Photovoltaic Systems Defined and Rationalized

Extracted from : http://www.ciebookstore.com/News/1-photovoltaic-systems-defined-and-rationalized.aspx

2/1/2010 12:50:29 PM

In this day and age when crude oil prices are soaring, the weather seems to be getting worse every year due to global warming, and the growing population which consumes more energy than ever, there needs to be some alternatives to our aging energy solutions. At our current rate, the world consumes energy at an estimated two percent growth annually. This would mean that the world-wide energy consumption will have doubled in the year 2040 compared to that of just three years ago. [1]

Based upon this fact the world has been working on improving our energy systems. There are many solutions that exist and have existed for many years, but these resources need to be captured and incorporated into an efficient system . One resource that we can use for energy is wind. As one might have noticed, windmills have been going up all over the place. Another resource for energy can come from using the power generated from the world's oceans. This energy is captured through the ocean's waves, but cannot be effectively captured in all parts of the world.

                 

Although both of these and more exist, this article will focus on Photovoltaic Systems. Also known as a PV System, it utilizes photovoltaic cells, and solar energy from the Sun. Of course, solar energy from the Sun can more specifically be defined as the photon energy originally from the sun’s radiation in the wavelength region from 0.3 to 2.7 micrometers. The main component used in a PV System is the photovoltaic cell, also known as the solar cell. The solar cell is a semiconductor device that converts photons from the sun into electricity. Using the energy captured from the Sun this electricity can be used to power the grids that already exist without the need for replacing the whole system. This has to be one of the key benefits from a cost standpoint.

               

Speaking of cost, due to recent popularity, the cost of solar panels (consisting of thousands of cells combined into one ), has been steadily decreasing. This is just one obstacle that has to be overcome before we can implement this solution. Another obstacle is the fact that it is only practical in tropical regions. The best spots for the technology are in areas far from the areas that consume the most energy. This is due the space heating that occurs in the north because of the lesser solar insulation. Continuing, obviously the Sun is only out during the day, therefore we need to figure out a way to store this energy during the night. The final obstacle is the need to convert the DC power that is generated into AC power.

               

The good news is that these obstacles can be overcome. The benefits far outweigh these disadvantages. For instance, solar power generates very little environmental pollution, although pollution due to the manufacturing of silicon, etc., cannot be neglected.  Also, once the systems are in place, they need very little supervision and/or maintenance. This fact will account to the overall cost of running a facility due to a smaller staff. Another advantage is that the Sun is available to at least half of the world at any given moment. The greatest advantage is that apart from a catastrophic event, the Sun is not going to burn out any time soon. Unlike oil, we will not have to worry about running out, and because the Sun is available to everyone, as an added benefit, wars for oil can end.

               

PV systems can be found much more commonly in smaller applications around the homes. Lighting is by far the most common thing noticed around the common household. Nightlights, outdoor lighting, and even the headlights on your vehicle may be taking advantage of smaller, but nonetheless PV systems. Hopefully, these are just the start to much greater PV systems.  

               

Soon one will be able to buy an all electric car developed by General Motors. The Volt is its name and unlike a hybrid vehicle which incorporates two systems, the Volt runs on a single electric engine. There is another engine which uses gasoline, but is used as a generator, and is not used to move the vehicle. The car runs on the electric charge for 40 miles before using the generator for power, and will charge in six hours. Another electric vehicle is made by Tesla Motors, and is named the Tesla Roadster. Just last October in Australia, the Roadster was driven 313 miles on a single charge which is a new record. These cars will be available over the next few years, but are just an example of how electric systems overall will impact our future.

               

In utilizing PV systems, it may one day be possible to have a fully renewable resource system which will impact the generations to come. In doing so, all lives will be improved as our footprint will be smaller on Earth and as a planet we can continue to strive.

Strange But True

Electric Iron was first invented in 1882 by a person named Henry Seely. He was ahead of his time. No wonder his surname is named seely because he can see the future. After 128 years the design of Iron has not change much. Very strange but true…

The above images is extracted from the book Discoveries - Great Inventions

FREE WORDPROCESSING FOR EVERYONE

When was the last time you try to view MS document only to be disappointed because the current msoffice in your PC can’t read the MS document usually in docx format as it is created using the latest MS Office 2007 and 2010. You need to download docx viewer and not everybody has immediate access to the internet. Again not everyone has the money to upgrade their current MS office every time a new version came out (if you do, Bill Gates will be very happy because you make money for him and that how he became the richest man on earth).

