Plug Power Meter @ How it reduces electric bills

First of all what is a power meter and what actually it does. A power meter measures power and power is the product of current and voltage of a device. A home utility bill comes from this power consumption of  all devices in a  house . When you get the utility bill from your service provider they give you a piece of paper where you find your monthly power consumption of your entire house in units or kWh, this units turn into your monthly bill. But no one knows which devices are the main reason of high utility bills. Sometime right use of your home appliances can reduce drastically power consumption and can make your electric bill lower.  May be you don't know that in your house the main reason of high electric bill is your rice cooker or your micro-oven but you are actually thinking it is the refrigerator  or your laptop.The main reason will be unknown as most of us don't have any kind of knowledge how to measure these things or there is a way out.let me give you a brief example that in your house there are 8 lights and your friend Becky's house there are 8 light as well but your friend is using lights which are LEDs but you are using CFL lights. In the month end who is going to pay more money, of course that is you but you never know that your friend Becky is securing more money than you.This small things can save a lot of money for anyone.

There is way to find out which devices are more costly to keep in your house by a plug power meter. A plug power meter is not a multi-meter for sure but it gives you all type of features to know your own appliances better.This plug power meter will give you right knowledge of consumed units of all devices and do any of those devices need replacement with better power rated devices.

This is for sure that if you are not quite knowledgeable in basic electric bill formulas  and how electric bills are measured then this power meter can help you a little bit.But one thing you should know that 200W > 75W and able to give you more electric bill which is actually twice.

Many people you might know  whom are used to use an  ac rice cooker or kitchen ac appliances which are naturally rated higher power which are equal to 100 LED light bulbs but used many hours a day without knowing how much to use as a result electric bills are on the mountain top.Those kitchen appliances should be used in  measures but people are blaming house lights.

These all difficulties of electric bill  can be solved by proper use of house devices and which devices to buy or which devices to replace. In that case you should have this kind of measuring devices like plug power meter which gives all type of facilities to measure your home units for reducing electric bill. This power meter is not that you plug it and it reduces the electric bill rather it shows you a way if there is any solution of it.

Hope this might help you

(Jajakallahu Khair)

Mini Solar Toy - Fun Work With Solar

This is a mini project for  kids for his/her science fair exhibition , very simple and easy to make with few craps and one solar cell. Solar cell is the main power source 6V  & dc motor (6V) is the automation device for running the entire vehicle. One can build this magnificent toy for their own kid and can become father of the year.Things you  need is solar cell , dc motor, 3 Popsicle sticks, 2 thin sticks, 5 bottle caps, adhesives and few toy gears for running the whole mechanism. In this toy solar cell will provide electricity to the dc motor to run the wheels by the gears which very basic for car mechanism. Please follow the whole video rather then reading Video1.

More stuffs like this :

Follow : Video1  Video2  Video3  Video4 

Solar Compact Energy @ Emergency Power Sources

Best of solar technology  is that it is versatile in applications where it could be big like 500MW solar power plants or it could be just 7W solar chargers. 

Today we are going to learn about small solar applications which you can call solar compact energy sources.

This compact solar sources have few advantages over big sources like solar plants that you have easy access to solar technology as you can buy directly from the store and can take wherever you want. You can use solar cells practically rather then seeing on television or internet which is great for understanding  of this outstanding technology.There are many compact sources are available in the market places as well as online stores where you can find versatile range of modern solar devices. These solar devices are unknown to most of the general mob as they never heard of it or see it.Some of these are described below :

Solar Chargers :

There are two types of this kind of solar devices :

• Solar Chargers with power bank.
• Solar Chargers without power bank.

Solar Chargers with power bank has better advantage as it comes with power bank, so even at night time you can use it as regular power bank.This device can vary from 1W ~ 21W depends on the manufacturer.At day time you can use sun light to charge your power bank and use those stored energy for emergency or regular charging. On the other hand solar chargers without power bank don't have any power bank, so you can't use it for late time or night time, you have to use it when sun  is available around it, but it can do a great job at charging mobiles, tablet computers  as all the solar chargers are fast charging devices if it gets good sun light but even in dim light it works fine.These devices can charge almost all type of mobiles, tablet computers or any 5V devices have USB charging system in it and some case laptops.

