Renewable ENERGY

If UAVs starts running on the solar system, then it will save lots of expensive fossil fuel and the add-ons in the form of greenhouse effects. Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology are working on a model of a solar-powered unmanned flight system for round-the-clock surveillance. They have christened their baby as the Green Falcon. This solar UAV aspires not only to save lives but millions of dollars too by using the most up-to-date green technology. Queensland University of Technology is aiming to make the services of this unmanned air vehicle commercially available within 24 months following successful flight tests.

Green Falcon Solar Powered

The Green Falcon is outfitted with a next generation warning system complete with remote sensing and visual data capabilities. Both of these facilities enable this UAV to detect bush fires in Australia that have caused huge damage in terms of lives, money and property. Another possibility is monitoring fires. The university’s aerospace avionics engineer Dr Felipe Gonzalez states, “Bush fires in Australia have killed many people and caused millions of dollars in damage. The Green Falcon is a next-generation warning system with remote sensing and visual data capability.”

The best thing about this UAV is it consumes solar energy during the day and stores it in an onboard battery pack. This battery powers the aircraft after dark. It is also fitted with infrared cameras. These cameras will be handy during search operations in locating distressed people and relay the information to emergency services on the ground. Another advantage of this UAV according to Dr. Gonzalez is “Unlike manned aircraft, which have restricted air time, unmanned aerial vehicles could provide 24 hours surveillance and coverage of disaster areas.”

Green Falcon has a wingspan of 2.5m and weighs 4kg (8.8lb) without a payload. This UAV contains 28 advanced highly efficient monocrystalline solar cells. Green Falcon also boasts of a maximum power point tracker, a purpose-built energy management system and a proficient lithium-ion battery. This UAV also requires minimum maintenance cost. It can be hand-launched for easy operation. Operator on the ground can obtain and react to images and videos sent by the plane.

This UAV can also be utilized for coastal scrutiny, atmospheric and weather research and prediction, environmental, forestry, agricultural, and oceanic monitoring and imaging for the media and real-estate industries. Gonzalez shares his opinion, “The Green Falcon is lightweight, it can be hand-launched and costs are low compared with other UAVs available today.”

The design supports improved swarming capabilities compared with other UAVs, says Gonzalez, which will allow the Green Falcon to provide coverage over large areas in as short a time possible, particularly useful in rescue or fire monitoring missions.

The first test flight of the Green Falcon was performed in June. To perform further experiments fund of A $50,000-80,000 ($45,000-75,000) is needed.

The Arizona Corporation Commission’s Line Siting Committee voted unanimously, 10 – 0, to recommend approval of a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility for the 340 MW Hualapai Valley Solar project after two days of intense hearings. Mohave Sun Power is proposing to build a parabolic trough facility in the Mohave Desert in Arizona, just south of Las Vegas. The expected cost of the project is over $2 billion.

Executive Director, Mitchell Dong, said after the approval, “We are very pleased that the Line Siting Committee recognizes the value of solar power of Arizona and specifically in Mohave County. We are especially appreciative of the committee’s support of the project using wet cooling given its primary water source from the City of Kingman’s wastewater treatment plant. This innovative combination of solar power and the use of reclaimed water will set a model for future solar thermal plants in Arizona, the Southwest and in the deserts of the world.”

Solar Energy Parabolic

The Committee also conditioned its approval on the preferential hiring of local residents given the very high unemployment in Mohave County. The project is expected to employ over 1500 workers during construction and over 100 during operations.

The project is currently negotiating a power purchase agreement (PPA) with a major utility in the Southwest for a long term offtake contract. Negotiations are also underway for an engineering, procurement and construction contract with a global contractor to construct the facility. The sponsors are in the process of arranging financing for the facility, which is expected to close before the end of 2010 in order to qualify for the US Treasury cash grant in lieu of solar investment tax credit. It is anticipated that part of the financing will come from the US Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee program.

While the argument over wind farms, ruined vistas and dead birds rages, U.S. inventor Scott Brusaw is quietly doing his own thing with the solar roadway model. The plan is to replace all that asphalt with solar panels laid under a high-strength plastic layer.

