Transparent PV solar cells, from
Dye-sensitized solar cells rival conventional cell efficiency
Contact: Nik Papageorgiou
n.papageorgiou@epfl.ch
41-216-933-2105
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Dye-sensitized solar cells rival conventional cell efficiency
IMAGE: This is Michael Grätzel holding one of his dye-sensitized solar cells
Click here for more information.
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have many advantages over their silicon-based counterparts. They offer transparency, low cost, and high power conversion efficiencies under cloudy and artificial light conditions. However, until now their overall efficiency has been lower than silicon-based solar cells, mostly because of the inherent voltage loss during the regeneration of the sensitizing dye. In a Nature publication, EPFL scientists have developed a state solid version of the DSSC that is fabricated by a new two-step process raising their efficiency up to a record 15% without sacrificing stability.
The new solid-state embodiment of the DSSC uses a perovskite (CaTiO3) material as a light harvester and an organic hole transport material to replace the cell's electrolyte. Typical fabrication of this new DSSC involves depositing a perovskite material directly onto a metal-oxide film. The problem is that adding the entire material together often causes wide variation in the morphology and the efficiency of the resulting solar cell, which makes it difficult to use them in everyday applications.
Michael Grätzel's team at EPFL has now solved the problem with a two-step approach: First, one part of the perovskite is deposited in to the pores of the metal-oxide scaffold. Second, the deposited part is exposed to a solution that contains the other component of the perovskite. When the two parts come into contact, they react instantaneously and convert into the complete light-sensitive pigment, permitting much better control over the morphology of the solar cell.
The new method raises DSSC power-conversion efficiency up to a record 15%, exceeding the power conversion efficiencies of conventional, amorphous silicon-based solar cells. The authors believe that it will open a new era of DSSC development, featuring stability and efficiencies that equal or even surpass today's best thin-film photovoltaic devices.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Electric vehicles may put 'disruptive load' on grid - Technology & Science - CBC News
Electric vehicles may put 'disruptive load' on grid - Technology & Science - CBC News
The problem is that Toronto Hydro has no way of knowing which neighbourhoods could be affected.
"We need an effective way to know where all of these electric vehicles are," he said. "We just want to know where these are landing so we can plan."
In addition to making changes to the distribution grid, utilities could also use other means to prevent electric vehicles from charging during periods of peak electricity usage, such as:
Clairman estimates that there are currently about 1400 to 1500 electric vehicles in Ontario, about half of them in the Greater Toronto Area.
"There's no problem at this point," she said, adding that she doesn't think utilities are very concerned at the moment.
She acknowledged that electric vehicles may be a local concern in some municipalities where the transformers weren't built to accommodate modern power loads.
"Certainly, there'll be issues to manage the grid," she said, "but it certainly can be managed if we learn as we grow."
The problem is that Toronto Hydro has no way of knowing which neighbourhoods could be affected.
"We need an effective way to know where all of these electric vehicles are," he said. "We just want to know where these are landing so we can plan."
In addition to making changes to the distribution grid, utilities could also use other means to prevent electric vehicles from charging during periods of peak electricity usage, such as:
- Offering a lower rate very late at night to make electric car owners charge their vehicles later than they do now.
- Using technology to directly control when certain vehicles are charging.
Clairman estimates that there are currently about 1400 to 1500 electric vehicles in Ontario, about half of them in the Greater Toronto Area.
"There's no problem at this point," she said, adding that she doesn't think utilities are very concerned at the moment.
She acknowledged that electric vehicles may be a local concern in some municipalities where the transformers weren't built to accommodate modern power loads.
"Certainly, there'll be issues to manage the grid," she said, "but it certainly can be managed if we learn as we grow."
