How to Make Your Own Solar Powered Winter Garage Heater

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

Whilst a lot of people do have electricity in their own garages and sheds, heat can be an issue throughout winter.
However you can take advantage of the sunny days of winter and use solar power from the sun to produce heat in your garage. Particularly if you live in hilly or mountainous areas, where the sun can reflect the suns rays as you could build a solar furnace to collect some of that sunshine that bounces off the snow or that just beams down. Solar powered furnaces have in the past recorded to reach temperatures of up to 110 degrees. So if you have a lot of scrap laying around in your basement, then put it to good use.
You can start with some 2×4’s and plywood to make a simple box. It helps if you build your box to the dimensions of the material that you are going to be fitting in there, in this case you should use aluminum cans because they’re easy to get hold of and to fit into your home made box. 50 cans in 5 columns of 10 will funnel air upwards.
Before putting your cans in the box, be sure to seal the edges with wood glue to ensure that any of the heat that the box produces does not escape.
So you may have already thought, “How can air climb the columns of cans when there’s no hole at the bottom of the can?” Answer: drill press and 3/4-inch bit. Times 45.
The last five cans, the bases of each column, will sit on the bottom of the box and thus will be unable to draw air from underneath, so I poked holes in the sides of each of the five. Stack the cans with liberal doses of adhesive caulk. Give them enough time to dry. Once they have dried paint each column with black BBQ paint to absorb the suns heat, make sure that the paint is matt, as it absorbs more heat like this, BBQ paint is also very good because it keeps from flaking off the cans.
At the top, you can then drill an outlet hole. Leave an inch or two of space between the tops of the columns and the top of the box to permit air to flow out of the columns. Drill out the outlet hole based on the diameter of a wet-dry vacuum hose that you could find laying in your basement, about 1-1/2 inches in diameter.
At the bottom you can use another wet-dry vacuum attachment; the rectangle shaped end that you use on the carpet, this will disperse the incoming air more evenly. Screw it in at each ends, then glue the seal. Then you can start to glue the columns in place. Remember to have drilled your inlet hole in the bottom. You can drill an inlet hole at the base for each column if you have time, this way the air can simply pass over the cans (there’s about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch between the cans and the upper edge of the 2×4 frame) and all the air would be forced to pass though them picking up all of the absorbed heat.
You can then make a frame for your solar powered furnace using anything strong enough to hold it up towards the sun, you may wish to attach a thermometer to it to see how quickly it heats up and to what temperatures it can reach. Once it has been out side all day you can then bring it inside your garage and the heat that has been preserved by the solar heater shall radiate through your chosen space to heat up.

Renewable Energy Products: They Are The Need of The Hour!

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

Over the years Earth’s natural deposits like coal, fossil fuels, and minerals have been mercilessly extracted and used for running appliances and machinery for domestic and commercial purposes. As a result, these natural resources are fast depleting. Renewable energy products are the best way to save our planet. As they use renewable energy sources like wind, solar energy, earth’s heat, and water, they do not disturb the earth’s natural activities.Some of the commonly used renewable energy products are ground source heat pumps, air source heat pumps, and solar heat water pumps. All these renewable energy products meet the individual heating and cooling needs of consumers without depending on the conventional energy sources.For instance, GSHP or Ground Source Heat Pumps are energy efficient central heating systems that use the natural heat inside the earth for heating/cooling the living space. Similarly, Air source heat pumps use heat inside the earth or that present in the atmosphere for heating the room or water and Solar heat pumps use solar energy for heating the water.All such renewable energy products are highly energy efficient. Co-efficiency of Performance, which is the ratio of the amount of heat produced per unit of electricity, of a high quality GSHP or Air source heat pump is usually 3 to 4. This is much more when compared to a conventional electrical heating system. So, you may save not only the planet, but also your money by buying the renewable energy products.Another great advantage of the renewable energy products is that they do not emit any fumes, carbon emissions, or soot into the atmosphere. Thus, the renewable energy products are the best way to curb the ever-growing pollution and the global warming.However, the only reason why not many people buy renewable heating pumps or solar water heaters is that they are considerably more expensive compared to an electric water heater or a fuel-run water heating system.But what if you can get hold of renewable energy products at competitive rates? EcoVision, a renowned and genuine UK based supplier, is offering a wide range of the renewable energy products at discounted rates.At EcoVision you really can get high quality Ground source heat pumps, Air source heat pumps, water source heat pumps, and Solar Heating to work with wet underfloor heating, high-efficiency radiators, existing radiators, heat storage tanks and swimming pools.