Solar Portable Bags/Backpack :

Solar Portable bags are great solar applications of solar technology. It is consist of mostly 3 parts :

• Bag (Most are leather bags)
• Power bank (Rated in Thousands mAH )
• Solar Cell (mostly 3~10 W)

This is a package of good things especially when you go for travelling as it has power bank and a solar cell which can give emergency support of electricity and we can carry our all stuffs in it . As these bags have USB charging ports which actually provide 500mA ~2A dc currents for your devices so anything has USB charging system you can charge with these bags. You can charge anything with it like mobiles, tablets, smart watches or fitness trackers and many more things. If you have USB warmer devices for tea or coffee you can charge with it too.

Solar Built in Furniture :

Solar furniture are great when you are thinking to have a home furniture like solar tables or solar chairs or solar benches . If you a caravan lovers then it might be a solution of a lot of things as it comes with free energy source.These type of furniture are great for home decoration and you are getting free energy source at home which works with sun light. You can keep it outside of your house or on the roof of the house which makes it much more accessible for everyone to have free electricity in a off-grid location. 

In solar furniture there are main 3 parts : 

• Furniture
• Solar Panel & Charge Controller
• Battery. 

Furniture materials are diverse can be plastic , wooden or metal. Solar panels are rated mostly 50W~100W with charge controller which is for battery charging. You can use these furniture for electricity  at day time as well as night time.You can make a perfect candle light dinner with it on your house roof.

Overview :

As mentioned above applications of solar technology there are much more of different applications are present which are outstanding for accessing this technology. Man and women  both can privilege these technology. This technology is a lesson which everyone should have access to it otherwise what benefits of having this God given gift which normal people as well as educated people have no knowledge.

Hope this post might help you

(Jajakallahu Khair)

Solar Business @ How Lucrative it is

With present trend solar business is one of the most lucrative businesses that one can do.Because of its versatility in application and global deficiency in energy sources leads to a big budget tycoon offer for new entrepreneurs as well as established tycoons .You probably heard about many renown companies like Microsoft or Apple or Google has already have investments in solar sectors.As though in financial world big fish earn the most revenue but small business holders are not lagging behind too far. Small businesses like distributors, or installment based service system is growing everyday.One can start a very small solar business like settling a solar home system or selling solar products as retailer can bring great profit.USA and China have shown their bushiness strategy worldwide and now they are the big fish in solar commerce world.As most of these big fish are manufacturers but small business holders are doing quite good business and earning a quite big bucks.Now a days some banking companies are taking initiatives to do solar businesses of their own.They do their business with clients directly and easily and give them time to repay for their complete package.They use installment service with two~three periods which offers complete solar home system which actually includes few bulbs and electric fans.

Google invests $300 million

SolarCity Corp said  $750 million fund to finance about 25,000 residential solar projects, with Google Inc investing nearly half the funding.The money will be used by SolarCity to put solar panels on homes. Homeowners then will pay a monthly fee to lease the panels from the company. The growth of such financing has made generating electric power from the sun an option for households who do not want to shell out the $20,000 to $30,000 upfront cost of a typical residential solar system.

The fund is the largest ever created for residential solar systems, SolarCity said, and Google’s $300 million equity stake is the technology giant’s biggest renewable energy investment to date. SolarCity is the top U.S. residential solar installer.The investment is Google’s second with SolarCity. The company in 2011 established a $280 million fund with the installer, which is backed by Tesla Motors Inc founder Elon Musk. To date, Google has poured more than $1.5 billion into renewable energy projects.

Facebook’s solar-powered drone is a step closer to bringing internet to all:

A giant solar-powered drone, which Facebook hopes will one day beam internet to unconnected parts of the world, has successfully completed a test flight for the first time.

