If you’re like most Americans, you would love to switch from powering your devices with energy from the grid (coal, natural gas, etc.) to juicing your life with pure clean solar power, but there’s one thing standing in your way: the initial expense and space needed for solar panels. Currently, though solar power is Americans’ most preferred energy source, less than 1% of U.S. energy comes from solar. But one enterprising company wants to change that percentage as fast as possible with an ingenious little device: the SunPort solar charger.
Here’s SunPort’s proposal: you buy a small colorful device that looks almost exactly like a smartphone charger, and download the SunPort app. Plug the Sunport into any wall outlet and plug your device in, and the SunPort will measure how much electricity you use and “convert” it to solar power. It works by taking the huge, expensive solar credits usually only bought by large companies, and breaking them up into tiny bite-sized increments that can be distributed to many, with a sensor to measure how much each user consumes. The app will even show you how much solar energy you’ve used, so you can feel good about your contribution.
What is that contribution, you ask? Well, as the SunPort Kickstarter page explains, by helping use up these huge solar energy credits much faster, you’re creating more demand for solar.
Engineers should consider several factors to integrate renewable technologies into electrical systems. Key codes/standards drive the design of renewable power systems. Best practices for achieving net zero energy are illustrated.
As more owners want to build facilities that have a minimal or even positive impact on the environment, engineers will encounter the challenge of designing net zero energy buildings (NZEB) with increasing frequency.
There are numerous definitions and meanings of the term “net zero energy,” which has led to some confusion on what qualifies as a NZEB. For example, some owners purchase renewable energy credits to offset their own electricity usage. Other owners aim to generate enough on-site electricity to cover all their energy usage, include energy provided by combustibles like natural gas. The International Living Future Institute (ILFI) offers a Net Zero Energy Building Certification, which provides its own definition of net zero energy (NZE). Because the ILFI certification is currently the primary method of certifying NZEBs, their definition will be used throughout.
ILFI requires 100% of a building’s energy needs on a net annual basis to be supplied by on-site renewable energy. Under this system, combustible energy sources are not allowed. The term “net annual basis” is an important distinction. This means that the building must produce more electricity than it consumes over a 12-month period, which allows a building to be tied to an electric utility grid rather than requiring on-site battery storage. It’s acceptable for the building to sometimes consume more electricity than it produces provided that it demonstrates at the end of a 12-month period that the “net” result is a positive flow of energy back to the grid.
While some people immediately think of the selection and design of on-site renewables when they think of NZEB, the reality is that a number of steps need to be taken before reaching the point of designing a renewable power system.
Successful NZEBs typically have very low energy-use intensities (EUIs), which then makes it possible to design on-site renewables that are capable of offsetting that EUI.
The SmithGroupJJR design team first focused on lowering the building’s energy consumption as much as possible before designing renewable energy systems to offset that consumption.
These energy-reduction strategies can be organized into passive and active strategies. Passive strategies include optimizing the building’s thermal envelope, building shape and orientation, daylighting, natural ventilation, and exterior shading.
Active strategies focus more on the engineering systems in the building and include high-efficiency mechanical systems, energy-efficient lighting, and controls. Because every kilowatt-hour of electricity consumed translates into additional on-site renewables, design teams should make every effort to reduce the electrical demand of the building.
SimpliPhi founder Stuart Lennox had been helping people make the most of energy technology when his company first came to life in a humble garage in 2002.
With so much experience in off-grid solutions, combining knowledge of traditional fuel-based generation as well as renewables, along with a healthy knowledge of standard grid technology, Lennox ultimately found himself in an ideal position to innovate for the sake of more than just small-scale productions.
During those early days as a rugged field innovator, Lennox was also one of the first to work with the now-common lithium-cobalt oxide chemistry in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
In the mid-1990s, a newer, safer chemistry emerged in the form of what is now commonly known as lithium ferro phosphate (LFP). In short, this chemistry eliminated thermal runaway and provided a major extension of cycle life, lowering costs significantly. With these advantages in hand, and plenty of room left to maximize their effectiveness, SimpliPhi began the work it continues today, looking to provide safe, simple, reliable energy storage for both residential and commercial customers, all with a focus on renewables.
