Monthly Archives: May 2010

Solar Water Heating in Ireland

Countries all over the world except a few backward ones, backed by their governments are concerned with fossil fuel energy usage and are promoting renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, bio mass generated thermal energy etc. Ireland and other members of EU are in the forefront in this exercise. The simplest and best money saver in the long run is harnessing solar energy for water heating.

Harnessing Solar Energy
Harnessing solar energy is done with three different basic methods. viz.  Read more...

  • Passive Method
    Using various techniques that harness the sun’s energy just the way it comes for day lighting, visual aesthetic effects, heating, and also insulating and air sealing, shading and landscaping, orientation of building features etc. by the architects (whether new construction or retrofitting).

GO Green With Solar Power Generation

Solar energy is used from ages to cook food and for the disinfection. This energy is highly used for generating electricity. Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity either using concentrated solar power or directly using photovoltaic. In concentrated solar power systems mirrors or lenses and tracking systems are used to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. The concentrated heat is then used as a heat source for conventional power plant. On the other hand solar cell or photovoltaic cell is a device that converts light into electric current using the photoelectric effect. Solar energy can be stored at high temperatures using molten salts and these salts are an effective storage medium because they are low-cost, have a high specific heat capacity and can deliver heat at temperatures compatible with conventional power systems.

Concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) systems employ sunlight concentrated onto photovoltaic surfaces for the purpose of production of electrical power. All varieties of solar concentrators may be used, and these are often mounted on a solar tracker in order to keep the focal point upon the cell as the Sun moves across the sky. Luminescent solar concentrators when combined with a PV-solar cell then it can also be regarded as a CPV system. These Luminescent solar concentrators are useful as they can improve performance of PV-solar panels drastically.  Read more...

Energy Meter Reading the Gauge

An energy meter is a device that is used to measure the flow of gas or electricity into a home or other building. Energy meters that measure gas are connected to the gas main of the home or office and are often read by the gas company to determine gas usage for monthly billing. An energy meter has an element and a detector that monitors the element’s heat. The element heats gas as it passes through it. The system monitors the volume of the gas that is used and uses these numbers for billing purposes. The energy meter itself displays the volume of gas being used for easier reference.

The energy meter measures the flow of gas by utilizing a mass flow gas meter. As the temperature of the gas increases, the volume of the gas does as well. Most energy meters are calibrated on a billing cycle increment called a “kilowatt hour,” which can be defined as a unit of energy roughly equivalent to 3.6 megajoules. These distinctions are made so that it is easier for an electric or gas company to bill their customers. Gas energy meters measure the volume of gas over a specified amount of time to charge the consumer. This is called a volumetric flow rate, and it is a very efficient and precise way of measuring the amount of gas that passes through the meter at any given point in time.  Read more...

The Best Way To Arrange Photovoltaic Systems.

A modestly-constructed home is the right set-up pertaining to utilizing solar energy. Solar panels are usually most beneficial if placed on top of your dwelling as it is easy to absorb the suns rays from this unique position. A large portion of the home’s energy requirements can be acquired this way and you will then furthermore be helping minimizing the consumption of fossil fuels. Installing a solar power kit intended for your home is not at all hard. Always purchase a kit that’s user friendly and that has comprehensive installation guidelines. If setting it up yourself sounds way too intricate, you will find companies which will install the kits on your behalf for just a reasonable expense. When buying your kit never fail to consider the following, the amount of power you utilize per month plus the kitchen appliances you’ve got in your house.  Read more...

Ground Source Heat Pumps

You would have gone through the first part of this article on Direct Use geothermal heating systems, by now.
Ground Source Heat Pumps or GSHPs are on the other hand the most sought after heating systems as these are economically and environmentally important. They come in 3 main types.

  • Ground Coupled Heat Pump systems
  • Ground Water Heat Pump systems
  • Surface Water Heat Pump systems

The use of terminology in Ground Source Heat Pumps is somewhat confusing even to professionals. Therefore those who are interested better be prudent when analyzing the pros and cons of systems.

Ground Coupled Heat Pump systems
A ground coupled heat pump or a Closed Loop Ground-Source Heat Pump is a system incorporating a reversible, vapour compression type (i.e. systems which uses compressor driven refrigeration systems) unitary (packaged) unit coupled to a” refrigerant to water” heat exchanger (Condenser).This is the mostly commonly used residential GCHP in the world and is called “water to air” heat pump.
A closed loop secondary liquid (refrigerant) circuit consisting of water and antifreeze (or at times water only) circulates it through a polyethylene “U” tube buried approximately up to 150 meters (if buried in soil vertically or about a meter below ground surface, if buried horizontally), by means of a pump.
Another more efficient but expensive GCHP uses a buried copper tube type heat exchanger coupled to an Expansion Valve/capillary tube throttling device and a change over valve forming Direct Expansion type GCHP.
GCHPs are further sub divided based on the buried heat exchanger coils as follows;  Read more...

1 2 3 4 5 … 13 14
  • How to Optimization Energy From Your Home