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Wireless energy management controller runs Linux · LinuxGizmos.com
Wireless energy management controller runs Linux · LinuxGizmos.com
The CG-300 is designed to retrieve data from multiple locations for reporting and data analysis of remote sensor information. It can operate as a standalone controller in commercial or residential buildings, or it can communicate with existing building automation systems via protocols including BACnet or Modbus to centralize monitoring information or control functions, says Check-It Solutions. The device can also be used in conjunction with the Check-It Solutions Platform web portal via the turnkey Energy Management Starter Kit (see farther below).
The CG-300 is designed to retrieve data from multiple locations for reporting and data analysis of remote sensor information. It can operate as a standalone controller in commercial or residential buildings, or it can communicate with existing building automation systems via protocols including BACnet or Modbus to centralize monitoring information or control functions, says Check-It Solutions. The device can also be used in conjunction with the Check-It Solutions Platform web portal via the turnkey Energy Management Starter Kit (see farther below).
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Cool Architectural Alternatives For Living Without Air Conditioning
Cool Architectural Alternatives For Living Without Air Conditioning
and still no mention of the entirely passive silent simple stack effect and attic hatch in open position, drawing cool air pulled from the shady side into the basement then flowing upstairs and pulled out the top into the roof space and out the ridge vent, it works so well on a got day!
and still no mention of the entirely passive silent simple stack effect and attic hatch in open position, drawing cool air pulled from the shady side into the basement then flowing upstairs and pulled out the top into the roof space and out the ridge vent, it works so well on a got day!
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Looking at nature for sustainable comfort
The Writing Engineer | The pen is mightier than the protractor.
Natural cooling and ventilation as used by termites: Architect Mick Pearce and engineering firm Arup designed Zimbabwe’s largest office and shopping complex, Eastgate Centre to use 100% outside air as the sole source of cooling for the building. This “passive cooling” method, which uses only about 10% of the energy of a mechanically air-conditioned system, uses natural convection currents (assisted by fans) to provide fresh, cool air to the building. This design was inspired by African termites that use a similar temperature control system in their mounds, as described by Abigail Doan in her Inhabitat blog post.
Natural cooling and ventilation as used by termites: Architect Mick Pearce and engineering firm Arup designed Zimbabwe’s largest office and shopping complex, Eastgate Centre to use 100% outside air as the sole source of cooling for the building. This “passive cooling” method, which uses only about 10% of the energy of a mechanically air-conditioned system, uses natural convection currents (assisted by fans) to provide fresh, cool air to the building. This design was inspired by African termites that use a similar temperature control system in their mounds, as described by Abigail Doan in her Inhabitat blog post.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
What Tech Is Next for the Solar Industry? | MIT Technology Review
What Tech Is Next for the Solar Industry? | MIT Technology Review
Green says this and other techniques will make it cheap and practical to replicate the designs of his record solar cell on production lines. Some companies have developed manufacturing techniques for the front metal contacts. Implementing the design of the back electrical contacts is harder, but he expects companies to roll that out next.
Meanwhile, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have made flexible solar cells on a new type of glass from Corning called Willow Glass, which is thin and can be rolled up. The type of solar cell they made is the only current challenger to silicon in terms of large-scale production—thin-film cadmium telluride (see “First Solar Shines as the Solar Industry Falters”). Flexible solar cells could lower the cost of installing solar cells, making solar power cheaper.
One of Green’s former students and colleagues, Jianhua Zhao, cofounder of solar panel manufacturer China Sunergy, announced this week that he is building a pilot manufacturing line for a two-sided solar cell that can absorb light from both the front and back. The basic idea, which isn’t new, is that during some parts of the day, sunlight falls on the land between rows of solar panels in a solar power plant. That light reflects onto the back of the panels and could be harvested to increase the power output. This works particularly well when the solar panels are built on sand, which is highly reflective. Where a one-sided solar panel might generate 340 watts, a two-sided one might generate up to 400 watts. He expects the panels to generate 10 to 20 percent more electricity over the course of a year.
