Green Today Magazine

Use Google Earth to Size Your Solar System

admin — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:07:15 +0000

Using Google Tools for Estimating Solar Installations Tutorial

Want to know how much solar you can get on your roof without breaking out the ladder and tape measure? Google Earth is the perfect tool for estimating how much solar you can get on your roof. And, best of all, from the comfort of your desktop of laptop. I have used Google Earth along with Google Sketchup to produce very accurate reports for companies and municipalities that wanted to know EXACTLY how many Photovoltaic panels they could get on their rooftop or vacant land.

How accurate is this? I was talking on the phone one day with a PV installer that happened to mention he had just got back from sizing a solar system for one of his clients. He was telling me that he is getting too old to be going up and down the ladders all the time just trying to get information to bid out a PV system. I thought this was a perfect time to test my system. I asked him what the address was of the building he had just measured. While he was still on the phone, I looked up the address and measured off the roof space, did a little math and said,” It looks like you can get 52 KW on that roof.”

He came back with “What? Have you already put a bid in on this building?” He had come up with 51.6KW. He worked directly on the roof using his measurements. I was in my office using a satellite through Google Earth.

So, here’s how you do it. Just click on the images to enlarge them.

Step 1.
Download and install Google Earth. It is free. http://earth.google.com/ If you already have Google Earth, then go ahead and open it.

	Step 2. In the upper left-hand corner insert your address into “Fly Me,” then click the little magnifying glass and Google Earth will fly you to your address of choice.

	Step 3. Now that Google Earth has found your address, it is time to zoom in. You can zoom in by double clicking the screen. Zoom in as close as you would like. Unfortunately, Google Earth is bound by the military to only allow only a satellite image from a certain height. You can still zoom in, it just won’t be a clear as you would like.

	Step 3. Now that Google Earth has found your address, it is time to zoom in. You can zoom in by double clicking the screen. Zoom in as close as you would like. Unfortunately, Google Earth is bound by the military to only allow only a satellite image from a certain height. You can still zoom in, it just won’t be a clear as you would like.

	Step 4. Now that you have your home or building zoomed in, click on the Ruler in the top tool bar. Here you will have a choice of options which I’ll set out as follows:

	Step 5: Pick-Line then-Feet Note: Google Earth Pro has the ability to measure square footage. With the free version, you have to do the math yourself.

	You will notice you now have a little box with dashes on the side. This is your measuring tool. Place the measuring tool on your roof and hold the left mouse bottom down while you move horizontally across the roof. You will see the distance in feet.

	(Our example has 165.43 feet.) Now, hit the clear tab and lets do this again vertically.

	You can see that in our example we have 215.19 feet. Now this is where a little math comes in. It is really simple.

You multiply your horizontal figure by the vertical figure to get your square footage. I always round the numbers down to make it easier.

(Example: 165 ft X 215 = 35475 Square feet)

Now the rule of thumb in the solar industry today is that you get plus or minus 10 watts per square foot. So, we take the square foot and multiple it by 10 watts.
(Example: 35475 sq ft. X 10 w = 354750 watts)
A kilo watt is 1000 watts. So Divide 354750 by 1000.
(Example: 35470 / 1000 = 354.74 kilo watts)

The building in this tutorial has room enough for us to place 300 kilowatts on the roof. This does not mean the roof can physically hold this weight; it just means that you have the potential.

There are quite a few factors you have to look at besides having the room to put 300 KW on a roof.

In the next tutorial I will show you how to use Google Sketchup to place panels on the roof. Sketchup is also a wonder tool for finding shading problems.

If you have questions, just place them in the comments as I will answer all that I can.

World’s First Mobile Phone Made Using Recycled Water Bottles

admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 04:50:19 +0000

I glad to see somebody is thinking! Motorola, Inc a new mobile phone that is made from recycled water bottles. Boo-yah, Good for you!
Introduced at the Consumers Electronic Show 2009 Motorola shows off the MOTO^TM W233 Renew. The design looks great with clean lines and easy access to features. For those wanting to reduce your carbon footprint this mobile phone is for you. The phone has earned the Carbonfund.org’s CarbonFree Product Certificate. “Today, natural resources, energy and time are more precious than ever before,” said Jeremy Dale, corporate vice president, global marketing, Motorola Mobile Devices.

“From the product’s design, to the packaging to our partnership with Carbonfund.org, we wanted to ensure that this device makes the right impact with consumers and the environment.” Along with the new phone, Motorola has also reduced it package by 22% and all the materials inside the box are printed on 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper. One more little neat feature, Motorola adds a postage-paid recycling envelop inside the MOTOthW233 Renew’s box. I think I see a trend starting here. I wish…

Honda’s Hydrogen Fuel Cell Sport Concept

admin — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:57:22 +0000

Honda FC Sport Concept

Well, Honda is at it again, enticing us with thoughts of speeding down the highway powered by hydrogen and electric motors. “With an ultralow center of gravity, powerful electric motor performance and zero emissions,” said the press materials. “People who love sports cars will still have a reason to love in a hydrogen-powered future.” O.K., but when will that be?

Of all the car manufacturers, Honda has been the leader in bringing clean technology to the forefront. A lot of buzz is going on right now about the new unveiling of the FC Sport Concept, and not all of it has been good. There are a lot of people out there (myself included) that put quite a bit of energy, time and money into the “Hydrogen Economy,” only to still be waiting and asking: “What is taking so long?