Well enough with MS office, let us focus on AbiWord instead. AbiWord is an open source application and it is a free word processing program similar to Microsoft® Word. Although not as famous and outstanding compare to MSoffice but hey it FREE and it is good enough for typing papers, letters, reports, memos, and so forth. For those who do not have the budget and refuse to use pirated MS office then AbiWord is the answer.

The good thing about AbiWord is that it is able to read and write all industry standard document types, such as OpenOffice.org documents, Microsoft Word documents, WordPerfect documents, Rich Text Format documents, HTML web pages and many more. Now that what I call universal word processor.

Unlike MS office, you can’t read OTD format. I once write a report using openoffice and I became very stressful instead (nearly going banana) because I am unable to view and print the document using my friend’s PC that has a printer and MS office installed.

• Use tables, bullets, lists, images, footnotes, endnotes and styles to enhance the way your document    looks.
• AbiWord is available in most common and many not-so-common languages.
• Built-in spelling checker. Dictionaries exist for over 30 languages.
• Supports right-to-left, left-to-right, and mixed-mode text.
• Mail Merge capabilities.
• A variety of plugins can be used to extend AbiWord´s functionality, ranging from Document Importers to a Thesaurus, Image Importers and a Text Summarizer.

Free network diagnostics & host monitoring

NetTools is free and comprehensive set of host monitoring, network scanning, security and administration tools, all with a highly intuitive user interface.

Features:

•  Allows you to monitor the availability of several hosts and their response times over time. It provides alerting capability to notify you in case of connection problems.
• A visual replacement for Windows ping, with a 5-minute history.
•  Fast traceroute shows you information about every host on the route, its response time and packets lost.
•  Similar to nslookup, but shows you all the DNS and WHOIS records at once.
• In case you would like to know how fast your network is.
•  With this tool you can check the quality of network hardware in your LAN.
•  Allows you to check for all open ports and running services.
•  Just enter the IP range to check and you will quickly get a list of nodes and the services running on them.
• A Full SNMP browser, which you can use even if you don't know a thing about SNMP.

A very useful network tools for Network Technician or to a person who look after computer networking. Click to download NetTools for FREE at NetTools

A Pint Sized Roller Skating Robot

Japanese Giant Company Hitachi had successfully invented first of it kind Robot that able to move across minor bumps and wires on the floor without tripping. “The robot can control its posture similar to humans do when we jumping on inline skates” said Yuji Hosoda, Chief Researcher at place’s Transportation System Department, at the robot Tokyo Launch.

The Robot stands at 80 cm in height and weight 14kg. It is equipped with 14 microphones fitted into its helmet and sensitive enough to pick up human voice in a noisy environment (filtering technology). It is fitted with wheels on both legs for smooth mobility and moves at maximum 6km/hour (average fast walking speed for a human adult).

EMIEW 2 has the same voice communication, and obstacle evasion technology* which enables safe maneuvering between moving objects, as in EMIEW 1, but with the addition of autonomous moving technology which plots how to reach a destination by automatically mapping the robot's surroundings. Incorporation of these three technologies enables EMIEW2 to navigate through corridors, around obstacles, weave between moving people, guide visitors to their destinations, and deliver drinks and documents.

* Developed as part of a joint research project between Tsukuba University and Hitachi, Ltd. This technology incorporates the results of cooperative research conducted by Professor Takashi TSUBOUCHI, Shinichi YUTA (Director of Tsukuba Industrial Liaison and Cooperative Research Center), and Hitachi's Mechanical Engineering Research Laboratory.

Robot Emiew2 Specifications:

Feature Details Dimensions 800mm (h), 300mm (w), 250 (d)  

Weight 13kg  

Moving mechanism 2/4-wheel transformable wheeled leg-type mechanism  

Speed 6km/h  

Max.Acceleration 2m/s²  

Degrees of freedom 27 points  

Power Li-ion battery (approx. 1 hour operation/full charge)  

Communication 14 channel; distant voice recognition using microphone array  

Environment recognition Map generation and localization using a scanning range finder.