Such solar panels could be mounted vertically, like a fence, so that one side collects sunlight in the morning, and the other in the afternoon. That would make it possible to install the solar panels on very little land—they could serve as noise barriers along highways, for example. Such an arrangement could also be valuable in dusty areas. Many parts of the Middle East might seem to be good places for solar panels, since they get a lot of sunlight, but frequent dust storms decrease the power output. Vertical panels wouldn’t accumulate as much dust, which could help make such systems economical.
Even longer-term, Green is betting on silicon, aiming to take advantage of the huge reductions in cost already seen with the technology. He hopes to greatly increase the efficiency of silicon solar panels by combining silicon with one or two other semiconductors, each selected to efficiently convert a part of the solar spectrum that silicon doesn’t convert efficiently. Adding one semiconductor could boost efficiencies from the 20 to 25 percent range to around 40 percent. Adding another could make efficiencies as high as 50 percent feasible, which would cut in half the number of solar panels needed for a given installation. The challenge is to produce good connections between these semiconductors, something made challenging by the arrangement of silicon atoms in crystalline silicon.
Green says this and other techniques will make it cheap and practical to replicate the designs of his record solar cell on production lines. Some companies have developed manufacturing techniques for the front metal contacts. Implementing the design of the back electrical contacts is harder, but he expects companies to roll that out next.
Meanwhile, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have made flexible solar cells on a new type of glass from Corning called Willow Glass, which is thin and can be rolled up. The type of solar cell they made is the only current challenger to silicon in terms of large-scale production—thin-film cadmium telluride (see “First Solar Shines as the Solar Industry Falters”). Flexible solar cells could lower the cost of installing solar cells, making solar power cheaper.
One of Green’s former students and colleagues, Jianhua Zhao, cofounder of solar panel manufacturer China Sunergy, announced this week that he is building a pilot manufacturing line for a two-sided solar cell that can absorb light from both the front and back. The basic idea, which isn’t new, is that during some parts of the day, sunlight falls on the land between rows of solar panels in a solar power plant. That light reflects onto the back of the panels and could be harvested to increase the power output. This works particularly well when the solar panels are built on sand, which is highly reflective. Where a one-sided solar panel might generate 340 watts, a two-sided one might generate up to 400 watts. He expects the panels to generate 10 to 20 percent more electricity over the course of a year.
Such solar panels could be mounted vertically, like a fence, so that one side collects sunlight in the morning, and the other in the afternoon. That would make it possible to install the solar panels on very little land—they could serve as noise barriers along highways, for example. Such an arrangement could also be valuable in dusty areas. Many parts of the Middle East might seem to be good places for solar panels, since they get a lot of sunlight, but frequent dust storms decrease the power output. Vertical panels wouldn’t accumulate as much dust, which could help make such systems economical.
Even longer-term, Green is betting on silicon, aiming to take advantage of the huge reductions in cost already seen with the technology. He hopes to greatly increase the efficiency of silicon solar panels by combining silicon with one or two other semiconductors, each selected to efficiently convert a part of the solar spectrum that silicon doesn’t convert efficiently. Adding one semiconductor could boost efficiencies from the 20 to 25 percent range to around 40 percent. Adding another could make efficiencies as high as 50 percent feasible, which would cut in half the number of solar panels needed for a given installation. The challenge is to produce good connections between these semiconductors, something made challenging by the arrangement of silicon atoms in crystalline silicon.
Thor Energy - the Norwegian thorium initiative - Thor Energy
Thor Energy - the Norwegian thorium initiative - Thor Energy
Thor Energy's technology development activities are undertaken
with the vision that thorium-based fuels will be an attractive option
for both light water reactor (LWR) operators and nuclear energy policy
makers alike.
