At Cleantech Forum in San Francisco on February 25th, Intel Executive Vice President Sean Maloney demonstrated advanced 3D modeling design tools for green drafting and building design. Using software from Autodesk, he demonstrated how building designers can simulate how environmental factors such as geography, solar coverage and weather impact operational costs and energy consumption. These 3D tools will present the building design alternatives and choice of materials to achieve maximium energy efficiency, and optimum operational costs.
Zero Energy Design® Replacing BAD Building Codes
Thursday, July 15th, 2010 at 9:29 am
Our current building codes ignore modern advances in energy efficiency. New US legislation is funding radical improvements. By Larry Hartweg ZEDmaster@ZeroEnergyDesign.com
Suddenly the Prospect of Building a Wind Generator Seems Like a Good Idea Again
Thursday, July 8th, 2010 at 6:34 am
In the past few years much has been made of building wind generators at home. Their was a time when the only wind turbine kits on the market were grossly overpriced which led the average home owner with the decision pay the high price to experiment with alternative energy or to try building one on their own. If you search the internet you will find people that have used a wide range of methods to build a do it yourself wind generator at there home. Brake drums ,washing machine motors, computer tape drive, ceiling fan motors have all been scavenged in the name of wind power. Some being more useful than others.
A few years ago now some enterprising folks put together a booklet describing in general terms how a home made wind generator could be built out of a Ametek 38 servo motor. Interestingly enough that particular motor was not a good wind generator motor at all, but the e books for all estimations had to have been a best seller. The price of components to build wind turbines at home went through the roof. Even today tape drive motors that were not worth twenty dollars three yeas ago are now selling at over two hundred and fifty dollars . The ametek 99 motors has been denoted the most sought after and rarest of finds and now sells for around five hundred dollars. The whole thing has spun out of control. The initial purpose was to save money, that is how the do it yourself wind mill was born. My observation is currently consumers are more willing to spend five hundred dollars on a tape drive motor that was worth twenty dollars three years ago that they are to spend a similar amount on a reputable all inclusive wind turbine kit.
Many of these consumers are sorely disappointed when the discover the brushes on the 20 year old tape drive motor are not made anymore and once they are wore out is worthless. I am not necessarily a proponent of wind turbine kits and paying manufactures prices, I just believe it is unfortunate when I see home owners throwing away money going about wind energy in a way that is not likely to meet there needs. There are other choices now for the home owner inclined toward the do it yourself type of wind generator. Hurricane Wind power has released a series of wind turbine generators that will out perform any of the generators currently sold that cost less and are maintenance free . When building a wind generator it is very important to get the motor to charge with as few RPM as possible. This is the essence of building a good wind turbine as the lower RPM equate to lower wind speed it take to charge batteries . These generators not only produce 12 volts with 40 rpm, they have a dual stator that has a non iron core to decrease magnetic drag and ensure the lowest startup speed on the market. Basically no brushes, super low RPM, and less torque to start up patented technology made in the USA.
A few months ago I was down on the idea of home made wind turbines. I however see promise again as the technology now available to the home builder allow construction of long lasting turbines that are cost effective. While the supply of DC motors that can be used as wind generators has dwindled and the price on the remaining rare items has skyrocketed it is now again possible to make a make this project worthwhile. The Hurricane PMA can produce as much as 200 volts at direct drive speeds with no gearing needed. It is now a fact that not only is it rewarding and a good family project but the home made wind generator will simply out perform the kit from the manufacturers such as Southwest. So yes it is again a good idea to build a home wind generator as long as you stay away from overpriced obsolete generator heads.
I am Anthony Jones MA owner of Hurricane wind power. We are a quality customer oriented wind power store specializing in, wind turbine complete kits,wind generators wind turbines grid ties and DIY products Http://Hurricanewindpower.com
Wind Plans – Wind Generator Building
Sunday, June 20th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
There are so much into wind generator building. Did you know that energy is much important to people’s lives. A wind generator is a device that generates electrical power from wind energy. Public utilities were set up in many cities targeting the burgeoning market for electrical lighting.
Click Here For Wind Plans Instant Access Now!
We have to be very particular as well, we have to give much of our effhomemade wind generatorto obtain and save electricity with our homemade wind generators. You can have it in just a little time of installation and would undergo easy process on installing it on your homes.
On wind generator building there would be no harm in trying and following such processes anyways.Well, it is really within us and it is up to us if how we would be able to manage losing weight. But we have into make sure that we also take it by heart for it could be one good factor of motivation. We ourselves share energies and owns energies within our bodies.
Many are into instructional medias and papers for them to build up their own wind generators. It is quite important for people to have these generators for them to be able to save energy and to help the environment through beong eco-friendly.
