Posts Tagged ‘ renewable energy ’

Windmill made from washing machine (creative responses)

May 1, 2013
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Using a standard washing machine motor (Fisher and Paykel direct drive),  some blades cut from a 200mm PVC pipe, a cheap and easy-to-use charge controller (555 chip), and some other random bits of wiring and fiberglass, Timot put together a DIY windmill power generator that produces enough electricity to charge and/or operate a phone, laptop or other devices. Considering that washing machines rarely last longer than 5 years, and assuming that most families in the developed world possess a washing machine, the conversion of old washing machines to mini windmills could add up to a lot of energy savings. Let’s…

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Renewable energy could provide 99.9% of all power by 2030

March 22, 2013
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It is commonly asserted that even with massive investments, solar, wind and other renewable energy technologies could not possibly meet all of the energy needs of any industrialized economy. However, a recent study done by Budischak et al. debunks this piece of conventional wisdom. The study suggests that with an optimized energy production and storage network, up to 99.9% of all energy needs could be met using nothing more than currently existing renewable energy technologies–and at roughly the same cost of conventional energy production. The abstract of the study report reads as follows: We model many combinations of renewable electricity sources (inland wind,…

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