Here comes the sun, make the most of the renewable energy. This is a clean and environmentally sound means of gathering solar energy. Solar energy has been used since prehistoric times, but in a most primitive manner. In the coming years it is expected that millions of households in the world will be using solar energy as the trends.

Solar energy collected through Do It Yourself solar panels could be used to meet the electricity requirements. Through Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) cells, solar radiation gets converted into DC electricity directly. This electricity could be either used as it is or can be stored in the battery. This stored electrical energy then can be used at night.

SPV can be used for a number of applications such as domestic lighting, street lighting, village electrification, water pumping, desalination of salty water, powering of remote telecommunication repeater stations and railway signals.

Solar energy or green electricity thus created could be used for Cooking/Heating, Drying/Timber seasoning, Distillation, Electricity/Power generation, Cooling, Refrigeration, Cold storage.

Many small time farmers and rural people could benefit by building solar panels at home. This would help them in saving huge cost invested in purchasing readymade Solar Energy Panel. In agrarian country Solar Energy Panels come as a boon. Constructing Solar Energy Panel does not call for expert knowledge.

Step-by-Step guides available in the market would provide end to end subject knowledge, about raw materials needed to build a solar energy panel and instruction on construction. They also suggest were the raw materials could be procured.



By: Energy 4 Earth

Home Made Energy – Learn about wind and solar energy www.renewableenergy4earth.com

Solar energy is the energy produced by the sun. During the fusion process that the sun undergoes during its lifetime, it emits radiation. The fusion process produces many different wavelengths of radiation and sub-atomic particles.

Collecting and converting usable energy from solar radiation can be accomplished by using many different forms of technology and includes various direct and indirect methods of harnessing the solar energy.

There are basically two ways to use this solar radiation, by collecting the heat from the light, and photovoltaic conversion of the light. There are many different methods of collecting the heat and converting it to electricity, and many ways of converting the light as well.

One of the simplest ways that people use solar heat energy is by using greenhouses. A greenhouse is built so that it can best collect the sunlight and heat that it receives from the sun. Using special glass or plastics, the greenhouse and everything within it retains the heat energy from the sun. This heat is trapped inside the greenhouse by the roof and walls allowing plants to grow in an otherwise too cold climate.

By combining various technologies and the use of alternative power sources such as electricity from the grid, a controlled growing climate can be maintained to optimize specialty and agricultural crop growth. A large greenhouse could make use of a solar updraft tower to generate most or all of the additional electricity it may require to keep the climate controlled.

A solar updraft tower is a simple use of the excess heat generated by light heat that the greenhouse receives. Hot air rises and is channeled from along the ceilings of the greenhouse and directed into a tower. The hot air rises and the turbine blades are pushed by the hot air rushing past them to generate electricity. Storing any excess power in batteries for the night when there is no sun can also keep the use of grid power to a minimum.

Expanding on the collection of heat from the sun, there are power plants in the hot sunny desert areas that collect the heat from the sun and convert the heat to electricity.

Some of these solar energy plants make use of curved, highly reflective and focused surfaces to optimize the collection of heat from the sunlight. They focus the light onto a central tube that is filled with synthetic oil that gets very hot. This hot oil is then piped into a boiler filled with water that is flashed into steam from the heat of the oil. The steam produced is then used to turn turbines that produce electricity. This is a highly effective way to convert solar energy into usable power.

Another way to collect the energy from the sun is through direct photovoltaic conversion. Here the light is converted into electricity by using special materials called photodiodes that are made into cells. The photodiodes emit electrons when the photons from the sunlight hits them. By using arrays of the special cells and electrically connecting them together, enough power is produced by the transduction process to make it a worthwhile alternative energy.

As more and more people demand the use of free solar energy, governments as well as businesses are subsidizing researchers, and these combined efforts are meeting this demand by coming up with materials that can produce more and more energy from a given amount of sunlight. Solar electricity produced by arrays of solar panels is now almost as cost effective as using petroleum, coal, and nuclear generated power.

The most common method of using solar energy is to store them in photovoltaic cells. This method was first used in U.S. space satellites in 1950s. The cells are made from silicon. When sunlight enters the cells, it causes the electrons to move about. The electrons then move towards the front side of the solar panels. This causes an imbalance of the electrons between the front and back side of the panels. On joining the two surfaces, a conductor is formed, just like a wire, and current begins to flow. The individual solar cells are arranged together in a PV module and the modules are grouped together to form an array. This current is used to charge cells and this energy is used to light lamps, tube lights and also to drive cars now. The current can also be used to run appliances.

Another method of using solar energy is to direct the solar rays to a convergence point using a curved reflector and then make a current flowing system like a photo cell and store energy. This method is now used in India and U.S.

Our planet receives enough raw energy in the form of sunlight in sixty minutes to illuminate all of the worlds lights for a full year. Unfortunately, a very small part of it can be harnessed so most of the population still gets most of its energy from power plants that burn fossil fuels. Fortunately for our environment, we have recently seen an increasing trend in the demand for solar energy. This is partly due to the fact that solar panels are becoming cheaper as technology advances.

At the equator, the Sun provides approximately 1000 watts of energy per square meter on the earths surface. This means that 1 square meter of each panel can generate approximately 100 GW of raw power per year, which is enough to illuminate more than 50,000 houses. The entire area that would need to be covered by solar panels to power the entire world for a year would be the equivalent to one percent of the entire space of the Sahara Desert. The amount of power solar panels can generate on a given day depends on a few variables like smog, cloudy days, low temperatures and humidity.