The reasoning for thorium-MOX fuel draws on a number of key nuclear fuel cycle imperatives:
Thor Energy - the Norwegian thorium initiative
 |
| April 2013: Thor Energy's test rig containing six thorium fuel rods shown here as it is being installed in the IFE Halden Research Reactor. CEO Øystein Asphjell (front left) observing closely. Photo: T.Tandberg |
The reasoning for thorium-MOX fuel draws on a number of key nuclear fuel cycle imperatives:
-
Uranium resources are secure for a long time, but prices are likely to be substantially higher at some point – probably after 2020. An alternative nuclear fuel will be more attractive at this time.Thor Energy's Lise Chatwin Olsen (left), Saleem Drera and Øystein Asphjell with the thorium fuel rig ready for testing . Photo: T.Tandberg - The light water reactor is here to stay as the nuclear power generating workhorse for the rest of the century.
- Fast reactors are meritorious, but have proven slow to license and deploy. It will be at least three decades before there is a sizable fast reactor fleet. Thorium-MOX LWR fuels can be designed to meet actinide management or fissile conversion goals expected of fast reactors, but without the difficulty of licensing a new reactor type.
- The absence of workable waste management strategies and solutions will be a bottleneck in the development of nuclear energy in numerous countries. Thorium-MOX fuel offers a credible plutonium management option that leads to more sustainable nuclear fuel use th an current modes of using UOX and uranium-MOX fuel.
- Thorium-MOX fuels utilize/destroy plutonium in spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and do not require enrichment services. Some proliferation concerns will remain, however, the use of thorium fuel will reduce these radically.
- Achieving more sustainable energy generation in which mined nuclear material is used more effectively. This draws on the possibility for high conversion or even breeding of fissile U-233 from thorium fuels.
- Employing fuels that generate smaller problematic waste streams, and that can also transmute (destroy) actinide components in current-generation thermal reactor systems.
Flexible Glass Could Make Tablets Lighter and Solar Power Cheaper | MIT Technology Review
Flexible Glass Could Make Tablets Lighter and Solar Power Cheaper | MIT Technology Review
Based on tests by Corning, which makes a product called Gorilla glass for iPhone screens and which announced the flexible material, called Willow glass, last year, shingles made from such solar cells could last for decades on a roof—even weathering hail greater than three centimeters in diameter. Conventional solar panels are heavy, bulky, and breakable, which makes them expensive to transport and install.
The new solar shingles could be nailed to a roof in place of conventional shingles. Rather than paying a roofer to put asphalt shingles on a new home, and then paying solar installers to climb back up and mount solar panels to the roof, the roofers could install solar shingles instead of asphalt ones. The only added labor cost would be hiring an electrician to plug the array of shingles into an inverter and connect it to the grid. Thin, flexible solar shingles could also be shipped more cheaply.
The cost of installation is one of the largest parts of the overall cost of solar power—its share has increased even as the cost of the cells themselves has plummeted in recent years. Indeed, installation and other auxiliary costs are now the biggest opportunity for reducing the cost of solar power. An average rooftop solar system in California costs $6.14 per watt, while solar panels themselves sell for less than $1 a watt in many cases.
Solar shingles are already available (see “Solar Shingles See the Light of Day” and “Alta Devices Plans a Fast-Charging Solar iPad Cover”). The chemical giant Dow makes them, for example. But they are typically made of plastic. Glass-based shingles, as counterintuitive as it sounds, could be more durable, says Dipak Chowdhury, division vice president and Willow glass commercial technology director at Corning. Glass is very good at sealing out the elements, which can help solar cells last for decades. It’s also surprisingly strong, and, in its flexible form, resilient. “We knew from our optical fiber work that glass is actually stronger than steel when you try to pull it apart,” he says. If Willow glass shingles were hit by hail, they would flex rather than break. While other solar shingles can also withstand hail, they may not be as good at protecting solar cells from air and moisture, he says.
The glass also makes it possible to use cadmium telluride as the solar cell material. This is the only material that’s been able to successfully challenge conventional silicon solar cells at a large, commercial scale (see “First Solar Shines as the Solar Industry Falters”). Cadmium telluride solar cells need to be made on a transparent material. Other flexible, transparent materials either can’t handle the high temperatures needed to make the solar cells, or they block too much light, reducing efficiency.
