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Energy

Little Sun could change the lives of millions

Tate Director Nicholas Serota has got behind an off-grid lighting initiative by a leading Artist.

Olafur Eliasson’s new work is a solar-powered lamp that he and his engineer partner, Frederik Ottesen, designed and developed. It will be launched at Tate Modern later this month, and visitors will be able to view parts fo the exhibitions solely with its light.

Designed to look like an iconic sun image, with a light on the front and solar panels on the back, the Little Sun looks set to sell millions of units.

The fact the lamp was designed by an artist was important. “People want beautiful things in their lives; they want something they can use with pride . . . everyone wants something that’s not just about functionality but also spirituality.”…

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July 14, 2012 No Comments
Energy

US Army speeds up move off-grid

The recently unveiled Army Energy Initiatives Task Force has launched its most ambitious project yet: a 50-megawatt biofuels power plant on Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
Army and Hawaii Electric Company (HECO) officials said talks about the plant are in the early stages, and the two sides are working on a memorandum of understanding regarding the project. Army officials said the service typically would prefer to lease the land from HECO for the plant and buy some of the power it produces from the utility company. In that case, HECO would build and operate it.
Marine Corps Base Hawaii, known as K-Bay, has a goal of being off the grid by 2015 and wants to build another massive biofuels power plant that would be opened by that year on a budget of $50m. Other details are not immediately available.…

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July 6, 2012 No Comments
Energy

Amidst power cuts – debate controlled by Utilities

WASHINGTON (AP) – In the aftermath of violent storms that knocked out power to millions from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic , sweltering residents and elected officials are demanding to know why it’s taking so long to restring power lines and why they’re not more resilient in the first place.
The answer, it turns out, is complicated: Above-ground lines are vulnerable to lashing winds and falling trees, but relocating them underground involves huge costs – as much as $15 million per mile of buried line – and that gets passed onto consumers.
Off-Grid: Strange how the debate is framed as two unrealistic alternativ es – leave things as they are or bury power lines – something which will never happen. At this point nobody in the mainstream media ever asks whether it would be more intelligent to generate power in local areas so that a fallen pole down the line would have little if any effect.…

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July 5, 2012 No Comments
Energy

UK Utilities allowed to profiteer

This graph of wholesale and retail electricity prices reveals how successive governments allow the big Utility companies to make bumper profits, increasing the price of electrciity when it is falling on the wholesale markets.

The UK industry buys and sells the energy produced in its power stations, or brought over from French nuclear plants via wire.  Different factors, such as a change in the price of oil, gas or coal, can affect the cost of creating energy.  But the retail price rarely falls, and usually goes up.  In 2008 for example, when prices collapsed due to the looming financial crisis, retails electricity actually spiked upwards in the UK.  The same happened in mid-2011 – wholesale prices fell and retail prices rose, and the same thing appears to be happening again. …

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June 28, 2012 No Comments

Grants for Assistance to High Energy Cost Rural Communities

Federal Register – Announcement of Grant Application Deadlines and Funding Levels for the Assistance to High Energy Cost Rural Communities

SUMMARY: The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), announces the availability of up to $7 million in Fiscal Year 2012 for competitive grants to assist communities with extremely high energy costs. This grant program is authorized under section 19 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (RE Act) (7 U.S.C. 918a) and program regulations at 7 CFR part 1709. The grant funds may be used to acquire, construct, extend, upgrade, or otherwise improve energy generation, transmission, or distribution facilities serving communities in which the average residential expenditure for home energy exceeds 275 percent of the national average. Eligible applicants include persons, States, political subdivisions of States, and other entities organized under State law. Federally-recognized Indian Tribes and Tribal entities are eligible applicants.