Solar panel farms are a lot like other normal power plants with the only big difference being that most power plants get their energy from fossil fuels. And when conventional plants burn fossil fuels, they generate the by products which are contributing to global warming. Solar panel farms or solar heat plants (or CSP plants) absorb the rays of the sun to generate electrical energy.

This process of energy conversion in solar heat plants is rather simple. The panels absorb the rays of the sun, which then shines on the power receiver. In this receiver, the energy is converted into steam from the suns rays. The steam is taken to tanks where it will be used to spin turbines and generate electricity. The process is clean because it requires no fossil fuels to be burned. It is safe for the environment and doesn’t contribute to global warming like conventional power plants.

If more solar panel farms are implemented, the demand for oil will be reduced sharply. Today, there are many households that use solar panels for energy and more people are adding panels every day. When this demand for solar energy and other alternatives goes up, fewer people will use gas and fossil fuels, and the prices for these will surely drop as well.

Even though the initial investment into your solar panel system is a bit expensive, the panels will undoubtedly pay for themselves in the long run. Not only do you save money and perhaps even make some with your panels, you help the environment by reducing greenhouse gases and emissions. These systems are so durable they have been known to last years. PV cells are supposed to stay good anywhere from twenty-five to forty years. Most suppliers of solar panels have a standard twenty-five year warranty.

Finally, solar panels take minimal maintenance and they can be placed basically anywhere that gets a good amount of sunlight all year. Scientists worldover say that the future lies with solar energy. Using solar energy for home use like heating, cooking, driving car and for all other uses like charging your mobile phone, street lights and heating the swimming pool and powering your computer will become a way of life. Just as the saying goes that sun never stops shining in California, a solar energy home will never lack the power required to run the house.

China is another country which is fast using this solar technology for its future growth. Japan already is moving in the direction of saving its excess power and the government there is helping device methods to save money on fuel. The future of solar energy homes is spreading rapidly in the east. The Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy is formulating a program to introduce solar energy to more than a million homes in the next few years.

India has long days and plenty of sunshine, especially in the Thar Desert region of Rajastan. With abundant solar energy available, this zone is attracting attention from the Indian government for its research purposes. Solar energy is being used in India for heating water for both industrial and domestic purposes.

Human beings may not be trustworthy but the sun is always kind and generous to mankind in general. Let’s hope the future of solar energy homes all over the world is not very far away.



By: Illusions4real Energy Saving Solutions

!llusions4real is a Energy Saving Solutions provider offering various solutions by utilizing the energy of the Sun or providing alternate means to reduce your energy consumption levels and save the environment. At I4R we aim to build a green future for our global community. We work to develop and maintain a cleaner, energy-efficient world. We are a Jaipur based company with a growing network of distributors across India. !llusions4real aims at delivering its products and services to the consumer in a stipulated time frame, keeping in mind that the consumes is a green citizen and his initiative to go in for a energy saving solution should not be neglected.

We strongly believe in and recommend the use of non-conventional sources of energy and encourage even a small step that goes into energy saving. In today’s high-energy consuming world, we offer world-class energy saving solutions, striving to meet the increasing need for alternative energy sources and take every step necessary to promote energy saving products.

We assure to bring you the best lighting and water heating solutions to suit your premise and budget.

Just like solar energy, wind energy is another environment-friendly and economical energy source. With almost 40% of wind energy sources of Europe in the United Kingdom, there is immense potential to use wind energy as a source of energy.

Generating power through wind is not only efficient but also renewable like solar energy. The only downside is that a tall, moderately sized generator can be a sore eye and spoil the visual landscape, leading to murmurs of disapproval among neighbours. Think about this before you go ahead and think about how to generate wind energy in your area. However, if you do not live in a very populated area and your neighbors consent to your wind energy project, there could be nothing more beneficial to harness the potential of such a natural and renewable resource called wind.

Getting Help in the Start

If you are wondering how to generate wind energy, the British Wind Energy Association or BWEA is a good professional source of services and information for initiating projects related to wind energy. This professional body continuously organizes and manages several initiatives to propagate the use of wind as a source of energy across the country and its residences. It has information on local suppliers of wind systems and information on grants and permissions.

The ‘Energy Saving Trust’ which is backed by the government also provides provide advice on several issues for both companies and individuals and companies desiring to install wind generators on a small scale.

Other Practicalities like Cost and Savings

The cost of wind generators should fall in the range of 3000 pounds -15000 pounds for each kilowatt. This is as competitive as solar and actually slightly cheap when compared to the high output it generates. It is also expected to generate higher output in a year compared to its output in the previous year. Your wind generator should break even in about five years and the way the prices of normal energy sources are increasing, the returns of a wind generator will surely increase over a period of time.

How to Position Your Turbine

It is best to place the turbine high if you want to get the most of the wind strength without any obstructions. Also make sure to measure the wind strength in your locality so that you can place the turbine facing the direction where the wind is prevailing. To measure the wind strength, you can either buy or hire an anemometer. You can also get the person installing your wind generator to do that.

Battery or Grid?

A battery can be connected to wind generators of small scale to provide electricity to your house. The other option is to connect the wind generator to the National Grid. The decision to do the former or the latter depends totally on the circumstance. As such there is no major difference except that it will affect the direction of your energy. If you happen to stay in an area that is remote with no access to the National Grid, energy should then be directed to the battery which in turn will be connected to your residence’s mains. If you can easily access the National Grid, get the generator connected to the grid. By connecting to the grid not only will you be benefited from power savings by not using the supply of electricity from the grid, you will also be able to sell surplus electricity to the grid.