Now, don’t get me wrong. I still believe that Hydrogen is going to play a ginormus role in transportation. We just need to get off our butts and get the oil companies out of the pockets of our politicians. I am really hoping that this new administration will lead the way to “Hydrogen Economy.”

A few years back, Honda invited me to come visit them in LA to review their FCX fuel cell car. I have to tell you — I was really impressed with the performance and handling of the FCX . The design and implementation for the hydrogen fuel storage, batteries and electric motors were - well — what you would expect from Honda, all top notch. The FCX had a low center of gravity, coupled with a suspension that was designed by Honda’s Formula One Racing division. So, if the same team helped design the FC Sport Concept, I can’t wait to get in it.

* Editors Note* If you would like to read this issue of H2Nation that reviewed the Honda FCX you can find it here. http://www.h2nation.com/past_issues.html

How Green is my Gaming System?

admin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:28:58 +0000

Green Gaming Guide

T’is the season for video gaming systems. Will it be a new PS3 or maybe an Xbox 360 or the ever-popular Wii? What are the options for an energy-minded household? Any new video gaming system that is plugged into the wall will affect your energy budget.

Not only will you plunk down a fortune for the video gaming system and the additional “Got to Have Games” you will also see it on your utility bill, if your are so unfortunate as to still have a utility bill. “Not that there is anything wrong with having a utility bill.”

We at GTM love our gaming systems, but wanted to know how much energy they took to give us the hours of mind-numbing entertainment we have come to enjoy.

Get ready for Shock and Awe!

The contenders are:

The Sony PS3

197 watts per hour (On)
Stand by is 1W, but when put into Remote Play, standby mode, the power consumption jumps to 24W per hour. That means the PS3 is using 576W per day of electricity without your even turning it on! So, if you play your PS3 three hours a day on average, this would amount to 1095 watts a day. That is 1 kilowatt of power usage. If you are on solar power, you would need 2 extra solar panels at a cost of $1100 each to power your PS3. Yikes! This is like having ten 100 watt light bulbs burning 24 hrs a day.

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Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 is not much better. It uses 187W during play and consumes 14W in standby mode. The Xbox 360 daily energy consumption is rated at 855 watts per day. You would only have to add one additional solar panel to your system to be able to frag your heart out.

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The Big Winner in the Gaming System Energy Consumption Department is….. drum roll please…

The Nintendo Wii

It consumes a paltry 19 watts while in play and 1 watt in standby mode. That comes to 78 watts a day. What a difference a gaming console can make on your energy bottom line.

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For those of you still enjoying older gaming systems, we wanted to see what the Sony PS2 and Xbox and Dreamcast did on the energy rating. We liked what we found. The PS2 and the Xbox both came in at around 60W each while the Dreamcast came in at 17W.

Most of the top games come in a PC format. The average PC uses 78 watts and the monitor uses around 35 watts. With today’s computing power, you might think twice about adding a high-end gaming system to your energy budget.

* Note* If you have a PS3 or an Xbox 360 check there power-saving auto-shutdown features, they are turned off by default.

How Green is My TV?

admin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:21:12 +0000

Green Today wanted to know, “How Green is My TV?” What we found was surprising!

Television manufacturers today give you a vast assortment of sizes, displays and options to choose from. While the manufacturers will dazzle you with statistics about picture quality, size and features; what they don’t tell you up front is the TV Energy Consumption. Until recently, televisions did not have an Energy Star Rating System.

“Effective November 1, 2008, the ENERGY STAR label on televisions will designate the most efficient TVs in terms of overall energy use, rather than just ‘off ‘ or standby mode energy use. In 2009, if all televisions sold in the United States meet the new ENERGY STAR requirements, the savings in energy costs would be about $1 billion and greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by the equivalent of about 1 million cars.”

* note* ENERGY STAR defines TV efficiency using a watts-per-square inch metric that signifies how many watts of power are consumed by a TV to illuminate a square inch of its screen area.

Question: Which uses more energy? A 42 inch Plasma TV or a full-sized, side-by-side Refrigerator?

Answer: The High End 42 inch Plasma TV can consume 312 watts per hour. A 42-inch plasma set can consume more electricity than a full-size refrigerator which uses on average 75 watts per hour.

So how well do Plasma, LCD and RPTV (Rear Projection) fair? We list the most energy efficient TV models along with how many solar panels it would take to power them. This way you know how to determine the right model for your Green Living Situation.

Our calculation is based on two factors:

1. The TV is on for 8 hours a day.
2. Using a 220 watt Solar Panel that receives 5 hours of sunlight per day minus system efficiencies i.e. (220w X .92 x 5 hrs = 847 watts)

We have listed here the top models in each size category:

32 inch LCD

The 32-inch Panasonic TC-32LX85 delivers surprisingly impressive picture quality for a small-screen LCD TV.

Power usage is 98 watts an hour. 784 watts per day.

You could get by with One 220 watt Solar Panel

TV Cost $490

42 inch LCD

The Philips’ 42PFL5603D flat-panel LCD will win the day for consumption-conscious shoppers.

Power usage is 92 watts an hour. 736 watts per day.

You could get by with One 220 watt Solar Panel

TV Cost $886

52 inch LCD

The Samsung LN52A650 LCD TV will reward you with a massive feature set and excellent picture quality.

Power usage is 220 watts an hour. 1760 watts per day.