energy efficient grill

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Jun 212012
 

What is your summer fueled by?

GreenCupboards is excited to welcome EcoQue to our site! You are missing out if you have not checked out these low-impact grills and ovens. Not only are they energy efficient, but the food tastes great!

If you like the wood-fired pizza taste, now you can cook your own using the EcoQue wood-fired pizza oven and smoker. A wood burning fire that is at the base of the oven powers the wood-fire pizza oven. There are four hatches on the side of the oven. The top hatch is a smoker hatch, where you can smoke your meats with the help of a provided water pan. The water pan helps make the meats juicier. The next hatch is for your pizza to cook on a pizza stone. The oven can hold two pizza stones for duel

EcoQue Woodfire Pizza Oven

EcoQue Woodfire Pizza Oven

pizza cooking. The hatch below that is the firebox where you will burn either wood or coal (or both) to heat your oven. The final base hatch is for fuel storage, a place to keep your bag of coals and wood-pile. All of the hatches are lined to be as energy efficient as possible. In addition to pizza cooking and smoking, the pizza oven can also be utilized for all the purposes of an indoor oven. This authentic oven will grace your picnic area with a conventional and practical conversation piece.

EcoQue's Portable Grill

If you like to camp, the EcoQue grill is a great cooking tool to take with you on your travels. With the EcoQue portable grill you get to choose your fuel source. This can be gas, charcoal or even wood. The entire grill is made out of either recycled or recyclable materials. This grill is great for grilling, baking, frying, roasting, boiling and even smoking. The shape of the grill is what makes it eco-friendly, it channels the heat to maximize it’s potential. The EcoQue portable grill is available in different sizes and is a great tool to take with you to the park or even use in your backyard.

You can make your existing grill more energy efficient by using the EcoQue cooking rack. You put this rack directly on the grill you own. The EcoQue Rack can speed up the cooking time of your current grill and can be used to barbeque, roast, plank, bake or to directly grill on.

The EcoQue Cooking Rack

Check out the GreenCupboards Ecoque product page to see more products.

Green Energy

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Dec 152011
 

Trying to save money and stay warm this Holiday season? GreenCupboards.com employees are trying to keep warm in the office using space heaters and blankets wondering if we’re doing everything we can to optimize our energies potential. These three steps are helping us save some green while getting “greener” as well.  They may do the same for you.

  1. Cover cracks – The first step you can take in making your house more energy efficient this Holiday season is to seek out any crevasses where heat could be escaping. The cracks under doors are notorious for letting the hot air out. By making a door sweep this energy loss can be minimized. A door sweep is a piece of material that is laid at the base of a door, coving the space between the door and the floor. You can purchase a door sweep or make your own by simply folding a blanket or towel and placing it at the bottom of a door.

If you have an attic with pull down stairs, you can better insulate it by placing a blanket over the stairs when you fold it up. It should be a no-brainer, yet also make sure your windows are securely shut.

  1. Turn thermostat down, not off – Turning your thermostat off when you leave is surprisingly not the most energy efficient solution. Rather than turning your thermostat off, turn it down instead. All of the stress from turning the heat on and off can damage your energy system and cause it to break prematurely. When you leave, you should set your heat at 50-60 degrees F and when you come home you shouldn’t crank it all the way up but set it at around 70-80 degrees F.
  1. Help your radiator – Maximize your radiator’s potential by placing heat reflectors against the wall behind your radiator.  By using heat reflectors you can get much more bang for your buck from your radiator’s heat. This technique can also work for people trying to heat a room using a space heater.

Helium-3 Fuel on the Moon

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Aug 102011
 

Moon Fuel: Helium-3

With gas prices rising, many people are busy researching alternative energy sources to help curb an energy crisis. Every night, the answer could be shining upon us all, in the form of the moon. Despite very convincing arguments, the moon is not made of cheese; it is in fact covered with the isotope Helium-3.

