Green Cars & Green Fuel Center » Hydrogen Generator

Making an Electric Generator Mobile Functionality Check

Sat, 08 May 2010 05:52:58 +0000

By: Noel Siegel

These days, electrical appliances and electronic gadgets have become more compact and more functional. Yet despite the apparent decrease in size of most of these consumer products, mobility is the foremost reason why appliances have gone handy. Even now with an electric generator mobile functionality being integrated. But how functional really is a portable generator?

For you to get the most out of your mobile generator, you must first consider these helpful and practical tips when buying. Whether you are using it as back-up power supply or as a stand alone electricity provider for your outdoor living, it would be best if you get to learn more of this electric generator mobile functionality check.

Size isn’t always the most fitting criteria to use when buying a mobile electric generator. In fact, most home users end up getting power shortage from their small and handy generator. When choosing a mobile electric generator, check for its constant wattage capability. Constant wattage refers to the total wattage of all the appliances your electric generator is expected to provide power for.

You can compute the constant wattage by adding the wattage or power consumption of the appliances you are going to use. A regular room air conditioner typically has 1700 wattage, a freezer has 500, microwave oven has 700, radio has up to 200, and a portable heater has around 1300, while TV has wattage up to 500. If you add all these up, this will total to 4900. An ideal mobile generator should provide power that is 20 percent more than the constant wattage, which in this case, is 5880. You can refer to the appliance manual or the back label to get the wattage of a device.

If you are going to use motor-powered appliances with your electric generators, be careful also with the start up wattage. Start up wattage is the power needed to start motor-driven appliances, such as furnace blowers, freezers, and refrigerators, which normally reach up to three times its average wattage. A refrigerator, for example has 3000 wattage, but it will eat up 9000 of power in order to start. So, if you’re going to use these appliances, the best advice is to check for a mobile generator that surpasses your constant wattage requirements.

Another important thing to check is the voltage ratings compatibility. An electric appliance can either have 120 or 240 voltage ratings. Huge appliances, such as dryers, electrical ranges, and pumps for wells have 240 voltage ratings. If you plan to use both 120 and 240-volt appliances, go for a mobile electric generator that can serve these two voltage ratings.

In order to get more optimized performance, check out accessories that come with the mobile electricity generator, such as a transfer switches. A transfer switch will allow the generator to provide power to a selected circuit in a house or facility. Other accessories, which will add more functionality to your generator, are generator power inlet boxes, generator power cords, generator wheel kits, gas and oil cans, plugs, and connectors.

Mobile electric generators are not expected to supply power to an entire home or work site. However, you can make the most out of it by checking the necessary compatibility features. Make this as your mobile electric generator functionality checklist.

Noel Siegel is a successful author of www.portable-generator-guide.com

Hydrogen from Solar Energy

Fri, 07 May 2010 15:38:32 +0000

By: Ronald

Hydrogen is an ideal, clean, carbon-free carrier of energy that produces only water vapor as a waste product and has potential applications in automobiles, airplanes, and also in home-heating.

The projected mean power generation for the years 2050 and 2100 has been estimated to be 28 and 46 terawatt (TW), respectively. By far, sunlight provides the largest of all carbon-neutral energy sources. In fact, 14 TW of solar energy falls on the earth every hour. Thus, more energy from sunlight strikes the earth in 1 h than all the energy consumed on the planet in a year.

The most successful technologies taking advantage of this resource are photovoltaics (PVs; solar electricity), a $10 billion industry that is currently growing at a rate of 35–40% each year. Continued growth of the PV sector at a rate of ~25% would increase the production level from 1.7 GW in 2005 to 380 GW in 2030, and thus would satisfy a significant fraction of the world energy demand. Moreover, among the renewable sources, PVs have the highest potential to reduce the costs compared to biomass, geothermal, wind, and solar thermal.

Photoelectrolysis of water and especially the use of semiconductor–electrolyte interfaces illuminated with sunlight for the production of hydrogen from water and other suitable solvents have been reviewed in several excellent publications. At present, only about 5% of the commercial hydrogen production is primarily via water electrolysis, whereas the other 95% is mainly derived from fossil fuels. This does not represent inhouse consumption of hydrogen such as oil refineries and ammonia plants where the bulk of hydrogen is consumed.