What is Renewable Energy?

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Non-renewable energy cannot be renewed but on the other hand, renewable energy is as its name states. It replenishes it’s self and will never run out. The UK government pledged a few years ago that 10% our energy will come from renewable energy sources by 2010 but it seems like this will not be realised.

Solar Energy

The sun is the main source of renewable energy whether it is directly or indirectly. Sunlight, or solar energy, can be used directly for heating and lighting homes and other buildings, for generating electricity, and for hot water heating, solar cooling, and a variety of commercial and industrial uses.

Wind

Wind is an indirect form of renewable energy driven by the sun. The energy of the wind is captured by wind turbines. Then, the winds and the sun´s heat cause water to evaporate. When this water vapor turns into rain or snow and flows downhill into rivers or streams, its energy can be captured using hydroelectric power.

Biomass

Plants grow due to the effects of sunlight combined with rain. Biomass is another form of renewable energy harvested from the organic matter of plants. Biomass can be used to produce electricity, transportation fuels, or chemicals. When biomass is used to produce electricity, transportation etc. it is called bioenergy.

Hydrogen

Hydrogen also can be found in many organic compounds, as well as water. On earth it is believed that hydrogen is the most abundant element on the Earth. But it doesn´t occur naturally as a gas. It´s always combined with other elements, such as with oxygen to make water. Once separated from another element, hydrogen can be burned as a fuel or converted into electricity.

Geothermal energy

Geothermal energy is one source of renewable energy that does not come from the sun. This source is tapped from the Earth´s internal heat for a variety of uses, including electric power production, and the heating and cooling of buildings. And the energy of the ocean´s tides comes from the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun upon the Earth.

Ocean energy

In fact, ocean energy comes from a number of sources. In addition to tidal energy, there´s the energy of the ocean´s waves, which are driven by both the tides and the winds. The sun also warms the surface of the ocean more than the ocean depths, creating a temperature difference that can be used as an energy source. All these forms of ocean energy can be used to produce electricity.

Other ways..

Many companies offer to supply ‘green’ electricity. Packages vary, so check exactly what you are buying, but they generally fall into two categories:

The law already requires electricity suppliers to produce a certain amount of their electricity from renewable sources. When you switch to a green tariff, check whether your supplier will generate renewable energy over and above the legal minimum. Only then will your choice lead to an increase in the amount of renewable electricity produced in the UK.

Grant

The Low Carbon Buildings Programme provides grants for a range of technologies that can be applied for online. If you live in Scotland, you can apply for a Scottish Community Householder Renewables Initiative Grant; or if you live in Northern Ireland, the Environment and Renewable Energy Fund Household Programme has been set up to provide funding.

Renewable Energy is fascinating and necessary for our survival.

Netplumb has experienced Plumbers and Heating Engineers who can give you advice. Plumbers in Enfield, Stroud Green, Islington etc.

Wind Power

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

With the way the energy crisis is growing, soon the fossil fuels that we rely on will be gone or so overpriced, that very few people will be able to afford it. Researchers have been creating new and innovating ways to create energy out of the natural resources that Mother Nature provides. Even though the wind has been a source of power for hundreds of years, it is not until recent decades that it was considered on a large scale.

There are many different types of natural resources that researchers have found promising, however, wind power is the most promising and least expensive renewable power source. There is however a downside to wind power; its variable nature because wind doesn’t always blow researchers must determine the effects it will have, however, wind power has been determined to be stable, because its cost does not fluctuate with the price of fuel.

Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into useful form, such as electricity, using wind turbines. It is used in large-scale wind farms and for national electrical grids as well as in small individual turbines for providing electricity to rural residences where traditional power is not offered.

Wind power is versatile when air moves, causing wind, it has kinetic energy—the energy created whenever mass is in motion. It is especially helpful here in the winter to capture both the ferocious and gentle mountain winds during the times of least sunlight and highest power use.

Wind Power is clean and renewable type of energy, and should be considered an important component of any long-term energy strategy. This is because wind power generation uses a natural and virtually inexhaustible source of power, (the wind) to produce electricity.

Wind power is an affordable, efficient and inexhaustible source of electricity. It is set to become an important means of generating electricity worldwide. Wind power has become the world’s fastest growing energy source, It a viable, robust, fast-growing industry. Wind power is growing partly as a result of technology improvements and cost reductions and partly in response to state and federal laws and incentives.

Wind power is by far the renewable source with the largest growth in worldwide capacity during the last decade. Wind power is now a major option for new, utility-scale power generation. It does not even compete with the prices of fossil fuels, which are continually rising on a daily basis.

