Energía Renovable | Renewable Energy

[Ultramatic]

Up in the Air: How Flying Turbines Will Change Wind Power

One of wind power's grand challenges is that the breeze doesn't blow all the time—especially close to ground level. But high in the atmosphere the wind blows strong and steady, and startup companies backed by big-bucks investors (Google included) are building flying wind turbines to target this untapped wind power gold mine. But can flying turbines truly become a major energy source?



By James Vlahos

Twenty-five-knot gusts sweep across the Pacific, scooping up kiteboarders and flinging them into the sky. Atop a seaside bluff, the wind races through the grass in long lines, the prairie version of ocean waves, and buffets a panel delivery truck parked at the end of a dirt road. The logo in peeling paint on the side reads TOM'S QUALITY SNACKS… FOR EVERY TASTE. But there are no chips or Choco Tacos inside. Instead, four young men sit elbow to elbow, staring at computer screens filled with code. They act like an FBI surveillance team awaiting the big sting, until one of them jumps out the back and grabs what looks like a large model airplane.

He walks downwind, carrying the plane. It's nearly as large as he is. A voice from snack-truck mission control crackles over his radio—"launch when ready"—and he heaves the plane into the sky. The propeller hums. A pilot standing nearby maneuvers the craft with a remote control, but it's obvious this is no hobby flight. Rather than cruising aimlessly, the plane carves identical circles. A tether connects it to the ground—and after a few minutes, the pilot puts his controller down and software takes over. The plane is flying itself.

Of all the things you might guess are taking place, testing a potent new *method for generating clean power would probably rank near the bottom of the list. But here on the coast, just north of Santa Cruz, Calif., that's exactly what is *happening. These engineers from Joby Energy are developing a technology known as airborne wind. Like traditional wind power, it employs spinning rotors to generate electricity. But the similarity ends there. Joby's engineers want to ditch the bulky support towers of wind farms. They want to teach windmills to fly.

The plane climbed, driven by its propeller, until its tether was taut. But now, the wind alone, racing over the wings, provides sufficient lift, freeing the propeller to function as the rotor of a wind generator. Joby is building models 10 times the size of this research prototype, some with up to 12 rotors. In a fully deployed system, the electricity generated would be routed down the tether and into the grid.



The airborne wind industry is a gnat next to B-52s like hydropower and coal. But the sector is booming, with Joby and its closest rival, Makani Power, leading a race among more than a dozen startups. The companies have poured an estimated $50 million into R&D, and they are backed by Silicon Valley venture capitalists in search of the next big thing, as well as by ARPA-E, the Department of Energy agency that funds cutting-edge research. The promise of airborne wind has even wowed Google co-founders *Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who plunked $20 million into Makani. Ken Caldeira, a senior climate scientist for the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford *University, studied airborne wind relative to other energy options and came away impressed. "Airborne wind is one of the few potential sources that can supply power on the scale that civilization needs," he says.

Airborne wind farms might have the same number of turbines, the same *distance apart, as today's terrestrial ones. But they would fly on tethers 1000 feet or higher in the sky. Because the wind is stronger and more consistent there, *power generation would no longer be limited to the world's gustiest places, making the technology widely deployable. "Think of an airborne turbine as just a turbine on a really tall tower—without needing to pay for the tower," says *JoeBen Bevirt, the founder of Joby Energy.

High-yield. Low-cost. Clean. It all sounds great, but for these promises to pan out, the turbines must ultimately be able to take off safely, fly for hours or days and land without a human pilot—critical capabilities that are unproven and years away from commercialization. "The people doing airborne wind are visionaries," says Fort Felker, the *National Renewable Energy Labora*tory's leading expert on wind power. "But none of them has brought a product to market that has the safety and reliability requirements of flight vehicles."

