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Talkin' 'bout my generation
Good news! Soaring energy costs could get even worse, spurring a new era in which people make clean power for themselves.
This connective, decentralized model answers the primary argument that has made renewables the poor stepchild of the big energy family for so long. Renewables ebb and flow and are, by definition, distributed all over the globe. So you can’t build enough big power plants to collect their energy and run a national economy—much less a global one—even though enough sunlight shines on the planet every hour to power it for a year. By contrast, fossil fuels are concentrated and ready to extract and feed into big, powerful plants.
But the Internet has taught us a few things about harnessing distributed power; namely, that if you hook thousands of small home computers together on a network, you can generate computing power at a magnitude that could never be matched by the largest mainframe supercomputer. Many have experienced this phenomenon while “sharing” music on the Internet: programs like LimeWire allow hundreds of people to download a single file, without crashing anyone’s system or eating up too much bandwidth, by carefully redistributing the load. Likewise, Rifkin notes, “We can take IT to the power grid, too, and it will exceed anything you could produce with centralized coal-fired or nuclear power plants.”
This isn’t just wishful thinking. A study by the U.S. Department of Energy showed that Seattle area residents reduced energy bills 10 percent and peak loads 50 percent by using smart grid technology—even without installing green generating capacity. If the Bouygues Immobilier building were connected to this kind of grid instead of to the current one, it could help power not 14 houses but more like 14,000, while making its owners lots of money. And none of us would have to turn off our computers and sing “Kumbaya” when the fog rolled in.
The Seattle project incorporated IBM’s “service oriented architecture” (SOA), now being used to build smart grids in several U.S. states and Australia. Country Energy, Australia’s largest utility, hopes to have a 10,000-home pilot project running by the end of the year, and convert its entire network by 2020.
An IBM survey of 1,900 households around the world uncovered a surprising finding: The ability to “be on a more equal footing with their providers” was a bigger incentive than either cost or environmental impact in opting for a smart grid. Given the chance to upend the traditional power structure by selling energy back to the utility companies, 62 percent of households were eager to turn their homes into power plants—a case of ethos over economic interest.
Hermann Scheer, who authored Germany’s groundbreaking Renewable Energy Sources Act, has seen how powerful this model can be. “Scheer’s law,” as it’s sometimes called, provided guaranteed rates to those selling renewable power back to the grid, and helped catapult Germany’s green energy industry forward. The country now adds more than 3,000 megawatts of renewable energy each year.
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Magic trees converting light, heat and wind energy into electricity
We will set the future for multi renewable energy collection not as a set of straight endless rows of brittle shiny panels in a desert, or visual polluting wind turbines but with super efficient natural looking.
We make use of nature’s perfect design - a TREE – innovative use of the latest nanotechnologies has made it possible to produce a Highly Efficient Nanoleaf which will be assembled onto our artificial natural looking trees for the purpose of delivering power.
The 'Nanoleaves' including petiole are a true ingenious concept, a little power house, a combination of thermo- photovoltaics, for conversion of light and heat, joint with piezovoltaic, tiny generators that generate electricity from movement of the wind. That’s three conversions in one system (Tree) and course, our landscape still looks wonderful and it would be nicely cool in a shadow of this forest on a hot summer day.
What does this mean for the future? The field of biomimetics is the application of methods and systems, found in nature. To capitalize on the wealth of designs and processes found in nature, engineering and technology, has spawned a number of innovations far superior to what the human mind alone could have devised. The reason is simple. Nature, through billions of years of trial and error, has produced effective solutions to innumerable complex real-world problems. The rigorous competition of natural selection means waste and efficiency are not tolerated in natural systems. Solar Botanics is replicating natural manufacturing methods as in the production of chemical compounds by plants and animals; this will enable Solar Botanics to directly tap into nature's ingenuity. In the near future, Solar Botanics will “grow” because of improved efficiency - 300 times more efficient than a solar panel and in tune with nature to serve our energy needs through the application of pragmatic natural solutions developed by evolution.
Trees and shrubs can be planted most of the time without permission because they fit in with our local scenery. Trees, plants and shrubs have a esthetical function the enhance our city and meeting places, or are just there to give us a nice view when we look out of our window. Trees decrease our visual awareness if it comes to visual or noise pollution. The psychology effect of trees takes care of a better micro climate, extreme temperatures are reduced and absorbed; trees and shrubs give protection against wind, and sun. Trees are a source of inspiration for artistic creativity. Trees carry a culture of history they can show the history of a place and are often proof of past history. Trees are a symbol growth and energy, trees have a economic value. The presence of trees often increases the value of property, especially mature trees that at the same time deliver more energy.
Solar Botanic Energy Systems plans is to deliver the first trees by the end of 2010 and offering the market a aesthetic and triple efficient solar, heat and wind collecting systems. For example; a Solar Botanic palm tree with 36 leaves will generate more than 7000 kWh per year, the price of such a tree including an inverter is around $ 10.000,00
Added value of solar botanic trees; providing shade, cooling the air, wind break, crop protection, prevention of heat islands in cities, road glare, noise barrier, protection of dune vegetation. Solar botanic trees can be fitted with additional equipment to filter the air, (taking out CO2), or to filter or assist in water management.
Our trees are: • Triple efficient. • Durable. • Low investment/high return. • Easy to install. • Weather resistant: rain, hail, dust, lightning, wind. • Good monetary values for private homes. • Varies sizes, colors and species • Aesthetic natural design, in harmony with nature. • Application for designer gardens, penthouses, balconies • Wide arrangement of Solar flowers, shrubs (solar shrub fencing) water plants. Applications for; • Urban and Rural • Recreational parks, city parks • New housing estates • Plug in trees for cars – streets & parking areas • Golf courses and resorts • Mountainous regions – far away places • Coastlines • Highways • Airports • Deserts • Penthouses, balconies, verandas • Private gardens • De-forested areas • Areas of commercial interest; Islands, nature resorts • Ponds, lakes, seas and oceans • Crop protection • Solar Botanic flowering plants to harvest colorful your electric power • Solar Botanics can be used for: Windshield, Shade, anti glare, objectionable views • Sound barrier, windbreak, wind obstruction and air conditioning and much more Various renewable energy producers are investing heavily, including Google, GE and Pickens the new kid on the block, joining the renewable energy market, their marketing machines running on maximum speed, daily TV adds on CNN and BBC are proof of the importance, to gain consumer interest, to promote green energy and so on.
However, their best efforts of promoting safe and clean energy is also reason for concern as some renewable energy systems are not all that friendly, and some industries starting to feel resistance towards their systems. A TREE IS SO MUCH MORE Human intervention and exploitation in the ecosystem will produce changes in order to meet the desired objectives. According to the Millennium Ecosystems Assessment, in many parts of the world the consumption of ecosystems services are managed in an unsustainable way. Therefore it is strongly necessary to find direct drivers of ecosystem management that can provide more effective cost-benefit opportunities for multipurpose systems, which can meet multiple goals, including the pervasive environmental, social, and economic objectives of sustainable development.
I hope this gives you some idea of upcoming renewable energy systems that can be used responsible, without destroying our planet to much
Alex van der Beek www.solarbotanic.com
posted by solarbotanic on 9/22/2008 12:16 pm