This notice describes the eligibility and application requirements, the criteria that will be used by RUS to award funding, and information on how to obtain application materials. …

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June 28, 2012 1 Comment

Solio sucks

Whether you are living off the grid, or just moving around away from power outlets for your smartphone or laptop, solar chargers can be a life-saver. They also help reduce your carbon footprint by using natural energy rather than electricity. but its vital to carry the right one, or you will find yourself in a remote spot with no phone or wireless.
Two of the leading products are Solio and Power Monkey but they are not in the same league. True they can both recharge an iPhone or HTC in less than a day under a cloudless sky, but there the similarity ends.

Expert tests of the Solio Bolt and Powertraveller Powermonkey Explorer, two solar chargers that can recharge portable electronics such as cellphones, handheld GPS devices and e-book readers found the Solio to come a very distant second.
The $60 Bolt is easy to set up, but doesn’t hold as much power as the Powermonkey, and it has some design flaws. The Powermonkey is more expensive at $89, and has more parts to it, but it’s worth it since it has a larger battery and works even when the sky is slightly cloudy. The Bolt is light and compact, but there’s no easy way to carry it on a backpack or even lay it out on a car’s dashboard. Also, the multifunction button on back isn’t protected enough and can be easily pressed by accident, thus draining any stored energy. This happened several times during testing.
The Bolt might offer the convenience of an all-in-one design, but the Powermonkey Explorer can give devices more charge on the go with little maintenance, making it the better portable solar charger.THere is also a more powerful version of the Powermonkey – though it costs twice as much…

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June 25, 2012 2 Comments

UK Energy crunch approaching

The British Government is in the pockets of the big energy companies. The UK still has a mountain to climb in terms of funding if it is to secure energy supplies through the end of the decade, according to the head of energy at one of the country’s big accountancy firms.

Three-and-a-half years have passed since British energy regulator Ofgem estimated that £200bn (€248bn) would need to be pumped into the energy sector though 2020 in order to secure supplies and meet carbon targets.…

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June 24, 2012 No Comments
Energy

Candle powered generator seeks kickstarter funding

A tiny tech startup called Tellurex is launching its new candle-powered electric light via kickstarter.com, the crowd-funding web site. Although we at www.off-grid.net have not seen a prototype of the mini-generator, we love the idea, and it is already 50% of the way to its goal.
Michigan-based Tellurex is seeking Kickstarter.com funders and distributors to help launch its “electrical generator.” About the size of a small soup can, the power on demand thermoelectric system converts the heat of a single tea candle into an electrical current capable of providing bright indoor or outdoor light using its plug-in lamp attachment.…

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June 3, 2012 1 Comment

Solar Kindle

Keep reading on the move, when hiking, or a long sea journey.

This winner of a Consumer Electronics Show innovation award for 2012 is a first of its kind — a solar-powered e-reader cover. It’s not cheap but for Kindle devotees who want to be able to read late in the night while they’re on a camping trip or otherwise away from a charger, the SolarKindle promises to deliver three months of reading time under normal sunlight conditions without drawing on the Kindle’s battery. …

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May 20, 2012 No Comments

Free solar in Wales

Looking for free solar power and live in North Wales?

Farms and rural businesses without mains electricity in Conwy, a costal community at the tip of Snowdonia National Park North Wales, are being invited to take apply for free solar power installation in a trial funded by the local government. …

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May 11, 2012 No Comments
Energy

Commodities forecast – food, oil, farmland prices to slump

Commodities Trader Peter Brandt sees lower oil prices; bubble in grains, farmland

Brandt is a technical trader, poring over charts and patterns to spot potential breakouts and breakdowns. Nowadays he’s bearish on corn and other grains, along with farmland, oil and natural gas.

“When you look at those markets, I think we’re at prices that are unsustainable.” said Brandt, who also writes a popular Internet blog about trading commodities and stocks. Read Peter Brandt’s blog.

Gold is one of the few commodities Brandt is staying long on. He also said the U.S. stock market is attractively valued, and warns of a “huge bubble” forming in Treasurys and other fixed-income investments once U.S. interest rates rise.

1. Natural gas is a bust…

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May 9, 2012 1 Comment