The Aquila drone was in the air for 1 hour 45 minutes before landing safely back at base: a major milestone given that the previous test flight ended with a crash landing.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg hopes that the drone will eventually be able to provide internet access to around 4 billion unconnected people around the world, many of whom live in remote areas that current internet technology cannot reach without major infrastructure investment.

The drone has been designed to stay in the air for 90 days at a time, providing broadband coverage in a 60-mile radius on the ground.(Alhamdulillah)

There are many other companies are also engaging in solar technology and their investment is also very high.Apple and Microsoft corporation also invested a lot of money in renewable energy sources but they also included wind technology.Their budget is like creating a huge solar panel industry.But besides USA, other countries like China, United Kingdom, Germany , and Italy has shown huge growth in new solar businesses.

Nearly 260,000 Americans work in solar - more than double the number in 2012 - at more than 9,000 companies in every U.S. state.

USA Growth (Solar)

The Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) has provided industry stability and growth since its initial passage in 2006. In the last decade, solar has experienced an average annual growth rate of 68%.

Solar’s increasing competitiveness against other technologies has allowed it to quickly increase its share of total U.S. electrical generation- from just 0.1% in 2010 to 1.4% today. By 2020 solar should surpass 3% of total generation is expected to hit 5% by 2022.

Worldwide growth of photovoltaics has been an exponential curve between 2007–2017. During this period of time, photovoltaics (PV), also known as solar PV, evolved from a niche market of small scale applications to a mainstream electricity source.

By the end of 2016, cumulative photovoltaic capacity reached about 302 gigawatts (GW), estimated to be sufficient to supply between 1.3% and 1.8% of global electricity demand.Solar contributed 8%, 7.4% and 7.1% to the respective annual domestic consumption in Italy, Greece and Germany.Installed worldwide capacity was projected to more than double or even triple to more than 500 GW between 2016 and 2020. By 2050, solar power was anticipated to become the world's largest source of electricity, with solar photovoltaics and concentrated solar power contributing 16% and 11%, respectively. This would require PV capacity to grow to 4,600 GW, of which more than half was forecast to be deployed in China and India.

Installed Solar Power Capacity in 2016 (MW)

#	Country	Total Capacity	Added Capacity
1	China	78070	34540
2	Japan	42750	8600
3	Germany	41220	1520
4	United States	40300	14730
5	Italy	19279	373
6	United Kingdom	11630	1970
7	India	9010	3970
8	France	7130	559
9	Australia	5900	839
10	Spain	5490	55
11	South Korea	4350	850
12	Belgium	3422	170
13	Canada	2715	200
14	Thailand	2150	726
15	Netherlands	2100	525
16	Switzerland	1640	250
17	Chile	1610	746
18	South Africa	1450	536
19	Austria	1077	154
20	Israel	910	130
21	Philippines	900	756
22	Denmark	900	70
23	Turkey	832	584
24	Portugal	513	58
25	Mexico	320	150
27	Malaysia	286	54
28	Sweden	175	60
29	Norway	26.7	11
30	Finland	15	10

The installation of solar power in the upcoming years will be higher then now.(Alhamdulillah)

But this data is mostly related with solar PV installation in the power plant or any rooftop project but these statistics doesn't cover all other solar products business like solar dok or solar bags which are also growing with amazing rate.Solar Application like solar chargers, solar bags, solar cars, solar boats, solar furniture, solar doks,solar pumps, solar thermal ,solar street lights, solar traffic signal, CSP, solar IT, solar Laptop or tablets also a great source of business earnings now and growing.It is also beneficial for new entrepreneurs as the government of many countries allow subsidy or tax reduction. 

Solar businesses are very lucrative irrespective of big or small businesses.Even though you are not a business man but still you can reduce your electric bill by just installing 1KWp-3KWp solar rooftop system or you can involve in government feed in tariff proposal.You can sell your home energy to the locality too.

Feed-In Tariffs are payments to ordinary energy users for the renewable electricity they generate. Feed-In Tariffs (also known as FITs) are the electricity part of what some people call Clean Energy Cashback, a scheme that pays people for creating their own "green electricity".