Helium-3 or He3 is a variation of Helium with one neuron instead of two. Helium-3 could be used as an environmentally friendly fuel for nuclear reactors. The perk of He3 nuclear power is that, unlike others, it would not create radioactive waste. Astronomers predict that the Helium-3, which covers the moon, goes down deep into lunar soil. The generating technique proposed to work using Helium-3 has not been thoroughly tested and could take up to 50 years in order to get the process perfected.

Unlike current nuclear reactors that rely on fission, a reactor powered with Helium-3 would be harnessing nuclear fusion. Fusion is the process of combining nuclear particles, rather than fission that separates them. The hydrogen bomb harnesses both fusion and fission to get its explosive power, utilizing uranium fission and hydrogen fusion.

According to CNN: “It has been estimated that about 25 tons of Helium-3, equal to just one payload of a space shuttle, would provide enough energy for the U.S. for a year at current consumption levels.”

Currently NASA is looking into beginning the construction of an industrial mining base on the moon by 2015. However, NASA isn’t the only one interested in the moons energy reserves. Russian RSC Energia (A Rocket and Space Corperation) president Nikolay Sevastiyanov also wishes to send a manned mission to the moon to begin Helium-3 mining in 2015. Indian president A.P.J. Kalam, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have also voiced interest in extracting He3 from the moon. China and Germany do not intend to be left out either as they complete tentative lunar expeditions in the future.

Everyone has a good reason for looking though, citing NASAspaceflight.com: “The earth’s reserves of helium-3 are so negligible that their industrial use is absolutely out of the question. According to some estimates, our natural satellite contains no less than 1 million tons of helium-3, which can fully meet the entire Earth’s power demand for a period of more than 1000 years”

If Helium-3 isn’t mined and shipped back to Earth for power, what else could it be used for? When you look up at the moon tonight it could be a future intergalactic fuel station your seeing. The moon could be a place where rockets can stock up with the natural power source for use on journeys into the beyond.

Just how difficult mining on the moon will be is yet to be seen. Nacho lovers may be upset over finding out the moons true composition, but scientists are looking to the white rock with increased optimism.

How do you feel about plundering the moon for it’s natural resources?

Sources:

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/12/18/fs.moonmining/

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2005/12/moon-mars-mining-a-must-sevastiyanov/

http://www.nss.org/settlement/mars/zubrin-colonize.html

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/19296/page3/

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19115/

http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2006/12/72276

Images:

http://www.zonu.com/fullsize-en/2009-11-06-10884/Earth-and-Moon–.html

http://science.howstuffworks.com/moon1.htm

http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~soper/Moon/surface.html

Anaconda Wave-Power Generator

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Aug 042011
 

Anacondas in the water

“Anaconda” is not just the name of a big snake anymore; Anaconda is also the name for a new wave-power generating technology. Britain is hoping to release the Anaconda into their coastal waters as an alternative, and renewable energy source. The Anaconda is an invention that could help the UK achieve it’s goal of using 15% renewable energy by 2020, a goal many experts predict they will miss by a mere 1%. (Guardian)

Like the snake, the Anaconda generator has a long and rubbery body capable of wriggling with the waves. Measuring 656 feet in length and with a diameter of 22 feet, Anaconda technology would easily become the biggest sea serpent out there. As one site put it, the generator would be “Of such colossal girth that it would require at least a dozen chorus girls hand in hand to reach around it.” (The Register)

The way that the Anaconda generates power can be related to the way water reacts within a water balloon. If you hit one side of the water balloon a wave would be sent through the rubber giving it a “giggling effect”. Whereas in a water ballon the waves would be passed back and forth, in an Anaconda, a generator attached to one end harnesses the waves energy.

The Anaconda power generating process as described by Science Daily:

“A wave hitting the end squeezes it and causes a ‘bulge wave’ to form inside the tube. As the bulge wave runs through the tube, the initial sea wave that caused it runs along the outside of the tube at the same speed, squeezing the tube more and more and causing the bulge wave to get bigger and bigger. The bulge wave then turns a turbine fitted at the far end of the device and the power produced is fed to shore via a cable.”