Inside the snack truck, engineer *Henry Hallam tells me, "The plan for the day is to do some endurance testing and autonomous flight. If all goes well, it will be really boring." But the wind is too spirited for boring. On the fourth test, the plane is rocked by a pop; it belches a ball of fire, zigzags and lands hard. Bevirt vaults from the truck; engineer Greg Horn follows with a fire extinguisher.* The plane, fortunately, is fine, and it doesn't take long to figure out what *happened. The model is a testbed for studying flight control systems, not *energy production, but the wind was so strong, the motor controller couldn't brake the propeller sufficiently. "We *generated so much power, we melted our wires," Horn says. Bevirt turns to me with a smile. "It gives you a sense of how much energy is up there, huh?"




http://www.popularmechanics.com/scie...power?click=pp

[NUMERATZI]

Eso esta demente
Jajaj en el morro le daria bien la ventolera :P

Donde se podria poner eso?

[luisr]

En ningún sitio porque aquí se oponen a todo.

[NUMERATZI]

Tienes razon.
Pero si le pones una bandera de USA fortuño quizas lo ponga a la cañona.

[Ultramatic]

Nene, qué obsesión con Fortuño. Soñaras con el? You gotta' crush?

[Ultramatic]

Scientists unveil 'world's first practical artificial leaf'

By Ben Coxworth


Leaves – the kind that grow on trees – create energy from sunlight and water through the process of photosynthesis. For over a decade, scientists have been kicking around the idea of creating an "artificial leaf." Such a device would use sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, which could then be stored in a fuel cell and used to create electricity. A functioning artificial leaf has been created before, but was impractical due to the fact that it was made from expensive materials, and was highly unstable. Now, however, scientists are reporting that they have created a cost-effective, stable artificial leaf.
"A practical artificial leaf has been one of the Holy Grails of science for decades," said MIT's Dr. Daniel Nocera, who led the research team. "We believe we have done it. The artificial leaf shows particular promise as an inexpensive source of electricity for homes of the poor in developing countries. Our goal is to make each home its own power station."
Nocera's leaf is about the size of a poker card (but thinner), and is made of silicon, electronics, and nickel and cobalt catalysts – all materials that are relatively inexpensive and widely-available. Placed in a gallon of water in bright sunlight, it is said to be able to produce enough electricity to supply a house in a developing country for a day. It would be connected to a fuel cell located either on top of or beside the house.
When tested under laboratory conditions, it was able to operate continuously for at least 45 hours without a drop in activity. Newly discovered nickel and cobalt catalysts are the key to the leaf's practicality, allowing it to reportedly operate at ten times the efficiency of a natural leaf. Nocera believes that the efficiency can be boosted much higher in future versions and has founded a company called Sun Catalytix to pursue development of the technology.
John Turner of the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory created a functioning artificial leaf over ten years ago, but it incorporated costly metals, and barely lasted one day. More recently, Chinese scientists have presented a design for an artificial leaf that incorporated titanium dioxide and platinum, and Dutch researchers created a light-capturing system based on the chlorophyll of the alga Spirulina.
The MIT research was presented today at the 241st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim, California.
Nocera discusses the technology in the following video:



http://www.gizmag.com/worlds-first-p...al-leaf/18247/

[NUMERATZI]

Originally Posted by Ultramatic

Nene, qué obsesión con Fortuño. Soñaras con el? You gotta' crush?

Ni pal ca! Es que me cae spl mal!
Anibal fue mejor gobernador jajaja.

