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My reworking of the brilliant Land Art Generator images 'Suface Area Required To Power The World' with one alternative energy source added :)
Originals are here:
www.landartgenerator.org/blagi/archives/127
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here's my maths (probably wrong, please correct me if so)
total world energy needs per year:
198,721,800,000,000 kwH
average energy output of a human per hour
0.1 KW per human (100 watts)
365 days at 24 hours a day = 8760 energy hours per year per human
0.1 KW x 8760 hours = 876 KWh energy generated per human per year
world energy needs divided by human supply
198,721,800,000,000 / 876 = 226,851,369,863 humans required
Human body occupies
2m x 1m = 2square metres
assuming machinery and spacing between human batteries
4m x 2m = 8 square metres
requires
1, 814,810,958,904 metres for all human batteries
1.8 trillion square metres
or
18,148,810,958 = 18 billion square kilometres
world land surface area is:
148,940,000 square kilometres (wikipedia)
so would require 221 billion humans to be stacked 121 rows high across the entire land surface of the earth.
very dystopian!
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more inforgraphics at
At 510 MW, the Ouarzazate Solar Power Station is the world's largest station using concentrated solar power technology (it also includes photovoltaic panels that produce another 72 MW). This tower belongs to the Noor III component. It stands 250 m tall and is 20 km (12 mi) distant here. Heliostat mirrors collect sunlight and focus it on the top of the tower, where it yields molten salt. The molten salt serves for heat transfer to a turbine and heat storage.
Near Barstow, Pacifc Gas and Electric Plant, solar collectors/reflector tower, zoom 360 panorama stitch
15000x744 from stitched zoomed Canon S2 powershot
Here in California the hummers re-energize by capturing the solar power directly to the wings.......
As I mentioned before there is a lot of rubbish getting washed up on Dubai’s beaches and yesterday evening I found yet again an unusual item lying in the sand. This time it was a long, thin light bulb that looked like it was out at sea for a long time. Solar power? Not quite, but the sun sure looks nice through the glass…
To view the blog entry go to: www.momentaryawe.com/blog/?p=822
This one for sure looks better on B l a c k M a g i c
Todays challenge for the daily shoot We get energy from a variety of sources. Make a photograph of the energy that's most important to you.
This shot was inspired by and dedicated to Dave DiCello www.flickr.com/photos/evad310/ who does amazing sun flare shots, do got check out his superb stream, this is not in the league of his, but I am happy enough with it
As soon as I saw todays assignment for the daily shot I thought the power of the sun was a shot I wanted to get, as all my shots are pretty much using natural light so without the sun I wouldnt get many shots, but was getting worried as it was such a changeable day today sunny one minute cloudy and raining the next, unfortunately for most of the morning and early afternoon I was in meetings during the sunny spells so was thinking of reconsidering and took some shots of horsepower aka motorbike engines, but then I saw the sun out and popped and got this shot, and its close to what I wanted with some sun flare
The Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, in the Mojave Desert, below Clark Mountain near the California border with Nevada, along Interstate 15. This series was shot on a flight from Newark to Los Angeles, two years after I shot the same scene from the highway, on the ground.
Added to Monthly Scavenger Hunt (MSH) September 2013 10. New Accrual
These four flower power producers (there's a fifth one off-frame to the right) made their debut as solar energy collectors last month at Seattle Center. You can conduct your own electronic symphony by interacting with them--they produce harmonic tones as you move around them.
They're a demonstration project for alternative energy sponsored by Seattle City Light.
Brand new solar panels on our roof. With the guaranteed infeed compensation in Germany the investment will have amortised in about 5 years, with 15 more years of guaranteed returns.
Gossamer Penguin in flight above Rogers Dry Lakebed at Edwards, California, showing the solar panel perpendicular to the wing and facing the sun. The first flight of a solar-powered aircraft took place on November 4, 1974, when the remotely controlled Sunrise II, designed by Robert J. Boucher of AstroFlight, Inc., flew following a launch from a catapult. Following this event, AeroVironment, Inc. (founded in 1971 by the ultra-light airplane innovator--Dr. Paul MacCready) took on a more ambitious project to design a human-piloted, solar-powered aircraft.