More info click this link : EMIEW2

Few things that you should take care of before your retirement

What I am suggesting below may not be applicable to certain individual. This is just a guideline to better prepare your retirement before it too late. Some may take this for granted because they think it still a long way to retirement and why should I worried too much about it.

a) Start saving for retirement as earlier as possible. The earlier you save, the more you will save.
b) Start your EPF contribution (Employee Retirement Fund for Malaysian Citizen).
c) Learn to manage your spending and expenditures.
d) Buy or build your own house. Buy more houses if you can afford.
e) Educate yourself on Managing Fund or financial matters.
f) Take good care of your health. Eat well balanced healthy food. Don’t smoke or drink too much alcohol (don’t be alcoholic). Exercise often to maintain good health.
g) Ensure you have fire insurance for the house. You don’t want to use your retirement saving to rebuild your house if your house is on fire do you?
h) Do do not take on bad debt e.g. buying consumer items such as LCD display on credits or buying expensive gadget using your credit card and so on. Unless you know how to manage and clear off the credit card outstanding on time.
i) Learn to invest and invest in selected unit trusts.
j) Learn new or upgrade your skills to help you earn more money.
k) If you are technical person, update your knowledge and do your very best to carry out your job so you can be promoted and earn more money. More money, more saving.
Not having enough money on retirement is the worst thing that can happen to you if you are not prepared and it can be a nightmare or worst still it can drive you mad.

Ten Unhealthy Emotions

Listed below are the ten unhealthy emotions that we should not allowed in our thinking. Unhealthy thinking is inefficient and bad for us mentally. Unhealthy thinking is a waste of time. By identifying your unhealthy thinking, you can change or stop your thoughts and quickly switch to healthy and productive modes of thinking.

• Anger
• Anxiety
• Disappointment
• Frustration
• Guilt
• Jealousy
• Rejection
• Resentment
• Sadness
• Stress

“Thoughts create feelings, so if you change your thoughts you will change the way you feel”

You can change how you react to certain situation by changing your thought then selecting your attitude and adopting a behaviour. If you feel sad, you have the choice stay sad or feel happy. If you want to feel happy then change your thought to something that make you happy.

You can learn to change your thoughts by following Dr.Tom’s methods he called Emotional Algebra. Buy the book and learn the technique.

Reference : Healthy Thinking by Dr.Tom Mulholland.

Depression – a disease of loneliness

Medically it is due to low levels of serotonin and other neurotransmitters. Depression is a form of mental disorder and it must be treated accordingly otherwise it will cause many problems to the person, physically and mentally. It may to certain point of time become a life treating situation (took your own life).

What actually caused or triggered it remains a mystery till today. I myself have been suffering depression for many years and I have seen doctors and took their prescription and advice but with little improvement.

I have read a book written by Dr.Tom Mulholland – HEALTHY THINKING – How to Turn Life’s lemons into Lemonade and it all about turning negative thinking into positive thinking. It very difficult to change, adjust or trying to think differently, the opposite of what is currently in your mind or how you feel at that time. In order to successfully able to think positively one must have strong will power, discipline, determination, believe, faith, never give up easily and many others.

Dr.Tom says that thinking or worrying about something will not going to change anything. If you want something to change, then start think positively and strategize a technique or ways to deal the matter. If everything else fails, dump the matter and keep going ahead. Life has to go on no matter what. You can control what is going on by controlling your attitude (not thinking right)

If you feel depress or have been diagnosed to have depression then this is the book for you.

People in Control Live Longer

Occasionally I spent time to read motivational books such as the one I read yesterday entitled Maintaining Sound Physical and Mental Health by W.Clement Stone. There are many useful guidance presented in almost all the pages but I find this particular phases are the most influential and it kick me right at my butt (good kick).

The phrases are as follows “Contrary to what everyone believes or would like to believe, top-level, high-paid, successful women and men live longer than anyone else. People at the top are in control of their lives and people in control live longer. It not is not hard work that kills, it is not competition. It is not even having to count all that money that kills. What kills is not having control over your lives” said Dr.Estelle R.Ramsey, a nationally known endocrinologist.

Dr.Ramsey continued by saying “Middle managers are the ones who are killing themselves. They are the ones who are highly subject to cardiovascular problems. They are the one who suffer from stress because their lives are neither predictable nor secure.” Dr.Ramsey found the same characteristics in rats. “When animals know what to expect”, she said, “They can handle stress. When it is unpredictable and they have no control, they start to bleed internally and die”.