This is not all you can sell solar related products like charge controllers, batteries or any other solar parts which can bring you multiple opportunities.You can build your own solar firm and can sell your own products and services or you can promote and can get more commissions.

Market Report Shows Record $1.4 Trillion Global, $200 Billion U.S. Revenue for Advanced Energy and Highlights Five Trends Shaping the Future

For 2016, the global advanced energy market surpassed $1.4 trillion in 2016, a 7% increase compared to an updated 2015 total of $1.3 trillion. Advanced energy has grown by nearly a quarter (24%) since Navigant Research began tracking for AEE in 2011, adding $257 billion in revenue over six years, counting only data complete for the entire period. Advanced energy is almost twice the size of the global airline industry, and nearly equal to worldwide apparel revenue.

USA Solar Revenue

This graph illustrates the revenue of the US solar power industry from 2007 to 2017. It is forecast that this industry will generate about 210 million US dollars in revenue in 2017. The industry is estimated to grow by about 7.4 percent from 2016 to 2017.

Solar energy business generally require a heavy initial investment, but a number of grants and tax incentives help solar energy companies to get off the ground. Solar energy offers a range of benefits to business, utility companies and households, including the 100 percent renewable nature of the energy source.

(Hope This Will Help ) (JajaKallahu Khair)

Flow Battery

In off-grid solar technology batteries are the main source of reserved energy after it is been charged by the solar panels.In solar technology there are different types of batteries  available like Lead-acid batteries ,or Lithium-ion batteries or Sodium Nickel Chloride or Flow batteries.In this section we are going to learn  flow batteries.

One of the latest developments in the solar battery storage space are 'flow' batteries (or 'redox flow batteries' if you want to get technical). The fundamental difference between conventional batteries and flow cells is that energy is stored not as the electrode material in conventional batteries but as the electrolyte in flow cells.

A flow battery, or redox flow battery (after reduction–oxidation), is a type of electrochemical cell where chemical energy is provided by two chemical components dissolved in liquids contained within the system and separated by a membrane. Ion exchange (accompanied by flow of electric current) occurs through the membrane while both liquids circulate in their own respective space. Cell voltage is chemically determined by the Nernst equation and ranges, in practical applications, from 1.0 to 2.2 volts.

A flow battery may be used like a fuel cell (where the spent fuel is extracted and new fuel is added to the system) or like a rechargeable battery(where an electric power source drives regeneration of the fuel). While it has technical advantages over conventional rechargeable, such as potentially separable liquid tanks and near unlimited longevity, current implementations are comparatively less powerful and require more sophisticated electronics.


 Types of flow batteries :

Various types of flow cells (batteries) have been developed,including redox, hybrid and membrane less.

•  Redox
•  Hybrid
•  Membrane-less
•  Organic 
•  Metal Hydride
•  Nano-network
•  Semi-solid 

Flow batteries actually describes a number of similar technologies that all fall under the same umbrella, but this page will predominantly discuss the 'ZCell' Zinc-Bromide batteries manufactured in North America by the Australian company RedFlow.

Discussing the science behind flow batteries can get rather technical, so I'll massively simplify it. A flow battery is mostly made up of a water based liquid (Zinc Bromide) that flows between two tanks. When the battery charges the Zinc is extracted from the liquid and stored separately. When discharging, the Zinc is put back into the liquid. The Zinc 'flows' from the big plastic tank at the bottom of the picture to the electrodes at the top.  Hence the name.

One of the core advantages that flow batteries have over lithium-ion and lead-acid batteries is that they have a 100% depth-of-discharge - which means the entire battery can be discharged in a cycle with no negative effects on the lifespan of the battery. For comparison, lead-acid batteries have a 60% depth-of-discharge, and most lithium-ion batteries have an 80-90% depth-of-discharge.

They can also sit on the shelf forever-and-a-day at zero charge without degrading. Again - most other battery technologies need to be kept at a minimum charge level.

