Windpower Gaining Interest on Guam!

This is an interesting YouTube Video of a Wind Generator installed at a home on the Western Pacific island of Guam. Note that the speakers also mention the solar water heater! What a great way to save on power bills! (Also, since the power frequently goes out on Guam due to all sorts of factors--with sometimes the blame going to the brown tree snake, Boiga irregularis -- having your own source of power is a very convenient thing!)

Upcoming PV Conference in San Francisco - July 14, 2009

"The Solar Future; A realistic approach to California's PV market opportunities" conference in will be held in San Francisco, California in a few weeks on July 14, 2009--during the same week as the "Intersolar North America" conference. Experts from the field will discuss barriers to market entry, incentives schemes and their practical experiences.

Guest speakers include:

Sue Kateley; Executive Director of CALSEIA (California Solar Energy Industry Association)
David Rubin; Director at PG&E and Chairman Board of Directors, Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA)
David Devir; Vice President of Technology, SunCentric
Barry Cinnamon; CEO and founder of Akeena Solar
Andrew Beebe; Vice President, Global Product Strategy of Suntech Power
Glenn Harris; CEO of SunCentric
Lyndon Rive; CEO of SolarCity
Hugh Kuhn; Vice President, Operations and Technology of Solar Power Partners

For this conference, companies with an innovative product or service that will help to bring down the cost of a Balance Of Systems are invited to pitch their product.
Interested companies should contact Solarplaza to find out more.

This invite came from:
Johan Trip
CGO Solarplaza
+31 10 280 9198
j.trip@solarplaza.com
www.thesolarfuture.com

This is a wind turbine generator we saw in Deming, New Mexico just off the freeway at a rest stop. Interesting contraption. Inspirational to see how it had been erected and tied down. And it was fun thinking of other possibilities for a device like this in other places around the world. Note that unlike most of the other wind power generators, this device has only two blades opposite each other on the shaft (rather than the usual three blades). I wonder if this increases or decreases efficiencies.

Mini Wind Generator for Charging Your Portable Devices!

Just saw this come over the "wires"... A miniature wind generator for charging your portable devices.

Interesting. I can see it being used when out driving and your cell phone is starting to die and you haven't brought your car-charger. Just hold this thing out the window as you're driving (have your passenger do it, you shouldn't be doing this yourself as you drive). HYMini claims that you can use it on your bicycle, or when boating or skiing. Makes sense. I live in a really windy area of the country (and, no, I don't mean all the politicians, but that's also a factor)--might be able to set this up on a window sill and charge my devices that way.

The only hybrid vessel in the United States?

As I mentioned in my previous post, I did some digging and got some more information about that interesting "Hybrid Boat" I saw when I was walking along the piers in San Francisco. Here are some more specifics:

Previously used as a commercial diving boat, the Hornblower Hybrid is a 64ft catamaran with a fully-enclosed main deck and a covered roof deck. The boat, which has a capacity of 149 passengers, underwent retrofitting, repowering, and refurbishing in Sausalito to be more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. The boat was originally put into service as a dive platform in the Gulf... then purchased and moved to Sausalito for its most recent transformation.

Most noticeable about the boat are the twin 10ft-tall wind turbines (1.2 KW normal output, 2.0 KW max.) and a photovoltaic solar array (1.2 KW) covering the awning on the top deck. These two features (turbines and PV array) provide energy that is stored in battery banks that power the navigation tools, lighting, and other electronics on the boat. Excess power is stored in the main propulsion battery banks.

For propulsion, the boat uses two Series 60 MTU Tier 2 marine diesel engines that are fuel-efficient and cleaner, thus reducing the amount of diesel fuel required and reducing emissions. These diesel engines are run two Marathon 320 KW generators that send the power to two Yosukawa variable frequency drives that control the output of two 400 horsepower electric motors connected directly to conventional propellers. This customized drive system allows the captain to monitor the boat's energy needs and select the most efficient power sources (for example, when the boat is idle at the dock, the engines shut down and the motors run off energy stored in the battery banks). A 380V DC battery bank allows a "zero-emission mode" to be used.

Lighting throughout the boat is Light-Emitting-Diode (LED), which requires a fraction of the energy required by standard bulbs to provide equal or more illumination. The LEDs also require less maintenance time and trouble.

This boat was purchased, refurbished, and put into service by Hornblower's Alcatraz Cruises--no grant or public money was used in the boat's redesign and refurbishment.

Hornblower's Alcatraz Cruise on the Hybrid website has a description of the service that this craft is being used for and also has an Excellent Diagram Showing the Basic Schematics of the Hybrid Vessel.

You can see this interesting vessel in person at the Alcatraz Landing at Pier 33 in San Francisco, CA.

Hybrid Boats? Yup, They're Out There!

While wandering around the piers in San Francisco the other day I came across a boat that sported the label "Hybrid"... Of course, I had to take a closer look and perhaps get a picture or two of this interesting contraption.




I'm not sure what aspect of the boat was "hybridized"--Were the wind-generators on the top deck powering the whole ship or providing only electricity for charging the batteries to power the lighting and perhaps other minor electrical devices on the craft? I would have asked any Hornblower crew around if I could have found one. I'll update here if I get this information. This is an example of wind-energy powering a boat but the boat is obviously NOT a sailboat.





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Inside Workings of an Electric Vehicle

If you've ever wondered what the innards of an electric vehicle (non-hybrid) looked like, here's a view. Pictured under the raised bed of this Xebra Zaptruck pickup is the bank of 6 lithium batteries; the QuiQ HF/PFC Battery Charger from Delta-q Technologies in Burnaby, BC, Canada; the electric motor (next to the spare tire); and the DC Motor Controller. The batteries are connected in serial fashion through the DC Motor Controller which controls the torque/movement of the electric motor. According to the rep I talked to, the vehicle has a range of 25 miles after a 5-hour charge. It has a top speed of about 40mph. It is considered a "motorcycle" by California DMV (because it has only 3 wheels). It is for city streets only--you don't want to take this onto a freeway or expressway.


This is where you plug in the cord to charge the batteries. When closed, it looks like the standard fuel port for any kind of car.





This is the QuiQ HF/PFC Battery Charger -- through a connector/outlet where the gas refill port might be, it charges using a standard 110v extension cord connection.


This is one end of the DC Motor Controller (with connections to the batteries and the control panel in the passenger compartment).