Based on tests by Corning, which makes a product called Gorilla glass for iPhone screens and which announced the flexible material, called Willow glass, last year, shingles made from such solar cells could last for decades on a roof—even weathering hail greater than three centimeters in diameter. Conventional solar panels are heavy, bulky, and breakable, which makes them expensive to transport and install.
The new solar shingles could be nailed to a roof in place of conventional shingles. Rather than paying a roofer to put asphalt shingles on a new home, and then paying solar installers to climb back up and mount solar panels to the roof, the roofers could install solar shingles instead of asphalt ones. The only added labor cost would be hiring an electrician to plug the array of shingles into an inverter and connect it to the grid. Thin, flexible solar shingles could also be shipped more cheaply.
The cost of installation is one of the largest parts of the overall cost of solar power—its share has increased even as the cost of the cells themselves has plummeted in recent years. Indeed, installation and other auxiliary costs are now the biggest opportunity for reducing the cost of solar power. An average rooftop solar system in California costs $6.14 per watt, while solar panels themselves sell for less than $1 a watt in many cases.
Solar shingles are already available (see “Solar Shingles See the Light of Day” and “Alta Devices Plans a Fast-Charging Solar iPad Cover”). The chemical giant Dow makes them, for example. But they are typically made of plastic. Glass-based shingles, as counterintuitive as it sounds, could be more durable, says Dipak Chowdhury, division vice president and Willow glass commercial technology director at Corning. Glass is very good at sealing out the elements, which can help solar cells last for decades. It’s also surprisingly strong, and, in its flexible form, resilient. “We knew from our optical fiber work that glass is actually stronger than steel when you try to pull it apart,” he says. If Willow glass shingles were hit by hail, they would flex rather than break. While other solar shingles can also withstand hail, they may not be as good at protecting solar cells from air and moisture, he says.
The glass also makes it possible to use cadmium telluride as the solar cell material. This is the only material that’s been able to successfully challenge conventional silicon solar cells at a large, commercial scale (see “First Solar Shines as the Solar Industry Falters”). Cadmium telluride solar cells need to be made on a transparent material. Other flexible, transparent materials either can’t handle the high temperatures needed to make the solar cells, or they block too much light, reducing efficiency.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Bees dying by the millions | Local | News | The Post
Bees dying by the millions | Local | News | The Post
Local beekeepers are finding millions of their bees dead just after corn was planted here in the last few weeks. Dave Schuit, who has a honey operation in Elmwood, lost 600 hives, a total of 37 million bees.
“Once the corn started to get planted our bees died by the millions,” Schuit said. He and many others, including the European Union, are pointing the finger at a class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids, manufactured by Bayer CropScience Inc. used in planting corn and some other crops. The European Union just recently voted to ban these insecticides for two years, beginning December 1, 2013, to be able to study how it relates to the large bee kill they are experiencing there also.
Local grower Nathan Carey from the Neustadt, and National Farmers Union Local 344 member, says he noticed this spring the lack of bees and bumblebees on his farm. He believes that there is a strong connection between the insecticide use and the death of pollinators.
“I feel like we all have something at stake with this issue,” he said. He is organizing a public workshop and panel discussion about this problem at his farm June 22 at 10 a.m. He hopes that all interested parties can get together and talk about the reason bees, the prime pollinators of so any different plant species, are dying.
At the farm of Gary Kenny, south west of Hanover, eight of the 10 hives he kept for a beekeeper out of Kincardine, died this spring just after corn was planted in neighbouring fields.
What seems to be deadly to bees is that the neonicotinoid pesticides are coating corn seed and with the use of new air seeders, are blowing the pesticide dust into the air when planted. The death of millions of pollinators was looked at by American Purdue University. They found that, “Bees exhibited neurotoxic symptoms, analysis of dead bees revealed traces of thiamethoxam/clothianidin in each case. Seed treatments of field crops (primarily corn) are the only major source of these compounds.