[NUMERATZI]

Originally Posted by Ultramatic

Scientists unveil 'world's first practical artificial leaf'

By Ben Coxworth


Leaves – the kind that grow on trees – create energy from sunlight and water through the process of photosynthesis. For over a decade, scientists have been kicking around the idea of creating an "artificial leaf." Such a device would use sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, which could then be stored in a fuel cell and used to create electricity. A functioning artificial leaf has been created before, but was impractical due to the fact that it was made from expensive materials, and was highly unstable. Now, however, scientists are reporting that they have created a cost-effective, stable artificial leaf.
"A practical artificial leaf has been one of the Holy Grails of science for decades," said MIT's Dr. Daniel Nocera, who led the research team. "We believe we have done it. The artificial leaf shows particular promise as an inexpensive source of electricity for homes of the poor in developing countries. Our goal is to make each home its own power station."
Nocera's leaf is about the size of a poker card (but thinner), and is made of silicon, electronics, and nickel and cobalt catalysts – all materials that are relatively inexpensive and widely-available. Placed in a gallon of water in bright sunlight, it is said to be able to produce enough electricity to supply a house in a developing country for a day. It would be connected to a fuel cell located either on top of or beside the house.
When tested under laboratory conditions, it was able to operate continuously for at least 45 hours without a drop in activity. Newly discovered nickel and cobalt catalysts are the key to the leaf's practicality, allowing it to reportedly operate at ten times the efficiency of a natural leaf. Nocera believes that the efficiency can be boosted much higher in future versions and has founded a company called Sun Catalytix to pursue development of the technology.
John Turner of the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory created a functioning artificial leaf over ten years ago, but it incorporated costly metals, and barely lasted one day. More recently, Chinese scientists have presented a design for an artificial leaf that incorporated titanium dioxide and platinum, and Dutch researchers created a light-capturing system based on the chlorophyll of the alga Spirulina.
The MIT research was presented today at the 241st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim, California.
Nocera discusses the technology in the following video:



http://www.gizmag.com/worlds-first-p...al-leaf/18247/

OMG!
Se podra hacer el I Planta ahora jejeje
No entiendo como diache crearon eso.

[Bori427]

Se nota que Numeratzi es un nenito que aun no ha desarrollado mucha capacidad.

[Ultramatic]

He's faking it.

[Ultramatic]

Pact aims to jumpstart electric cars

By : JOSÉ L. CARMONA
josec@caribbeanbusinesspr.com

The Puerto Rico government and the Renault-Nissan Alliance signed Tuesday a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to study the introduction, use and expansion of the Nissan LEAF electric vehicle (EV) on the island. Gov. Luis Fortuño, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority Executive Director Miguel Cordero and Ken Ramírez, director of Nissan Latin America & Caribbean, took part in the signing ceremony at Bayamón City Hall. The activity was staged against the backdrop of the new solar panels at the municipal government headquarters and coincided with the observation of Earth Month.
A working group will be established to meet the goals of the MOU. The group, which will include local government officials and Nissan representatives, is aimed at implementing a pilot program for the use of the Nissan LEAF and define the incentives granted by regulatory institutions and the government to users of this new technology.
“It is an honor for Nissan to be a part of this strategy. The MOU is a decisive step in introducing our zero-emissions technology with the Nissan LEAF,” said Ramírez. “We are ready to work jointly and make the age of sustainable mobility in Puerto Rico a reality.”
The Renault-Nissan Alliance has established more than 90 partnerships around the world with governments, municipalities, power suppliers and new carriers interested in developing the infrastructure for electric cars, noted Ramírez.
According to the Nissan Latin America & Caribbean director, the Nissan LEAF offers a quiet and efficient driving experience with an autonomy range of about 100 miles. It is powered by an electric engine working on Li-ion batteries, producing no polluting emissions at all. The vehicle does not have an internal combustion engine and does not use oil-based fuel.
“The LEAF’s electric engine offers 80 kilowatts of power (107 horsepower) and 207 foot-pounds of direct torque to the tires, providing quick response and powerful acceleration,” said Ramírez.
Ramírez added the Renault-Nissan Alliance has started up zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) initiatives in Japan, Israel, Denmark, Portugal, Monaco, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Ireland, China and Hong Kong.
In the U.S., the alliance is exploring ways to promote zero-emissions mobility and the development of the EV infrastructure in the states of Tennessee, Oregon, California, Arizona, Washington, North Carolina and Washington, D.C.
http://www.caribbeanbusinesspr.com/n...id=1&ct_name=1

[dude x]

Llega el auto eléctrico de Nissan
Fortuño presenta acuerdo para vender el Leaf

En febrero pasado, Kenneth Ramírez, de Nissan, presentó el Leaf al gobernador Fortuño. Hoy, Fortuño anunció el plan para instalar estaciones de recarga para el vehículo eléctrico, cero emisiones.

