Recently Sun Microsystems started a campaign to present evidence that telecommuting is not just a simple convenience for workers, but with the current world situation is a very real solution to the environmental crisis. The morning routine goes beyond struggling to find something to wear, fight traffic or gauntlet of public transportation. The Sun Microsystems campaign reveal results of its Open Work Energy Measurement Project, the project goals find out just how beneficial the flexible scheduling policies are by calculating the difference in the environmental impact of commuting to an office versus working from home.

The results are indeed impressive; it found that 98 percent of each employee’s carbon footprint for work came from his or her commute. By staying home for half the five-day workweek, the average employee would reduce his or her job-related energy use by 5400 kilowatt-hours per year. Commuting half as much also saved each worker $1700 per year in fuel and other auto-related cost and allowed them to regain more than two full weeks that would otherwise be lost to traffic and waits for public transportation.

Sun’s Microsystems, Corporate Eco Responsibility web page is worth taking a visit to.

Resources:

http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/environment/index.jsp

IEEE Newsletter

Today electronics giant Texas Instruments (TI) announced that it has acquired the energy-saving power supply company Commergy Technologies. When everyday more electronics devices are introduced in the daily lives of thousands of people, what does devices consume in energy becomes non-trivial as an impact on the environment.

Commergy Technologies is an Ireland-based company that its main objective has been power supplies that are energy efficient and compact in architecture. Texas Instruments, large diversification of electronic components used in thousands of devices everyday looking to broaden its energy efficiency will add now the features behind the specialization on Commergy Technologies designs. The acquisition enhances Texas Instruments portfolio of analog products allowing for quick adaptation on new designs for a fast to market capability.

Industry-Leading Power Management Portfolio

TI is focused on meeting the power design needs of its customers through innovative products, easy-to-use design tools and local technical support. TI uses its application knowledge and high-performance analog manufacturing capabilities to provide discrete and integrated power management solutions for any portable or line-powered power design challenge – from cell phones and portable medical equipment to telecom, industrial and computing applications. For more information about TI’s complete power management portfolio, visit http://power.ti.com.

Resources:

http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/press/company/2008/c08028.shtml?DCMP=commergy&HQS=Other+IL+commergy

BP as agreed to invest in biofuels in venture in Brazil. The venture is to produce ethanol from sugar cane in Brazil, they say this proposal would not affect food supplies. From the $560m, BP will take a 50% stake in a venture with $60m, and will further invest the remaining $500m in two other ethanol refineries. These are big investments, let’s just believe that this vast ethanol production from sugar cake, are made without impacting food supplies and raising the cost of sugar.

What is Ethanol?

A biofuel is a fuel made from biomass - organic material, such as sugar cane - which contains stored energy from the sun in the form of chemical energy. This stored chemical energy is then converted into a liquid fuel called a biofuel. Biofuels are blended with conventional fossil fuels, and can produce significant environmental benefits by reducing CO2 emissions.

Ethanol is produced using fermentation of starches and sugars from crops such as sugar cane and wheat. Currently Brazil is the world’s largest producer of ethanol, with passenger car ethanol usage at 45%. Brazil has two fuels available - petrol containing 25% ethanol and 100% ethanol. Nearly 60% of new cars sold are 100% ethanol fuelled.

In other countries, local fuel quality standards specify the maximum amounts of biofuels blended in road transport fuels in order to ensure compatibility with standard vehicles’ fuel performance, engine components and fuel systems.

Resources:

http://priceofoil.org/2008/04/25/bp-plans-to-invest-560m-in-biofuels/

http://www.tropicalbioenergia.com.br/

This is excellent new, even though is a hybrid solution for transportation that is not in the financial reach on many. Fisher Automotive are hard working to get their announce Karma plug-in hybrid onto the hands of consumers. Not more than six months ago they announced the concept hybrid concept car in the Detroit auto show and they are already doing test on perhaps some real prototypes. I found this picture of the new hybrid design by Henrik Fisher on a post on the Autopia blog.

The Karma plug-in hybrid differentiates from other alternative transportation vehicles, in the car is a high performance sedan, with four doors and it looks amazing getting away from the mind conception that environment friendly transportation is dull and not sport like.

For those that this is the first time you read from this new hybrid vehicle, the approach is basically a electric car with a combustion engine that moves a electric generator to provide electric power to the car. The car can work in a mode were it only used stored electric power wish is a Stealth Drive mode, which is a quiet economy mode for optimal relaxed and efficient driving. By changing into a secondary mode by flipping a paddle behind the steering wheel, the car will switch to Sport Drive mode, which will access the full power of the vehicle. Talking about full power, the technology inside the Karma plug-in hybrid would get you from 0-60 in less than 6 second (0-100 km/h 6 seconds). It has a top speed beyond 125 mph (200 km/h), been an electric drive car it has is maximum torque available from 0 mph providing dramatic acceleration, something that is trade of electric motors. Other features a regenerative braking to recapture energy while the car decelerates (braking). The only thing not so appealing about the Karma is the introductory price tag of $80,000, but somewhere the development of alternative transportation solutions that are many times more efficient and have lower environment impact should begins. Remember that every time something new and niche comes along get introduce at very high cost, but let’s anticipate that development like these open up for creative transportation of electric and electric/hybrid vehicles that in a future could be more accessible in price to everyone.