Local investigations near Guelph, led to the same conclusion. A Pest Management Regulatory Agency investigation confirmed that corn seeds treated with clothianidin or thiamethoxam “contributed to the majority of the bee mortalities” last spring.
“The air seeders are the problem,” said Ontario Federation of Agriculture director Paul Wettlaufer, who farms near Neustadt. This was after this reporter called John Gillespie, OFA Bruce County president, who told me to call Wettlaufer. Unfortunately, Wettlaufer said it was, “not a local OFA issue,” and that it was an issue for the Grain Farmers of Ontario and representative, Hennry Vanakum should be notified. Vanakum could not be rached for comment.
Yet Guelph University entomologist Peter Kevan, disagreed with the EU ban.
“There’s very little evidence to say that neonicotinoids, in a very general sense, in a broad scale sense, have been a major component in the demise of honeybees or any other pollinators, anywhere in the world,” said Kevan.
But research is showing that honeybee disorders and high colony losses have become a global phenomena. An international team of scientists led by Holland’s Utrecht University concluded that, ”Large scale prophylaxic use in agriculture, their high persistence in soil and water, and their uptake by plants and translocation to flowers, neonicotinoids put pollinator services at risk.” This research and others rsulted in the Eurpean Union ban.
The United Church is also concerned about the death of so many pollinators and has prepared a “Take Action” paper it’s sending out to all its members. The church is basing its action on local research. The Take Action paper states among other things, “Scientific information gathered suggests that the planting of corn seeds treated with neonicotinoids contributed to the majority of the bee mortalities that occurred in corn growing regions of Ontario and Quebec in Spring 2012.”
Meanwhile Schuit is replacing his queen bees every few months now instead of years, as they are dying so frequently. “OMAFRA tells me to have faith. Well, I think it’s criminal what is happening, and it’s hard to have faith if it doesn’t look like they are going to do anything anyway,” Schuit says.
Local beekeepers are finding millions of their bees dead just after corn was planted here in the last few weeks. Dave Schuit, who has a honey operation in Elmwood, lost 600 hives, a total of 37 million bees.
“Once the corn started to get planted our bees died by the millions,” Schuit said. He and many others, including the European Union, are pointing the finger at a class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids, manufactured by Bayer CropScience Inc. used in planting corn and some other crops. The European Union just recently voted to ban these insecticides for two years, beginning December 1, 2013, to be able to study how it relates to the large bee kill they are experiencing there also.
Local grower Nathan Carey from the Neustadt, and National Farmers Union Local 344 member, says he noticed this spring the lack of bees and bumblebees on his farm. He believes that there is a strong connection between the insecticide use and the death of pollinators.
“I feel like we all have something at stake with this issue,” he said. He is organizing a public workshop and panel discussion about this problem at his farm June 22 at 10 a.m. He hopes that all interested parties can get together and talk about the reason bees, the prime pollinators of so any different plant species, are dying.
At the farm of Gary Kenny, south west of Hanover, eight of the 10 hives he kept for a beekeeper out of Kincardine, died this spring just after corn was planted in neighbouring fields.
What seems to be deadly to bees is that the neonicotinoid pesticides are coating corn seed and with the use of new air seeders, are blowing the pesticide dust into the air when planted. The death of millions of pollinators was looked at by American Purdue University. They found that, “Bees exhibited neurotoxic symptoms, analysis of dead bees revealed traces of thiamethoxam/clothianidin in each case. Seed treatments of field crops (primarily corn) are the only major source of these compounds.
Local investigations near Guelph, led to the same conclusion. A Pest Management Regulatory Agency investigation confirmed that corn seeds treated with clothianidin or thiamethoxam “contributed to the majority of the bee mortalities” last spring.
