Welcome back to JJNN.
Today's article is taken from Searchina news.
This is yet another in a lot series of articles all about saving electricity. This time the company Sharp has vowed to produce a house, which they have decided to call the "Eco-House," that actually uses 0 electricity from the power grid. The goal is to produce a house that has the usually appliances, but have those appliances use only a fraction of what the traditional appliances use. The house should be comfortable to live in, but still use as little electricity as possible.
Sharp has a challenge ahead of them. The house is located in the middle of Osaka, one of the hottest cities in Japan. Cooling the house in summer and heating the house in winter is going to take some energy. But, never fear, our old friends solar panels and efficient batteries are here. That is basically Sharp's plan, use efficient and low energy consumption appliances and offset the energy usage with solar panels and efficient batteries.
If that were all there is to this story there wouldn't be much of a story actually. Sharp has taken a few measures to make the house use even less energy. The first of those steps is called HEMS; which stands for Home Energy Management System. HEMS is a system in which the owner of the house can use their television or a tablet computer to check on the power consumption of the house as a whole and also the consumption of each appliance in their house. It is a way to get the owner of the house more interested in power saving. HEMS can also be used to see how much power is being produced by the solar cells, how much electricity is being stored in the batteries and how long the batteries will hold out under the current usage rate.
Sharp is also looking deeper into appliances that run on DC power. They want to use DC power because that is the type of power that is produced by solar cells. If the appliances run on DC power then the power will not have to be changed to AC power between the solar panel and the house. This will make for a more efficient use off the energy produced by the solar panels.
It is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 太陽(たいよう). It is pronounced taiyou and it means sun. Imagine what we would be able to do if we were able to full tap the power output of the sun.
Showing posts with label solar power. Show all posts
Showing posts with label solar power. Show all posts
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Transmitting on Solar Power
Welcome back to JJNN.
Today's article is from the Yomiuri Online.
As I have said a few times before, Japan is in the middle of a little power crisis. Everyone is looking for ways to save electricity and money in the long run. If a person, or a family, or a community or even a company can save electricity now that means fewer brownouts during the summer and more happy people in the long run.
One of the biggest companies in Japan, and its largest broadcaster, NHK, wants to do its part for Japan's power crisis. NHK's plan will take 2 years to complete but the general idea is that they want to service about 200 million households with their broadcasts without using one kilowatt from the power grid.
The mystery of how they will accomplish this task is solved when one looks at where NHK's main broadcast station is located. The facility is actually located about a half and hour south of where I am by train and it is one of the sunniest locations in Japan. That's right, they are going to broadcast using the power of the sun. They plan on producing 200o kilowatts of electricity by using 15 thousand square meters (that's almost 18 thousand square yards) of solar cells which will come to about 10 thousand panels. The total cost should be somewhere near 1.8 billion yen. A lot of money, but a worthy cause.
It is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 発電(はつでん). It is pronounced hatsuden and it means producing electricity. I always wanted a house with solar panels. They always seemed so futuristic to me.
Today's article is from the Yomiuri Online.
As I have said a few times before, Japan is in the middle of a little power crisis. Everyone is looking for ways to save electricity and money in the long run. If a person, or a family, or a community or even a company can save electricity now that means fewer brownouts during the summer and more happy people in the long run.
One of the biggest companies in Japan, and its largest broadcaster, NHK, wants to do its part for Japan's power crisis. NHK's plan will take 2 years to complete but the general idea is that they want to service about 200 million households with their broadcasts without using one kilowatt from the power grid.
The mystery of how they will accomplish this task is solved when one looks at where NHK's main broadcast station is located. The facility is actually located about a half and hour south of where I am by train and it is one of the sunniest locations in Japan. That's right, they are going to broadcast using the power of the sun. They plan on producing 200o kilowatts of electricity by using 15 thousand square meters (that's almost 18 thousand square yards) of solar cells which will come to about 10 thousand panels. The total cost should be somewhere near 1.8 billion yen. A lot of money, but a worthy cause.