Such generators bear no resemblance to Faraday’s homopolar disc generator of 1831, but they still rely on his electromagnetic principle that a conductor linking a changing magnetic field induces a potential difference across its ends.
You really have to check on the background of an electrical power for you to completely make a homemade wind generator.
Electricity is an extremely flexible form of energy, and has been adapted to a huge, and growing, number of uses. The invention of a practical bulb in the 1870s led to lighting becoming one of the first publicly available applications of electrical power.
Click Here For Wind Plans Instant Access Now!
This author writes about Wind Plans and Wind Generators For Home.
Amory Lovins on building efficiency summary
Thursday, June 10th, 2010 at 11:39 am
A ten minute summary of Lovin’s one and a half hour lecture on energy efficiency at Stanford. One of five lectures on energy efficiency.
Energy Efficient Homes And Sustainable Building With Innovative Technology
Monday, March 29th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Welcome Home!
Where is home to the very latest in energy efficient building products that use Innovative Technology for Sustainable Building in Ireland?
Couple rising costs with outdated energy efficient building products and it’s easy to understand why many leading architects and builders have been left with a choice between importing quality building products or settling for second best… at least, until now!
Now you can find leading building innovations (BER rated at fair prices), because we continuously source the latest innovative energy efficient construction products, so you can buy them when you are ready.
If you’re involved in the construction industry then you probably already know that there are companies that lead the country in supplying the latest in innovative and quality products. Their reputation as leaders results from the extensive research given to sourcing the very best products (in terms of quality, design and innovation) for you.
Architects, Developers & Engineers
One thing we’re sure you’ll value in this site is that it has been designed (and will continue to be developed) with you in mind: to give you easy access to the expanding product range, and provide Architects, Developers & Engineers researching available products on the market, the product specifications you’re looking for ~
Sustainable Building
Window Sealing
Spider Fittings
Raw Silicon
Window Systems
Architecture Hardware / Ironmongery
You can select from a wide range of state-of-the-art products, including ~
energy efficient products
airtight door seals
roof vents
loft insulation
restoration hardware
door knobs
door handles
retrofitted insulation
locks
ventilation systems
timber windows
sash windows
and more…
Why You Should Go for Energy Efficient Homes
Did you know that energy efficient homes make you feel warmer, more welcome and cosier using 20-30% less energy?
If you’re looking for energy efficient, BER rated, innovative and stylish sustainable construction products, you need look no further because you’re home.
Why is everybody so interested in sustainable building and the associated products these days? Could it be that new regulations combined with the need to reduce our carbon footprint, that architects, builders and ‘green’ people (ecologically aware) want to invest in value for money products with excellent BER ratings in their homes?
Perhaps, like you, they want products to be functional, to meet all sustainable energy criteria, to help the house look great, and to combine stylish design with innovative technology from leading brands you can trust.
Protect everyone’s health while you save money with state-of-the-art range of ventilation systems.
Recent findings have shown that air indoors is often more polluted – and a greater threat to health – than the corresponding air outdoors means that action must be taken now to protect against danger, save money, and improve health.
Choosing the most effective ventilation system (whether it be roof vents, ventilation for attics, heat recovery, fans, industrial) is important because the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) could affect the health and comfort of the people inside a building. And since you want the very best in a range of ventilation systems for you project, it’s good to know that you’ve come to the right place.
As you are probably already aware, the use of ventilation as a means to dilute contaminants, filtration, and source control are methods for improving indoor air quality in most buildings.
There are a number of ways to test IAQ – from collecting air samples, collecting samples on the building surfaces, and computer modelling of air flow inside buildings – and these samples can then be analysed for mould, stressors, chemicals, bacteria, etc. Tests lead to understanding the source(s) of contamination, which in turn, points to solutions for their removal.
As you will see, the ventilation product range offers you the very best in all types of ventilation, including ~
mechanical ventilation
roof vents
attic ventilation
roof ventilation
heat recovery ventilator
wide range of fans
industrial ventilation
This article was written by Stephen Wall of NationalSeal – http://www.nationalseal.ie – airtight, door seals, mechanical insulation, timber windows.
Guide to Building Your Own Wind Turbine
Friday, March 19th, 2010 at 7:31 am
Building a wind turbine power system not only brings major economic and environmental benefits, it can actually be an enjoyable project. This article will deal with the building of a wind turbine, and some of the related issues.
Wind turbines will allow you to generate free energy for your household, and are surprisingly easy and inexpensive to build. The weekend it takes to put together a turbine is more than worthwhile, when you take into consideration the permanent, free energy that results.