The firm initially took the human-powered Gossamer Albatross II and scaled it down to three-quarters of its previous size for solar-powered flight with a human pilot controlling it. This was more easily done because in early 1980 the Gossamer Albatross had participated in a flight research program at NASA Dryden in a program conducted jointly by the Langley and Dryden research centers. Some of the flights were conducted using a small electric motor for power. Gossamer Penguin The scaled-down aircraft was designated the Gossamer Penguin. It had a 71-foot wingspan compared with the 96-foot span of the Gossamer Albatross. Weighing only 68 pounds without a pilot, it had a low power requirement and thus was an excellent test bed for solar power. AstroFlight, Inc., of Venice, Calif., provided the power plant for the Gossamer Penguin, an Astro-40 electric motor.
Robert Boucher, designer of the Sunrise II, served as a key consultant for both this aircraft and the Solar Challenger. The power source for the initial flights of the Gossamer Penguin consisted of 28 nickel-cadmium batteries, replaced for the solar-powered flights by a panel of 3,920 solar cells capable of producing 541 Watts of power. The battery-powered flights took place at Shafter Airport near Bakersfield, Calif. Dr. Paul MacCready's son Marshall, who was 13 years old and weighed roughly 80 pounds, served as the initial pilot for these flights to determine the power required to fly the airplane, optimize the airframe/propulsion system, and train the pilot. He made the first flights on April 7, 1980, and made a brief solar-powered flight on May 18.
The official project pilot was Janice Brown, a Bakersfield school teacher who weighed in at slightly under 100 pounds and was a charter pilot with commercial, instrument, and glider ratings. She checked out in the plane at Shafter and made about 40 flights under battery and solar power there. Wind direction, turbulence, convection, temperature and radiation at Shafter in mid-summer proved to be less than ideal for Gossamer Penguin because takeoffs required no crosswind and increases in temperature reduced the power output from the solar cells. Consequently, the project moved to Dryden in late July, although conditions there also were not ideal. Nevertheless, Janice finished the testing, and on August 7, 1980, she flew a public demonstration of the aircraft at Dryden in which it went roughly 1.95 miles in 14 minutes and 21 seconds.
This was significant as the first sustained flight of an aircraft relying solely on direct solar power rather than batteries. It provided the designers with practical experience for developing a more advanced, solar-powered aircraft, since the Gossamer Penguin was fragile and had limited controllability. This necessitated its flying early in the day when there were minimal wind and turbulence levels, but the angle of the sun was also low, requiring a panel for the solar cells that could be tilted toward the sun. Using the specific conclusions derived from their experience with Gossamer Penguin, the AeroVironment engineers designed Solar Challenger, a piloted, solar-powered aircraft strong enough to handle both long and high flights when encountering normal turbulence.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: ECN-13413
Date: July 25, 1979
An electrician in the Launceston suburb of Alanvale has gone the full Chevy Chase in "Christmas Vacation" this year.
I was also excited to see when editing this photo that the camera had picked up the constellation of the Seven Sisters (Pleiades). It is 444 light years away from earth. I'll take that as a little Christmas present in this photo. Those in the northern hemisphere will see that the constellation is 'upside down' compared to your view.
“SPS CONSTRUCTION: SECOND PASS”
No signature. Craig Kavafes?
Fortunately, the image is in Fig. 2 of the following, a 1980 paper entitled “SPECIFIC SPS CONSTRUCTION STUDIES: CONSTRUCTION TASKS-CONSTRUCTION BASE”, by Ronald W. McCaffrey, Grumman Aerospace Corporation, Bethpage, N.Y.
The scale & enormity of the proposed concept is mind boggling…no wonder it was never built, despite the envisioned utopian energy end state.
“ABSTRACT
This paper discusses a concept for building the 5000 MW reference Solar Power Satellite in earth orbit, based on recent work performed for NASA/JSC under contract to Boeing, on the SPS System Definition Study, and on related work performed under Grumman IRAD.
