Holy Grail Ultracapacitor nearer the real World

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EEstor about to announce
a viable
Ultracapacitor?

The whispers are out on the WWW that EEstor are about to test a viable ultracapacitor. This is close enough to the "holy grail" for electric car manufacturers.

Current Electric Cars are little more than a Joke!

The only thing that is holding back the all electric car is the development of a viable battery or some other high capacity energy storage unit. All of the batteries developed to date have been various combinations of the following; expensive, bulky, heavy, slow to recharge, short-lived, dangerous, or just plain useless.

An ultracapacitor on the other hand can be charged in minutes rather than hours. it can give out its power in greats blasts for fast acceleration. It can be charged and re-charged many many thousands of times - unlike chemical batteries. However, up till now, an ultracapacitor could not hold a sufficient amount of power.

An Electric Car Battery that can outlast the Car!!

The new breed of ultracapacitor, using nanotechnology, will have a capacity tens of times greater than the current types. They can be charged while having a coffee at a filling station, instead of 6 or 8 hours with current technology!

They will also be relatively cheap and light, they will not have a tendency to heat up, go on fire, or to explode, and they can outlast the life of the car!!!!

Is this just another scam? Or is the ultracapacitor really on its way to the stores??



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Comments and Commercial Links

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Always Happy to Post Comments
Except - -

I really like to receive comments to this blog, and I am happy to post most that I receive.

What will guarantee that a comment goes into the bin is when it comes with commercial links embedded. I have never had any commercial strings attached to this blog, and I never will.

I will also guarantee to lose comments which have little or no relevance to the post, and of course, those which could be considered abusive or indeed libelous.

But maybe I am fooling myself to think that the block-heads who keep sending me hollow comments riddled with commercial links to their sales sites will ever read or heed this rant!!!!



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TV Programme being Researched

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A Call
to my
WoodPellet Contributors

I have been contacted by a researcher for an Irish TV production company who is researching a programme on "Wood Pellet Boilers" in Ireland. He would really like to talk to anyone who has had problems with their installations.

If you are willing to be contacted, please email me at: thenewoil at gmail dot com and I will pass on your contact details.



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Pretty Solar Tiles

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PV Solar Panels
Getting Pretty

Just a quick post with a couple of photos. A friend of mine sent me a couple of photos of new style Photo Electric Panels. They now can come in the shape of very nice roof tiles and can look really well in addition to generating electricity. I wonder about the bright blue - is that optional?




In Ireland these lovely tiles would be good for keeping the rains out but would not be not much good at generating power.


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A Word of Warning on Chinese Wind Turbines

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Caveat Emptor



I received an e-mail a few days ago from a very disappointed user of a Chinese VAWT (Vertical axis wind turbine). I am reproducing the correspondence here. In doing so, I am omitting, by request, the name of the writer, and I am also making no evaluation or personal comment on these turbines.



I sure hope you haven’t bought a mill (wind-turbine) from Shanghai! I did, it was the biggest mistake of my life! I was even there to visit them; they just don’t produce anything besides a lot of costs and headaches! Sorry I can’t give any tips on what works, but just wanted you to know these mills from Shanghai should be avoided at all cost.
Regards,
K …



Thanks K … - Can you be a bit more specific about the model and the problems? I would like to report it but I need some specifics. I will not publish anything pointing to you or your email address.
Regards,
Tony McGinley



Hi Tony,
Thanks for the mail, My mill is a 1kw from SAWT, the first problem was that the spring to hold the brakes apart was placed too close to the axle, which in turn made a terrible scraping noise when it turned. I ended up having to take the mill down and fix the brake system with my own ideas. The next time was a magnet that got loose in the generator - that stopped the mill from turning; again I had to take down the mill.

SAWT sent a new generator and controller, but to get it through customs I had to pay 700 USD, which is not reimbursed. The mill then worked, but after 2 weeks of good wind it had only produced 0,8kW totally, then the controller collapsed and now its not working again.

At the same time I believe it must be possible to get this system working because it’s relatively simple. I have been warned about another make of VAWT, which comes from China, it has no plates on the top or bottom of the wings, it sounds even worse!

I would be grateful if you didn’t publish my name, as it may affect my guarantee... its more for your own information.

Hope it helps,
K ...




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Making Savings in the Home Budget

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On Being Thrifty

As a first post in this series, I simply want to outline some of the areas where saving can be made. I will not go into any detail in this post. These ideas were aired today on Radio Kerry and received quite a large response. Hope you find the pointers useful.



So where can the savings to be made in the average home?

1. Economical home cooking. Avoid using the oven it costs a fortune to run, get a wok, a George Foreman Grill and a slow-cooker. Cook from scratch using cheap local ingredients. Get your meat in a butchers, much cheaper than the supermarkets. Let your menus be dictated by what is on offer in the shops. Stop spending a fortune on drinks, soft drinks, and bottled water, use filtered water, tea etc. Savings €1000 to €3000 pa
2. The shopping bill. Buying the right stuff in the right places. Avoiding brand names, buy own brands or generic packaged in both food and household goods – with brand names you are just paying 30 to 60% more for the name and their massive advertising outlay.
3. Internet & Phone savings. Mobile costs are very high make calls lasting seconds on a mobile and have a chat on a land-line. Get package deals for phone and Internet and save money. Saving €200 to €500pa
4. Heating. Insulation, fuel economy etc. Easily save €200 to €400pa
5. Electricity. Saving by fitting CFL bulbs, by using Airtricity or the Gas Board saving 13% on Electricity Board prices. Take showers not baths. Try to avoid using your oven for cooking, get a wok!! Maybe consider using a Monitor to check electricity usage. Saving up to €300pa
6. Car. Careful price watching on petrol and diesel can save 7 to 8% on fuel. Using small local mechanics for service usually saves 30 to 50% but get recommendations to avoid the cowboys.
7. TV. Sky TV charges a whacking great amount for their channel deals. Go Freesat and save money.