Read the whole ebook - Home Made Energy



By: Energy 4 Earth

Home Made Energy – Learn about wind and solar energy www.renewableenergy4earth.com

Conventional Design

Previously, the standard Hydropro design for SWRO with energy recovery incorporated a single multistage centrifugal pump (or positive displacement) with a Hydraulic Turbo Booster. This design is fairly simple and generally does not require a significant increase in system controls or instrumentation and is for the most part a sound, and energy efficient SWRO design.

The hydraulic turbo booster converts the hydraulic energy of the concentrate stream to mechanical energy and then applies this mechanical energy to the full flow of the feed stream in the form of a considerable pressure boost. In a single stage SWRO system, the energy benefit associated with this type of energy recovery device is realized solely in the form of lower pressure (and thus lower horsepower) requirements for the high pressure feed pump. Because the equations used to predict the pressure boost produced by a HTB are usually specific to the manufacturer and dependent upon the system parameters, they will not be explicitly discussed here. In this case, a reasonable assumption would be a 300 psi (693 feet H2O) pressure boost from the HTB operating in a system as described in Example 1 below. The following example is used to demonstrate the reduction in high pressure feed pump horsepower requirements:

This HTB energy recovery device provides a substantial reduction in specific energy consumption, which, depending on the duty cycle and cost of power could pay for itself in a relatively short amount of time.

New Technology

The concept of a work exchanger energy recovery device was certainly not new, and several variations of these devices have come and gone. However, at the time of this proposal, there seemed to be a new approach to the design of these positive displacement devices that eliminated many of the problems associated with previous versions. The PE from Energy Recovery, Inc. (ERI) is an example of a novel work exchanger device that was in a position to profoundly affect the design of SWRO and the energy recovery industry.

The main idea of the Pressure Exchanger is its ability to directly transfer most of the hydraulic energy in the concentrate stream to an equal amount of feed water. The result is a side feed stream equal in flow to the concentrate stream (minus bearing leakage) that is boosted to near membrane feed pressure by the Pressure Exchanger. A small high pressure booster pump is then required to boost the high pressure feed exiting the PE so that it equals the discharge pressure of the high pressure feed pump and the two feed streams can be combined. This pressure boost accounts for pressure losses associated with inefficiencies of the pressure exchanger, losses across the membranes, and piping and fitting losses throughout the system. By significantly reducing the size of the high pressure feed pump to approximate the flow of permeate, the horsepower of the high pressure pump can be reduced by approximately two thirds of the total pumping power required. This substantial reduction in horsepower is, for the most part, specific to the high pressure, low recovery nature of the SWRO system. To illustrate the effect of this reduction in pumping power required, the following example is used:

Although there are other energy considerations besides just pumping power when comparing a system with no energy recovery and a system with a PE, this simple analysis shows a significant reduction in energy consumption when using a Pressure Exchanger.



By: Energy Recovery Inc.

Energy Recovery Inc. is a Clean technology company that supplies the PX Pressure Exchanger for seawater desalination.

There are several things to consider when thinking about starting a home based business. The first being whether or not you are motivated enough to work without being told what to do or how to do it. A successful home based business entrepreneur is a self starter who enjoys personal success. Small business owners work well independently, thrive on challenges, and do not fear learning new things or bringing their unique ideas to others.

The good news for all of the clean-tech entrepreneurs is the added boost that the U.S. Government is placing in the ACESA stimulus legislation. The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 has a few main parts or provisions; all of which lead many people who wish to start a small business straight in the direction of solar energy.

1. A clean energy section that promotes renewable sources of energy; such as residential and commercial solar energy on a very large scale.

2. An energy efficiency section that increases energy efficiency across all sectors of the economy, including buildings, appliances, transportation, and industry.

3. A global warming provision that places restrictions on the carbon equivalent emissions and other environmentally damaging pollutants.

4. A transitional program that protects U.S. job seekers, consumers, businesses in these tough economical times with training, career adjustment, and transitioning support.

5. A very large program that promotes green jobs during the transition to a clean solar energy economy.

Having a home based solar energy business is work. Even with large incentives and the backing of the government, industry, and most citizens, you must still do the work in order to enjoy success. If you are the type who is self directed and motivated then the next consideration is what will you do? Consider what you are passionate about. What gets you excited enough to want to share it with others?

Use this information to create an ideal home based solar energy business.

Do some Internet searches or talk to other small business owners related to home based work that they made into a successful business and see if you might want to do the same. A clean-energy entrepreneur can create a operational statement for the way and type of solar energy business the wish to operate. This will be the bases for the services they can offer. Ask yourself the question “what will set my home based solar energy business apart from others?” Then write out a small business plan.

If you know that starting a home based solar energy business is right for you, then your next step is educating yourself about the requirements that govern home based businesses locally within your state, county and also with the US government and IRS. After completing due diligence, as a person should for any type of business consideration, decide if they possess the financial capital to get the business started. Fortunately, many new solar energy opportunities really do not take any investment (other than marketing costs) to get started. A person can just plug into a larger system. The landscape is change in a great way towards renewable, solar energy. This provides unparalleled opportunity for businesses as it relates to the U.S. Government’s interest in fast-tracking our transition to a clean energy environment.

United States Green Jobs: Worker Transition to Solar Energy Industry

The latest draft legislation related to an economic stimulus, a plan to address climate change, and a strategy to move into a renewable energy environment includes several provisions to promote solar energy jobs. One section authorizes the Secretary of Education to award grants to universities and colleges to develop curriculum and training programs that prepare students for careers in renewable solar energy, energy efficiency, and other forms of climate change mitigation. Under another section, the Secretary of Labor is authorized to carry out such training programs.

There are good opportunities out there that do not require an upfront investment. Emerging technology in renewable energy is creating what are called green collar jobs. Solar energy is now a viable business opportunity for the home based business owner. The outlook for renewable energy in 2009-2010 is very bright.

