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Heat Exchangers — Renewable Energy Products & Services

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Heat Exchangers

Abwasser- Und Abfalltechnik Gmbh & Co (Aat):  specializes in solar electric system design and installation in NJ, NY, PA, and DE. Located in New Jersey.

Accent Water And Energy Pty Ltd:  Abundant Earth offers a wide variety of environmentally sensitive products and services for people who want to make a difference in the world. Located in Port Townsend, Washington

Acorn Water:   

Acro Solar Lasers Solar Water Heating:  Leading the Australian market in innovation and energy efficiency for water heating.

All Solar Power Inc:  AKT is the manufacturer of the  KIX dehydrator a direct fired Dryer applicable in the Recovery of Proteins and Nutrients from Organic Waste streams and the production of valuable animal feed ingredients such as Fish Meal, Meat Meal, Blood Meal and Poultry Meal. Also proven in the drying of several materials as one of the most efficient waste management tools.

Alternate Energy Technologies Llc:  Founded in 1921, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has created a legacy of innovation and achievement in the field of electrical technology. Mitsubishi Electric is a true pioneer in the field of photovoltaics. Mitsubishi Electric has been working on the technology since the 1970s, when they made their first PV systems to provide power to satellites in the hot and cold extremes of space. Located in Los Angeles, California

Geotermia Solar Sl:  Design and installation of Geothermal Heat Pump systems for heating, cooling and air conditioning. Use of renewable energy in houses and commercial buildings, for acclimatization or pool heating, through Ground Source Heat Pumps. Just as easy as any conventional system but more efficient and environmental friendly. Located in Valencia (Spain).

Heat Pump Centre (Hpc):  The International Energy Agency’s HPC is a source for international information on heat pumping technologies, applications and markets.

NEW  My Green Comfort – Geothermal Heat Pump Contractors, Installation, Specialists & Service
Description : Offering ground source heat pump and geothermal heating system installation services, we are an established geothermal heat pump contractor of US.

Shurflo Pump Manufacturingcompany:  All kinds of AC/DC hi/lo voltage pumps

SolSmart Energy Solutions:  Our business focuses on providing solar energy solutions in the built environment, including solar water heating, solar electric power, and solar pool heating. We are a full service company offering design, sales, installation and maintenance of all types of solar energy systems.

Sonideft Solar:  specializes in the consulting, design and sale of Solar Heating products. We also host many online solar design tools.

Please suggest additional links

Inverters — Renewable Energy Products & Services

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Sources for Inverters

Acs (Advancedcombustion Systems):  With 20 years in the electrical industry, we bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the exciting new field of Grid-Tied Photovoltaic systems. Owner Bruce Gardiner has been installing PV systems for 11 years, both off-grid and on-grid. In the last two years we have completed more than 30 Grid-Tied PV systems totaling over 80kW of solar power. Located in Berkley, CA

Advanced Alternative Energy Corp (Aaec):  designed and manufactured quality combustion and control systems. ACS INC. is capable of providing sole-source turnkey projects.  It is ACS’ responsibility to understand our customers’ needs before we propose a solution; our reputation depends on it, and our clients count on it. Today, as we carry on the tradition of excellence, ACS is proud of our long history as a supplier of process control and combustion equipment to customers worldwide.

Advancedcombustion Systems (Acs):  provides services to the energy, chemical, built environment, and petrochemical industries. 

Ample Power:  Solar thermal roofing system combining roofing tile technology and solar design. All-weather protection for the building that collects solar energy for space heating and hot water.

Analytic Systems:  DC-DC Voltage Converters, DC-AC Power Inverters, AC-DC Power Supplies, DC & AC Source Battery Chargers, Configurable and Custom Power Solutions

Ballard Power:  Commercial Inverters

Bogart Engineering:  Located in Rapid City, South Dakota

Cherokee Electronics (Wireless Marketing Corporation):  12 Volt DC to 110 Volt AC Power Inverters with Super Surge Technology

Convertitori Statici s.r.l. :  High frequency inverters

Don Rowe Power Inverters :  Low price retailer of solar electric panels, completes systems, and related components such as charge controllers and inverters. Many other items available by special-order.

Exeltech Inverters:  Manufactures true sine wave power inverters for telecom, military, utility, photography, and solar energy.

Fire, Wind and Rain Technologies LLC :  4-100kW Inverters and 500W Grid Tied Inverters

Heart Interface Inverters/Chargers

Latronics:  Grid tied, standalone 400W- 3500W inverters

Magnetek:  Aurora product line

Mastervolt Solar BV :  Grid tied Inverters, Stand alone Inverters, String Inverters, AC Module Inverters

Outback Power Systems:  Manufacturer of power centers, inverters, chargers, controls and installation hardware for renewable energy systems.