Putting together a wind turbine will require a few basic parts. These include a set of rotor blades, a rotor assembly, a generator, and a mounting plate for the turbine. Although it’s true that the ordinary hobbyist is able to put them together, the rotor and blades have to be aligned very carefully. It’s possible to buy these components pre-made if you don’t feel up to the challenge of building blades that have the correct pitch and shape. There are many designs posted on the web if you do go the route of building the blades yourself. The majority of wind turbines in use today have a three-blade design, which offers an ideal balance of rotation of stability. Next, you’ll need a platform that can spin in the wind, where the blades and rotor will be mounted. If you’re using a standard horizontal wind turbine, the blades will need to have the ability to orient themselves in accordance with the wind in order to rotate. The platform must also be able to rotate in order to accomplish this. This task also requires the use of a vertical rudder, mounted on the back of the platform. If you are interested in learning more about wind turbine blades, you can go to Wind Turbine Blade Design.
It’s crucial as well to use a suitable generator for your wind turbine. Different generators come in different sizes, provide different levels of output, and produce different types of current. It is possible to get a generator that directly outputs AC electricity, although the majority use DC. The generator is then attached to a shaft, which rotates along with the rotation of the rotor assembly. Most generators have one direction in which they can rotate in order to generate power, so make sure to have it set to match the rotation of your rotor. Once the generator is mounted and connected to the rotor, you can set up your new wind turbine in the best location available in terms of wind velocity and consistency. With a DC generator, you can, among other tasks, charge batteries and power certain small appliances. An ordinary inverter is all you need to convert the DC electricity to AC, which can then be used by most devices in the home. You can read wind powerew(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.homesolarandwindinfo.com/wind-power-generator/”>Wind Power Generator for further info about wind power generators.
To learn about the pros and cons of solar energy, check out Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Power.
Eric Moore became interested in renewable energy after building an electric powered bike. Shortly after he began riding the bike to work, he thought, why not recharge the bike’s batteries with solar power and commute to work completely free and totally pollution free. He then created a website to share his experience and knowledge with others. For many more articles about home solar power visit: Home Solar and Wind Info.
DIY Building Home Made Wind Turbine
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 at 7:12 am
Homemade Wind Turbine – Home Wind Generator Building
How To Build Your Own Wind Turbine, Or Generator At Home!
How would you like to Save up to 80 to 90% of your household electric bills by taking advantage of green energy resources?. This free green energy can be very easily produced from naturally resources resources that are available on our planet for free, and the best part about it is they are plentiful. There are very few devices that are needed to make these resources into free alternative energy – here are the alternative sources you can convert into free power examples are a homemade wind turbine, or a home wind generator. You do not require any expensive investment on your part for any other commercially made homemade wind turbine, windmill, or home wind generator when you are actually presented with the option to actually build one yourself. I will also go into how to save a substantial amount of money off your electric bills when you build your own wind turbine, or home wind generator it’s surprisingly very easy to build one yourself, and can save you hundreds of dollars a year. Keep reading! Here’s the program I recommend, that shows you step by step how to accomplish this.
Earth 4 Energy is one such program that has shown people how to build and create a homemade wind turbine, or a home wind generator from scrap parts that are readily available at any local hardware store in your area. In the course it contains very simple step-by-step directions that literally anyone can follow they don’t use big words, or hard to understand directions, it’s a very cut and dry simple process! The earth4energy home kit goes through the process step by step showing you step by step how to find all the necessary parts and putting them together to easily build a wind turbine, or a home wind generator it’s actually a pretty fun process! And the best part about this eart4energy course is that all this building of your new wind turbine, or home wind generator can all be done for less than $200 dollars not like those commercially made turbines, or generators, that cost at he bare minimum $1000 and some can cost thousands of dollars more.
A homemade wind turbine, or home wind generator can actually be fully built and assembled from your very first step to your last in 3 days or a little more, depending on how much effort you actually put in on a daily basis to build it. For those living in a very sunny state or country, you can take the option of using a solar panel to collect the direct sunlight and convert the sunlight into solar energy power. Those of us who live in areas around the world where it is very windy, or has a strong wind blowing most of the time. Such as Chicago, IL. for example! can make use of the homemade wind turbine, or generator, to generate wind turbine power for their own home. These home wind power generators can help you to save a lot of money off of your electric bills, so in my opinion building it yourself is a great investment, that will pay off for years to come. Sort of a no- brainer in my humble opinion!
In these hectic tough financial times the world is currently experiencing, building a homemade wind turbine, or home wind generator, can help us to save some very good money on our electricity usage and all at the same time help keep the environment pollutant free. When we are actually presented with the option to effectively produce free energy from natural resources, and build our own wind turbines, or home wind generators then why in the world would we want to pay our local utility company for unneeded power usage?
