Danie van der Merwe

Hackaday Prize 2022: Drying clothes with Ultrasound - Could this be the future?

Mon, 05 Sep 2022 11:37:25 +0200

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Clothes dryers are great, and a key part of modern life, but they do use a lot of energy.

"Early testing found ultrasonic transducers could indeed blast droplets of moisture away from fabric, effectively drying it. However, unlike heat, the ultrasonic field doesn’t effectively permeate through a pile of clothes, nor can it readily be used with a spinning drum to dry many garments at once."

But despite this, like may other ideas including batteries, maybe the idea has a lot of merit and needs to be developed further. It has the potential to not only use less energy, but also to cause less damage to clothes with the absence of heat.

I was certainly surprised to see how well an ultrasonic cleaner could just clean some hardware items I put through mine.

See Hackaday Prize 2022: Drying Clothes With Ultrasound

#technology #ultrasonic #energy #environment #clothes

Clothes dryers are great, and a key part of modern life, but they do use a lot of energy. [Mike Rigsby] decided to see if there was a more efficient method of drying clothes that could compete with…

technology environment energy clothes ultrasonic

Saving home energy using open organization principles - The business opportunities in reducing energy demand

Mon, 05 Sep 2022 11:09:32 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

There are (at least) two ways to look at the move to more green power generation: the supply side and the demand side. The supply side emphasizes a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy and carbon-free energy. The demand side, however, looks at how to reduce energy use, preferably without hurting the current standard of living.

Imagine two salespeople who sell electricity for a utility company. They decide they don't want to promote or sell electricity use anymore because of its negative environmental and climate change impact. They retire and then decide they want to work together to assemble an Open Organization Community to reduce energy consumption in a way that does not adversely impact people's standard of living. Simply put, they want to consult and collaborate with energy users on reducing waste with the indirect goal of eliminating the use of fossil fuels as an energy source by 2050.

Since globally energy costs seem to be rising in the last few months, I've also been seeing an uptick in interest around better management of home energy use. I did a video recently about using Home Assistant, and mentioned one small example with my system announcing when the hot water is ready for use, thereby saving unnecessary power usage. There are so many other things that be done, and they all add up. Just like the extreme drought facing Cape Town resulted in water usage falling in Cape Town, we'll probably see the same with energy.

Not everyone can program Home Assistant dashboards (even though it is free and open to anyone to attempt to do so), so there will also be fresh opportunities for many to provide this type of service to businesses and homes.

But as I've said before, try and ensure that any system is still under your own control, so that you do not end up being locked out of your system, or locked into a provider. Stick to open standards based devices and software as a minimum requirement.

See Saving home energy using open organization principles

#technology #energy #environment #demandmanagement #homeenergy

The move to more green power generation requires making changes to demand by looking at how to reduce energy use, preferably without hurting the current standard of living.

technology environment energy homeenergy

How solar power became 63% cheaper than coal based on Levelized Cost of Energy research

Sat, 22 Jan 2022 12:24:43 +0100

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

In this analysis, Lazard’s approach was to determine the LCOE, on a $/MWh basis, that would provide an after-tax IRR to equity holders equal to an assumed cost of equity capital. Key sensitivities examined included fuel costs, tax subsidies, carbon pricing and costs of capital.

This analysis however did not address potential social and environmental externalities, including, for example, the social costs and rate consequences for those who cannot afford distributed generation solutions, as well as the long-term residual and societal consequences of various conventional generation technologies that are difficult to measure (e.g., nuclear waste disposal, airborne pollutants, greenhouse gases, etc.).

For electricity from solar power generation to become more affordable, the price of solar modules first had to reduce, which only occurred as more of them were produced and manufacturers reached economies of scale. While it is probable that this would have occurred naturally as improvements to the production process would have been discovered over time, the global push towards adopting renewable energy generation is likely to have accelerated enhancements to the manufacturing process. An increase in demand for solar modules resulted in more being deployed. In turn, this caused prices to fall, creating more demand.

See How solar power became cheaper than coal

#technology #environment #solar #renewableenergy

Electricity produced from solar photovoltaic panels is 63% cheaper than electricity produced from coal, a study shows.

technology environment solar energy

University of California Professor Develops Technology That Cools People Down – Without Electricity or AC

Wed, 18 Aug 2021 19:21:30 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

A UCLA scientist reasoned that if a certain spectrum of warming rays is radiated out to the atmosphere during the day, it would cool whatever it left, potentially offering an alternative to traditional air conditioning.

An estimated 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions are generated through cooling systems, both for homes and transport, but as global temperatures continue to climb, the use of cooling systems for homes and businesses is expected to triple over the coming years.

SkyCool’s radiative panels can absorb all the heat-producing light from the sun, and rather than sending it back into the swirling cauldron of gasses that are heating the planet, expels it out into space.

If placed on the hood of a car, the film would not only reflect any light from the sun, but radiate away some of the heat from the engine; if placed above where water pipes run through a building, it would cool the water therein, reducing the load on air-conditioning systems.

See Professor Develops Technology That Cools People Down – Without Electricity or AC

#environment #cooling #energy #airconditioning