There are a number of other benefits that flow batteries offer:

• They can tolerate extreme weather conditions, up to 50 degrees Celsius.
• The zinc-bromine liquid inside the flow batteries is a natural fire retardant. 
• No chance of a thermal runaway (explosion!) due to the physical separation of the different battery components.
• Cheaper to refurbish due to their simple modular construction. For example, you can restore a 'dead' battery by simply swapping the electrode - for half of the original price of the battery.

A disadvantage of flow batteries is their life cycle compared to some higher-end lithium-ion batteries - they have a lifespan of approximately 4000 cycles at 100% depth-of-discharge, which is less than top quality lithium-ion's 5000-6000 cycles at 80% depth-of-discharge.

They also need to regularly be 100% discharged to 'clean' the electrodes. But, the battery management can be programmed to automatically do this regularly.

Applications

Flow batteries are normally considered for relatively large (1 kWh – 10 MWh) stationary applications. These are for

• Load balancing – where the battery is connected to an electrical grid to store excess electrical power during off-peak hours and release electrical power during peak demand periods. The common problem limiting the use of most flow battery chemistries in this application is their low areal power (operating current density) which translates into a high cost of power.
• Storing energy from renewable sources such as wind or solar for discharge during periods of peak demand.
• Peak shaving, where spikes of demand are met by the battery.
• UPS, where the battery is used if the main power fails to provide an uninterrupted supply.
• Power conversion – because all cells share the same electrolyte/s. Therefore, the electrolyte/s may be charged using a given number of cells and discharged with a different number. Because the voltage of the battery is proportional to the number of cells used the battery can therefore act as a very powerful DC–DC converter. In addition, if the number of cells is continuously changed (on the input and/or output side) power conversion can also be AC/DC, AC/AC, or DC–AC with the frequency limited by that of the switching gear.
• Electric vehicles – Because flow batteries can be rapidly "recharged" by replacing the electrolyte, they can be used for applications where the vehicle needs to take on energy as fast as a combustion engined vehicle. A common problem found with most RFB chemistries in the EV applications is their low energy density which translated into a short driving range. Flow batteries based on highly soluble halates are a notable exception.
• Stand-alone power system – An example of this is in cellphone base stations where no grid power is available. The battery can be used alongside solar or wind power sources to compensate for their fluctuating power levels and alongside a generator to make the most efficient use of it to save fuel. Currently, flow batteries are being used in solar micro grid applications throughout the Caribbean.

Note : Advantages of flow batteries means they might start to seriously compete with lithium-ion batteries to become the de facto battery storage technology in the future - but first, flow battery manufacturers need to get costs down to a level that's more reasonable for mass-market adoption, and iron out some challenges in manufacturing them consistently.

^{Hope This post be helpful to you (JajakAllahu Khair)}

Lithium-ion battery

In off-grid solar technology batteries are the main source of reserved energy after it is been charged by the solar panels.In solar technology there are different types of batteries  available like Lead-acid batteries , or Lithium-ion batteries or Sodium Nickel Chloride or Flow batteries.In this section we are going to learn lithium-ion batteries.


A lithium-ion battery or Li-ion battery (abbreviated as LIB) is a type of rechargeable battery in which lithium ions move from the negative electrode to the positive electrode during discharge and back when charging. Li-ion batteries use an intercalated lithium compound as one electrode material, compared to the metallic lithium used in a non-rechargeable lithium battery. The electrolyte, which allows for ionic movement, and the two electrodes are the constituent components of a lithium-ion battery cell.


For many years, nickel-cadmium had been the only suitable battery for portable equipment from wireless communications to mobile computing. Nickel-metal-hydride and lithium-ion emerged In the early 1990s, fighting nose-to-nose to gain customer's acceptance. Today, lithium-ion is the fastest growing and most promising battery chemistry.




Lithium-ion (or Li-ion) batteries are the type of batteries you get in your Phone and laptop. They are also the type of battery that is inside the Tesla Powerwall.


In fact, Tesla simply connect thousands of AA sized Lithium-ion cells together and assemble them into a liquid-cooled battery pack, wrapped in a strong metal enclosure, which in turn is wrapped in their hallmark fancy plastic shield.There are many more companies coming to market with Li-ion battery packs as we speak. This technology has a very good chance of becoming the most popular home battery technology over the next few years.

