Welcome!
The main purpose of this site is to represent, as in our name, all energies. To develop, explain, and evaluate all the forms of energy that can power our world.
We have been expanding the scope of this site to include windpower, hydroelectric, and the various economic implications of these alternatives. The site also features an expanded treatment of biomass/biofuel along with our new LED lighting solutions. Please check out all our new additions, and email us with suggestions for expansion or improvements!
Along with general information and overviews of the topics listed above and to the left, we will also be adding information about our projects pertaining to those subjects. As always, our goal is to share our experiments and experiences with you, so that people can learn about these energy alternatives without having to build a hydroelectric power plant or windmill on their own. We hope, also, that by watching us experiment you can learn from our mistakes and join in our successes! If anything you find here on our website inspires you to attempt an alternative energy project on your own, then we have achieved our main goal.
About Gasification
Gasification is a process where materials such as wood, corn cobs, coal, cow manure, peach-pits, and other dried biomasses are reacted (burned).
The process takes place in a device called a gasifier or gas producer, which can range in size, shape, and design, depending on application or design year.
Instead of burning fast and bright like a campfire, the fuel in the gasifier has limited oxygen and separates the combustion of the fuel in multiple stages. The lack of oxygen and slow burn rate encourage the fuel to release flammable gases like methane, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen.
About Photovoltaics
The subject of Photovoltaics (PV) is also commonly referred to as "solar power" or "solar electric," but for simplicity's sake, we will refer to solar power as PV in this article.
Solar Module Basics
A solar panel or module is compromised of PV cells arranged in different series and/or parallel configurations to provide different voltage and current outputs. These cells form modules, commonly referred to as panels. The modules are typically rigid, but thin-film modules can be incorporated into flexible designs. The front of the module uses glass or another composite to protect the precious cells from the elements. The back of the module can be plastic, wood, metal, glass or composite. The frame can be composed of metal, plastic, composite, wood and there are even some frameless designs. PV modules can be arranged together to form PV arrays. These arrays are usually mounted to rooftops, ground mount systems, the tops of poles, orbiting satellites, or anywhere else they can receive precious photons.
About LEDs
A Quick and Dirty History of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
Electric lighting has not changed much in one hundred years or so, but it has brightened our lives. Since the first practical and reliable incandescent bulbs appeared in the early 1900s, the designs have not changed much at all. Incandescent bulbs are simple, cheap to produce, cheap to buy, but certainly not cheap to operate. With efficiencies averaging 5% and the remaining 95% going to heat production, they make better space heaters than lighting devices.