It is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 発電(はつでん). It is pronounced hatsuden and it means producing electricity. I always wanted a house with solar panels. They always seemed so futuristic to me.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
JJNN Sunday: Leftovers - 08
Welcome again to JJNN for Sunday September 21st, 2008. Today we will be talking about ecologically minded power companies.
Well, first thing is first I guess. The one or two people that actually read my blog probably noticed that I didn't post anything yesterday. I was a little busy and I decided to take a break from pseudoscience for this week. Worry not, though, because it will be back next week in full force.
Today I found a nice technological article about solar power being used by big Japanese electric companies. You can see the original article here. I am so happy that these electric companies have finally gotten onto the ball about this.
I did a little post about solar power back in the beginning of July, but I never did say anything about how solar power works. So, before I actually get into the new story, I want to talk about what makes solar power work. There are actually a couple of different types of solar power. One form uses the a lot of curved mirrors to focus the light from the sun onto a tower. The water in that tower is made to boil because of the concentrated heat from the sun and that steam moves a turbine which makes electricity. That type of solar power is not what I am referring to though. I am talking about the solar power obtained by solar panels (also called photovoltaic cells).
Solar panels work though what is called the photoelectric effect. Basically what happens is some lights hits the surface of a material (it does not have to be a metal or a semi-conductor) and an electron is released from that material. Why are the electrons released? Well think of it this way; electrons are held in place in the material by an attraction to its positively charged nuclear core. If something comes in that is stronger than its attraction to it's core, it will be knocked away and be free to leave the material. The attraction between the electron and the core can be expressed in the form of an energy, but so can light (some types of light are more energetic than others). So this means if the light has more energy than the electron's connection to its core the light will knock the electron free.
That all happens for only one atom, but solar cells are made up of billions of atoms. This means that if light with enough energy is coming in a lot of electrons are leaving their atoms. These electrons are made to flow and like magic we have energy from a solar cell. Scientists are working hard to find new materials in which the electron is not bound strongly to its nuclear core. When these materials are found the effectiveness of solar panels will go up and they will produce more electricity.
Now, with that out of the way, I can talk about the news story. Two of the biggest energy providers in Japan, Tokyo Denryoku and Kansai Denryoku, made a promise that they will be using solar power to power about 40000 homes a year by 2020. This is a huge change in their normal practices of using fossil fuels to create electricity. They say they are converting 30 places into solar power factories and plan on producing about 40000 kilowatt hours a year. According to their sources this will keep about 70000 tons of CO2 out of the air.
But, wait, there's more. Not only are they making the solar power plants, but they decided that they should be riding around in electric cars. They are going to buy 10000 new solar powered cars along with other types of electric cars. This will make up just about a third of their fleet when they do get the cars. Every little bit helps. You can see one of these electric cars below.
Ugly is not the word I am looking for, but it's close.
Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 電気(でんき). It is pronounced denki and means electricity. I wonder why a lot of people never think to put solar panels on their roofs? Sure they cost some money to install, but they pay back a lot in the long run.
That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.
Well, first thing is first I guess. The one or two people that actually read my blog probably noticed that I didn't post anything yesterday. I was a little busy and I decided to take a break from pseudoscience for this week. Worry not, though, because it will be back next week in full force.
Today I found a nice technological article about solar power being used by big Japanese electric companies. You can see the original article here. I am so happy that these electric companies have finally gotten onto the ball about this.
I did a little post about solar power back in the beginning of July, but I never did say anything about how solar power works. So, before I actually get into the new story, I want to talk about what makes solar power work. There are actually a couple of different types of solar power. One form uses the a lot of curved mirrors to focus the light from the sun onto a tower. The water in that tower is made to boil because of the concentrated heat from the sun and that steam moves a turbine which makes electricity. That type of solar power is not what I am referring to though. I am talking about the solar power obtained by solar panels (also called photovoltaic cells).
Solar panels work though what is called the photoelectric effect. Basically what happens is some lights hits the surface of a material (it does not have to be a metal or a semi-conductor) and an electron is released from that material. Why are the electrons released? Well think of it this way; electrons are held in place in the material by an attraction to its positively charged nuclear core. If something comes in that is stronger than its attraction to it's core, it will be knocked away and be free to leave the material. The attraction between the electron and the core can be expressed in the form of an energy, but so can light (some types of light are more energetic than others). So this means if the light has more energy than the electron's connection to its core the light will knock the electron free.