Much of what defines SimpliPhi’s impressive work involves the company’s proprietary battery architecture, in which the flow of charged electrons is optimized to eliminate the common problems of impedance.
Today, the company’s LibertyPak line of battery products is still widely used by the film and photography industries.
In making batteries that are ideal for use in many of these applications, the company’s designs stand as some of the only in their class that can function safely in high ambient temperature environments. Some specific products have even been custom designed for the military, including high output batteries that are safe in ambient temperatures of over 120 degrees that do not generate heat.
Solar storage has for too long been focused on converting photons to electricity, according to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) project funded by BMW. For instance, if your purpose is to use the solar-to-electricity-battery process to later defrost your windshield, wouldn’t it be much more efficient to cut out the middle-man and store the solar photons inside the transparent polymer inside every windshield, then later release it directly as phonons (heat) for defrosting?
That is the concept of MIT’s professor Jeffrey Grossman, postdoctoral researcher David Zhitomirsky, and doctoral candidate Eugene Cho and their solar thermal fuel polymer–a transparent film that can be sandwiched between the two layers of glass on your cars windows (which is already done for safety–so they don’t shatter). The transparent film stores the solar energy by varying its molecular configuration–a engineered reaction to light–then releases the heat on-demand as it relaxes back to its “normal” chemical configuration.
Of course, there are many other applications of such as solar-to-solid-fuel conversions, such as in a memory that uses a laser to change the shape of the molecule from a 0 to a 1 and back again, but BMW funded the research at MIT specifically because a great deal of electrical energy is wasted in an electric vehicle (EV) defrosting its windows, sometimes reducing the EVs range as much as 30 percent.
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6 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Could This Tiny Solar Charger Change the World?
The SunPort solar charger wants to let everyone participate in a solar energy revolution — no panels needed.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/news/article/2015/09/could-this-tiny-solar-charger-change-the-world.html
If you’re like most Americans, you would love to switch from powering your devices with energy from the grid (coal, natural gas, etc.) to juicing your life with pure clean solar power, but there’s one thing standing in your way: the initial expense and space needed for solar panels. Currently, though solar power is Americans’ most preferred energy source, less than 1% of U.S. energy comes from solar. But one enterprising company wants to change that percentage as fast as possible with an ingenious little device: the SunPort solar charger.
Here’s SunPort’s proposal: you buy a small colorful device that looks almost exactly like a smartphone charger, and download the SunPort app. Plug the Sunport into any wall outlet and plug your device in, and the SunPort will measure how much electricity you use and “convert” it to solar power. It works by taking the huge, expensive solar credits usually only bought by large companies, and breaking them up into tiny bite-sized increments that can be distributed to many, with a sensor to measure how much each user consumes. The app will even show you how much solar energy you’ve used, so you can feel good about your contribution.
What is that contribution, you ask? Well, as the SunPort Kickstarter page explains, by helping use up these huge solar energy credits much faster, you’re creating more demand for solar.
SunPort™ – Demand Solar. Anywhere. Instantly.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1275963200/sunport-plug-into-solar-power-no-panels-required
Tomi Engdahl says:
Energy Storage Association
http://energystorage.org/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Integrating renewable power systems into a net zero energy building
http://www.csemag.com/single-article/integrating-renewable-power-systems-into-a-net-zero-energy-building/3152dc4bdf9debe0c30d548a66a67300.html
Engineers should consider several factors to integrate renewable technologies into electrical systems. Key codes/standards drive the design of renewable power systems. Best practices for achieving net zero energy are illustrated.
As more owners want to build facilities that have a minimal or even positive impact on the environment, engineers will encounter the challenge of designing net zero energy buildings (NZEB) with increasing frequency.
There are numerous definitions and meanings of the term “net zero energy,” which has led to some confusion on what qualifies as a NZEB. For example, some owners purchase renewable energy credits to offset their own electricity usage. Other owners aim to generate enough on-site electricity to cover all their energy usage, include energy provided by combustibles like natural gas. The International Living Future Institute (ILFI) offers a Net Zero Energy Building Certification, which provides its own definition of net zero energy (NZE). Because the ILFI certification is currently the primary method of certifying NZEBs, their definition will be used throughout.
