)
VIVACE (Vortex Induced Vibrations Aquatic Clean Energy)
A novel approach to extract energy from flowing water currents. It is unlike any other ocean energy or low-head hydropower concept. VIVACE is based on the extensively studied phenomenon of Vortex Induced Vibrations (VIV), which was first observed 500 years ago by Leonardo DaVinci in the form of “Aeolian Tones.” For decades, engineers have been trying to prevent VIV from damaging offshore equipment and structures. By maximizing and exploiting VIV rather than spoiling and preventing it, VIVACE takes this ‘problem’ and transforms it into a valuable resource for mankind.
http://www.vortexhydroenergy.com/
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This has a lot of potential. I look forward to this developement...
/rbs:.:.:
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A novel approach to extract energy from flowing water currents. It is unlike any other ocean energy or low-head hydropower concept. VIVACE is based on the extensively studied phenomenon of Vortex Induced Vibrations (VIV), which was first observed 500 years ago by Leonardo DaVinci in the form of “Aeolian Tones.” For decades, engineers have been trying to prevent VIV from damaging offshore equipment and structures. By maximizing and exploiting VIV rather than spoiling and preventing it, VIVACE takes this ‘problem’ and transforms it into a valuable resource for mankind.
http://www.vortexhydroenergy.com/
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This has a lot of potential. I look forward to this developement...
/rbs:.:.:
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Saturday, July 25, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
GE Targets Net Zero Energy Homes by 2015...
LOUISVILLE, KY – GE announced today that by 2015 it is developing a turn-key product portfolio that will empower consumers to build — both new home builders and existing homeowners — to efficiently consume, manage and generate electricity to enable an overall net zero annual energy. In addition to GE's current portfolio of energy-efficient lighting and appliances products and demand response technology that GE is currently developing, GE plans to develop residential power generation products like solar PV and residential wind products, well positioning GE to make the net zero energy home a reality.
"We have a long, trusted relationship with consumers, strong presence with home builders, demand response appliance technology and, the extremely critical, smart grid technology leadership of GE Energy that makes the GE net zero energy home an exciting prospect for our future growth." explained GE Consumer & Industrial President and CEO James Campbell.
The GE net zero energy home offerings will be comprised of three major groups within the product portfolio, energy efficient products, energy management products and energy generation/storage products.
Energy Efficiency Products: GE's portfolio of energy- efficient appliance and lighting products will help enable the net zero energy home by reducing energy consumption in the home.
In 2008, the number of GE ENERGY STAR® qualified appliance models totaled over 550 models. In fact, 54% of the GE appliance products are ENERGY STAR qualified. The number of ENERGY STAR qualified lighting models totaled over 271. The majority, 99.3%, of the 2008 GE Compact Fluorescent lamp sales were ENERGY STAR qualified models.
The U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have awarded GE Consumer & Industrial the ENERGY STAR® Sustained Excellence award for the fourth straight year. Also, this marks the sixth year that GE has been acknowledged as an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year.
Energy Management/Demand Response Appliances: GE demand response products will enable consumers to manage their costs and energy consumption while helping reduce utility demand peaks, thereby reducing the need for more power generation — depending on utility participation.
GE plans to be the first manufacturer to offer a full suite of demand response appliances that will work with utility smart meters to help shed load from the grid, while helping consumers save money during peak demand usage and pricing times. GE appliances and products will work with smart meters to delay or reduce energy use without major interruption to consumers' lifestyles by giving the consumer control over their energy use.
Residential housing consumes 37% of the electricity produced in the US. Appliances, Lighting and HVAC represent 82% of electricity consumed in the home. A recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission report has identified that residential demand response programs represent the largest potential reduction in U.S. peak demand. The potential of residential demand reduction programs represents approximately a 7% reduction in total US peak demand, or 65 GW over the period 2009 -2019. This avoided demand is equivalent to the generation capacity of 108 coal plants, ( 600 MW typical coal plant)
As the second single largest energy users in the home, incorporating highly efficient water heaters into the net zero energy homes is critical. GE will offer the its innovative GE Hybrid Electric Heat Pump Water Heater with demand response technology in late 2009. The new GE Hybrid Electric Heat Pump Water Heater is designed to use about 2300 kWh per year, which is less than half of the energy of a 50-gallon tank water heater that uses approximately 4800 kWh per year. The energy savings of approximately 2500 kWh per year represents a savings of about $250 per year based on 10.65 cents per kWh. In addition to the highly efficient Hybrid, GE plans to develop additional innovative water heating options for the Net Zero Energy Home.
