Solar regulators and inverters
In my previous articles in this series on solar power basics, we’ve looked at solar energy options including a basic overview of how a system works, renewable energy rebates, grid connect, solar panels and deep cycle batteries. In this article, we’ll take a look at two other crucial components in a system; the regulator and inverter; both of which sit between the solar panels and your appliances or battery bank – depending on the type of system you have.
What is a solar regulator?
A solar regulator (sometimes referred to as a charge controller) is used in conjunction with a stand alone system, or a grid connect solar power system with a battery bank for backup. For a grid connect system without a battery bank, a solar regulator is not required, just a power inverter which we’ll look at shortly.
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Why use supplemental lighting for indoor or greenhouse gardening?
Why use supplemental lighting for indoor or greenhouse gardening?
Greenhouse Lights
Were Against Renewables Before They Were For Them
Just forget about that whole global warming scare that was still in vogue up until just over a year ago before the “climategate” scandal erupted, to say nothing of updated research that interlinks natural forces with warming and cooling trends as opposed to human activity. In fact, over 1,000 scientists from the across the globe have gone on record to question earlier claims advanced through the United Nations that have been used to justify “cap and trade” schemes modeled after the Kyoto Protocol of 1997.
Small wonder then that opinion polls now show that alarmist climate projections evoke greater cynicism. However, the regulatory agenda that aims to extend government control over the private sector remains very much in motion, even as the rationale has changed.
BP Biofuel Breakthrough Imminent at Oil Price
BP is poised for a major advance in its biofuel operations, as it is completing commissioning of the world’s first biobutanol pilot plant and plans to begin full–scale production later this year at its Vivergo Fuels facility, one of the world’s largest ethanol production plants.
The Vivergo facility will convert around 1.1 million tonnes of high-starch UK wheat into 420 million litres of ethanol each year. This will represent around one-third of the UK’s ethanol demand under the government’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, said Phil New, CEO of BP Biofuels, speaking at a meeting of the UK’s Parliamentary Low Carbon Transport Group last week. The bioethanol should produce less than 50% of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of conventional petrol over its lifecycle, he added.
Domestic Solar PV
Domestic Solar PV – Finance Available London How Solar PV Works
Solar PV Panels generate renewable electricity from the sun by converting daylight into Direct Current (DC) which is then transferred to an Inverter, which in turn changes the current from DC to Alternating Current (AC) which is needed to power your home. Solar PV Panels can supply a substantial proportion of the electricity needs of a typical household. Solar PV Panels provide clean, affordable electricity apart from reducing your electricity bill, you also get paid for any units of electric the PV system produces, whether you use it or not.
- PV panels are securely mounted onto your roof.
- The PV panels are connected to an inverter, normally positioned in your loft space. The inverter converts the direct current generated by the panels to alternating current that is needed to power your lights and appliances and export to the national grid.
- A generation meter records how much electricity you are producing.
- The electricity flows into your existing consumer unit, where it is either used to power your lights and appliances, or exported to the grid.
Frequently asked questions:
Do I have enough sunlight for PV?
New microbial genetic system dissects biomass to biofuel conversion
ScienceDaily (June 13, 2010) — A research team at the DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) has developed a powerful new tool that promises to unlock the secrets of biomass degradation, a critical step in the development of cost-effective cellulosic biofuels.
The details of this method were published online on June 11 in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Fulfilling the promise of cellulosic biofuels requires developing efficient strategies to extract sugar molecules in biomass polymers like cellulose. Microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi are capable of converting biomass to simple sugars, but historically have been difficult to study using genetic approaches.
The Human Side of Global Warming
The Human Side of Global Warming
By Daniel J. Weiss, Robin Pam | April 10, 2008
By now, global warming has been linked to melting glaciers and ice caps, higher average temperatures, and prolonged drought. What’s not as well-known are the non-headline grabbing effects that the warming climate will have on human health.
Texas Windmill, Wind Energy in Texas, Texas First Wind Farm Home Wind Turbine
Located in the Delaware Mountains of West Texas, close to the Guadalupe Mountains National park, this successful wind farm is only a few miles from the highest peak in the Lone Star State. The farm is owned by the General Land Office & Lower Colorado River Authority. It is a 35 MW producing successful venture located in Culberson County, Texas. This farm has been cranking out power since go-live in 1995.
The Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) teamed with the General Land Office GLO) and private industry to develop this commercial wind power plant, the first in Texas. The Texas Wind Power Project, located in Culberson County in West Texas, has 112 Kenetech 33M-VS wind turbines capable of generating 35 megawatts of electricity — enough to power 12,000 to 15,000 homes. Since the ribbon-cutting for the Texas Wind Power Project in 1995, the Texas’ Permanent School Fund earned more than $750.000 from it. The project is expected to earn more than $3 million for the PSF and create $300 million in increased economic activity over the 25-year lease period.
Well, I might as well let people know. This Texas’ Permanent School Fund sounds great, but fact is, the CCISD, Culberson County Independant School District is very poor and having a hard time. I can’t see what benefit that this wind farm has brought the local community of Van Horn, the county seat. Aside from a guy or two that now have jobs watching the wind farm and maintaining, the schhol district is still very poor and not benefiting from the wind farm in any visible way. The power in fact is transmitted all the way to Austin on some of the county’s wind farms.
How to Fix Pakistan (And Maybe Solve Global Warming Too)
Taking a religious approach to peacebuilding has become an integral part of conflict resolution, especially when it comes to the “Islamic world” where religion, through various historical processes, has become inseparable from the state apparatus. But conflicts are rarely ever as simple to exist solely on some real or imagined metaphysical plane, often using religious language to bolster claims of rights to a territory, economic injustice, or government repression. Peacebuilding works best in its gestalt form, focusing on the intersection of the different aspects of a society to create a more sustainable whole.
One of the latest developments in the field of peace studies has been the melding of environmental and conflict resolution studies giving birth to the theories of environmental peacebuilding. As global warming takes its toll on the planet, many in weak states already susceptible to outbreaks of armed conflict become even more vulnerable to both the pressure to control vital and shrinking resources like water as well as enhanced effects of natural disasters as a result of environmental degradation.
“The environment is an area where communities often consider competitive aspects of conflict,” says University of Vermont professor of environmental studies and renowned scholar on environmental peacebuilding, Saleem H. Ali. “In game theory we refer to it as a ‘dilemma of common interest’ where parties end up competing rather than cooperating. But if you reframe the problem and talk about resource depletion in the long run, you transform the conversation from a competitive common interest to a non-competitive version which focuses on quality over quantity.”
GlobalWarming is NOT due to Man
Current studies show proof that the current rise in temperature on earth is not due to the manmade carbon dioxide in the air causing the Greenhouse Effect. And many credible scientist support this claim.
I do believe in GlobalWarming, but I don’t believe that humans CO2 is causing that warming.
Professor Tim Ball
Department of Climatology
University of Winnipeg