In fact renewable energy is in the forefront of business opportunities right now. For those who are passionate about saving money, going green and creating a home based business, a solar energy business is a golden opportunity.

The solar energy market is a largely untapped sector of the business and renewable energy industry. Home based business owner’s need this type of information and the support the U.S. Government is showing to really kick start exciting new career options for many U.S. citizens.

It is the win-win business of 2009 because everyone benefits from a solar energy business.



By: Home Energy

The sun energy source is not nuclear fusion but magnetic fields from the center of the Galaxy. The sun converts energy to mass and not mass to energy.

Abstract: The sun energy source thought to be a nuclear fusion reactor inside the sun core. The sun is not heated by fusion reaction but by magnetic fields coming from the galactic center. The nuclear fusion is a by product of the magnetic fields heating. The changing magnetic fields from the galactic center induce electric currents inside the sun that heat the sun. The heat and the high kinetic energy of particles in the sun core, trigger high energy collisions that create the main constituents of matter, electron, proton and neutron. The collisions also fuse or nucleosynthesis heavier elements like deuterium, tritium, helium and lithium. This leads to the fact that the stars and galaxies constantly produce mass and energy. The article will explain the clockworks behinds the galaxies energy production. The galaxy energy and mass production cancel out the Big Bang theory and leads to a steady state cosmological model with large amount of new mass created that expand and accelerate the universe.

Introduction

The latest development in cosmology especially the finding that the universe is not only expanding but also accelerating brings back Einstein cosmological constant.

To explain the accelerating universe dark energy is assumed to repel the galaxies and cause the acceleration of the universe. The dark energy is based on developments in quantum mechanics that find huge quantities of energy in vacuum. The dark energy and dark matter that explains the rotation curves of galaxies is found to be 96% of the universe while the regular baryonic matter that the stars and plants are build of is only 4%. However there is no experiment done on earth or conclusive evidence that proves such dark matter or dark energy truly exists. This lack of prove is also true for the Big Bang Theory. There is no experiment to show that vacuum can spontaneously explode creating high energy and mass.

The source of such unintuitive theories, to explain cosmological observation, emerges from our misunderstanding of an every day process that is taken for granted and is never questioned. This is our understanding or rather misunderstanding of the energy source of the sun and other stars. There is a historical theory that tries to explain the sun heat based on gravitational energy. According to this theory the sun was created from solar nebula.

When all the atoms free fall to the center of the nebula their speed was converted into heat. Similar theory was proposed in the nineteen century by Lord Kelvin and said that the sun heat is from gravitational energy especially by meteorites falling into the sun.

The current day nuclear theory says that the sun is a nuclear fusion reactor and the heat emerges from fusion of hydrogen atoms to helium. The fused helium is lighter then the hydrogen so the sun converts the mass surplus into energy. Still there are some difficulties in this model. In every galaxy there are constantly new born stars. Some of them the blue super giants are 50 times more massive then the sun and they burn hydrogen much faster then the sun. This limits their life expectancy to only about ten million years. If such massive stars are born constantly, and they burn hydrogen so fast, the hydrogen is burning very fast, so where all the hydrogen is coming from. The interstellar medium does not contain so much hydrogen. The interstellar hydrogen is coming from stars inside the galaxy in stellar wind, and in supernovae.

The source of the universe mass and energy was a mystery and lead to the creation of the Big Bang theory. The Big Bang theory try to explain that by stating that all the matter of the universe including the hydrogen fuel was created at the time of the Big Bang.

This paper will show that the true mass and energy source of the universe is the galaxy.

Many facts that will be presented here show that the source of the sun heat is changing magnetic fields or induction. The magnetic fields are coming from the galactic center; they propagate through the galactic disk and heat all the stars in the disk. The changing magnetic fields create by induction electric currents in the sun plasma. The electric currents heat the sun plasma and make the sun shine. Fusion of hydrogen in the sun is a by product of the heat created by the magnetic fields. At the sun core the immense heat created by the induction currents increase the particle speed and kinetic energy. As the particles collide their high kinetic energy is converted to mass by creating new particles according to Einstein equation E=MC2. The sun is not converting mass into energy but converting energy into mass.

Many of the observed phenomena on the sun are magnetic so it is reasonable to think that the sun is heated by magnetic induction.

This stars mass creation can explain where all the mass in the universe came from and why the universe is expanding and accelerating. It also can explain how the heavy elements are created in the universe. It is believed that many heavy elements are created in supernovae; this is because the fusion of heavy elements consumes energy and not produces energy as hydrogen does. Since the energy of the stars is coming from magnetic fields and not from fusion then the nucleosynthesis of heavy elements occur in red giants.

If the stars produce mass and energy then we can say that the galaxies produce mass and energy. The galaxies are the universe machines to create mass and energy.

If the sun is heated from magnetic fields from the center of the galaxy, where the energy of the galaxy is coming from? The magnetic fields create mass in the stars, and when this mass is ejected into space as solar wind, it starts to free fall to the center of the galaxy. The gravitational potential energy of the free falling dust and gas is collected by accretion disks of black holes at the galactic center. This gravitational potential energy is much higher then the energy used to create the mass. The accretion disks combined with the dynamo effect create the magnetic fields at the galactic center that produce more mass at the stars, and so forth.

If a galaxy is getting bigger and heavier all the time at some point it will spawn a new galaxy. The continuous addition of mass to the galaxy increases the mass of the spiral arms of the galaxy, and increase the arm length and its distance from the galactic center. The stellar wind ejected by the stars at the remote arm begin to collect locally at the arm itself until the arm is so heavy it detach from the main galaxy and became a satellite galaxy. Many of the pictures taken of colliding galaxies or interacting galaxies are actually instances of one galaxy spawning another. The spawning of new galaxies, lead to the expansion and acceleration of the universe.