When determining how much electricity is needed to produce H2 by solar energy, the energy requirements of generation (electrolysis), compression, liquefaction, storage, and transportation all have to be considered and added up. The energy content of 1 kg of H2 is 39.3 kWh. In order to generate 1 kg of H2 by the electrolysis of water, about 50 kWh of electric energy is required. Therefore, the efficiency of H2 generation is about 66%.

Once a kilogram of H2 is produced, it is either compressed or liquefied before storage or distribution. If handled in the high-pressure gas form, about 3 kWh of energy is required for its compression and 2.5 kWh is required for its transportation over each 100 km distance. Therefore, a total of about 6 kWh is required to compress and transport the gas over a distance of 100 km.

This energy corresponds to about 15% of the higher heating value (HHV) of the gas. As the transportation distance increases, this percentage also rises. Therefore, when transportation over long distances is required, it is more economical to transport the H2 in liquid form by trucks, rails, or ships. If handled as a cryogenic liquid, about 12 kWh is required to liquefy each kilogram of H2 and about 1 kWh is needed to store and transport it, for a total of about 13 kWh, which is about 33% of the HHV of the liquid.

See more about hydrogen in this hydrogen blog

Hydrogen Production from Biomass Gasification is the Secret to a Sustainable Hydrogen Economy

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 05:30:51 +0000

By: Steve Evans
asification using organic materials (ideally waste materials which would otherwise go to landfills) is the best way to either directly produce hydrogen from the “syngas” it produces, or generate electricity into the local power grid, from which users can create hydrogen in their homes, and factories. If society is to become hydrogen economy based it will have to be done in a sustainable manner without adding to the production of greenhouse gases, and as a result to global warming.

A few years ago the technical news press were full of the idea of a hydrogen economy. The idea was, and still is a sound one, especially as far as the pressing need to reduce urban pollution which in so many cities is reaching crisis point largely due to vehicle emissions. The worst emissions are from motor vehicle exhausts and especially dangerous are the small soot particules from deisel vehicles.

What the early proponents of hydrogen powered vehicles did not appreciate is that although the cities would be much cleaner if all vehicles were hydrogen fuelled and emitting only water, the production of the hydrogen (often overnight in the garage using electric power and water) would entail inefficient use of electrical power. As most of our electricity in all but a few nations is created from carbanaceous (climate change inducing) fuels the idea of hydrogen powered transport would be in danger of accentuating climate change. Hence, one problem would have been solved but only at the expense of another much bigger one.

However, as biomass gasification, done in the right way, can be fully sustainable it does give society the opportunity to have its cake and eat it. That is clean sustainable hydrogen for our city’s vehicles and a clean hydrogen economy overall.

The concept of mainstream large scale commercial gasification technology is that biomass is converted into a gaseous mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and other compounds by applying heat under pressure in the presence of steam and a controlled amount of oxygen (in a unit called a gasifier). In the process the molcules forming the biomass are broken apart chemically by the heat, steam, and oxygen to which they are subjected. This sets into motion chemical reactions that produce a synthesis gas, or “syngas”. This gas although it starts as a mixture of primarily hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide, it can then be shifted through further reactions to increase the hydrogen gas content. At the same time the operator can reduce the carbon compounds and finally the carbon dioxide can be scrubbed out and captured for long term storage underground to minimise and even reduce global warming.

The hydrogen gas is actually produced by steam during the gasification of charred cellulosic material. The yield from steam gasification increases with increasing water to sample ratio.

Hydrogen production systems based on thermochemical gasification of biomass typically therefore consist of the following basic steps:

- pre-treatment

- gasification

- gas cleaning

- upgrading and separation.

The development of the technology is progressing and in essence depends on the successful integration of these steps. Ideally, technical and economic analysis is carried out to select the optimum technology for the available feedstock in order to produce a synthetic gas product of the necessary quality for the target application.

If you are wondering whether to support the introduction of a biomass gasification plant in your area, this is something which you should strongly support for the environmental advantages of this process.

Steve has built a great web site where there is a lot more information about gasification. This is a hot subject indeed for this technology which has become an essential read for all those in alternative energy and interested in taking action to reduce the impact of climate change.