INTRODUCTION
Several concepts have been recently described on how to build the Solar Power Satellite (SPS) in space. These concepts entail fabrication and assembly of the entire satellite in geostationary earth orbit (GEO), at 35,800 km altitude, as well as partial construction at an intermediate low earth orbit (LEO) followed by final assembly in GEO. A concept for building the entire 5000 MW reference satellite in GEO is discussed below. Construction base operations needed to produce one SPS every six months are described and areas for near term technology development are identified.
GEO CONSTRUCTION BASE
The GEO Base concept shown in Fig. I was developed to build the 5000 MW reference SPS system, which uses silicon solar cells with no concentration. This 4 Bay End Builder construction base was selected for further definition in the Phase 2 study because it offered greater production capability than other concepts investigated in Phase I. The GEO construction base is configured to avoid free flying facilities and/or assembly methods. As a result, the base has contiguous facilities for concurrent assembly and subsequent mating of the satellite energy conversion system and its power transmission antenna.
The overall base is 3.44 km wide x 3.65 km long x 0.9 km deep. The base structure serves as an assembly jig which houses the required construction equipment and supports the emerging satellite during all phases of construction. The top deck of the GEO base, level J, provides facilities for cargo docking/unloading and distribution, crew quarters, command and control operations, orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) docking and servicing, and SPS maintenance support complex. Base electrical power and flight control subsystems are also provided so that all work facilities and crew support facilities can operate, as needed.
GEO CONSTRUCTION OPERATIONS
The personnel needed to activate the 4 Bay End Builder Construction Base must travel first by means of the Shuttle to LEO and finally, by means of an orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) which operates from the LEO base.
The 4 Bay End Builder Base assembles the 5 GW reference Solar Power Satellite entirely in geosynchronous orbit, as shown by the construction sequence shown in Fig. 2.
[OF WHICH THE POSTED PHOTO IS A PART OF]
The 8 bay wide satellite energy conversion system is constructed in two successive passes on one side of the base, while the microwave antenna is assembled on the other side of the base. During the first construction pass, the GEO base builds one-half of the energy conversion system, a 4 bay wide strip by 16 bays long. When this part of the satellite has been constructed, the base is indexed back along the edge of the structure to the first end frame. During the second construction pass [THE POSTED PHOTO], the remaining 4 bay wide strip is attached directly to the assembled satellite systems. Throughout the construction operation, SPS construction materials and components will be delivered by large electrical orbital transfer vehicles (EOTV). These vehicles will station-keep at least 1 km away, while special cargo tugs transfer material pallets. GEO base crews will, of course, also be rotated as needed. At the end of the second pass, the base is then indexed sideward to mate the antenna with the center line of the energy conversion system. After final test and check out, the base separates from the satellite and is transferred to the next orbital position for SPS construction.
The reference scenario requires that one 5 GW satellite is to be constructed every six months for 30 years. In order to carry out this program, nearly 450 space workers would be needed on two daily shifts (10 hours each) to perform construction, base support, maintenance, safety and base management operations.
BASE CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM
The end builder construction system described above uses ten synchronized beam machines to automatically fabricate continuous longitudinal beams for the energy conversion system. Lateral and diagonal members of the structural assembly are fabricated with three mobile beam builder substations. The assembly sequence, as shown in Fig. 3, begins with assembly of the first end frame and its attachment to the longitudinal members. This frame is automatically indexed away as the synchronized beam builders fabricate the required length of longitudinal beam to complete the structural bay. During these operations, solar array blankets and power busses are installed in parallel. For example, Fig. 4 shows how the solar array blankets might be temporarily anchored to the base so that they can be automatically deployed during longitudinal beam building operations. The illustration also shows two cherry pickers prepared to handle and connect opposite ends of a 667.5 m solar array support beam to the SPS frame after it emerges from the 12.7 m beam builder.
