: How can you make a difference?

Contemporary Issues in Designing and Managing Sustainable Cities

Urban Affairs 1171:001

Lesson 2 • Energy Systems • Alternative Energy Systems

Energy Systems

Traditional Power Grid

US 4,500

UK/D < 2,000

Brazil, China, Mexico 500

solar

http://www.the9billion.com/2011/02/25/100-solar-energy-in-20-yrs-no-problem-says-futurist-ray-kurzweil/

http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-law-of-accelerating-returns

The Law of Accelerating Returns Ray Kurzweil

Solar

1) Passive

2) Solar Thermal

3) Solar Photovoltaic (PV)

Mesa Verde, AZ

Trombe Wall house

http://graphics.latimes.com/towergraphic-la-me-solar-desert-tg/

2. Solar Thermal suns energy used to heat a liquid

Residential Solar Thermal: hot water collector

http://www.arcticsun-llc.com/resources/renewable-101/solar-thermal/

Solar Thermal: hot water collector

3. Solar Photovoltaic

2) Solar Photovoltaic: conversion of sunlight into electricity

http://www.solarpowerbeginner.com/solar-panel-diagram.html

Net Metering

Passive and Active Solar generation

http://inhabitat.com/raytons-new-super-efficient- affordable-solar-panels-could-trump-fossil-fuels/

Thin film Solar PV

http://www.treehugger.com/ style/solar-powered-necktie- is-not-exactly-ralph- lauren.html

Power film

DIY Systems

Build your own solar panel

DIY Solar Thermal (hot water)

Solar Furnace from aluminum cans

Temperature can reach 180 degrees

SolarPro Inflatable Water Heater

"There's enough alcohol in one year's yield of an acre of potatoes to drive the machinery necessary to cultivate the fields for one hundred years." - Henry Ford

Biomass

Both Ford and Diesel intended there engines run original on ethanol or bio-diesel

Hemp can produce 10 tons of biomass in 4 months, 10x more than corn.

The vast majority of ethanol is derived from GM corn

WIRED, 2007

Ethanol Production

Switch Grass, Panicum virgatum

http://www.shareable.net/blog/are-algae-the-diy-answer-to-fuel-food-crises

Algae biofuel

http://www.ecofriend.com/algae-save-clutches-global-warming.html

http://www.celsias.com/article/oil-algae-new-one-step-process/

http://www.algaecompetition.com/algae-slideshows/algae-communities/

Wave Power

Geothermal

http://www.theinnovationdiaries.com/975/how-does-geothermal-power-work/

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/04/12/navy-ends-big-oil/

http://www.ibtimes.com/goodbye-oil-us-navy-cracks-new-renewable-energy-technology-turn-seawater-fuel-allowing-1568455

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markgibbs/ 2013/05/20/finally-independent-testing-of- rossis-e-cat-cold-fusion-device-maybe-the- world-will-change-after-all/

and it really works...

1 Mw Unit = ~ 30 homes

1 Mw Unit = $1.5 million

Smart Grids

Renewables come in all shapes and sizes, how do you connect and control this variety?

http://global-sei.com/news/press/11/images/11_21.jpg

Renewables come in all shapes and sizes, how do you connect that variety?

fin