Residents of Tokelau will get all their electricity from solar power and coconut-derived biofuel. Shown here is the solar energy installation on the atoll of Nukunonu. (Source: PowerSmart)
bobjengr, I didn 't see the name of the design firm in the source material. However, you might check the links we gave in the article to the website of PowerSmart, and to the feasibility report. It may be identified in one of those sources. (And I agree about those letters to Congress.)
I think this is admirable. The three islands should be commended. They saw a problem. They made their plans for solution. They actually did something about the problem and the results are tangible. Now, for better or worse, they will have to live with the solution but having a system in which 150% of their electrical needs are met seems to be proof their solution was workable. (Ann-would you mind sending your post to Congress--and maybe the Executive branch. They might see examples of government working together to do SOMETHING POSITIVE.)
Also Ann, do you know the name of the firm that designed the system? Possibility the University Fiji???? Great post.
This is a terrific development. Hats off to a small island nation for being willing to take on this grand experiment. It would be nice to keep tabs on this operation over the next few years. Especially to see how it holds up to salt exposure and tropical storms.
Thanks for clarifying your question. I'm not sure the sun stops shining much in those islands. When it does, backup is provided by the generators, run on coconut oil. They also handle battery recharging.
John, Yes, we know that wind farms are not great to look at -- and that they kill birds and bats. Here's an idea for the industry. Imagine placing many fan blades on a chain that runs on a vertical oval or circular track. The track could have a wire grid around it to prevent bird strikes. If oval, it could lie at a low profile near the ground.
My comments about passive solar should also be accompanied by one about active solar, AKA solar cells and panels as currently designed and built. And that's the fact that there's more than one way to build a solar cell. Some are flexible, such as this one:http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1392&doc_id=248975 as well as another that we'll be publishing a post on soon. So the application of such cells to windows and/or building surfaces of various kinds could take care of the urban density problem.
Get a Grip S Baker. You sound like a DC bureaucrat. Someone on the planet has ACTUALLY DONE SOMETHING instead of held endless congressional and senate hearings, seminars, luncheons, studies and conferences about it. Look it up on Wiki. The place looks like paradise. I think I've finally found somewhere to move to.
The 100-percent solar-powered Solar Impulse plane flies on a piloted, cross-country flight this summer over the US as a prelude to the longer, round-the-world flight by its successor aircraft planned for 2015.
GE Aviation expects to chop off about 25 percent of the total 3D printing time of metallic production components for its LEAP Turbofan engine, using in-process inspection. That's pretty amazing, considering how slow additive manufacturing (AM) build times usually are.
A $1,500, hand-operated, bench-model, plastic injection machine crowdsource-funded via Kickstarter can be used to mold small, quality, plastic parts inexpensively, on demand.
The federal government is launching competitions to kickstart three more manufacturing innovation institutes, including one focused on Lightweight and Modern Metals Manufacturing Innovation.
The airframe of Airbus's A350 XWB consists of a bigger proportion of carbon-fiber-reinforced composite structures than any other commercial jet to date: over 53 percent by weight.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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