Power Solutions Australia:  Grid Battery Interactive inverters with and without batteries

PowerPro:  DC/AC Power inverters (100W-500W)

Pv Powered L L C:  PV Powered is a photovoltaics engineering company designing and manufacturing utility interactive inverters for residential and commercial renewable energy marketplaces.

SatCon Technology Corporation:  30kW to 500kW solar power converter systems

Sci (Specialty Concepts Inc):  Specialty Concepts manufactures the broadest line of electronics for photovoltaic systems in the world

Sma America:  With many different inverter models to choose from, in a variety of output power ranges, you can now create grid interactive power plants as small as 500 Watts up to or larger than 1,000,000 Watts. SMA has also developed new central inverters for the large commercial or industrial solar plants, as well as a battery inverter for the off-grid and backup power markets. Located in Grass Valley, California

SMA Technologie AG :  Grid tied Sunny Boy Inverters

Solapak Ltd (part of Intersolar Ltd):  Inverters/Systems

Solar Converters Inc :  Controllers and other electronic components for AE

Solar Online Australia:  Suppliers of solar and wind power equipment including solar panels, wind turbines, regulators, power inverters, deep cycle batteries and technical information.

Solar Sales Pty Ltd:  Western Australian retailer of renewable energy products including solar panels, regulators, batteries, lighting, power inverters, water pumps, and wind turbines.

Solectria Renewables:  Grid-tied inverters for residential and commercial applications ranging from 1kW upto 1MW systems.

Statpower:  Maker of all sizes of inverters

Submeter Utilities With PC:  Submeter shows you where ELECTRIC POWER goes in your apartment building, office, marina, or RV park! Do you have a "smart house"? A submitter can track all of your branch circuits and report power anomalies. If you need to submitter 12 outlets at a marina, 50 golf carts, or 200 motel rooms, this is the cheapest method you will find anywhere! DO YOU WANT TO ALLOCATE HVAC FUEL COSTS? – Simply use the same 16 little current sensors to pick up the individual T-stat calls. See other clever application notes archived on this site. 

Sun Selector Bobier Electronics  :  Charge controllers and much more

Sustainable Energy Technologies:  High efficiency DC to AC inverters

Vanner Power Group:  is a manufacturer of DC-AC inverters. The web site includes our Solar Select feature, an interactive renewable energy application guide. Located in Hilliard, Ohio

Wholesale Solar:  Solar Panels, inverters, wind generators and more.

Xantrex:  Vast amounts of info from the world’s leader in inverter technology.

Zzzap Power:  Online suppliers of inverters, battery chargers and uninterrupted power supplies (UPS). Specializing in frequency, phase, and DC converters; voltage, surge protection, and alternate energy.

Please suggest additional links

Solar Videos

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Wind and Solar Energy How-To
From:  billypopp

Video description of how I’ve setup a solar / wind electric generating system for the first time. This is to power a radio tower in Enfield Maine. But, it could apply to any solar power or wind power application.
Spray-On Solar-Power Cells
Are True Breakthrough
From:  snarfelhamana

SOLAR REVOLUTION – Solar Paint
Ted Sargent is a pioneer in solar science. He’s working on solar technology that could literally be woven into every aspect of daily life, from our clothes to our roads, using what is known as a spray-on solar cell. The implications for our energy systems are profound. As Ted says, "Solar energy is not just an exciting science problem, but an incredibly important human problem."

For more information:
Spray-On Solar-Power Cells Are True Breakthrough

 
Largest Solar Field In The World
From:  videosphere

The largest photo-voltaic installation in the world is located near Arnstein, Germany. While visiting my family, my friend Sepp offered to take us there, a short distance from Schweinfurt.

For more information:
A sunny solar farm
Energy Innovations on Discovery Channel
From:  stoopidutoobname

Here’s the EI spot that aired on Discovery. EI is a cutting edge hitech company that is revolutionizing the solar power industry with their concentrating system.
Solar Air Conditioning
From:  tculhane

This video starts with a visual montage of the sheer number of air conditioners used on our street in Cairo, Egypt, describing them as energy parasites that actually increase the heat of the surrounding air. It then shows the vacuum tube heat pipe solar absorption cooling air conditioning system installed by solar engineer Les Hamasaki at the Debs Park Audubon Environmental Center in Los Angeles. Les Hamasaki describes the 10-ton solar chiller and we conclude with a note about how solar chillers not only eliminate the need for air conditioners,…
Solar House Lights
From:  wheels773

I turned on all the lights so I could get video of the house at night. About 15 lights on, drawing less power than 2-60 watt incandescent bulbs. My solar system made about 3000 watts of electricity on this hazy day.