Example: There are about 60 Million U.S. homes with electric tank hot water heaters, if 10% installed a GE Hybrid Heat Pump Water Heater, this would save 15 Billion kWh annually of energy. In addition, the demand response capabilities of the GE Hybrid during peak demand time could reduce the energy consumption associated with the 6 Million units by as much as 22.8 Gigawatts or the equivalent of reducing the generating capacity of 40 coal plants during peak demand time.
In 2010 GE will introduce the Home Energy Manager — the central nervous system for the net zero energy home that will work in conjunction with all the other enabling technologies in the home to help homeowners to optimize how they consume energy. In addition to the Home Energy Manger, GE will introduce a line of smart thermostats, also available in 2010. Together, the Home Energy Manager and smart thermostats will inform consumers when and how they are using energy and empower them to make decisions when they should use energy from the grid, use stored energy, and self generated energy or other sources since up to 31%of the homes energy use comes from HVAC, the smart thermostats can help consumers significantly save on their energy bills.
Example: Based on data from the Olympic Peninsula, Gridwise Test Bed demonstration project, consumer awareness created by Time of use pricing (TOU) & Real Time pricing (RTP) has shown significant consumer savings. Consumers under a TOU/RTP billing plan supported by enabling technologies, such as pricing communication, a home energy display, smart thermostats, and smart demand response appliances saved as much as 27%-30% of their monthly bill.
Brattle report— The power of Experimentation — New Evidence on residential demand response, May 11, 2008, Ahmad Faruqui, Sanem Sergici
Distributed Generation/Storage
Collaborating with GE Energy, products like solar PV, advanced energy storage, next generation thin film solar, small wind - and, in the coming years, incorporate other generation products being developed at Global Research Center will play an integral part in the Net Zero Energy Home.
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It's nice to see some of my dreams come true. Ever since the 70's oil embargo...
/rbs:.:.:
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Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
A Breakthrough Technology to Transform CO2 into Fuel
The recent $700 billion bailout package has extended tax credits to wind and solar energy companies. However since mostly all renewable energy projects depend upon project financing, it is suspected that only large utilities will actually benefit from the tax credits. However, companies such as Carbon Sciences, Inc. (CABN) are proving otherwise.
Transforming CO2 to Fuel
Carbon Sciences, the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) into high value, earth-friendly products such as precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) is now developing a breakthrough technology to transform CO2 into the basic fuel building blocks required to produce gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel and other portable fuels.
“We are very excited about this breakthrough,” stated Derek McLeish, the company’s CEO. “By innovating at the intersection of chemical engineering and bio-engineering disciplines, we are developing a highly scalable bio-catalytic process to meet the fuel needs of the world. With over 28 billion tons of CO2 emitted each year, there is an abundant supply of raw material available to produce renewable and sustainable fuels for global consumption.”
The Process of CO2-to-Fuel Technology
The fuels we use today, such as gasoline and jet fuel, are made up of chains of hydrogen and carbon atoms aptly called hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are naturally occurring in fuel sources such as petroleum and natural gas. To create fuel, hydrogen and carbon atoms must be bonded together to create hydrocarbon molecules. These molecules can then be used as basic building blocks to produce various gaseous and liquid fuels. Due to its high reactivity, carbon atoms do not usually exist in a pure form, but as parts of other molecules. CO2 is one of the most prevalent and basic sources of carbon atoms.
The company’s CO2-to-Fuel approach lies in a proprietary multi-step bio-catalytic process using inexpensive, renewable bio-molecules to catalyze certain chemical reactions required to transform CO2 into basic hydrocarbon building blocks.
Other alternative fuel technologies, such as fuel cells and hydrogen, require substantial infrastructure changes in order to meet the energy and climate challenge. However Carbon Sciences tackles the problem at its root by using CO2 as the basic raw material for clean energy.
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HERE is the answer! I'm behind this one...
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Total U.S. CO2 Emissions from energy use by sector
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Socrata.com uses data-sets.
A great place to create and store your spreadsheets.
Or, use data-sets that others have created.
Embed them in your own blog.
Anything you can put on a list...
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