Learn how to build a homemade wind turbine, or a home wind generator on a tight budget that virtually anyone can afford by following the simple step by step guide that shows you how to accomplish the whole building process very easily. Do not entirely depend on the free information downloaded from the internet because if you make a single mistake the entire project can be in jeopardy, or easily ruined and sometimes it can put your life in danger. I advise you to follow the guides very carefully as they are written by professional environmentalists, who guide you with safety and effectively building your own wind turbine, or generator all from the safety of your own home.
A wind turbine or home wind generator can generate 24 kilowatt of power that is enough to operate a laptop, television and a mobile phone charger. Free green alternative energy will run for at least a few years. Note: thousands of new jobs are being created as of the writing of this article for wind turbine technicians, solar panel techs, and many more green jobs. This is great news that our planet is making the necessary steps to go green. Get in on this trend, before the prices go up! Take advantage of the information in there guide for building your own wind turbine, or home wind generator today!
http://jaysonlinereviews.com/page3.php Generate your own power at home with solar and wind energy to eliminate your electric bill. This manual will show you how to build your own homemade windmill, or wind turbines, how to build your own solar panels, all for under $200 here!!! Full DIY Kits Reviewed, Need To Save Money? You Need To Visit This Website!
Energy Efficient Homes Vs. Green Building
Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 2:19 am
What’s happened to the term energy efficient home? I read the best definition of an energy efficient home by Dennis Crook. He’s built energy efficient homes since the Carter Administration in the 1980’s. His definition of an energy efficient home follows:
“The energy-efficient home acts as a smooth-functioning machine in which the equipment produces as much, if not more energy capacity than needed to operate the ideal human environment, including air quality, moisture conditions, temperature, and lighting. The ideal energy-efficient home retains the best environment for human habitation while minimizing the cost of energy.”
Thank you for this simple explanation! I finally understand what an energy-efficient home is.
But, what I don’t get then is what green building means?
I hear people suggest growing grass on my roof. Wouldn’t I need a flat roof? I heard flat roofs need repairs more frequently, once every ten years. That is more than pitched roofs. Where will I put the soil when it needs repaired? When it needs mowed how does the mover get onto the roof? I already have enough lawn to mow.
Won’t there be added weight on the building from the soil and moisture from rain? I would be concerned about molds forming from the moist soil.
I certainly don’t want my walls made out of straw bail. What happens if a tiny hole occurs in the wall? That’d be a great nesting place for rodents. What happens if there is a fire, straw will immediately spark right?
Has anyone really thought through the term “green building”? Or was the term developed as a new marketing ploy to sell products? I think I’ll stick with my home being energy efficient. At least I understand what it means and won’t have to rebuild my house. Energy efficiency is a series of modifications you can make to your home to make more efficient then what is it currently operating at.
I recommend you check out Energy Efficient Home Articles. It is a GREAT resource website that will explain and tell you how to make your home a better operating, more efficient, money saving, unit.
Want to learn how to save money on your electric/gas bills? Click here: Decrease your Utility Bills
Interested in learning more on how to make your home energy efficient? Click here:
Energy Efficient Homes
The Benefits of Building Homemade Wind Generators
Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 12:23 am
Anyone can build their own wind generator and enjoy endless benefits and feel the accomplishment of protecting the environment at the same time. To be honest we even found it’s a fun activity and really never even thought it could be so easy. I’m sure everyone wants to save on energy bills in these tough economical times and live off the grid.
Nothing can be more cost-effective and environmental-friendly than a renewable source of energy such as a homemade wind generator. Imagine a life with no electricity bills at all and still being able benefit from electricity at your will. You can have a homemade and self-made wind generator right in your own backyard simply by following a solid guide that will teach you step by step how to do it properly.
Below are a few of the basic steps you need to know when building a wind generator all by yourself
It’s not that hard to find a guide that will help you get started in building your own wind generator, you can simply do a Google search and find dozens of eBooks, however not all of them are as efficient as they should be. We’ve done all the research for you and came up with some conclusions: You should not have to spend more than $200 on all the components to build a wind turbine. The right manual will teach you how to find these materials at the lowest price or even get them for free. The investment is so low that you can get a return even within the first month.
Other benefits of the renewable energy sources
Aside from being able to save a lot from your electric bill, you are at the same time doing a very good thing to help the environment. Everyone is talking about the environment and how to protect it thus you are actually one who is doing something about it and that is something you can be definitely proud of.
So why don’t you take your first step to start saving on electric bill, help the environment and start making use of renewable energy by building a wind generator all by yourself?
If you’re tired of high electricity bills discover how thousands of families worldwide benefit from homemade wind turbines to power their homes and drastically reduce energy bills.
For more information on how to build your own solar panels visit our Earth 4 Energy Review