Solar Thermal Videos

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Nevada Solar One Solar Power Station
From:  REAccess

Shaine Ebrahimi of Green TV Productions, contributed this report about Nevada Solar One, a 64 MW concentrating solar power plant just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. Green TV Productions
produces Life On The Green Side and Global Warming: The Tipping Point.

For more information:
Nevada Solar One Goes Online
Clean Solar Thermal Electricity
From:  origmi

The future of scalable clean solar energy. 350 MW built and operational in California desert for more than 15 years.

For more information:
The IEA SolarPACES Implementing Agreement   
 
Renewable Energy – Solar Thermal
(Hot Water)
From:  renewmaine

This video was created by Bowdoin College students www.bowdoin.edu in cooperation with the Maine Energy Investment Corporation www.renewmaine.org.

What is Solar Energy?

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What is solar power?  


Electromagnetic energy transmitted from the sun (solar radiation) is referred to as solar energy. Power in general is energy per unit time. Only a very small portion of total solar power reaches the earth. Numerically, this amount is characterized by solar constant- the average amount of solar radiation that reaches the earth’s upper atmosphere on a surface perpendicular to the sun’s rays. Solar constant is approximately 1366-1367 watts per square meter or 433 Btu/hr per square foot (see power unit conversion calculator).

How to convert solar power to electricity?
Solar power can be converted to electricity in photovoltaic (PV) cells, which are also called solar cells. A solar cell is made of specially treated silicon wafer with p-n junction. When photon of light strikes the top of the wafer, it can penetrate through the p-n junctions and free an electron, which can cross the junction into the n-type region. Free electrons are then held in the n-region, being unable to return into the p-region. This creates a voltage of about 0.5-0.6 volts under open circuit (no-load) condition. When connected to a load a typical commercial PV cell can produce about from 0.5 to 2.0 watt of electrical power.  In conventional small solar electric systems 32 to 40 cells are connected in series into modules (or panels). Such panels can produce open circuit voltage of up to 20 V and about 16-17 V at peak power.  These voltages are suitable for charging 12V batteries via regulators. There are also modules, which have nominal voltages 24V or 48V.
Multiple modules can be wired together in an array to produce higher voltages, currents and power levels. Parallel connection of the modules increase the maximum available load current while series connection increases the output voltage.

  
Read more of this article

 
Hotlinks to Additional Solar Energy Internet Resources:
Creative Energies A Renewable Energy Company:  Wyoming’s full-service renewable energy company featuring solar, wind, and water solutions for business and residential customers.
Google says, ‘Here comes the sun’:  Google Inc. is converting its renowned headquarters to run partly on solar power, hoping to set an example for corporate America.  The undertaking will be the largest solar project by a U.S. company. Google believes the sun eventually can deliver as much as 30 percent of the power at its 1-million-square-foot campus in Mountain View — a suburb about 35 miles south of San Francisco….
NEW    Bright Green Energy: Source for Solar and Photovoltaic Panels, Wind Turbines, Rutland wind chargers, Aerogen wind generators, Batteries, Inverters and other solar powered products. 
Solar Energy Photovoltaics Tutorial Package:  Provides an interactive tutorial package comprising of a comprehensive tutorial and laboratory grade photovoltaic module for "hands on" experiments and calculations.
NEW    Solar power:  Solar power, but what is solar power? and how will you make the best use of it? well, the answer to this is very….
The Solar Guide:  new link — website that makes solar energy accessible and understandable to you. The Solar Guide aims to give consumers the practical information they want, about buying solar and renewable energy systems.
University College Dublin:  Energy Research Group Carry out research on low-energy and passive solar building design and host the site for the European Solar Industry Federation ESIF. Many excellent well-illustrated reports on EU funded research projects are available in pdf format but you’ll need a fast link to deal with the monster file sizes!
US Solar Signs:  Manufacturer of solar powered signs for real estate, business and commercial applications. Patented design. No electrical wiring or maintenance is required. Battery-operated signs are recharged daily with solar energy. Signs can be customized to meet your application.
Next Energy:  NextEnergy provides SunPower Intelegant systems for homes in Northern California. For over 30 years, we’ve been turning around our customers PGE bills and helping to make Northern California a cleaner, safer place to live.

