Fluorescent Efficiency From The Energy Superstore

Biofuel Conversion

When it comes to biofuels, the current economic crisis should be the siren song to the most plausible and profitable bio-matter available for manufacturing.

Unfortunately, the most common bio-matter tends to be corn-based or sugarcane-based. Though plentiful, these fuels will not be able to sustain a large portion of the fuel market for a variety of reasons.

We will examine the pros and cons of such biofuel sources as corn, sugar, cellulose, cooking oil, and algae; and of such processes as gasification and bioengineering.

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Palm Trees

We have been asked on several occasions to follow up on our previous discussion about using palm oil for biofuel, as a sustainable alternative energy resource. We didn’t like it then, and we don’t much like it now. So without further ado, here is a second perspective on palm oil as a biofuel.

What is Palm Oil?

Palm oil is an edible plant oil derived from the fruit of the Arecaceae Elaeis oil palm. It is the world’s second most widely produced vegetable oil, after soybean oil. Apart from consumption, it has also found a new use as a biofuel, a greener alternative to energy sources.

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Indoor Wood Stove

Wood stoves are specially designed stoves that use wood as the source of fuel for combustion and heating. Many varieties of wood stoves are available on the market. Each stove differs in its mode of operation, type of fuel used, brand, the heating capacity, and the type of materials used in their manufacture.

Standard Wood Stove Accessories

A standard wood stove can have a lot of accessories that can be purchased separately and are normally not supplied by the manufacturer with the product. With these accessories, you can create a custom wood stove with your own personal look and feel.

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Indoor Fireplace

This sentimental piece on wood stoves was written by a friend of the Energy Superstore, Julie, from Colorado. Here’s what she has to say about an old American tradition: burning wood in a wood stove for heat during the colder seasons.

The Magic of an Indoor Fireplace

I think about all the times I have spent in front of a roaring fire in my husband’s arms, staring out over the beautiful Colorado mountains. A roaring fire invokes a certain warmth, not just from the heat of the flames, but from the feelings it stirs inside.

It is a sight to behold–the crackling warmth of the fire, the sparks rising into the air–both real and metaphorical. Nothing gives a more definite sense of comfort than a real wood fire. The smell of the burning wood, the flickering light, and the warmth can make even the most temporary of places feel like a real home.

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Palm Tree

Palm oil is currently the most commonly produced vegetable oil in the world. For many rural poor countries, particularly in Southeast Asia, income received from the production of palm oil is the sole source of income.

Palm oil is extremely versatile. While it is extremely high in saturated fats, it is almost solid at room temperature. However when heated, palm oil turns into a liquid. It is used for a variety of purposes, from producing margarine, to a source of alternative energy.

Palm Oil As Biodeisel

Palm oil is used as a fuel in biodiesel internal combustion engines. It is being researched as an alternative to crude oil for its benefits in reducing greenhouse gases and depleting the ozone layer. It is also a renewable source of energy, which means we can always get more; whereas energy sources such as crude oil are finite in their resources.

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Researchers have created a new material that overcomes two of the major obstacles to solar power: it absorbs all the energy contained in sunlight, and generates electrons in a way that makes them easier to capture.

Solar Panels

Hybrid Solar Materials

Ohio State University chemists and their colleagues combined electrically conductive plastic with metals including molybdenum and titanium to create the hybrid material.

In a study published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), distinguished University Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry, Malcolm Chisholm explained, “There are other such hybrids out there, but the advantage of our material is that we can cover the entire range of the solar spectrum.”

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With oil prices increasing and signs of climate change becoming ever more noticeable, there is much interest these days in alternative fuel sources. On example of such an alternative fuel is hydrogen.

What Experts Know About Hydrogen Power

Hydrogen Fuel Cell

You may think of hydrogen as a fuel source, like gasoline, but it is actually more of an energy storage solution, like a battery. This is because there are not reserves of existing hydrogen that can be mined from the earth. Hydrogen must therefore be produced using another energy source before it can be used. This may make hydrogen sound less useful as a fuel, but energy storage is actually a very important problem.

An Energy Storage Solution

Many clean alternatives for generating power at power stations such as solar and wind are being developed, but without storage solutions this energy cannot be used in places like your car where it must be portable. While batteries can be used for storage, they can be expensive and harmful to the environment. It may be possible to develop a cleaner and less expensive solution using hydrogen.

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Natural Gas

Millions of years ago, the remains of plants and animals decayed and built up in thick layers. This decayed matter from plants and animals is called organic material — it was once alive. Over time, the mud and soil changed to rock, covered the organic material and trapped it beneath the rock.

Pressure and heat changed some of this organic material into coal, some into oil (petroleum), and some into natural gas — tiny bubbles of odorless gas. The main ingredient in natural gas is methane, a gas (or compound) composed of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms.

In some places, gas escapes from small gaps in the rocks into the air; then, if there is enough activation energy from lightning or a fire, it burns. When people first saw the flames, they experimented with them and learned they could use them for heat and light.

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Nuclear Power Plant

There are over 400 nuclear power reactors that are up and running on the planet, and believe it or not, the number is growing. The whole process of converting uranium into nuclear power is complex, but it all starts off with a mining operation to extract uranium ore. Believe it or not, uranium is not hard to find, it is actually a pretty common element, more common than gold.

Many people don’t realize that our own body houses trace amounts of uranium! Canada’s actually taken advantage of this relatively abundant resource and is so far the number one uranium producer in the world.

Reasons to Avoid Nuclear Power

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Wave Power

Experts have been attempting to harness the power of the wave since the late 19th century. As the wind passes over the ocean, it produces waves. There is a direct correlation between the power of the wind and the power of the wave.

Wave energy is produced when electricity generators are placed on the surface of the ocean. The energy provided is most often used in desalination plants, power plants and water pumps. Energy output is determined by wave height, wave speed, wavelength, and water density. To date there are only a handful of experimental wave generator plants in operation around the world.

The Aguadora Wave Park (AWP) in Portugal is the worlds first commercial wave farm. The AWP produces roughly 2.25 Mega-Watts of power (enough for 1500 homes) and cost just over 8.5 million euros to deploy (though by 2009 costs are expected to exceed 70 million euros).

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