The Revolution of Wind Power

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

Although the study and implementation of wind power is not a novice idea, it does seem to be a widespread deal lately. One look at a renewable energy news resource shows numerous pages of stories specifically on the topic of wind power. The purpose of today’s post is to take a look at the news stories of one day, today, and give briefings on each.

In the Telegraph & Argus, a story regarding a charity and a wind turbine unfolds. The plan, the construction of a 15 meter wind turbine that was to provide power to a center for disadvantaged youth, has been rebuffed, however, by the planning panel of Bradford Council. The concern of the residents who opposed the new technology was the increased air flow that would be created in the area in which the turbine was to be placed. A new proposal will likely be created that involves moving the turbine to the opposite end of the center.

How do wind turbines affect wildlife? That is the question that Keith DeWitt Lott, a wildlife biologist, hopes to answer through his latest research. Although Cleveland, Ohio is interested in the positive effects that wind-based energy can bring to the city, they desire to go about it in an environmentally responsible way. This news story was reported at Cleveland.com.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review provided a short clip on the considerations the city’s council currently has regarding using the high wind level in Green Tree Park to provide power to the park. A wind turbine may be put in the park to help offset some of the costs the city incurs through leaving the lights on throughout the night.

The Bourne Carrier in Massachusetts reports the possibility of a wind turbine being constructed off Taylor’s Point. Three agencies, the Bourne Recreation Authority, Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA) and Army Corps of Engineers, are seeking more ways to reduce their energy expenses and it is their hope to locate this alternative energy facility near the academy dock. This turbine would also aid in the Corps lowering its canal operation expenses. In addition to the wind turbines, Massachusetts Maritime Academy is also considering thermal panels on dorms and a hydro-electric facility.

With every new idea come those who advocate it and those who oppose it. The latter of these two extremes, opposition, is what is being seen in Maryland over a wind farm proposal. Seven hundred residents arrived at hearings regarding this proposal with the intent of protesting the plans. These individuals share the frustration of having an otherwise faultless landscape (including forest, lakes and mountain views) being interrupted by the wind farm’s transmission lines webbing through the backdrop. The threat to tourism is also a concern for some of the residents. In response to the amazing opposition being voiced at the hearings, the commissioners of Garret Country voted unanimously against the wind farm proposal.

Above is a small selection of five new stories being reported on today. This illustrates to some extent, however, the magnitude of wind power in the news, as well as a selection of stories accounting the advocating and opposition of this green energy source.

Renewable Energy

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

Renewable energy is made from resources that Mother Nature will replace, like wind, water and sunshine. It is also being called “clean energy” or “green power” because it doesn’t pollute the air or the water. It a power source that is not limited, as fossil fuels are.

Renewable energy is considered a very important solution to a problem that has{readmore}grown out of control worldwide. It has been determined to be a clean alternative energy source.

Renewable energy is ready for a global takeoff, and has become the answer for a better tomorrow.

Renewable energy is a broad category of sources that draws from the energy around us naturally. Renewable energy is seen as one of the important components of climate change solution. It is astounding that so much of the worlds fossil fuels have been depleted, and that renewable energy is just now be sought as a viable alternative.

Renewable energy is the main component of eco-energy planning. It is available in a variety of methods of use, which can reduce energy consumption, preclude energy utilization and eliminate our dependence on non-renewable energy sources.

Renewable energy is produced from continuously available natural processes that do not involve the consumption of exhaustible resources such as fossil fuels. Renewable energy is also called “clean energy” or “green power” because it doesn’t pollute the air or the water.

Renewable energy is used for electricity generation, heat in industrial processes, heating and cooling buildings, and transportation fuels. It is assisting America in meeting its energy needs. Renewable energy effectively utilizes natural resources such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat, which are naturally replenished. Renewable energy systems encompass a broad and diverse array of technologies, and the current status of these can vary considerably.

Renewable energy power generated from the nearly infinite elements of nature such as sunshine, wind, the movement of water, the internal heat of the Earth, and the combustion of replenishable crops is very popular with the public and governmental officials because it is an unlimited and environmentally gentle source of power, particularly compared with the supposedly limited and environmentally challenging alternative of reliance on fossil fuels and nuclear power.

Renewable energy can help the United States rely on domestic sources of energy, which will eventually eliminate our need for oil or slow the growth of our consumption. Renewable energy can meet our energy requirements while decreasing our greenhouse gas emissions.

Renewable energy can provide significant opportunities for developing countries and rural areas as well as in industrialized countries.

Solar Power Your Home Effortlessly

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009