Electro-Chemistry :


The reactants in the electrochemical reactions in a lithium-ion battery are the negative and positive electrodes and the electrolyte providing a conductive medium for lithium ions to move between the electrodes. Electrical energy flows out from or in to the battery when electrons flow through an external circuit during discharge or charge, respectively.







Both electrodes allow lithium ions to move in and out of their structures with a process called insertion or extraction , respectively. During discharge, the (positive) lithium ions move from the negative electrode usually graphite to the positive electrode (forming a lithium compound) through the electrolyte while the electrons flow through the external circuit in the same direction. When the cell is charging,the reverse occurs with the lithium ions and electrons moved back into the negative electrode in a net higher energy state. The following equations exemplify the chemistry.




The full reaction (left: charged, right: discharged) being

During discharge, lithium ions (Li+) carry the current within the battery from the negative to the positive electrode, through the non-aqueous electrolyte and separator diaphragm.During charging, an external electrical power source (the charging circuit) applies an over-voltage (a higher voltage than the battery produces, of the same polarity), forcing a charging current to flow within the battery from the positive to the negative electrode, i.e. in the reverse direction of a discharge current under normal conditions. The lithium ions then migrate from the positive to the negative electrode, where they become embedded in the porous electrode material in a process known as intercalation.




The increasing demand for batteries has led vendors and academics to focus on improving the energy density, operating temperature,safety, durability, charging time, output power, and cost of lithium ion battery technology. The following materials have been used in commercially available cells. Research into other materials continues.

Distinguishing between different types of lithium-ion batteries:

There are two core lithium-ion battery technologies: NMC (Nickle Manganese Cobalt) and LiFePO (Lithium Iron Phosphate)NMC battery technology, with its high energy density, is well suited to electric vehicles, whereas LiFePO technology is better suited to residential storage applications.The Tesla Powerwall 2, as well as the LG Chem RESU, uses NMC technology, and those companies will argue vigorously that NMC is the best bet for your home.Brands such as Simpliphi and DCS use LiFePO technology, and like to point out that LiFePO is inherently safer because it is harder to make them go into thermal runaway, otherwise known as exploding.You may ask why companies would use NMC technology for residential storage.The short answer is - because their factories (like Tesla's Gigafactory) are already cranking out massive amounts of NMC lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, so they figure they may as well use them in a residential battery as well.NMC batteries are also, for now, cheaper to produce than LiFePO batteries. This may factor into why some companies favor NMC technology over LiFePO.

Advantages :

• High energy density - potential for yet higher capacities.

• Does not need prolonged priming when new. One regular charge is all that's needed.

• Relatively low self-discharge - self-discharge is less than half that of nickel-based batteries.

• Low Maintenance - no periodic discharge is needed; there is no memory.

• Specialty cells can provide very high current to applications such as power tools.

Disadvantages : 

• Requires protection circuit to maintain voltage and current within safe limits.

• Subject to aging, even if not in use - storage in a cool place at 40% charge reduces the aging effect.

• Transportation restrictions - shipment of larger quantities may be subject to regulatory control. This restriction does not apply to personal carry-on batteries.

• Expensive to manufacture - about 40 percent higher in cost than nickel-cadmium.

• Not fully mature - metals and chemicals are changing on a continuing basis.

This is mainly due to the fact that lithium-ion batteries can be discharged deeper and have a longer lifetime than lead-acid batteries. They will give you around 4,000 - 6,000 cycles at 80% discharge - so they will have a lifespan of 13-18 years.Their main drawback, at least at the moment, is that they are about 50% more expensive than lead-acid batteries for the same amount of storage. This is expected to change rapidly over the next 5 years, however, as mass-production of lithium-ion batteries (like at Tesla's battery factory, the Gigafactory) significantly reduces the cost of lithium-ion storage.

Hope you enjoyed this post (JajaKallahu Khair)