Rotation curve

The rotation speed of stars in the galactic disk around the galactic center should obey Kepler third law. The expected stars speed should be proportional to the inverse of the radius squared as shown in Figure 6-(B). However observation of various galaxies yields a rotation curve that is almost flat Figure 6-(A). The usual explanation for the flat curve is based on the existence of dark matter that has no luminosity and cannot be seen. The dark matter is filing the galactic disk far beyond the stars to increases the gravitation in the galaxy.

It is possible to explain the flat rotation curve based on magnetic fields in the galaxy.

I will start first by depicting a well known experiment. The magnet levitation over a superconductor Figure 1 or the Meissner effect causes a magnet to float in the air when placed over a superconductor. The magnetic field of the magnet induces electro-motive force and currents in the superconductor according to Faraday’s law. Those currents according to Lenz’s law create magnetic fields in the superconductor that oppose the magnet magnetic fields and therefore repel it to make it float and oppose gravity.

If I take a string and tie it to the superconductor I can drag the superconductor slice along the table Figure 2. If the magnet is floating on the superconductor and you drag the superconductor the magnet will not fall to the table but will follow the superconductor and stay floating on top of it wherever we drag it. This is also an outcome of Lenz’s law. The induced currents and magnetic fields of the superconductor will oppose any movement of the magnet above relative to the superconductor.

The hot plasma in the sun and other stars has very low electric resistance.

The resistance of the plasma is much lower then that of a metal and is very close to that of a superconductor. However its resistant is not zero and electric current inside the plasma will produce heat. The sun interior is not completely homogonous and there are sections of plasma that have different electric conductivity.

In additional to the property of a superconductor the sun has the property of a magnet. The sun magnetic filed has similarities to the earth magnetic field. The sun has a dipole magnetic field, and it is similar to that of a bar magnet.

One unique property of Superconductors is that the magnetic fields inside them are very close to zero. However the star plasma has higher then zero conductivity and magnetic fields pass through the plasma to produce heat. Not only that the star high magnetic permeability concentrate the magnetic fields from space to absorb more energy.

Figure 1: Magnetic Levitation of a magnet over super conductor. The conductivity of the plasma that the stars are built of is very high and near that of a super conductor. The stars could be imagined as pairs of superconductor and a magnet. This explains how slip in the galactic disk and movement of the stars relative to each other, induces electric currents in the stars plasma that is turned into heat that make the stars shine. This also explains the repulsion between stars and between galaxies.

Figure 2: If you take a superconductor and place a magnet on it, the magnet will hover above the superconductor. Suppose when the magnet is hovering you connect a string to the superconductor and drag the superconductor on the table. The magnet will stay hovering above the superconductor and will follow the superconductor. This demonstrates that the stars resist slip of the galactic disk and that resistance creates induction currents in the stars and heats them.

Superconductor and magnet model of the stars

Knowing that a star is composed of plasma with low resistance and has a magnetic field of a magnetic dipole, suggest a model of the sun and stars. The star according to this model has the combined properties of a superconductor and a magnet Figure 3. The stars will therefore behave similarly to the magnet and superconductor in the Meissner effect. A star will oppose the movement of nearby star. When, for instance a first star move toward a second star, the first star magnetic field will induce currents in the second star. According to Lenz’s law those currents will produce magnetic fields in the second star that will oppose the magnetic fields and movement of the first star. The resistant to movement will occur whenever a star move relative to another.

Figure 3: A star could be depicted as a combination of a superconductor and a magnet. The superconductor is a result of the high conductivity of the plasma and the magnet is a result of the star magnetic field. The star magnetic field is a combination of the magnetic fields from the galaxy that magnetize the star and internal magnetic fields created by the induced currents in the sun. The combination of superconductor and a magnet repel the stars from each other and eliminate collision between them. Since galaxies include many stars they also can be depicted as a combination of magnet and a superconductor.

The repulsion and resistance to movement can explain why there are no collisions between main sequence stars like the sun. Though, there are hundred billion stars in the galaxy the main sequence stars never collide. Other stars like neutron stars and white dwarf can collide because they are not composed of plasma and do not have the property of superconductor. The neutron stars could be imagined only as a magnet. Therefore neutron star will repel main sequence stars like the sun. However when two neutron stars come close together they cannot repel each other because there is no superconductor involve. Not only their gravity pulls them together but their magnetic fields align and add pulling force. The north pole of one neutron star come close and attracts the south pole of the second neutron star. Observations of sudden gamma ray bursts in the universe are known to occur from neutron stars massive collisions. Also white dwarfs are prone to collide. Whit dwarfs are lacking both plasma and magnetic fields. Some of the supernovae explosions are connected with white dwarfs. Since neutron stars and white dwarfs can easily approach a star, many binary stars (for instance Sirius) include white dwarfs or neutron star. One way to look at it is to divide the stars into two categories. One is like the white dwarfs and is affected only by gravitational fields and general relativity. The Second is effected by both the magnetic fields and the gravitational fields.

The galaxies similar to the stars inside them could be depicted also as a combination of magnet and superconductor. Seeing the galaxy as magnet and superconductor combination can easily explain the repulsion between galaxies, leading to the expansion and acceleration of the universe. This model can also imply that collisions between galaxies are rare. The rarity of collision between main sequence stars is a clear indication to the rarity of collision between galaxies. Most of the interacting galaxies observed are actually a creation of one galaxy from another or in other worlds spawning of a smaller satellite galaxy from a larger galaxy.

