DIY Open Source Solar Concentrator Tutorials Now Available © SolarFlowerEver wanted to tinker about with a homebrewed solar energy system? Then this project, SolarFlower, might be just the ticket for you. The creator, Daniel Connell, has been working on his concentrated solar energy collector for several years now, and has just launched a web home for it, complete with detailed tutorials. SolarFlower is: "An open source solar energy collector which tracks the sun automatically through a simple non-electrical mechanism. It can be made almost anywhere from common recycled and salvaged materials using basic tools and skills, is portable, has no running costs or emissions, and can produce up to kilowatts of power per device. According to Connell, the potential uses for these devices include electrical generation, water purification, cooking, bio-char and charcoal, food dehydration, heating, gasification, and just about anything else heat can be used for.
Wind systems | YourHome The amount of renewable electricity harnessed from the wind is growing rapidly. Australia has an abundant wind resource, which, if used to generate electricity, could save significant greenhouse gas emissions. To take advantage of this resource, turbines must be installed in open sites on sufficiently tall towers. Appropriate wind system locations Begin investigating wind technology by ‘reality checking’ your general location. Coastal locations, and flat rural areas without significant vegetation or buildings, offer the most laminar wind flow. Urban areas have a poor wind resource that is usually extremely turbulent. Urban areas have a poor wind resource that is usually extremely turbulent. Wind systems installed on roofs typically do not produce much electricity, have short life spans and are thus never economically sound. Connecting wind systems Small wind turbines can be connected as: Photo: AUSWEA and University of Newcastle A domestic wind turbine. Source: endurance windpower Maintenance
DIY Solar Air Heating Collectors: Pop Can vs Screen Absorbers Search The Renewable Energy site for Do-It-Yourselfers Page Contents: The test collectors: Pop can collector on left and screen collector on right Collector Basics There is a lot of not so good information out there on what makes a good solar air heating collector design, so I thought I would include a little info on solar air collector physics, what makes for a good design, and how one can measure and compare collectors accurately. How do collectors work, and what makes a good design? On just about all solar thermal collectors, the sun shines through the glazing, and hits the collector absorber heating it. In full sun, the incoming solar energy is about 1000 watts per square meter of collector area. Most of this 850 w/sm that made it into the absorber end up going down one of two paths:: one part is picked up by the air flowing through the collector and ends up heating the room, and the other part ends up being lost out the glazing. The heat output the collector can be calculated as: 1. 4.
New Urban Mini Turbine for lantern poles introduced - The Archimedes 27 May 2014 | On the market launch of its ‘big brother’ – the Liam f1 – R&D company the Archimedes introduced a smaller version as well: the Liam Pole Mini Urban Wind Turbine. With half its size (ø 0.75cm) it will be mounted on a Cradle-2-Cradle lantern Pole manufactured by Sapa Pole Products. This new Product Market Combination (PMC) has the potential to save a lot of money on electrical infrastructure. During daylight the solar panels and the turbine will charge a battery which will supply the light emitting diodes (LEDs) during night time, supported by the Liam turbine when enough wind is at hand. Because of its coned shape, the Liam Pole urban wind turbine will yaw itself in any wind direction starting from a windspeed of 2 m/s, even when it changes a lot. The output of the Liam Pole UWT (ø 0.75cm) is believed to have ¼ of the energy output of the Liam F1 (ø 1,50cm). Calculations are being made to result in an advisory price, which will be announced in a later stage.
Homemade Lotion Recipe - How to Make Your Own Lotion If you are still using the cancer-in-a-bottle store bought lotion on yourself or your family, there are super easy natural alternatives! In fact, this recipe is incredibly simple to make and all the ingredients are available here. It only has three basic ingredients and literally takes ten minutes to make! You can customize your lotion to your skin type and desired scent, and you can even make it for baby (calendula and chamomile…) There are endless variations, but some of my favorites are: Calendula and Chamomile for babyRosewater and Almond OilPeppermint, Wintergreen, and Ginger for sore musclesCoconut and Calendula for faceMint and green teaLavender and vanilla I’ve included my basic recipe below. NOTE: This is an improved recipe since many people were having trouble getting the temperatures exactly right to get the lotion to emulsify (as per the comments below). Organic Homemade Lotion Basic Ingredients: Note: All ingredients and many essential oils are available here.