So my dear friend, this is like an eye opener and makes us aware this is common to most middle managers. Worrying about problems which we have no control what so ever is pointless and just wasting your bloody times. We are better off thinking something else that can brings benefit to you personally, financially, physically and mentally. Worrying affects the circulation i.e. the heart, the glands, the whole system nervous system. I have never known a men who died from overwork, but many who died from doubt (thinking negative and so on).

Time is another factors that we seriously need to look into. Nowadays we aged very fast and in my opinion we need to act fast and do something quickly and forget about wasting time near the TV or hanging out with bunch of real time waster (unless of cause if you need sometime off after hard work). As an example, I should have thought or do something to start building a house when I was young, some way between 25 to 35 years old rather than 44 years old.

It is much reasonably cheaper and when you make a mistake you still have time to correct the mistake. Anyway, getting old is beyond our control and it better not to think about it at all. Do your very best now, today and navigate your life to the very best you can and aimed, focus and then shoot. Pray that you will hit the bull eyes.

100% FREE DIGITAL SIGNAGE

The other day I was with friend browsing the mall and I stumbled upon a digital signature ( LCD Display showing Advertisement or information to customer) installed at the shop selling toys and it is fascinate to see this new trend of digital advertising are getting more popular and common to places like the hyper market, shopping lots, Hotels, schools and many more. It is more dynamic, colourful, attractive and more importantly it gives more info in comparison to static advertisement.

I decided to experiment and Google the word digital signature to see if I can get hold of free software to generate the digital advertisement. After much attempt and patience I finally settle for this particular software from a company named Displayop. I downloaded the Free Edition. This is a free digital signage software for schools, clubs, public services, commercial and business.

The Free Edition is a standalone time-unlimited version of DisplayOp and able to manage a connected display, player-pc, projector or other display device. The Free Edition can also be installed on multiple PCs. But if you need additional features, you can always upgrade to Professional or Enterprise DisplayOp where you can access additional functions such as time management, the central player management, monitoring, etc. fall back.
Examples of the use of DisplayOp Free Edition (one single display)

• Representation plans in schools
• Welcoming reception or display on the foyer
• Employee information
• menus in cafeteria

Give it a try and who know it may help boost your company services or products.

Quickly clean your Hard Drive

CCleaner v2.29

Version 2.29 of CCleaner is faster, more compatible, and detects more applications… just another day in the life of the Piriform team!
For those of you who use the advanced features, you'll also appreciate the improvements we've made in these areas. Read on.
Multiple File Types in one Include/Exclude entry
Prior to CCleaner v2.29, if you wanted to specify file types in CCleaner's INI file using Include or Exclude, you had to specify each file type on a separate line. This had the effect of slowing CCleaner down, since it had to run multiple scans.
With v2.29, you can now specify multiple file types within a single Include or Exclude line. Here's the syntax:

   IncludeX=TYPE|Path|extension[;extension][|RECURSE]

Where TYPE is PATH, FILE or REG.

(If you add RECURSE, CCleaner will include items in the stated path as well as its subfolders. This is only supported for the Include command, not the Exclude command.)


Full change log:

CCleaner v2.29.1111

• Improved speed when loading Cleaner screen.
• Improved Registry Cleaner speed when displaying issues.
• Improved Registry Cleaner performance when fixing issues.
• Changed Wipe MFT Free Space to run before Wipe Disk Free Space.
• Improved Include and Exclude screen when browsing for folders and files.
• Added Recursive support to Custom folders in Include screen.
• Added support to specify multiple file types for Custom folders in Include screen and INI files.
• Improved how Language Resource DLLs are loaded into memory.
• Improved application detection algorithm.
• Improved internal communication between process threads.
• Improved file scanning when scanning system folders.
• Improved Windows 7 and IE8 support.
• Minor GUI text changes.

Click here to download.

Also please sign up for the newsletter while you're there, so you can get information about our latest releases and new software.

I don't have to see your stupid face anymore...

The picture speaks for itself...You don't want to end up like this fellow so be careful....whatever you do think of the possibilities like don't boil water in the office and leave it unattended on the table...they may be somebody who might not like you and put poison into the water you have just boiled...