In the experiment of Figure 2 it was shown that superconductor will not only repel a magnet but will also resist any movement of the magnet relative to the super conductor. As shown in Figure 3 the stars could be depicted as a combination of superconductor and magnet. This lead to a model of the galactic disk, shown in Figure 4, that includes rings or layers of superconductor material and magnets. The superconductor in such a model will resist any movement of magnets in relation to them. When magnets will move in relation to the superconductor induction currents will flow in the superconductor that according to Lenz’s law will create magnetic fields that will oppose and repel the magnetic fields of the magnets. This implies a rigid model of the galactic disk where any movement of stars will be resisted. If we draw a rotation curve of the galactic disk according to the model of Figure 4 we will get a straight line as shown in Figure 5 where all stars have the same angular velocity. However the observed rotation curve as shown in Figure 6 implies that the angular velocity of stars far from the galactic center is smaller then stars near the galactic center. This means that there is movement of the magnets relative to the superconductors and induction currents are created. Since the stars plasma is not a perfect superconductor the currents create heat.

Figure 4: A star could be imagined as a pair of superconductor and a magnet. When one star moves toward a second star according to Lenz’s law the second star will repel the first star and oppose the movement. The magnetic fields of the first star induce electro-motive forces and currents, according to Faraday’s law, in the second star, and those currents create magnetic fields that repel the first star. This means that the stars will resist relative movement in the galactic disk. This leads to the rigid model of the galactic disk shown in this figure and a rotation curve shown in Figure 5. The actual flat rotation curve of the galaxies implies that the stars move in relation to each other. This creates induction currents and heat that fuel the stars.

Figure 5: According to the superconductor and magnet model of the stars shown in Figure 4. The stars will resist slip in the galactic disk. Therefore the relation between the star distance from the galactic center and rotational speed should be a straight line as shown in this graph. The deviation of the observed rotation curve of the galaxies from this linear relation shows that a considerable slip happens. The slip indicates that large amount of heat is produced in the stars.

Figure 6: Rotation curve of a galaxy. The speed of stars at the galactic disk should obey Kepler law and have a velocity that is inverse to the square of the distance to the galactic center. Actual measurements find that the rotation curve is almost flat. As shown in Figure 7 this could be explained by rotating magnetic fields that increase the velocity of the galactic disk. It could be also explained by the superconductor combined with magnet model of the stars that resist slip at the galactic disk.

The fact, that there is movement and slip in the galactic disk leads to a second model of the galaxy Figure 7. According to this model the galactic disk is comprised of several concentric rings capable of rotation on the same axis with air gap between the rings. Each ring includes an inner iron layer and an outer layer comprised of magnets. The galactic center in the model is also comprised of magnets. The rotation of the galactic center rotates the magnets at the galactic center and creates rotating magnetic fields. Those rotating magnetic fields induce current through the air gap in the iron layer of the first ring. The induced currents according to Lenz’s law will create magnetic fields that oppose the magnetic fields of the galactic center and will apply force to rotate the first ring. The first ring magnets layer will induce currents in the second ring iron layer and will rotate the second ring and so on. This way all the rings will rotate in the same direction but with different angular velocities. The inner ring will have the higher angular velocity and the most outer will have the smaller angular velocity. The velocity difference or slip means that the magnetic fields of the magnets cross the iron layers and create heat.

Figure 7: The galactic disk could be imagined as rings of iron and magnets layers. The galactic center in the model is comprised of rotating magnets, creating rotating magnetic fields. Those magnetic fields rotate the iron layer of the second ring according to Lenz’s law. The outer magnets of the second ring rotate the third ring and so forth. If the relation of a ring distance from the center to ring speed should be similar to the graph in Figure 5, then each ring angular velocity should be the same as its inner ring. If a ring is not with the same angular velocity but its angular velocity is slower then the inner ring (as in a galaxy rotation curve) a slip is created and the magnets of the inner ring heat the iron of the outer ring. In an exercise magnetic bike an iron wheel is spinning near magnets that break its rotation. After a workout you can feel the heat coming from the iron wheel.

According to the models of Figure 4, 7 the observed flat rotation curve and its deviation from the expected rotation curve of the galaxy could be explained. The forces that the rotating magnetic fields in the galactic center and in the galactic disk exert on the stars increase their angular velocity.

In Figure 10 there is an alternative model of the magnetic fields emanating from the galactic center. In Figure 7 the galactic center is depicted as a cylinder that stripes of north and south magnet poles are placed parallel to the cylinder axis. This placement will enable the rotating galactic center to heat the galactic disk by induction and to increase the angular velocity of the stars as observed by the flat rotation curve. However as in Figure 10 the galactic center could be depicted as several magnetic dipoles. This could be created if there is more the one black hole in the galactic center or there is a combination of black holes and neutron stars. The accretion disks of black holes and neutron stars will create magnetic dipoles that will align in opposite directions to each other as shown in Figure 10.

With this arrangement the induction heating and the increased rotation speed of the galactic disk will be feasible.

Figure 10: The magnetic fields created by the galactic center can be understood from this model. The galactic center contains several magnetic dipoles created by black hole and neutron star accretion disks. Those magnetic dipoles rotate with the galactic center, and send changing magnetic fields to the galactic disk, that heat the stars and increase their rotational speed.

The induction that transfers energy from the galactic center to the galactic disk does not require magnetic field in the galactic disk. The induction can be done by what is called “induced electric fields”. For demonstration we can take a long solenoid and put it inside a larger copper ring that its diameter is three times then that of the solenoid. If we pass changing current in the solenoid it will create changing magnetic flux. The flux will induce in the ring current. However the ring is not in a magnetic field therefore, we cannot say that the current in the ring is from influence of magnetic field on charged particles inside the ring. So it is explained by saying that “induced electric field” in the ring is caused by the changing magnetic flux in the solenoid.

