November 9, 2008
The Various Advantages of Producing Algae Biodiesel
Muna wa Wanjiru asked:
Algae is a major renewable fuel which can be used to manufacture Biodiesel. One of the companies in New Zealand successfully developed a system for using sewage waste as a substrate for algae and then it produce bio-diesel. An alga is considered as the highest yield feedstock for biodiesel that can produce more enough oil compared to soybeans when grew in an acre.
Actual Biomass algae produced from field trials, which is conducted during the NREL’s aquatic species program. It is being converted using the actual oil content of the algae species grown in the specific program.
There are various advantages of producing biodiesel from algae, which include rapid growth of the plant. Using Algae Biodiesel gives high per acre yield. Algae biodiesel does not used to contain sulfur, toxic materials and it is highly biodegradable. There are some species, which are ideally suited for algae biodiesel production, because their high oil contents in some species.
Algae used to develop from small, singled celled organisms to cellular organisms, some algae have complex distinguished form. Algae can be easily seen at places like damp, bodies of water. Algae are common in terrestrial as well as aquatic environments. Like any other plants algae require three elements to spring up sunlight, carbon-di-oxide and water. Plant algae and some other bacteria convert sunlight to chemical energy, which process call as photosynthesis. Algae used to contain 2% and 40% of lipids or oils by weight. If algae have greater oil, it may results in lower yield annual food crops such as soybeans. Currently only 0.3% of the land of the US, it is getting utilized to produce enough biodiesel.
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Filed under Alternative Energy by newenergy
September 4, 2008
What Is Solar Power – Your Questions Answered
Milton Barnes asked:
Basically, solar power is energy that is actually harnessed from the sun. Although the sun is millions of miles away from earth, if we had the ability to harness all the energy coming from the sun, there is more than enough power there to provide all the energy we need for the entire earth. In fact, there is enough energy to provide plenty of energy for 10,000 earths. While you can use solar power for a variety of appliances and other items, you have to realize that this is different than using this power to produce heat.
There are two different principles that are used with solar power. If you want to produce hot air or hot fluids, then solar thermal principles are used. However, if you want to product electricity, photovoltaic principles are used instead. If you want to produce solar power, there are four components that are needed, including a battery, a charge controller, a solar panel, and an inverter.
It is the solar panels that actually get the radiation from the sun and use it to charge up the battery. Then, the charge regulator actually makes sure that the battery charges as it should. Of course, probably the most important pieces of equipment are going to be the solar panels and usually they output energy in watts. These panels can be wired in a variety of ways, although usually parallel or series wiring is done to either increase the amperage or the voltage.
Filed under Alternative Energy by newenergy