The Anaconda’s innovative generation method has been verified in lab test experiments (Video below), and has been supported by Carbon Trust. The Anaconda has not yet seen real action in the seas. Britain is hoping to see the Anaconda swimming by 2014.

Unlike other tidal technology, the Anaconda’s maintenance and production cost are low due to its durable and simplistic structure. The Anaconda would not be susceptible to erosion like other metal machinery because it is made of natural rubber and fabric, the lack of mechanical parts means lower maintenance than it’s tidal generating counterparts.

According Anaconda Engineer Rod Rainey,  ”If the worst comes to the worst it’ll only be washed up on the beach, and you can patch it up and put it back out there,”

The Anaconda would be anchored to the sea floor, with it’s “mouth” facing the waves, and “tail” generator producing as much as 1 megawatt of power, which could power an estimated thousand homes.

The Anaconda is an exciting technology to watch as it leaves it’s “proof-of-concept trials” and enters into production, and finally implementation.

Watch the videos below to learn more about the Anaconda:

Sources:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/06/anaconda-wave-power

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/04/anaconda_wave_power_generators/

http://www.bulgewave.com/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/may/05/wave-tidal-hydropower-energy?picture=346906072

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080703101329.htm

http://www.ukti.gov.uk/investintheuk/sectoropportunities/environment/item/101339.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/19/renewableenergy.alternativeenergy

Images:

http://www.reuk.co.uk/Anaconda-Bulge-Wave-Power-Generator.htm

http://www.rexresearch.com/farleywave/farley.htm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1177844/Wave-future-The-giant-rubber-sea-snakes-generate-electricity-tens-thousands-UK-homes.html

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14258-giant-rubber-snake-could-be-the-future-of-wave-power.html

The Solar Serpent Super Power Freeway

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Jun 062011
 

What is that?

Shade, grace, and power; three things the proposed Santa Monica freeway “skin” would provide. The “skin” of the Solar Serpent is made up of solar panels; diamond shaped solar panels would be interlocked just like the pattern of snake’s scales (image). 150 GWh of power could be annually delivered to local communities through this system.

Snaking its way 15 miles over the Santa Monica freeway, covered with 600,000 solar panels, the Solar Serpent could provide enough power to all of Venice, California, which has a population of 29,252.

Aside from harnessing solar power, the Serpent over the freeway would also provide shade to all those Californians who have their car air conditioning on full blast. For those who have electric cars, there are power-up stations under the Serpent in the proposed design.

Mans Tham, the Swedish architect that created the concept for the Solar Serpent, has even bigger plans for the Serpent’s power in the future. Someday, Tham would like to use advanced technology to somehow harness the C02 emitted from cars, using the Serpent “skin”, and put it to use somewhere, or at least make sure it does not make its way into the atmosphere.

The Solar Serpent would also be an aesthetically pleasing feature, as you can see from the picture it looks like a blue river or snake spanning across the distance. The location of the freeway is ideal for harnessing solar energy as more power is lost the greater distance it has to travel; the freeway runs directly through industrial communities, and could serve as a source of clean efficient power for them.

There is no information about a groundbreaking date for the construction of the Santa Monica Solar Serpent, as of now, this is a concept design. What would you think of a Solar Serpent snaking it’s way over your city’s freeways?

Sources:

http://www.zip-codes.com/city/CA-VENICE.asp

http://inhabitat.com/massive-solar-serpent-winds-along-the-santa-monica-freeway/

http://www.gizmag.com/solar-serpent-electricity-generating-freeways/16877/

http://www.greenmuze.com/climate/energy/3194-solar-serpent-highway-.html

Sources:

http://inhabitat.com/massive-solar-serpent-winds-along-the-santa-monica-freeway/

The Prius Energy Coaster

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May 092011
 

Parts of a Prius

The technology modern hybrid cars are using could be beneficial to other industry’s interested in reducing their energy consumption. One of the leaders in hybrid technology is the Toyota Prius. To demonstrate the multipurpose function of hybrid car’s technology Toyota engineers constructed a roller coaster track and built a prototype roller coaster cart. The coaster cart was fitted with an engine, wiring, batteries and the Hybrid Synergy Drive system from a Prius.