(Archivo/ Jorge Ramírez Portela)
Por Yalixa Rivera / yrivera@elnuevodia.com

El gobernador de Puerto Rico, Luis Fortuño, anunció hoy oficialmente la llegada del primer auto 100% eléctrico conocido como Leaf y manufacturado por Nissan.
El auto de cero emisiones que no requiere gasolina tendrá un costo aproximado de $30,000, precio que gracias a incentivos federales podría reducirse a $15,000.
Fortuño hoy selló el acuerdo de colaboración con Nissan que creará la infraestructura necesaria para la venta y distribución del Leaf en Puerto Rico, primer país del Caribe en tener este auto eléctrico.
Kenneth Ramírez, director de Nissan para la región de América Latina, dijo que el costo de operación del vehículo es 34% mas económico que un vehículo de gasolina.

Ramírez explicó que la recarga de 100 millas en el Leaf tendrá un costo de $5 aproximadamente, mientras que en un auto de gasolina el costo sobrepasaría los $15.
Por su parte, el alcalde de Bayamón, Ramón Luis Rivera, agregó que las primeras estaciones de recarga del auto estarán en las inmediaciones del Coliseo Rubén Rodriguez y formaran parte de la iniciativa de energía renovable del municipio de Bayamón, donde se opera un huerto solar que produce unos 2,190 kilovatios por día.
La actividad celebrada en este municipio contó con la presencia de Miguel Cordero, director de la Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica, así como del senador Carmelo Rios.

http://www.elnuevodia.com/llegaelaut...an-932468.html

[richiepr77]

Segun el website de Nissan, toma 30 minutos recargar a un 80% con una toma de 480V el Leaf. En una de 220V, 7 horas y en una de 110V, 20 horas, en estas dos ultimas al 100%.

http://mobile.usablenet.com/mt/www.n.../list/charging

[NUMERATZI]

Que hicieron con la demanda que le hicieron a nissan por que ese carro no emitia sonido y pues jente sorda o maquinas de deteccion no lo podian escuchar o detectar?

[Ultramatic]

Experimental direct solar steam generation power plant opens in Spain

By Ben Coxworth
22:02 April 4, 2011

2 Pictures


An experimental new direct solar steam generation power plant generates electricity by using the Sun's rays to heat water and create steam


When most of us think of sunlight being used to generate power, we likely picture photovoltaic cells. Concentrated solar power plants however, use lenses or mirrors to heat fluid – such as synthetic oil – which in turn is used to generate high-pressure steam to drive a conventional turbine. A new experimental solar steam generation power plant that opened last week in southern Spain is aiming to improve on the efficiency of existing systems by using water as the direct working fluid and incorporating novel methods for storing the energy, so it can be dispensed even on cloudy days or at night.
The pilot plant is located in the municipality of Carboneras, and is the result of a collaboration between the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, or DLR) and Spanish utility company Endesa. It was officially put into use on March 31st.
The water in the receiver tubes is kept at a pressure of up to 120 bar (1740 psi), which results in the creation of superheated 500C (932F) steam. That higher temperature allows the whole process to work more efficiently, bringing down the cost of solar thermal power generation and making it a more viable option.
Heat gathered by the plant can be stored in both sensible and latent forms, for use in creating energy when the sun isn't brightly shining. In the sensible heat system, heat from the steam is absorbed by a concrete storage system, so it can later be released to create more steam and drive the turbine. In the latent heat system, the steam is used to heat salt, which absorbs energy when it reaches a temperature of 305C (581F) and changes from a solid to a liquid state. When the salt cools back down below 305 degrees and reverts to its solid form, that energy is released.

