Green Energy Planet

Petrol is burnt in combustion engines, and yet it is a vital resource for the petrochemical industry.

Many of the objects that we use daily are made of plastic materials. But plastic can’t exist without petrol.

Another industry that is heavily dependent on petrol is the IT industry (not many people realize this).

The construction process of the microchips and many other hardware components is partially based on oil derivatives.

You can try a simple exercise: look around you and see how many things made from plastic you are using in a day. Imagine how you would manage without all this things.

By far, the most part of the oil production is used as a fuel and burnt away in combustion engines.

This of course will starve the other industries from a vital resource. The solution to this problem is the usage of bio fuels. This, unlike petrol, are a renewable sources of energy.

It is important to preserve the petrol resources for developing the industries that really need it, and use it in a responsible way. Once extracted and consumed, the petrol resources will not regenerate.

So by replacing the main usage of petrol (burning in combustion engines), with alternative fuels, other industries will benefit and develop. Imagine having the IT hardware industry slowed down to a halt because a lack of raw materials (petrol): no more new processors, no more new and more advanced  video cards, hard drives, etc.

The heat of the Sun means energy.  One problem with the solar power technology is that it only works when the Sun is shining.

But where can we find uninterrupted sunshine and the highest temperatures?
In a place where (almost) never rains, and vast amounts of empty land are available.  Of course we are thinking about the deserts.
Right now the desert is a vast amount of land which is simply not used, but has countless days of uninterrupted sunshine.
In fact the dessert is a hidden treasure.  A vast power plant, just sitting there, waiting to be used.

If, for example, the Sahara desert (Northern Africa) would be used to construct huge solar power plants, it could provide green energy to power up the European Union.

Only 1% of the desert covered with such solar power plants would be enough. Many German companies are considering the possibility of investing in the solar power plants in the Sahara desert.  The project is aiming at building 100GW solar power plants.

Maybe in the future, the deserts would be considered a great natural resource, just as oil is regarded now.

If you are a “do it yourself” person, you can try our wind turbine “recipe”.

In finding a simple and proven design, we have taken the automobile as inspiration.

The car basically contains most of the elements needed in our design. Although it comes with absolutely no guaranties, there is no reason why this design shouldn’t work.

The first trip you should take is to a car parts shop. You will need to buy a car alternator, and a lead-acid battery.

The car alternator will be the wind turbine and the lead-acid battery the storage method.

You will also need a gear box between the propeller and the turbine (car alternator). In this way even if the propeller will turn slow, a fair amount of rotation will be distributed to the turbine. You can build your own propeller (you will need to be able to cut and weld steel).

If you don’t have the skills for welding and cutting metal, you can buy the propeller. Build a tower as high as possible, in order to reach those strong currents.

Make sure it has a strong foundation, in order not to tip over in high winds.

A new report from the International Energy Agency states that China is now the world’s greatest energy consumer.

China has rejected this report, stating that the energy usage per citizen, is bellow the global average.

The energy demands of China’s growing industry has doubled in the last decade.

China is also one of the global leaders in the production of renewable energy (solar energy and wind energy).

According to this report China has consumed with 4% more energy then the US (which has been the largest energy consumer for decades).

IEA has mentioned that the data is still preliminary, but the growing trend is correct.

An experimental plane, powered by solar energy, made history with a 26 hours flight. The brake through achieved, was flying the solar plane in the night, using entirely the energy stored in batteries during the day. The plane, piloted by Andre Borscherg, took of from Payerne (Switzerland).

It is the first flight of a solar powered plane though out the night.

The plane is powered by over 12.000 solar panels. The altitude reached during the flight was 8.700 meters, with an average speed of 70km/h.

Technical data:

• wing span: 63m
• batteries weight: 400kg
• propellers: 4
• ceiling: 8700m.

You can find more information here.

If you consider all the  physical energy consumed in a gym, you can think of a gym as a mini power factory.

What if all the workout machines where in fact electrical power producing machines?

You are not just moving weights any more, you are pumping electricity. The gym could be set up in such  a way that all the electricity needs of the facility could be provided by the customers themselves.  Of course a subscription to such a gym would be much cheaper than a standard one.

All the machines should be hooked up to electric generators, and all the electric generators to a central power regulator. The regulator would charge a power storage solution. Instead of all the energy resulted in the work out going to waste, it would be better to have a way of saving it in the form of electricity.

What if the workout machines will show how much Watts you produced instead of how much calories you’ve burnt?

Such  a form of workout would make more popular the alternative energy, and encourage people to be more aware about saving the energy and the limited resources of the planet. Such a concept will have a beneficial aspect on the business itself, giving it a true “green profile”.

Would you go to such a gym?

So what is conventional green energy?

It is the clean energy that is obtained through the classic methods: solar panels, wind turbines, etc. This methods generate a fair amount of power, enabling the consumers to have independence from the  grid.

But what is the unconventional green energy?

It is the energy made with the help of devices that you power with your own muscles. For instance working out at home. Instead of loosing precious energy by lifting weights and going to the gym, why not use a device that spins a dynamo that charges a lead-acid battery? In this way your are not loosing the energy but you store it, for later use. The slogan here would be: “get thin while saving the world”. This approach will teach one how precious energy is, and how important it is to use it wisely. But imagine the satisfaction of powering up your computer from this kind of absolutely   pure type of energy. It is triple beneficial to have this kind of approach once in a while:

• You will get thin.
• You are motivated to work out,  because you will be actually producing something in the process, clean energy.
• You will realize how precious energy really is, and get a satisfaction feeling that you are independent from all conventional energy sources.