For more information regarding the Karma plug-in hybrid you can check the resources link at the end of this post. Following are the recent found pictures on the Autopia blog from test drives of the vehicle enjoy.

Karma Plug-in Gallery May 2008

2008.05.10 - Karma Plug-in Gallery May 2008

Resources and more information:

http://www.fiskerautomotive.com/index.php/vehicles/features/

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/05/fisker-karma-pl.html

http://www.motortrend.com/features/consumer/112_0507_henrik_fisker/

• CHANGE YOUR LIGHT If every household in the United State replaced one regular light bulb with one of those new compact fluorescent bulbs, the pollution reduction would be equivalent to removing one million cars from the road.
• TURN OFF COMPUTERS WHEN NOT IN FRONT OF THEM By turning off your computer instead of leaving it on, or in standby mode, can save 25-200 watt-hour per hour. Those watts adds up, considering the current cost of a KWh approximately 20 cents in many areas in the United States and in my case Puerto Rico, you can save around $1-$10 per month by just turning it off just 8 hours per day while you sleep.
  

  
  

• LAPTOP/PORTABLE YOUR NEW COMPUTER if you are in the lockout for a new computer please consider getting yourself a laptop instead of a desktop. Portable computer provide all the features of a regular house desktop but they require much less electric power to function, do not forget the added convenience of a mobile computer too.
  
• KILL PHANTOM ELECTRICAL LOADS Yes they do are real, almost all devices and appliances connected to the power grid while not in use are consuming a considerable amount of electrical power. You can control these phantom loads by unplugging the device or using a power trip with a switch. Try it on month on all your suspected loads and see the difference yourself. You will never go back, and pass the word to your friends, help them too identify and control their phantom loads.
  
• WASH CLOTHES IN COLD WATER Using cold water you will save the power need to heat up the water for washing your clothes. Also do load full load of clothes every time.
  

Recently I came to learn from this new home ethanol systems soon to be put into sale. It is call the Efuel100 MicroFueler the world’s first portable ethanol micro-refinery system. The unique component of the system, it replaces the traditional ethanol reflux column system with a solid state distillation technology, making it possible for homeowners and small business to safely and cost-effectively create their own fuel, on-site. While doing me research on the new system, I got very interested, and wanted to share the information.

The systems locks more or less like a regular gas station pump, with a hose and nozzle. Within the appliance size unit is the ethanol distiller, and pump. The user can interact with the system by a front panel LCD (display). To simply the distillation process for consumers, the MicroFueler uses sugar instead of starches, which cuts the distillation period considerably.

The feedstock for starting the process of producing your own ethanol at home starts with simple table sugar and ethanol grade yeast mixture. The entire process is autonomously controlled by the system after that. For producing a gallon of ethanol that will run your gasoline engine, the system would need 10-14 pounds of sugar. The system is capable of producing 5 gallons of ethanol per day once the formation is complete.

Also the system is able to produce ethanol from discarded alcohol using a recovery mode. The user can pour discarded beer, wine or any distilled drink in the fermentation tank and convert it to ethanol.

The questions now are, would the common home user be able to find a reliable local source of sugar that is cheap enough to produce its own ethanol? How the government will react to people adopting systems likes these in their houses? Would the ethanol be the required quality to not damage your gasoline engine? We’ll have to check on those first. Until then, I see the system offering as an appliance, very user friendly, a great market opportunity and a way to reduce our dependence on imported gasoline. On my part I would keep my eye on the development of the system and do my how information gathering to analyze if this indeed would be a good economical and environmental energy solution from wish I could take advantage of.

What do you reader think about it?

Resources:

http://www.efuel100.com/

Those are the arguments from Carey W. King and Michael E. Webber, from a published research work of February 20, 2008 at the American Chemical Society Publications. These two geologists working at Texas, are saying that converting light-duty vehicles from full gasoline power to electric power, either by converting hybrid electric vehicles to plug-in versions or fully electric power vehicles, will likely increase the demand for water resources. This is because the United States sources of its majority of electric power plants are from a petroleum electricity generation that requires large amounts of water for cooling off during the process. Changing the transportation vehicles to electric, will greatly increase the demand of power from these generations plants, it will impact the water resources. It should be considered, this negative impact. But for those of you that recharge your plug-in hybrid or future electric vehicles with renewable sources like wind and solar, will not have to worry about the greatly impact on water resources from where your electricity comes from.