The Carboneras plant now boasts the world's largest high-temperature latent heat storage facility.
"The advantage of such a system is its capacity to store large amounts of energy in a small volume and with a minimal temperature change," said Doerte Laing, Thermal Energy Storage Research Area Manager at the DLR Institute of Technical Thermodynamics. "The energy in the system can be transferred and absorbed very efficiently by phase transition at a constant temperature."
Researchers plan to keep the plant in use until the end of the year. They will be validating the direct solar steam generation process itself, the storage methods, and the flexible pipe connections that are necessary for the mirror and receiver tube assembly to pivot as it tracks the Sun.
http://www.gizmag.com/direct-solar-s...r-plant/18318/

[Bori427]

Busco y busco en todo el foro y no encuentro el post donde estaban todos los proyectos de energia propuestos para PR, alguien me puede ayudar?

[Ultramatic]

Wave Power: 5 Bright Ideas to Capture the Ocean’s Energy

The world's ocean waves hold as much as 10 trillion watts, and engineers and startup companies are racing to find the best ways to tap the incredible resource that's washing up on our shores every day. These designs—inspired by beach caves, oyster shells and airplane wings—could point the way to harnessing wave energy. By Sarah Fecht

Far out at sea, the wind blows over the water's glassy surface, creating tiny ripples and eddies. Those ripples provide a rough surface for the wind to grab and push—and waves are born. The longer a gust of wind catches the water's surface, the bigger the waves become.

According to some estimates, ocean waves around the world could hold up to 10 trillion watts of energy. If humans could harness that energy, we would be able to generate renewable, predictable and pollution-free electricity. But so far, few large-scale wave-energy projects have made it off the diving board—which means that ocean-wave technology is a free-for-all in terms of design. "There are many, many different types of devices," says Paul Jacobson, an ocean-energy leader at the Electric Power Research Institute. "The technology hasn't developed to the point where a lot of the designs have been shaken out yet. And so it remains to be seen which devices will turn out to be the most cost-effective and efficient."

These five ocean-power designs could help us to ride the wave into the future of energy.



The Oyster

Company: Aquamarine Power

Much like its namesake mollusk, the Oyster sits on the seabed, opening and closing its jaws. The device is a large hinged flap attached to the ocean floor at a depth of about 35 feet. As the flap opens and closes, it drives hydraulic pistons that squirt high-pressure water onshore, where it drives a conventional hydroelectric turbine. "In essence, the Oyster is simply a large pump which provides the power source for a conventional onshore hydroelectric power plant," says Carrie Clement, a spokeswoman for Aquamarine.

A 0.32-megawatt Oyster has already been installed in Scotland, where it began feeding power to National Grid in 2009. Now Aquamarine Power is working on creating a 2.4-megawatt Oyster bed in the Orkney Islands in Scotland. The submerged design protects Oyster's equipment from storm damage and allows it to keep working in all kinds of weather

The Pelamis Wave Energy Converter

Company: Pelamis Wave Power

Floating on top of the water, the Pelamis device is the sea snake of ocean-power generation. It consists of four big cylinders strung together by hydraulic joints. As the tubes bob up and down on the waves, their movement pumps the joints, moving oil through hydraulic motors. Those motors drive generators to produce electricity.

Recent improvements in the design give the device's joints universal mobility. The initial joint worked like a knee joint—it could only generate electricity from simple up-and-down or side-to-side movements. The new design acts more like the ball-and-socket joint of your shoulder. It can make electricity whether the segments are moving up and down, from side to side, or in any other direction. That increases efficiency at turning waves into energy.

Each Pelamis snake is 600 feet long and 13 feet wide and generates up to 0.75 megawatts—that's enough to power about 500 homes for a year. Past projects have generated up to 2.25 megawatts, and Pelamis plans to set up similar ones at several sites in Scotland.

