Very cool!

my chikens would be more productive...

Mobile disaster relief and the idea from Jean-Michel Cousteau is nice nostalgia connection for those who remember his father.

Peace to you, KoKo.

If I were to go through college again, I would definitely choose this as a field. These people with great ideas are on the forefront of changing the world. Awesome thinking.

I do..Just think..Thanks for posting this, CrispQ

Maybe not in my lifetime, but it will happen.

that being the ever so diminishing supply of fossil fuels.

I was thinking about wanting to see a web site like this, just yesterday.
taaaaaa daaaaaa....

Peace to you, dixiegrrrrl.

More of this, please!

There is too much as stake to stay with the same dead end, status quo whether it be from the growing threat of global warming or the ever increasing, devastating costs of war.

of alternative sources of power. A few years ago, I worked with a group of kids to raise money for drilling merry-go-round-powered water wells. The pump is the merry go round, and the kids happily heave to when it's time to replenish the water buckets! Cost: $2000US, to provide water for a whole village for years. The same old gang isn't set up to take a cut, so we never hear about it.

They give a presentation before the student body on the third Friday of the month, and if you wear jeans on that day (otherwise forbidden) you have to donate a dollar. This was a private, affluent school, so out of 500 students they would raise between $800-$1,500. Parents would kick in to meet the money goal, especially if it was their kid's idea. I met the nicest kids in school by working in the community service office. One month we supported reading programs for Pakistani girls, the next month solar ovens for refugee camps and in areas where it is dangerous to gather wood, a kitchen for a country school in Africa to replace the shed out back next to the outhouses. Admirable stuff to be sure, but having a record of community service is necessary to get into the best schools. We don't have kids, so it was very interesting for me to meet actual 'kids today.'

Coca-Cola is known the world over for producing its sugary (or fructose-y) namesake beverage. But in keeping with the ever-greening times, they now hope to form a secondary reputation as a provider of safe, clean drinking water. In Heidelberg, South Africa, Coke recently launched their first EKOCENTER, a 20-foot shipping container meant to serve as a retail kiosk, community center and social hub in impoverished rural areas. To draw bodies, each EKOCENTER is loaded up with a Slingshot, a water purification machine invented by Dean Kamen.

Segway inventor Kamen's Slingshot is amazing. Taking up as much space as a small refrigerator, the thing can run on cow poop and uses no filters, yet can turn any water source into potable water--cranking out up to 1,000 liters a day. And it can run for five years without even requiring any maintenance!

The Slingshot was more than a decade in the making, and with Coca-Cola's backing and global distribution network, is well-positioned to make a significant impact on global health through the EKOCENTER. And in addition to the Slingshot functionality, each container contains solar cells that can be used to power charging points or refrigeration for medicine. Following the South African launch, Coke plans to get the containers into 20 countries in need by 2015, getting safe drinking water into the mouths of millions.

and a multitude of other devices.

My brother has a free-standing bldg that houses a fill garage with service pit, and an air-conditioned office with computers. A solar panel has provided all the power for yrs., and even turns the util. Meter backwards. And his set up is old.

Peace to you,

This is indeed a very good thing. Thanks for posting this, Uncle Joe.

Thanks for the thanks, abakan.

Rec

I hope we don't block out the sunlight with our coal burning, etc....

I have faith that humanity will prevail in this.

I don't know the efficiency of solar cells in cloudy situations, but it's always nice to have a supplement that harvests energy in a different manner

cloudy situations will become less of a hindrance.

Peace to you.

I remember reading in NASA Tech Briefs maybe ten years ago, about the technology of air-zinc batteries. The other day I was looking for button batteries, only to see one type that was an air-zinc battery.

So, the technology is out there and getting implemented. It's more a matter of investment at this point. A friend on FB posted this story earlier today and mentioned that was what she was looking into about it: investment.

If you have the financial ability, this is one thing as Liberals that we need to do. Taxing certain types of people isn't enough (as in that money doesn't get invested into ideas and tech like this.)

Peace to you, too, Joe! And keep posting things like this around here

That's the kind of thing I used to like to design. The electrical and mechanical engineering issues would be interesting and challenging. But I notice there was no mention of the cost. In most design projects I was involved with, cost was a design factor. I'd like to know what it was.

I'd also like to know how many separate MPPT channels there are for the PV panels. With a flat config like that shading can become an issue. I'd like to see how they handled the lower tier of panels.

But still, pretty cool. I'd like to have one.

are improved with development and production on future projects along these lines?

... but I doubt these units are ever going to be in what I would consider mass production. I would guess they get orders for maybe dozens or a hundred or so, so they are probably made on a semi assembly line basis, similar to a bunch of special military commo systems I used to work on.

One thing that used to bug me on these types of builds, the next time you go to produce a batch, some sub-system or component is no longer available and you have to design a substitute or work-around. It's a pain, and an extra cost, but many times you end up with a better product for having gone through the exercise.

Anyway, I went to their web site and they do a lot of interesting stuff. Thanks!

That is so cool.

Big Oil and the KKKoch Terrorists ain't gonna like it...unless they can control it!

One with a J1772 adapter on the end. That way one could power a Volt or Leaf in those areas without plugs.

Peace to you, 47of74.