This glass sphere might revolutionize solar power on Earth German architect André Broessel, of Rawlemon, has looked into his crystal ball and seen the future of renewable energy. In this case it’s a spherical sun-tracking solar energy-generating globe — essentially a giant glass marble on a robotic steel frame. But this marble is no toy. André Broessel was a finalist in the World Technology Network Award 2013 with the globe’s design and afterward produced this latest version, called Betaray, which can concentrate diffuse light such as that from a cloudy day. André Broessel’s latest invention looks like something out of a superhero movie. In reality, though, it’s a stand-alone solar energy generator. But Broessel’s invention may be more than just aesthetically pleasing. “For the last 40 years we have tried to capture this energy with PV panels,” Broessel says in the promotional video on his Indiegogo campaign for his company, Rawlemon. “We can squeeze more juice out of the sun,” Broessel says. Source: NewsDiscovery
Print on Fabric with an Inkjet Printer By Andrew Lewis Sometimes I have a great idea for a textile project, but I get put off by the thought of trawling through the seemingly endless bolts of fabric at the store. Then I think about the hassle of haggling over the price and ending up with three times as much fabric as I actually needed. I decided to try printing my own fabric on an inkjet printer, and the results really exceeded my expectations. The advantages to this technique are tremendous, and I don’t have to haggle over prices any more. I get my own designs, in the quantity I need, at a fraction of the price I would normally pay. The only drawback is that people keep asking me to print something special for them, too! About Ink Printing your own fabric is not as difficult as it sounds, and you don’t need any special equipment to get started. Materials Light-colored fabric Printer that uses pigment inks Scissors Card Sticky tape Directions Step 4: Create your design on the computer, and then print it out. Related
Could This Glass Orb Be The Future Of Solar Energy? By Emily Atkin "Could This Glass Orb Be The Future Of Solar Energy?" CREDIT: Rawlemon André Broessel’s latest invention looks like something out of a superhero movie. The bifrost device depicted in Thor, perhaps, or Eric Selvig’s wormhole machine in The Avengers. In reality, though, it’s a stand-alone solar energy generator. But Broessel’s invention may be more than just aesthetically pleasing. “For the last 40 years we have tried to capture this energy with PV panels,” Broessel says in the promotional video on his Indiegogo campaign for his company, Rawlemon. The rotating glass orb, he says, brings in energy from the sun and concentrates it onto a small surface of tiny solar panels. “We can squeeze more juice out of the sun,” Broessel says. In terms of whether the device will actually bring meaningful improvements to the renewable energy sector to reduce the effects of man-made climate change, the outlook seems promising on its face. Broessel’s device is not yet available in the market.
12 Easy Image Transfer Methods for DIY Projects The Graphics Fairy is a resource for Home Decorators, Graphics Designers, Crafters, Collage Artists and Junk Journalers. Find over 7,000 FREE Vintage images, Illustrations, Vintage Pictures, Stock Images, Antique Graphics, Craft Clipart, Vintage Photos, and Printable Art, to MAKE craft projects, collage, Mixed Media, Junk Journals, DIY, scrapbooking, etc! DIY and Craft Tutorials, and Home Decorating Ideas are offered as well. Daily vintage image downloads and crafting clipart since 2007. Most are Jpegs, or PDFs. Looking for our ad free PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP site? Sumo List of Top 5 Micro Wind Turbines Needs a Second Look Clean Power Published on April 30th, 2013 | by Tina Casey One of the most popular micro wind turbine companies around, Southwest Windpower, began to scale back operations last year and has apparently closed its doors, which means that our list of Top 5 Micro Wind Turbines is overdue for a re-do. As a preliminary step, let’s take a look at JLM Energy, Inc., an all-around renewable energy company that has figured out a way to piggyback its Zefr micro wind turbine arrays onto Southwest’s poles, resulting in a clever way to squeeze some extra juice out of existing wind turbine infrastructure. Zefr micro wind turbine courtesy of JLM Energy No More Southwest Wind Power Before we get into one of those OMG another Obama-supported green company goes belly up kind of “scandals,” let’s note for the record that Southwest Windpower was established in 1987. The company refused an offer of $700,000 from President Obama’s Recovery Act grant in 2011. Also for the record, in 2007 former president George H.W.
Transfer Images Using Freezer Paper It was purely by accident that I figured out this method of transferring a printed image. It is simple to do and you don't need any special paper or products! If you can print it from your computer then you can transfer it to a fabric or wood surface. Now, this project I am about to show you is not very exciting, but it will give you the idea of how the transfer is done...so here it goes. I decided to cover my old and dirty mouse pad that looked like this: I used canvas and cut a piece a bit larger that than the mouse pad. Then I cut a piece of "Heat n Bond" the same size as the canvas and, following the instructions, adhered it to the back of my fabric. I then centered the mouse pad onto the back of the canvas and, again, using my iron, adhered the canvas to the top of the mouse pad. I cut a piece of macramae jute and secured it to the edge of the pad using hot glue. So, now you know how I covered the mouse pad...onto how to do the transfer. Trim the excess freezer paper using sissors. Lesa
World's smallest windmills to power cell phones While commercial wind turbines have been trending toward larger sizes, from 300 kW capacity in 1990 to 7.5 MW in 2011, sometimes it is worth bucking the trend. Professor J.C. Chiao and his postdoc Dr. The micro-windmills (technically called horizontal axis wind turbines) have a three-bladed rotor 1.8 mm in diameter mounted on a tower about 2 mm tall. Despite their size, the micro-windmills can endure strong winds, owing to being constructed of a tough nickel alloy (rather than the silicon and silicon oxide layers typical of MEMS designs) and smart aerodynamic design. Let's get to the meat. The first question is how much mechanical power can a micro-windmill generate from a moving flow of air. Modern turbines can achieve around 45 percent conversion, but their design includes several areas of optimization that will likely to be absent in a MEMS windmill. There is a potential problem that a suspicious observer would spot. Fortunately, all works out well for the micro-windmills.
How I built an electricity producing Solar Panel Several years ago I bought some remote property in Arizona. I am an astronomer and wanted a place to practice my hobby far away from the sky-wrecking light pollution found near cities of any real size. In my attempt to escape city light pollution, I found a great piece of remote property. I built a wind turbine to provide some power on the remote property. Here is a video of the solar panel set up and in use on my remote, off-grid property. Let me state up front that I probably won't be able to help you out much if you decide to build your own solar panel(s). So what is a solar panel anyway? I started out the way I start every project, by Googling for information on home-built solar panels. After a while, I came to some conclusions: Once I came to the realization that I could use blemished and factory-second solar cells to build my panels, I finally got to work. <a href=' I bought a couple of bricks of 3 X 6 mono-crystalline solar cells.