ILFI requires 100% of a building’s energy needs on a net annual basis to be supplied by on-site renewable energy. Under this system, combustible energy sources are not allowed. The term “net annual basis” is an important distinction. This means that the building must produce more electricity than it consumes over a 12-month period, which allows a building to be tied to an electric utility grid rather than requiring on-site battery storage. It’s acceptable for the building to sometimes consume more electricity than it produces provided that it demonstrates at the end of a 12-month period that the “net” result is a positive flow of energy back to the grid.
While some people immediately think of the selection and design of on-site renewables when they think of NZEB, the reality is that a number of steps need to be taken before reaching the point of designing a renewable power system.
Successful NZEBs typically have very low energy-use intensities (EUIs), which then makes it possible to design on-site renewables that are capable of offsetting that EUI.
The SmithGroupJJR design team first focused on lowering the building’s energy consumption as much as possible before designing renewable energy systems to offset that consumption.
These energy-reduction strategies can be organized into passive and active strategies. Passive strategies include optimizing the building’s thermal envelope, building shape and orientation, daylighting, natural ventilation, and exterior shading.
Active strategies focus more on the engineering systems in the building and include high-efficiency mechanical systems, energy-efficient lighting, and controls. Because every kilowatt-hour of electricity consumed translates into additional on-site renewables, design teams should make every effort to reduce the electrical demand of the building.
Tomi Engdahl says:
SimpliPhi Revolutionizes Mobile, Off-grid and On-grid Energy Storage
http://www.eeweb.com/blog/eeweb/simpliphi-revolutionizes-mobile-off-grid-and-on-grid-energy-storage
SimpliPhi founder Stuart Lennox had been helping people make the most of energy technology when his company first came to life in a humble garage in 2002.
With so much experience in off-grid solutions, combining knowledge of traditional fuel-based generation as well as renewables, along with a healthy knowledge of standard grid technology, Lennox ultimately found himself in an ideal position to innovate for the sake of more than just small-scale productions.
During those early days as a rugged field innovator, Lennox was also one of the first to work with the now-common lithium-cobalt oxide chemistry in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
In the mid-1990s, a newer, safer chemistry emerged in the form of what is now commonly known as lithium ferro phosphate (LFP). In short, this chemistry eliminated thermal runaway and provided a major extension of cycle life, lowering costs significantly. With these advantages in hand, and plenty of room left to maximize their effectiveness, SimpliPhi began the work it continues today, looking to provide safe, simple, reliable energy storage for both residential and commercial customers, all with a focus on renewables.
Much of what defines SimpliPhi’s impressive work involves the company’s proprietary battery architecture, in which the flow of charged electrons is optimized to eliminate the common problems of impedance.
Today, the company’s LibertyPak line of battery products is still widely used by the film and photography industries.
In making batteries that are ideal for use in many of these applications, the company’s designs stand as some of the only in their class that can function safely in high ambient temperature environments. Some specific products have even been custom designed for the military, including high output batteries that are safe in ambient temperatures of over 120 degrees that do not generate heat.
Tomi Engdahl says:
BMW Funds Battery-less Solar Storage
MIT converts photons to configurable polymer
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328661&
Solar storage has for too long been focused on converting photons to electricity, according to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) project funded by BMW. For instance, if your purpose is to use the solar-to-electricity-battery process to later defrost your windshield, wouldn’t it be much more efficient to cut out the middle-man and store the solar photons inside the transparent polymer inside every windshield, then later release it directly as phonons (heat) for defrosting?
That is the concept of MIT’s professor Jeffrey Grossman, postdoctoral researcher David Zhitomirsky, and doctoral candidate Eugene Cho and their solar thermal fuel polymer–a transparent film that can be sandwiched between the two layers of glass on your cars windows (which is already done for safety–so they don’t shatter). The transparent film stores the solar energy by varying its molecular configuration–a engineered reaction to light–then releases the heat on-demand as it relaxes back to its “normal” chemical configuration.
Of course, there are many other applications of such as solar-to-solid-fuel conversions, such as in a memory that uses a laser to change the shape of the molecule from a 0 to a 1 and back again, but BMW funded the research at MIT specifically because a great deal of electrical energy is wasted in an electric vehicle (EV) defrosting its windows, sometimes reducing the EVs range as much as 30 percent.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/the-smarter-grid/best-algorithms-to-make-solar-power-profitable