Thank you for the great news, Uncle Joe!

PS: Jean-Michel Cousteau is great, too.

Peace to you.

Disappointing!

I mean, in the US at least, even if the fluorescent lights in an underpass are not covered with vandal-resistent shields, they are gone overnight...

"Researchers at the University of Toronto have made a breakthrough that could lead to cheaper and more flexible solar cells that could be used by millions of people around the world. The team developed nanoparticles called colloidal quantum dots that don’t lose their electrons when exposed to air. The new material achieves solar power conversion efficiency of up to eight percent and can be painted or printed on surfaces such as roofing shingles. The breakthrough also ensures better sensors, infrared lasers, infrared light emitting diodes and satellites."

Think of it, shingles that are solar collectors. Every home in America their own little solar factory. Wonderful things ahead.

Of course there are forces that don't won't the people to be energy self-sufficient, there will be a struggle, but I believe they're on the losing end of this.

Thanks for the addition, packman.

the photo shows a nice, paved road. The areas most in need of this sort of help tend to have ZERO paved roads. During three weeks there recently, not once did I see a road like the one pictured. A trailer like this is likely to get stuck in 54 wheel drive terrain A LOT. It would need to be able to withstand some very big bumps and deep potholes. Aerial access is expensive, and rail is non-existent in many places. It would be difficult to deploy this quickly in many regions where this would be needed the most, so if used I hope they plan for enough driving time.

obstacles can be worked through, where there's a will, there's a way.

but that says nothing about the road conditions. It's doable, will just mean very slow driving. I have seen giant mirrors delivered to very remote places, so it can be done... but takes very patient driving.

Peace to you.

what is needed for using in impoverished nations. But I didn't like this "The patented design is anticipated to have many applications, including humanitarian aid and disaster relief, military applications and power generation in remote locations."

You know that if the military got a hold of this, they would used it for nefarious reasons.

outposts, I see nothing wrong with that.

I imagine one day the world will outlaw war and there will be no need for any nation to have a military but until that day comes, the military might as well be energy sufficient using sustainable energy sources.

As I posted up thread, I believe this device and improved versions coming out in the future along with nations switching over to sustainable energy sources will decrease or eliminate a major cause of war, that being the ever dwindling reserves of fossil fuels.

That's the primary reason we are locked into the tragic mess of the Middle East, if it weren't for the oil we wouldn't be there, at least not remotely to the level we are now.

If our ancestors can cross oceans for a better life or simple survival, what oceans are we willing to cross?

My fondness for creative, multi-purpose gadgets goes all the way back to when I was a kid and got my first Swiss Army knife. Hope this catches on.

other nations will.

Peace to you, joe_sixpack.

and Big Bank Bailouts.

Take a look at what the rest of the world is doing-

Solar Hydrogen: Fuel of the Future. "Renewable hydrogen produced using solar energy to split water is the energy fuel of the future." Written by experts in the field who are engaged at the forefront of research.
http://www.amazon.com/Solar-Hydrogen-Future-Mario-Pagliaro/dp/1849731950/

Corsica: Hydrogen energy storage: power ramp-up at the MYRTE test platform. "Since 1/2012, this platform has connected photovoltaic solar panels to a hydrogen-based storage system. By joining the power grid, this provides a solution to the problem of intermittency & makes it one of the rare installations.." http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2014/05/hydrogen-energy-storage-power-ramp-up-at-the-myrte-test-platform.html

Germany: Siemens plans electrolyzer system to store wind power as hydrogen. The system, equipped with an electrolyzer from Siemens, will convert surplus electricity from wind farms to hydrogen. The hydrogen will then be stored locally in tankers or fed directly into the natural gas grid or used for fuel cell vehicles. http://www.elp.com/articles/2014/05/siemens-plans-electrolyzer-system-to-store-wind-power-as-hydrogen.html

Germany: Green Hydrogen facility opens at Berlin airport, with first refueling of a fuel cell Electric Vehicle. "The operating principle is based on applying hydrogen as an energy source produced using wind power and solar energy. Initially the electricity required will be provided by a nearby wind park."
http://www.renewableenergyfocus.com/view/38624/green-hydrogen-facility-opens-at-berlin-airport-with-first-refueling-of-fuel-cell-vehicle/

The U.S. has more than enough capability to achieve leadership or at least co-leadership in these fields, should our policies change to maximize those results.

We can move quickly when national self-realization occurs that a swift course of action is needed, having said that, complacency can kill us.

About 20 years ago, a few of us designed and built something similar for our Hudson River environmental group. We needed some power for music festivals that we held near the river. We designed and built a 1KW version of this. The solar panels and control circuits sit on a small trailer. The trailer is smaller than those that they use to haul their riding mowers around in the summer. We welded members to it, so that we could position the solar array towards the sun. The power was stored in deep cycle marine batteries. The unit could be expanded so that if one needed power for a longer time, more batteries could be added. The part that holds the solar panels in place affords us to add, service or upgrade the panels very easily.
It was all done with off-the-shelf parts for less than $800, not including volunteer labor.
It is about time someone elaborated on our simple design.

Un-American fucker.

What a wonderful concept!

Peace to you, Enthusiast.

But it needs to be redesigned. The ecocenter, shown above, is a better design for collecting solar energy.