The induced electric field can be stated with a modification of Faraday’s law.

Where is the magnetic flux through the solenoid, E is the induced electric field in the ring and l is the circumference of the ring. Similarly we can say that even if the galactic disk is not in a magnetic field induction is possible. Changing magnetic flux at the galactic center perpendicular to the galactic disk can induce currents in the stars by induced electric fields.

Similarity to an electric induction motor

The model of Figure 7 resembles in operation to an induction electric motor. The galactic center of Figure 7 resembles the stator of such induction electric motor and the galactic disk resembles the rotor. The stator of an induction motor produces a rotating magnetic field. The rotating magnetic field cross the rotor and induce currents in the rotor. The currents create magnetic fields that attract the stator magnetic fields and rotate the rotor. The currents in the rotor are analogous to the currents that heat the stars in the galactic disk. Figure 8 shows a graph of the rotor currents as a function of the rotor speed. The rotor speed in the graph on the X axis is the difference in percent of the rotor angular velocity and the stator magnetic fields angular velocity. The graph shows that when the rotor speed is identical to the stator speed no currents are induced in rotor. This situation is analogous to a rotation curve of the galaxy similar to that of Figure 5, with such rotation curve no currents are expected to flow inside the stars.

When the rotor speed in Figure 8 decrease and the slip between the stator and the rotor increase more magnetic field lines cross the rotor and more current is induced. This is analogous to the observed rotation curve in Figure 6 where there is a slip in the galactic disk as demonstrated in the model of Figure 7. The currents in the rotor produce torque that through the rotor shaft can transmit mechanical work. This torque can explain the deviation of the rotation curve of the galaxies from the expected rotation curve. The galactic center applies this torque on the galactic disk to increase the speed of the stars. If you take an induction motor like a fan motor and block the fan, the motor will heat very quickly because the rotor currents are very high. This can demonstrate the heat produced in the stars from the galactic disk slip. In summary, the slip at the galactic disk make stars cross magnetic fields from other stars, this apply torque that increase the speed of the stars and create heat.

Figure 8: Rotor current as a function of rotor speed of an electric induction motor. As the rotor get slower the rotating magnetic field of the stator cross the rotor faster and the rotor currents increase. The galactic center is analogous to the stator and the galactic disk is analogous to the rotor. The flat rotation curve of the galaxy in Figure 6 imply that slip occur in the galactic disk leading to induction currents in the stars.

There are two constituents producing the changing magnetic fields in the galactic disk. One is the rotating magnetic fields from the galactic center. The second is the slip in the galactic disk. The magnetic fields from the galactic center supply the energy to the galactic disk and apply torque to increase the speed of the galactic disk. The galactic disk slip conveys the torque and energy from the galactic center to the outer sections of the galactic disk. The production of energy and changing magnetic fields is at the galactic center where black hole accretion disk converts mass to energy.

The slip supports the rigid behavior of the galactic disk Figure 4 and affects the star speed at the inner and outer sections of the galactic disk.

The torque on the stars in the galactic disk near galactic center is forward, from the galactic center and backward, from the slip. Why the slip is pulling backward could be shown in the model of Figure 7 by the torque backward that an outer ring exerts on an inner ring. The torque on the stars at the outer sections of the galactic disk is forward by the slip.

Figure 9: The changing magnetic fields from the galactic center create magnetic fields eddies in the galactic disk. Each of those eddies is a magnetic circuitry that encompass million of start. In the figure part of a magnetic circuitry is shown passing magnetic flux in nearby stars. Those changing magnetic fields create the sun solar cycle and change the sun magnetic polarity from one solar cycle to the next. Those changing magnetic fields heat the stars. Some of the energy they supply is converted into mass and some is converted into electromagnetic radiation or luminosity.

Magnetic eddy circuitry

The galactic center creates changing magnetic fields that are sent to the galactic disk to induce current and heat in the stars. When changing magnetic fields pass through a large lump of iron or copper eddy currents are created and heat the metal. Those eddies are usually chaotic in nature. When we speak of the galactic disk we cannot speak of eddy currents because the space between the stars is not conducting. However the magnetic fields in the galactic disk could create eddies of magnetic fields and magnetic circuitry. Keeping in mind that the stars are different in size and type and the distance between them is not constant we can imagine that the magnetic fields are dispersed in very complex patterns. We can therefore predict that the galactic center transmits energy to the far sections of the galactic disk not by far reaching magnetic fields but through magnetic eddies. Such magnetic eddy circuitry can encompass millions of stars. In Figure 9 part of a magnetic circuitry is shown. The magnetic field lines are concentrated and pass through the stars due to the high magnetic permeability of the plasma. Those magnetic fields create the dipole pattern of the sun magnetic field. In Figure 9 the concentration of the magnetic fields by the stars decrease the magnetic field in the nearby left and right of the stars. This magnetic shading reduces the magnetic fields in the solar planets and in earth.

The Ulysses probe was send above the sun poles and find strong magnetic fields at high altitude over the poles. The high altitude and strength of those magnetic fields is indication that the sun is part of large magnetic circuitry that cross the sun and encompass many stars.