GreenWAVE

Company: Oceanlinx

This design was inspired by Oceanlinx founder Tom Denniss's youthful days on the beach. Like a blowhole cave on a rocky coastline, the greenWAVE consists of an underwater tunnel that opens on a cabin full of air that sits above the waterline. At the top of the cabin is a small hole with a turbine. As an incoming wave floods the device with water, it compresses the air inside the cabin, making it rush out the air vent. When the water recedes, the falling water creates a vacuum inside the chamber. That makes the cabin suck in air from outside.

When it's working, the greenWAVE sounds like a big animal breathing, Denniss says. And as the vent breathes in and out, it turns a turbine hooked up to a generator. Each device measures 82 by 50 feet and has a 1-megawatt capacity. Oceanlinx has plans to develop a permanent version in Australia or Mexico, which it hopes to expand into a wave farm. GreenWAVE is relatively inexpensive as well, Denniss argues, because it's made mostly of concrete, weathers ocean storms easily and has no moving parts underwater.




The Terminator

Company: The U.S. Air Force Academy

This model was inspired by airplane design. The wing-shaped turbine blades force water to flow faster over one side than the other, creating different pressures on each surface. This results in a "lift" toward the low-pressure side; lift is the upward force that happens when you hold your hand horizontally out the window of a moving car. In contrast, typical water turbines rely on drag, or the direct push of the water—like sticking your hand out flat against the wind. By employing lift instead of drag, engineer and owner Stefan Siegel says the device (theoretically) could use 99 percent of a wave's energy, compared to the 50 percent efficiency or less that current tidal power projects can get. Siegel hasn't tried the device in the ocean yet. He's working to scale up the prototype to make it strong enough for testing off the coast of Texas later this year.

Autonomous PowerBuoy

Company: Ocean Power Technologies

The PowerBuoy has two main parts: a moving float that's 5 feet in diameter by 5 feet tall and a 25-foot-tall spar anchoring it. When the float bobs up and down on the wave, it tugs on the spar. That stretching gets translated into electricity by a rotary motor and generator.

One significant challenge to the design, says Phil Hart, OPT's chief technology officer, was getting the buoy to properly resist the waves. In order to get electricity out of puny waves, the resistance between the float and the spar needs to be low—otherwise, the weakling wave won't move the buoy at all. But bigger waves contain more energy, and by increasing the force needed to move the float, OPT can harness more of that energy. Thus, PowerBuoy needs low resistance at some times and high resistance at other times. To solve the problem, they've implemented a computer that adjusts the device's resistance 10 times per second, leading to a big increase in efficiency.

Each PowerBuoy currently operating off the coast of Hawaii has a capacity of 0.04 megawatts, but an upcoming installation in Scotland may be able to generate up to 0.15 megawatts.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/scie...ck=pp#fbIndex1

[luisr]

Yo no se qué piensan pero yo veo esto de "green" o "verde" más como un truco publicitario. Ahora todo el mundo quiere ser "verde". No se equivoquen, no estoy criticando el uso energía renovable. Es la mal uso de la palabra verde. El mejor ejemplo: Via Verde.

[Ultramatic]

Eso se llama "Green washing". Corporaciónes y gobiernos tratan de vender algo como si fuera bueno para el ambiente cuando no necesariamente lo es. Por ejemplo, las compañias de cable, telefono y los bancos todos quieren que hagas tus pagos online y asi ellos dicen qué no tendrían que enviarte facturas de papel. Menos papel, menos arboles cortados. En realidad lo qué ellos quieren es ahorrar el coste del papel y el envio. Les importa un bledo los arboles.

[NUMERATZI]

Encuanto a la via verde . Se llama asi por que va por areas verdes las cuales desforestara cuando explote ...

El gasoducto tiene de energia renovable y verde
como Fortuño tiene de buen gobernador.
capich?