More General Solar Links  

Using Batteries for Energy Storage

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The standard battery used in energy storage applications is the lead-acid battery. A lead-acid battery reaction is reversible, allowing the battery to be reused. There are also some advanced sodium/sulfur, zinc/bromine, and lithium/air batteries that are nearing commercial readiness and offer promise for future utility application.

Compressed Air as a Energy Storage Option

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Compressed air energy storage uses pressurized air as the energy storage medium. An electric motor-driven compressor is used to pressurize the storage reservoir using off-peak energy and air is released from the reservoir through a turbine during on-peak hours to produce energy. The turbine is essentially a modified turbine that can also be fired with natural gas or distillate fuel.

Ideal locations for large compressed air energy storage reservoirs are aquifers, conventional mines in hard rock, and hydraulically mined salt caverns. Air can be stored in pressurized tanks for small systems.

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Using Flywheels for Energy Storage

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ASPES Engineering AG – Graphic comparisons of power, rotor speed, and energy. Bibliography includes English and German titles.
Beacon Power – Makes 2 and 6 kilowatt-hour flywheel (kinetic-electric) energy storage units.
FAQ: Kinetic Energy Storage – ASPES Engineering AG site with technical information and theory on flywheels and design. Photos of failures.
Flywheel energy storage – Wikipedia – article includes equation for kinetic energy
Flywheel Energy Systems, Inc. – Private corporation to "bring flywheel technology to the marketplace" Rotors, testing, and systems.
Flywheel Theory – Basics of flywheel energy storage, with links to many other sites.
Flywheels – Technical paper and information on exotic bearings for flywheels.
Flywheels channel at Power Design 365 – articles, product information and vendors
Motor Generator – Brushless DC Motor – on motor types for high speed flywheel energy storage.
PowerCorp – Markets PowerStore flywheel system.
Regenerative Power and Motion: A Low-Loss Flywheel Battery – technology and applications of stationary model.
RPM’s Flywheel Battery – Flywheel battery described as having near-zero storage (idling) loss, unlimited service life with no maintenance, ultra-high power conversion efficiency.
Tribology Systems, Inc. – Solid-lubricated bearing technology. Operational speeds can range up to 500,000 RPM, with temperatures up to 1000 F. Links to flywheel battery information.
Pentadyne Selected as “Most Promising Company” – at Energy Venture Fair V. Flywheel maker lauded. (November 22, 2004)
Liebert FS Advanced Flywheel Energy Storage System – Emerson Network Power announcement of new product. (October 13, 2004)

Hydrogen Fuel Cells used as a Energy Storage Option

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A fuel cell is similar to a battery in that an electro-chemical reaction is used to create electric current. The charge carriers can be released through an external circuit via wire connections to anode and cathode plates of the battery or the fuel cell. The major difference between fuel cells and batteries is that batteries carry a limited supply of fuel internally as an electrolytic solution and solid materials (such as the lead acid battery that contains sulfuric acid and lead plates) or as solid dry reactants such as zinc carbon powders found in a flashlight battery. Fuel cells have similar reactions; however, the reactants are gases (hydrogen and oxygen) that are combined in a catalytic process. Since the gas reactants can be fed into the fuel cell and constantly replenished, the unit will never run down like a battery.

The fuel (hydrogen) enters the fuel cell, and this fuel is mixed with air, which causes the fuel to be oxidized. As the hydrogen enters the fuel cell, it is broken down into protons and electrons. In the case of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) and phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFC), positively charged ions move through the electrolyte across a voltage to produce electric power. The protons and electrons are then recombined with oxygen to make water, and as this water is removed, more protons are pulled through the electrolyte to continue driving the reaction and resulting in further power production. In the case of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), it is not protons that move through the electrolyte, but oxygen radicals. In molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC) carbon dioxide is required to combine with the oxygen and electrons to form carbonate ions, which are transmitted through the electrolyte.

Using SuperCapacitors for Energy Storage

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Supercapacitors (also known as ultracapacitors) are DC energy sources and must be interfaced to the electric grid with a static power conditioner, providing 60-Hz output. A supercapacitor provides power during short duration interruptions and voltage sags. By combining a supercapacitor with a battery-based uninterruptible power supply system, the life of the batteries can be extended. The batteries provide power only during the longer interruptions, reducing the cycling duty on the battery. Small supercapacitors are commercially available to extend battery life in electronic equipment, but large supercapacitors are still in development, but may soon become a viable component of the energy storage field.

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