NEAR TERM TECHNOLOGY EMPHASIS
Constructing the large skeletal structure of the energy conversion system (5.35 km x I0.78 km x 0.47 km), including the installation and check out of its subsystems, will not be an easy task. While plausible concepts have been derived and limited development work has been started on auto-fabrication, a great deal of additional analysis and technology development work needs to be done before we can have confidence in the practicality of this process. For example, future dynamic analysis of the satellite construction process may show that some techniques can impose stringent load conditions on the elements of the satellite, while other techniques do not. As the reference SPS concept matures, all aspects of the construction approach must be analyzed further and periodically re-examined by considering technology issues related to the satellite design, orbit construction location, base facilities, crew and operations. These efforts should also be supported by laboratory investigations of SPS construction issues related to structural fabrication and assembly, construction support and subsystems assembly methods. This effort should be focused on developing technology which can lead toward SPS beam builders, SPS beam handling, subsystem assembly, mating of large space structures and techniques for deploying/installing SPS non-structural subsystems. Subscale prototype demonstrations should be used, wherever practical.”
At:
ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19820014858
Additional pertinent reading, to include the image:
nss.org/wp-content/uploads/SSP-Boeing-CR160480-1979-Phase...
Credit: NSS website
As long as the fossil fuel lobby has a free hand in Washington D.C. and the state capitols, the potential for renewable energy, such as solar power, will never reach its full potential.
The fossil fuel lobby's all-out push for fracking will permanently destroy our nation's landscape and poison our water FOREVER. It will be akin to a toxic nuclear effect without the radiation. Thus the meaning for the image shown here.
Image No.2 with heavy tone-curve processing.
I love old farmhouse kitchens and I was scared that when we built our house that the kitchen wouldn't have any charm. Using stone and pieces of wood we found here and there and some very new wood we cut from our woods, we had the start of a room that felt "lived in" as we were building it.
I added the old wooden tables which I've had since I was a student in Glasgow, a few chairs that have been given to me over the years, a woodstove we bought second-hand and a few bits that have followed me around for years and the new house feels like home.
Visited the beautiful US state of Vermont again last week. I think this picture sums it up well - green mountains, nature, solar power, fields of flowers, and the old truck is an added piece of foreground interest bonus.
Solar Navigation
One of the navigation lights at the entrance of the Inner Harbour on Alderney, Solar powered now :)
.. pronto crecerán placas solares.
Este pequeño grupo de olivos viejos serán el testimonio de todos los que antes ocupaban esta loma orientada al sur.
Both great sources of renewable power,
Turbines are the alternative to fossil fuel without greenhouse gas,
Its all pure with a minimal land use,
This was taken out east on Long Island few years back.
Tilonia India, Barefoot College -
From September 2011 to the following March, women travelled from across Africa, from countries like Uganda Liberia and South Sudan, to take part in training to become solar engineers.
Each was selected or nominated by her local community and supported by a variety of local and international organisations, and in some cases, their governments. Their trainers, who mostly speak Hindi, must cut across linguistic and cultural barriers using gestures and signs.
Photo Credit: UN Women/Gaganjit Singh
It is a tad after noon the sun is just over the southern horizon as for the moon it's on its way down.
this image depicts what the scene here in Fairbanks Alaska were the daylight hours are dwindling away on this day we lose 4minutes and 11 seconds of daylight the sun is 3 degrees above the horizon. This creates some real challenging lighting in the winter
The Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, near Tonopah, Nevada. This facility employs a field of mirrors focused on a central tower, as seen here from a United Airlines Boeing 737.
Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project web site:
www.solarreserve.com/en/global-projects/csp/crescent-dunes
Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project (Wikipedia):
My main reason for heading to the west end of Zurich on that post-lockdown day, was in order to photograph the building featured here. Even after doing some research, I can't tell you exactly what it is used for, but it appears to be part of the Swissmill complex and is likely a grain silo. If any of you know what the building is used for, then please let me know.
I had seen the building multiple times out the train window while travelling along the nearby tracks and every time I thought to myself that it would look amazing photographed in black and white. The compositions I originally had in mind will be featured in the next post, but I was also quite chuffed with how this front-on image turned out.
Film: Rollei RPX 400
Camera: Rolleiflex 2.8F with orange filter
Development: Ars-Imago #9 (rodinal) 1:50 with a 1/2 stop push
Digitised with a digital camera and contrast adjusted in LR and PS