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Sustainable Home Economics in the Recession

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Sustainable Home Economics

I am preparing a post specifically dealing with making savings in the home budget. What sparked this idea was a letter to a radio programme I am associated with on Radio Kerry. The letter expressed worry about making ends meet ofter the prime earner in a household was made redundant.

I will be looking at easy to implement ways of making immediate savings of up to €5000 per year in an average home. I will look at energy of course, such as how to save on electrical power, on heating and insulation, but I will also look at home cooking as a way of saving energy and saving a lot of money.

These will be my own views and suggestions, as always I am not claiming any authority or specialist knowledge.

I grew up in the post WW2 recession and was imbued with thrift from an early age. I will pass on some of my ideas for what they are worth.



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Sex XXX and Sustainable Energy!!

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The hit counter on this blog turned 200,000 today. Any self respecting porn site would register that many hits in a day!! But, I guess, for a boring old specialist blog ranting on about sustainable energy stuff, I guess it is a little milestone worth noting.

So just a little celebration:

hip hip hooray!!!




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Stirling Old Stirling New

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Stirling Old
Stirling New
Stirling Powered
Stirling True

To wrap up my series of Stirling posts, I have gathered together a bit of a mishmash of interesting bits and pieces that I hope you will enjoy reading about.



Stirling Old


As a link to the past I have included this picture of a lovely old Stirling Rider engine made in the USA. These old heavy iron engines have become real collectors items these days and are lovingly restored to pristine levels by some very dedicated enthusiasts.


A Stirling Ireland Connection

Tom Bruton recently wrote and told me that Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority in Ireland, are putting a Stirling based bio-mass generator in their Oakpark research headquarters in Carlow, Ireland. He also suggested going to www.stirling.dk for more info about the machine they have bought.

I contacted StirlingDK, who have kindly have given me permission to use their materials and sent some interesting photos.


Stirling DK what they say about themselves

Based on more than 15 years of solid research led by the leading authority within applied Stirling engine technology, professor Henrik Carlsen, Stirling DK has today materialized as the worlds' leading provider of biomass fuelled Stirling engine systems.

Our technology enables us to convert biomass of low value, such as wood chips and straw, into high value, clean, CO2-neutral electricity and heat. And we can do this in small-scale applications with an electrical output between 10 and 500 kWe. The heat is typically used for district heating but can also be used for other purposes such as freshwater generation, cooling, or process heating.


November 15th 2008 First Irish Contract

The 35 Kilo Watt electrical output Stirling Engine by Stirling DK

A contract has been signed for the delivery of a 35 kWe /1480 kWth updraft gasifier plant to be delivered to National Research Institute (NRI) of Ireland.

A Handy sized Engine don't you think?

The plant will be fuelled by wood chips and the heat will be used for heating of buildings of the NRI . The power, which will be generated by one (1) 35 kWe SD3-E engine, will be sold to the electrical grid.

The updraft gasifier will have a capacity of 800 kW and the installation is therefore prepared for the possible later expansion by addition three 35 kWe engines. The total electrical output of the plant can thus reach 140 kWe.

This will become Stirling DK's first installation in Ireland. This market is considered to be very attractive due to Ireland's large biomass resources and strong focus on CO2-neutral energy productions.

The plant will go into operation in May 2009.



Meccano and The Fab Lab

I am not sure where this picture originates,
I just love the practical hands-on test rig!!

Don't you just love this bit of experimental engineering!! When I was a kid 50 years ago!!! I had a great love of Meccano sets and hoped I would get one each birthday and Christmas. The guys at this lab have evidently held on to their Meccano sets, along with their mother's cake mixing bowl, and used them to rig the above test rig. Just the way I love science.


Stirling on the Moon and Mars

Moon photo by Biorn McGinley

NASA has marked Stirling power conversion using the heat from fissionable material as a viable option for generation of power on the moon. They have been playing around with using a Stirling converter coupled to a relatively low-temperature < 900K, uranium dioxide fuelled, liquid-metal-cooled reactor. A similar configuration is being worked on for application on Mars.

Stirling and the Nuke

The project is being developed at the Foster Miller and Auburn University; the aim is to design and fabricate a 5kW Free-Piston Stirling converter.


Long live Stirling!

I hope you have enjoyed reading the series of Stirling posts half as much as I have enjoyed researching and writing them.

With much thanks to the Rev. Robert Stirling, who's memory will live long into the future!

Tapadh leibh Robert Stirling agus Alba!!

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On the subject of LED bulbs

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On the Subject
of
LED Bulbs

As I am back briefly on the subject of LEDs, I am copying, with thanks to the correspondents, a couple of connected and cogent comments that came in on earlier posts. The first is from Miguel Sánchez who is an associate professor in Valencia. He keeps several blogs one of them is liked here: http://fightpc.blogspot.com/


Miguel Sánchez has left a comment on your post "The Good the LED and the Ugly part 2":

Exactly the same experience here with the same multi-led MR16 from the same eBay seller.
We both have been fooled. But I'm still trying other alternatives (Cree-based) and DIY.


The second comment comes from Colm Garvey who is in the LED business himself in Ireland:

Colm has left a new comment on your post "Led Light Comparison":

Well done Sir, we've done a couple of trade show now with our hi-power LEDs (similar technology to the Vario) and the amount of stick we took for Ecopal bulbs was unbelievable. Keep up the good work and feel free to contact us to review our lights.

Regards,
Colm Garvey



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