Sunday, October 05, 2008

Make Solar Panels in your Pizza Oven

The reason why traditional power sources (line electric, gasoline engines, etc.) hold on is because of their cheap cost in comparison to "alternative" energy methods. Over the course of 5 years, consumption via solar-power will always be more expensive than line-power. What there were a way to bring that cost down for solar electric power? Look Down Under. An Australian scientist has developed a new method of manufacturing solar cells using nothing more than some nail polish remover, a pizza oven and a standard inkjet printer.

The iJET technique is so easy and cheap to carry out that it could revolutionize access to solar technology in the developing world.

In a recent radio interview (audio), Nicole Kuepper, a 23 year-old PhD student at the University of New South Wales, explained the process.

Firstly, she takes a standard silicon solar cell and sprays it with a substance similar to nail polish. Then, she inkjet prints something like nail polish remover onto the wafer in a set pattern in the same way that you’d print a normal photo. This enables the creation of high-resolution patterns on the cell at a very low cost. The cell is then metallized with an aluminum spray and baked at a very low temperature of around 550 fahrenheit in “something like a pizza oven.”

Kuepper went on to explain how solar cells are currently manufactured using expensive “high-tech, high-cleanliness equipment,” too costly for many countries in the developing world, adding, “we’re trying to do away with all of that so that so we can ensure that these solar cells can actually be manufactured in a developing country’s environment that you might find in say Ghana or Laos for example.”

(from Clean Technica)

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Make Your Own Wind Turbine

In the 20th century people in several countries realized that the pollution of our world is getting serious. Using steam energy, atomic energy or just starting an auto engine pollutes our planet. Earth is in danger but we can give some time to our planet to regenerate! Using wind or sun power is just the first step to a cleaner, eco friendly living space to our children.

After several years scientists and inventors found the way to use clean, natural energy. Our Sun is the best power source we have, but the wind and water elements are important too! The most common answers to energy problems are the sun and the wind. These two elements can be found everywhere on Earth and building power plants based on these renewable energy sources is quite easy. Building a wind turbine is the easiest way to produce energy without any cost. If you want to build a turbine for your home, you will need these things: a generator, minimum 3 blades, a mounting (that keeps the wind's direction), a tower to get it into the way of the wind and some electronic things like batteries and control systems. At the start, you will need a DC motor to produce electricity. When you choose a model you must choose a low RPM model which can produce 12 volts with 2-300 RPM's. After you find your motor, you can start the building. You can made blades from an iron barrel or some half cut iron pipe. Just cut a blade from it and lock it symmetrical on the front of the motor. After this, use something thin and massive iron object to mount the structure in the best way of the wind.

Now build the tower to place the motor on the top of it. You can use a massive tree-stump or just weld a massive structure from some iron stick. After you locked the tower on the ground and placed the motor on the top, use the batteries to store the electricity and save the planet for our children!

This is a rough explanation, but you can find a very detailed, step-by-step guide at our website! Visit EcoTaz for this information and other interesting articles on the subject!