The coaster track and cart were built to see if hybrid technology could generate more power than what was being put into it. The team of engineers built a 70-foot track and set the Prius roller coaster cart at the top of a ten-foot platform.

The Prius breaking system harvests kinetic energy that would otherwise be lost to heat and friction. From the ten-foot platform down the track, 30 amps of 200 volts were being captured by the cart’s system.

In the video you can visually see the amount of power being captured as it is used to light up real amusement park signs around the track. Toyota’s project was inspired to inspire future engineers into learning how to capture the energy all around that is being lost to heat and friction.

The Drop

Toyota’s model track is simply banking off of the “what goes up must come down” concept. And is simply trying to harness the energy of objects “coming down” such as the decrease in speed in a vehicle or the stopping of an amusement park ride.

Imagine an airplane that did not land on the ground but on a platform suspended in the air, as the plane landed and gradually came down the platform to the ground it would be gathering energy from the falling motion of friction. This hypothetical landing platform could help recoup some of the energy lost during takeoff and cruising.

Sources:

http://chasnote.com/2011/05/05/toyota-prius-self-powered-roller-coaster/

http://www.notcot.com/archives/2011/05/2011-prius-rollercoaster.php

http://www.toyota.com/ideas-for-good/projectscoasterinfo.html

http://inhabitat.com/prius-powered-roller-coaster-is-made-up-of-toyota-parts/

Images:

http://www.notcot.com/archives/2011/05/2011-prius-rollercoaster.php

Solar Energy

 Green Living  1 Response »
Feb 092011
 

More and more today’s society is embracing the natural power of the Earth as an energy source. As well as the Earth, the sun has a lot of power to offer as well. You have probably seen a solar panel before, if not on the tops of houses then on a calculator or lawn lights.

But how is solar energy captured and stored? To first know about the solar energy process you must know what is responsible for the power. And that is thanks to solar radiation.

Photovoltaic/ or solar cells are responsible for harnessing the solar radiation and converting it to electrical energy. Boxes constructed of silicon alloys contain a liquid that is heated by the radiation. The heat is collected on something called the absorber plate. The heated liquid heats water, which is evaporated and is either pumped or is pulled by gravity to heat or cool a building.

You don’t need to have a solar panel to collect solar energy as you receive it everyday in the form of passive energy. Passive energy is the solar radiation that organically heats virtually anything it comes into contact with including our cars, houses, and bodies. Structures that naturally utilize this more are those, which longest walls run east to west.

Food often soaks up the glory of solar energy in the form of solar cookers. A solar cooker is an insulated box (often lined with foil), with a glass top. This contraption traps the solar energy and heats whatever food is placed in there.

So go out and soak up your solar power!

Sources:

http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5004197_how-solar-energy-produced.html

http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/solar.htm

http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/technology_and_impacts/energy_technologies/how-solar-energy-works.html

http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/technology/solar-power/

http://www.solarpower.org/

Wind Farms, Noisy Neighbors?

 What's Hot  1 Response »
Jan 072011
 

There are approximately 250 wind farms in the USA. Wind is free. Nobody can steal your breeze. Just like roaring rivers, wind bears tremendous natural power. Tornadoes are capable of raising houses off the ground and dropping them onto the Wicked Witch of the West. Nature is the essence of life and power. Scientist and engineers are looking to our world in a new way, not to take from it, but to harness it. From sunshine to water, to air to the earth’s core, environmentalists are tapping into natural forces and converting it into usable energy. With change, there are opportunity costs. Wind farms, provide clean power and energy cost cuts for many Americans. There are approximately 250 wind farms in the USA (NY Times). But there is a catch, many neighbors of the natural power plants are complaining of the noise. The never-ending whoosh and whirr of massive turbine blades has given headaches to……

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