Read the paper here: http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/esthag/asap/abs/es0716195.html

]]> http://onesunpower.wordpress.com/2008/05/05/plugged-in-automotive-economy-to-intensify-the-water-demand/feed/ germanium http://onesunpower.wordpress.com/2008/05/04/solar-cells-printed-on-a-inkjet/ http://onesunpower.wordpress.com/2008/05/04/solar-cells-printed-on-a-inkjet/#comments Mon, 05 May 2008 02:20:32 +0000 German Armando Rios http://onesunpower.wordpress.com/?p=57

Solar Cells printed on a Inkjet ?

Solar Energy from new manufacturing techniques promises to lower the high cost of producing and adopting this clean renewable energy. With the high prices for oil these days, there has been a rampant adoption and increase in demand for solar panels in recent years. The increase in solar panels adoption is been made using the same technology that has made it almost untouchable because of its high startup costs. But that could change in a near future, with the creation of very promising new manufacturing process. This year could be the year that the Silicon Valley renaissance is made, but not from super fast number processing computer chips but from solar power modules.

Thin-Film solar coating, that what are many are saying will change dramatically how this technology can be converted into an affordable one. Startup company from San Jose, California, NANOSOLAR is promising just that, by a process of coating thin materials that convert sunshine into electricity. Also a Massachusetts, based company, Konarka Technologies, has developed a novel successful way to use an inkjet printer to manufacture solar cells. This decreases production cost, because the process is using an existing technology that is affordable.

Konarka Technologies, says that by 2009 its plan to bring multiple forms of products to market using the cheaper process.

http://www.konarka.com/

PV Powered have announces new power inverter offering the highest power input range, widening the input voltage range for flexibility. The new design provides maximum energy conversion for smaller photovoltaic installation fitting a wide variety of installations. The Extended Voltage Range (115-500VDC) products offer the industry’s lowest MPPT voltage and are the ideal choice for integration with next generation low voltage and building-integrated (BIPV) modules. The Standard Voltage Range (150-500VDC) versions are optimized for traditional solar modules. The entire product line leads the industry by offering the most design configurations across the widest range of PV modules.

For the people who have been lobbing the idea of solar power integrations into their existing home or into new ones, these new products expand their PV systems possibilities.

Production shipments of the PVP1100, PVP2000, and PVP3000 will begin in April. They are backed by an industry-leading 10-year nationwide warranty. Download attached document (25.3KB)

]]> http://onesunpower.wordpress.com/2008/05/04/relieve-for-small-solar-power-adopters/feed/ germanium http://onesunpower.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/hope-for-electrical-power-cars-in-your-near-future-2/ http://onesunpower.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/hope-for-electrical-power-cars-in-your-near-future-2/#comments Sat, 03 May 2008 21:06:24 +0000 German Armando Rios http://onesunpower.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/hope-for-electrical-power-cars-in-your-near-future-2/

Today I will expose again the novel rechargeable batteries developed by A123 Systems. With their new technology they claim to have created a battery breakthrough with a technology that increases performance, packages with larger storage capacity and reducing the recharge times. These advances would hopefully open the door for some real progress in the adoption of electrical and hybrids vehicles.

The secret behind the leaping success of their technology is within the small structure of the particles that construct the batteries in comparison with conventional lithium-ion batteries currently in the market. Current lithium-ion batteries active materials are in the range in sizes of 5 to 20 microns. A123 Systems batteries created a high power battery based on a safe and stable active material that can user particle sizes below 100 nanometers without adverse reactions that would become a safety risk. The technology used by A123 replaces the old cobalt oxide in lithium-ion cells with nanophosphate.

Factors simultaneously addressed behind the new battery technology are the ones that have been affecting the performance and adoption of electrical power devices and electric cars. These advancements address higher power, more safety and long life.

Technology advancements like theses can get many very excited. Companies like DeWalt, are currently using this technology right now in power tools that can deliver better performance than their power plug-in counter parts. Everything thanks to the ability of the A123 Systems batteries higher performance and power density, they can deliver higher chuck or burst of electric power in a smaller form factor. And the added convenience of been able to get recharged in minutes vs. hours, wish makes it a very good option for electric/hybrid cars.

Currently, General Motors (GM) announced their intention in adopting these batteries for their soon to be put into production electric/hybrid vehicle the Volt and the Saturn Green Line Vue, a plug-in hybrid.

Let’s just hope that technologies advances like these are rapidly put into the engineering and manufacturing of electric and hybrid vehicles in a not so distant future on most car companies.

Resources:

http://www.a123systems.com/

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/robotics/2007-03-15-batteries_N.htm

http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:A123_Systems

http://www.saturn.com/saturn/vehicles/greenline/index.jsp