Energy Archives | MindsGrid

Dec

06

2020

Transparent Solar Panels Will Turn Windows Into Green Energy Collectors

Green Energy, Solar Panel

A team of researchers from Michigan State University managed to develop a fully transparent solar panels – a breakthrough that could lead to countless applications in architecture, as well as other fields such as mobile electronics or the automotive industry. Previous attempts to create such a device have been made, but results were never satisfying enough, with low efficiency and poor material quality. Transparent Solar Panels The MSU team emphasized on the see-through factor. They developed a transparent luminescent solar concentrator, or TLSC, that can be placed over a window or any other clear surface. The concentrator can harvest solar energy without affecting light transmittance. The technology…

May

25

2015

MPPT vs PWM Charge Controllers – Comparison

charge controller, mppt, pwm, solar

In this article we will explain MPPT vs PWM Charge Controllers Comparison. At first glance, a charge controller may not seem so important. Charging batteries is a big part of an off-grid system, but can't you just wire your renewable energy source straight into your batteries and be done with it? The answer is yes, but that you definitely shouldn't. Batteries are the most expensive component of your off-grid system and charge controllers actually protect them while charging. As a lead-acid battery (the current standard for solar and wind applications) charges, the optimal voltage for charging the battery changes (for more…

Apr

04

2015

Wave Energy – A new way of generating power from tides

clean energy, Ocean Energy, Wave Energy

The search for alternative energy sources in the age of climate change has overlooked tidal energy: a vast and unexploited worldwide resource. For three decades now, tidal lagoon schemes have been recommended as an economically and environmentally attractive alternative to tidal barrages. More recently, two proposals for tidal lagoons in Swansea Bay, Wales have emerged and there have been several reports documenting how such a project there could have the potential to harness significant energy resources. Tidal/wave energy involves constructing a barrage, a dam or some other sort of barrier to harvest power from the height difference between high and…

Feb

21

2015

Solar Energy – Solar Wind Downdraft Tower Technology unique in the Market today

Solar Wind Energy Tower, Inc. is the innovator and creator behind the only hybrid solar-wind technology in the market today named Solar Wind Downdraft Tower. The simplicity of Solar Wind Energy’s revolutionary solution lies in its ability to harness the natural power of a downdraft created when water is introduced to hot dry air within the confines of the company’s patented tower structure. Solar Wind Energy’s Tower is unique in that it does not have any operational limitations in terms of time. It’s capable of operating around the clock, 24 hours per day, seven days per week in contrast to…

Sep

09

2014

Geothermal Energy – Geothermal Energy in Iceland

Iceland’s position atop the separating European and American tectonic plates has created a unique and savage landscape. The combination of fire and ice created global travel chaos in 2010 when the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull led to thousands of cancelled flights across the world. As the world watches the quivering Bardarbunga volcano amongst fears of a similar event, it is worth remembering that Iceland’s volcanism brings clean energy benefits as well as risks. Due to the high volume of electricity consumption by the aluminium industry, and the country’s population of just 320,000, Iceland has the world’s highest electricity consumption per capita,…

Aug

02

2014

Gigafactory – How Tesla’s battery could change everything

clean energy

Serial entrepreneur and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk is no stranger to making waves in the technology sector. Earlier this year he decided to allow anyone to, “in good faith,” make use of the automaker’s patent portfolio without fear of being named in a patent lawsuit. The goal, he wrote in a blog entry on Tesla’s website, was to entice other automakers to enter the electric vehicle (“EV”) market by allowing them to leverage Tesla’s technology as a platform on which to build new EVs. Understanding that it was “impossible for Tesla to build cars fast enough to address the carbon…

Jul

23

2014

Clean Energy – IFW contends used tires for Clean Energy

IFW Recycling Corporation sees a clear opportunity in the polluted skies by introducing reusable clean energy. According to CNN, inhabitants of Beijing are “choking as smog levels hit heavy or even worse levels.” Ironically, China is simultaneously one of the world’s biggest contributors to environmental pollution and largest producers of green & clean energy technology. Unfortunately for China, most of that technology is exported. As pollution problems continue to worsen, governments around the world are looking for any solution to solve their waste management problems. This is particularly true in countries like China that rely on coal fired plants to…