That all happens for only one atom, but solar cells are made up of billions of atoms. This means that if light with enough energy is coming in a lot of electrons are leaving their atoms. These electrons are made to flow and like magic we have energy from a solar cell. Scientists are working hard to find new materials in which the electron is not bound strongly to its nuclear core. When these materials are found the effectiveness of solar panels will go up and they will produce more electricity.
Now, with that out of the way, I can talk about the news story. Two of the biggest energy providers in Japan, Tokyo Denryoku and Kansai Denryoku, made a promise that they will be using solar power to power about 40000 homes a year by 2020. This is a huge change in their normal practices of using fossil fuels to create electricity. They say they are converting 30 places into solar power factories and plan on producing about 40000 kilowatt hours a year. According to their sources this will keep about 70000 tons of CO2 out of the air.
But, wait, there's more. Not only are they making the solar power plants, but they decided that they should be riding around in electric cars. They are going to buy 10000 new solar powered cars along with other types of electric cars. This will make up just about a third of their fleet when they do get the cars. Every little bit helps. You can see one of these electric cars below.
Ugly is not the word I am looking for, but it's close.
Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 電気(でんき). It is pronounced denki and means electricity. I wonder why a lot of people never think to put solar panels on their roofs? Sure they cost some money to install, but they pay back a lot in the long run.
That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
JJNN 39 July 3rd, 2008
Welcome again to JJNN for Thursday July 3rd, 2008. Today I will talk about another train related news story.
The original news story can be found here. It seems that everyone is trying to do their part for the environment these days. This is not a bad thing, if it done in the right way. For an example of the wrong way to do something good for the environment check out JJNN for June 22nd.
This time the Japan's train network is getting into the earth saving action. They decided to go in a slightly different direction than turning off lights and lighting candles. Tokyo station (one of, if not the, biggest train stations in Japan) announced that it will be putting up solar panels starting next year. The roofs of platform 9 and 10 will be set with 3000 square meters of solar panels which should be produce 390 KW of energy - enough energy to power about 90 homes.
That is wonderful and it should decrease the CO2 output of Tokyo station by about .3%. That does not sound that much, but it is actually 90 tons of CO2 that is being kept from going into that atmosphere. Any little thing helps in the end. If the Tokyo station solar panels prove a good success other stations may try the same thing and save yet more money (in the very long run) and CO2 from going into the air. Solar panels are not the most efficient way of producing energy, but they work better than a station putting up a big windmill.
Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 東京駅(とうきょうえき). It is pronounced Tokyo-eki and means Tokyo Station. I still remember my first time going though Tokyo Station. I never thought I would find my way to where I needed to go or find my way back. I guess you get used to it if you go there a lot, but even now I still think it can be a maze.
That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.
The original news story can be found here. It seems that everyone is trying to do their part for the environment these days. This is not a bad thing, if it done in the right way. For an example of the wrong way to do something good for the environment check out JJNN for June 22nd.
This time the Japan's train network is getting into the earth saving action. They decided to go in a slightly different direction than turning off lights and lighting candles. Tokyo station (one of, if not the, biggest train stations in Japan) announced that it will be putting up solar panels starting next year. The roofs of platform 9 and 10 will be set with 3000 square meters of solar panels which should be produce 390 KW of energy - enough energy to power about 90 homes.
That is wonderful and it should decrease the CO2 output of Tokyo station by about .3%. That does not sound that much, but it is actually 90 tons of CO2 that is being kept from going into that atmosphere. Any little thing helps in the end. If the Tokyo station solar panels prove a good success other stations may try the same thing and save yet more money (in the very long run) and CO2 from going into the air. Solar panels are not the most efficient way of producing energy, but they work better than a station putting up a big windmill.
Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 東京駅(とうきょうえき). It is pronounced Tokyo-eki and means Tokyo Station. I still remember my first time going though Tokyo Station. I never thought I would find my way to where I needed to go or find my way back. I guess you get used to it if you go there a lot, but even now I still think it can be a maze.
That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.
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