Photovoltaic Solar Cells and Hydrogen – Free Electricity for Life

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:29:26 +0000

By: Dave Simpson
Imagine if your house could get all of its energy for heating, cooling, and cooking from batteries that never require changing. Imagine, then that these batteries were cheap and as reliable as the sun. Well, thanks to advances in technology, and the use of photovoltaic solar panels, its not a dream – it really can be done. It is possible to build a system that not only utilised the suns energy but can even work when there is no sun. By converting some of the suns energy to hydrogen, the element that makes up 75 % of the sun’s composition, its possible to then store this hydrogen for use in cloudy weather.

Photovoltaic solar panels and a stored hydrogen system can easily be retrofitted to an existing home, and many people believe that this will become a model for most modern homes in the near future. The system requires solar panels, storage batteries, hydrogen electrolyzer, generator, and tanks. Now this all sounds expensive and complex but it’s not, and it’s worth remembering that the end product is free electricity .. for life!

The system basically works like this. The photovoltaic solar panels absorb sunlight, converting its energy into electricity. During the sunny months, this electricity heats, cools, powers appliances, fills the hot water tank, and provides energy to cook. At the same time, though, 60 % of the electricity is diverted to an electrolyzer that pulls hydrogen from water. This hydrogen is stored in tanks, and when energy from the stored hydrogen is needed, the hydrogen flows to a fuel cell where it is converted back into electricity. Clean, simple, and very efficient.

If you would like to know more about running your house on free, renewable power, then I have found a great set of guides available from this website be sure to check them out, you could save a fortune on utility bills.

Build Hydrogen Generator by Your Own

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:10:57 +0000

By: Paul Aitchison

If you wish to reduce your expenses and simultaneously help the environmentalists then a hydrogen generator would turn out to be the best alternative. It is a cleaner substitute for petroleum, which will revolutionize the entire automobile industry across the world and the put an end to the anxiety over the rising petrol prices. Not only does it produce water on combustion which means absolutely no pollution at all but also enhances the gas mileage. A hydrogen generator is already in use in laboratories whenever high purity hydrogen is required. The hydrogen generated from this of 99.99% purity. They are small in size and weight generally occupying 1-2 square feet of bench and weighing 30-60 lbs. Few hydrogen generators require the addition of caustic solution to produce hydrogen gas but most others require only de-ionized or distilled water. Generators that use only water are more desirable as they reduce the risks of handling more chemical substances.

Home made hydrogen generators do not require much effort & the procedure for it is given below. Things needed: Scissors, Bottles, Knife, Carpenter pencil, Telephone wire, hot glue, glue gun, tubing, and electrodes, Valve

Step1: Cut the top off a 2 liter plastic bottle and the bottoms off of two 20 ounce plastic bottles using a pair of scissors. Cut the larger bottle enough so that the two smaller bottles fit comfortably inside of it. Be sure to retain the screw on caps form the bottles.

Step2: Use a sharp utility knife to carefully cut away the wooden casing of the pencil leaving you with just the carbon graphite lead shaft. Break the lead into two separate but equal pieces using your knife.

Step3: Remove the approximately ¼ inch of insulation from two 12 inch telephone wires using a stripping pliers before removing 2 more inches of insulation from the opposite ends.

Step4: Wrap the exposed copper from the telephone wire at the 2 inch end around the ends of the pencil lead and secure in place with a little hot glue.

Step5: Use a drill to drill holes into the center of the two small pop bottle caps and attach a 24-inch long piece of plastic aquarium tubing. Secure in place by placing a little hot glue around both the inside and outside hole perimeter. Once dry, replace the caps onto the bottles by screwing into place.

Step6: Place electrodes with wire attached in the bottom side of the two small pop bottles using hot glue to secure it in place. Put the small bottles inside the large pop bottle and hot glue in place so they cannot move.

Step7: Place an aquarium 2 to 1 mixer value into the free ends of the tubing before connecting to the wires from the electrodes to the correct terminals on a 12-volt battery. It may be an idea to label the positive wire "Anode Oxygen" and the negative wire "Cathode Hydrogen."

Materializing the above model in automobiles helps us in dealing with major global issues like Global warming.

To find out more about using water to run your car and get a free question and answer report please visit www.RunCar-OnWater.com