The panels may also feature LED road warnings and built-in heating elements that could prevent roads from freezing. Each Solar Road slab can develop around 7.6 kwh of power each day. Right now, the tech costs about $7,000 for a 12’ x 12’ slab, so replacing America’s highways will be a costly process. That being said, replacing the 25,000 square miles of roadways across the lower 48 with solar panels would create more energy than the U.S. consumes. If widely adopted, they could realistically wean the US off fossil fuels: a mile-long stretch of four-lane highway could take 500 homes off the grid. If the entire US Interstate system made use of the panels, energy would no longer be a concern for the country.

In addition, every Solar Road panel has its own microprocessor and energy management system, so if one gives out, the rest are not borked. Materials-wise, the top layer is described as translucent and high-strength. Inhabitat says it is glass, which seems odd, especially since Solar Roadways claims the surface provides excellent traction. The base layer under the solar panel routes the power, as well as data utilities (TV, phone, Internet) to homes and power companies.

Overviev, when multiple Solar Road Panels™ are interconnected, the intelligent Solar Roadway™ is formed. These panels replace current driveways, parking lots, and all road systems, be they interstate highways, state routes, downtown streets, residential streets, or even plain dirt or gravel country roads. Panels can also be used in amusement parks, raceways, bike paths, parking garage rooftops, remote military locations, etc. Any home or business connected to the Solar Roadway™ (via a Solar Road Panel™ driveway or parking lot) receives the power and data signals that the Solar Roadway™ provides. The Solar Roadway™ becomes an intelligent, self-healing, decentralized (secure) power grid.

The Department of Energy gave $100,000 to upstart company Solar Roadways, to develop 12’ x 12’-foot slabs, dubbed “Solar Roads,” that can be embedded into roads, pumping power into the grid.

solar roads

The engineering challenges are immense, adds materials scientist Richard Brow of the Missouri University of Science and Technology, another glass expert. But glass can be strengthened by compressing its surface using special heating techniques or, at a molecular level, swapping ions in the glass itself. Such enhanced glass is 10 times stronger than the conventional variety and is used, for example, in smart phones to withstand the pressures of texting.

Brow says: “Can you go from a teenager’’s thumb to a truck? That’’s a pretty big leap, but 10 years ago we didn”t think you could make a 15-micron piece of glass for what’’s relatively rough handling in a PDA,”

Glass has been used to build footbridges, such as the Chihuly Bridge of Glass in Tacoma, Wash. And new glass ceramic composites with increased toughness have been developed for the photovoltaics industry, Brow adds—but that might boost the price of the resulting panel.

In the meantime, Brusaw is spending $40,000 of the DoT’’s money to build a prototype from chemically hardened glass panels that can be purchased today. He will experiment with various types of solar cells, from thin-film to traditional monocrystalline silicon photovoltaics, and he will try to strike the right balance between transparency—so the panel works to deliver at least several thousand kilowatt-hours of electricity each day—and road-gripping texture, which will block some of the light. “If you have perfectly clear glass, you get perfect PV efficiency. But [with] perfectly smooth glass, everybody slips off the road,” he notes. “Glass manufacturers can cut grooves into the glass in a hatch-type pattern. We”ll try various methods and see what holds up.”

The solar roadway will also offer embedded LEDs to illuminate the road and display information, whether the actual traffic directions, such as lane markers, or messages such as “SLOW DOWN.” And, should electric cars become popular, powered pavement could also offer recharging stations wherever such panels are installed.

The first test of Brusaw’’s crystalline vision will be when the prototype is delivered to the DoT on February 12, 2010. And the DoT’’s challenges will be followed by some durability testing by the inventor with a pickax, sledgehammer and, depending on the prototype’’s fortitude, guns. Then it’’s on to parking lots and perhaps fast food restaurants. “Parking lots are much better than going right out onto the highway.You have slow-moving, lightweight vehicles. We can learn all the lessons there before moving into the fast lane.” Brusaw says.