“The air seeders are the problem,” said Ontario Federation of Agriculture director Paul Wettlaufer, who farms near Neustadt. This was after this reporter called John Gillespie, OFA Bruce County president, who told me to call Wettlaufer. Unfortunately, Wettlaufer said it was, “not a local OFA issue,” and that it was an issue for the Grain Farmers of Ontario and representative, Hennry Vanakum should be notified. Vanakum could not be rached for comment.
Yet Guelph University entomologist Peter Kevan, disagreed with the EU ban.
“There’s very little evidence to say that neonicotinoids, in a very general sense, in a broad scale sense, have been a major component in the demise of honeybees or any other pollinators, anywhere in the world,” said Kevan.
But research is showing that honeybee disorders and high colony losses have become a global phenomena. An international team of scientists led by Holland’s Utrecht University concluded that, ”Large scale prophylaxic use in agriculture, their high persistence in soil and water, and their uptake by plants and translocation to flowers, neonicotinoids put pollinator services at risk.” This research and others rsulted in the Eurpean Union ban.
The United Church is also concerned about the death of so many pollinators and has prepared a “Take Action” paper it’s sending out to all its members. The church is basing its action on local research. The Take Action paper states among other things, “Scientific information gathered suggests that the planting of corn seeds treated with neonicotinoids contributed to the majority of the bee mortalities that occurred in corn growing regions of Ontario and Quebec in Spring 2012.”
Meanwhile Schuit is replacing his queen bees every few months now instead of years, as they are dying so frequently. “OMAFRA tells me to have faith. Well, I think it’s criminal what is happening, and it’s hard to have faith if it doesn’t look like they are going to do anything anyway,” Schuit says.
Monday, July 1, 2013
IMAG0303 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
IMAG0303 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
loads of solar heated water, and temps are climbing, turned off the electric water heater altogether now!
too bad blogger does not play nice with flickr, but you can click on the link, itwill show you a bunch of temp readouts in the mid thirties C of 3 locations in the thermal solar waterloop, all pretty well topped up now, with an open loop pump, it draws more power, but no more air locks and that makes my life so much easier!
loads of solar heated water, and temps are climbing, turned off the electric water heater altogether now!
too bad blogger does not play nice with flickr, but you can click on the link, itwill show you a bunch of temp readouts in the mid thirties C of 3 locations in the thermal solar waterloop, all pretty well topped up now, with an open loop pump, it draws more power, but no more air locks and that makes my life so much easier!
The Projects // Thorium Power Canada Inc.
The Projects // Thorium Power Canada Inc.
Thorium Power Canada Inc., in partnership with DBI has designed a class of Thorium reactors which have significant commercial advantages:
It is estimated that the TPC Thorium Reactor will provide enough power to produce 20 million litres per day at the desalination plant. This is the equivalent amount that would power 3500 homes.
An application for condition approval to build a demonstration reactor has been submitted to the Chilean Government.
Thorium Power Canada Inc., in partnership with DBI has designed a class of Thorium reactors which have significant commercial advantages:
- TPC’s Thorium reactors are more efficient and faster to build than conventional nuclear reactors and other Thorium based reactors
- TPC’s reactors are a low cost, scalable, modular source of energy
- Thorium is an abundant world-wide resource
- TPC’s Thorium reactors reduce radioactive waste which has no use in nuclear weapons
Chilean Desalination Plant
Our planned 10 MW thorium reactor located in Copiapó, Chile consists of a core and reactor manufactured by DBI Operating Company in California. The balance of plant, including all buildings and required infrastructure will be constructed on site.It is estimated that the TPC Thorium Reactor will provide enough power to produce 20 million litres per day at the desalination plant. This is the equivalent amount that would power 3500 homes.
An application for condition approval to build a demonstration reactor has been submitted to the Chilean Government.
Indonesia Power Project
Thorium Power Canada is presently preparing a proposal for the development of a 25 MW thorium reactor in Indonesia. This demonstration power project will provide electrical power to the country’s power grid.
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