Effect on Earth and the solar planets

The solar planets have heat or energy surplus. They are hotter then what they suppose to be from the sun radiation. The heat surplus of the solar planets and earth could be explained by changing magnetic fields from the galactic center. The earth heat surplus is explained by the heat emitted by nuclear fission of heavy elements in earth. However the amount of heavy elements at the earth interior is unknown. It could be that nuclear heating can only produce few percent of the heat of the earth interior and the rest is from heat produced by magnetic fields from the galactic center. The high permeability of the iron at the earth interior helps to concentrate the magnetic fields and produce more heat. Strong evidence to the heating of earth by magnetic fields is the movement of the tectonic plates. The movement of the tectonic plates cannot be explained clearly by the convection model. The earth tectonic plates movement is a Magneto Hydrodynamics phenomena (MHD) caused by magnetic fields from the galactic center. The strong winds at the outer solar planets are also Magneto Hydrodynamics phenomena caused by magnetic fields from the galactic center.

Magnetic fields will change an elliptical trajectory of a star, planet or moon to a circular trajectory. When for instance a moon with elliptical trajectory that its core is electrically conductive and it circles a planet that has significant magnetic field, there will be induced currents and electro-motive force that according to Lenz’s law will resist any change of the distance between the moon and the planet. If the moon will increase its distance from the planets according to Lenz’s law it will be attracted more strongly to the planet, if it will get closer to the planet it will be repelled by the planet. This way the magnetic forces will change its elliptical trajectory to a circular trajectory and in the process will convert part of the kinetic energy of the moon to heat.

Solar Cycle

The solar cycle’s activity is monitored from about the year 1750 by counting the number of sunspots. The solar cycle repeat every 11 years during which the sunspots number reaches a maximum. The occurrence of sunspots is accompanied with strong magnetic fields at the sun surface.

The sun is a magnetic dipole just like earth but the sun dipole polarity is changing with the solar cycle and has different magnetic polarity every 11 years.

According to the current solar model it is believed mistakably that the solar cycle and the changing of the magnetic polarity is induced internally by the sun itself. However this is incorrect. The source of the sun solar cycle and the changing of the magnetic polarity are induced by magnetic fields originated at the galactic center. The mechanism by which the galactic center delivers power and energy to the sun and other stars is based on changing magnetic fields. The solar cycle and the changing magnetic polarity in the sun is manifestation of the galactic center magnetic fields power transmission. The galactic center apply changing magnetic field to the sun that are strong enough to change the sun polarity every 11 years. Those magnetic fields induce electric currents in the sun plasma that heat the sun. Figure 11 shows the interaction between the galactic center magnetic fields and the sun magnetic fields. In this Figure the galactic magnetic fields are represented by magnets. However as shown in Figure 9 those magnetic fields are coming far below and above the sun. Also as shown in the model of Figure 7 those magnetic fields rotate in the direction of the galactic disk rotation but faster. When the peak of the galactic center magnetic field is approaching the sun as in Figure 11(a) . The sun is resisting according to Lenz’s law the increase of the magnetic field and produce internal magnetic field that oppose the galactic center magnetic field. When the galactic center magnetic field peak is receding from the sun as in Figure 11(b) the sun resist the decrease in the magnetic field and flip the magnetic polarity so as to attract the galactic center magnetic field. This behavior illustrates a phase difference between the galactic center magnetic field and the sun magnetic field. The sun magnetic field is created by the galactic center magnetic field but its phase is in front of the galactic disk magnetic field.

Figure 11: The solar cycle is created from the galactic center magnetic fields. The sun here shown in yellow circle is stationary and the galactic magnetic fields represented as magnets are crossing the sun by moving to the left. The magnetic fields depicted here as magnets are actually coming far below and above the sun. (a) The magnetic peak is approaching the sun. The sun according to Lenz’s law will create opposing magnetic field with the same polarity as the approaching field. (b) The magnetic peak is past the sun and the sun flips its magnetic field polarity to create according to Lenz’s law magnetic field that opposes the decrease of the galactic magnetic field. It is clear that the galactic center magnetic field induce in the sun magnetic field and that the galactic center magnetic field and the sun magnetic field are out of phase. The solar system is inclined 60 degrease to the galactic disk so this figure is simplified.

This movement of the galactic center magnetic fields as shown in Figure 11 will enable the rotating galactic center to heat the galactic disk by induction and at the same time to increase the angular velocity of the stars as observed by the flat rotation curve.

The interaction between the galactic center and the sun could be compared to alternating current transformer. In such a comparison the galactic center would be the primary winding the sun would be the secondary winding and the changing magnetic field of the solar cycle is the magnetic flux in the transformer core. Notice that the solar cycle magnetic field as monitored since 1750 has sinusoidal amplitude that is similar to the sinusoidal magnetic flux in a transformer core.

From the models of Figs. 4, 7 it is clear why the observed rotation curve and angular speed of the star at the galactic disk is above the expected angular speed as shown in Figure 6. However, when the angular speed of the stars increase, it is not clear why they are not receding from the galactic center by the centrifugal force. The explanation for this is that the magnetic fields at the galactic disk magnetize the stars and cause them to magnetically attract each other. To demonstrate that magnetize objects attracts each other we can use a simple experiment as shown in Figure 12. Two iron spheres connected to two levers are hanging on two hinges. The hinges allow the balls only to move toward each other but not toward the magnet. When the magnet is close to the balls it passes a magnetic field through the balls. The magnetic field magnetizes the balls turning them temporarily into magnets and causing them to attract each other. A common device that uses these phenomena is reed switch as shown in Figure 13. The reed switch closes its contacts when you bring a magnet near it, or bring it in magnetic fields from solenoid. There are two ferromagnetic contacts or reads at the switch center. When they are magnetized they pull each other until electric currents can flow between the contacts. The direction or polarity of the externally applied magnetic fields is not important and in every direction the contacts will be magnetized and closed. The reed switch is usually used as a proximity detector and in alarm systems; for instance if you put a magnet in a window and the window is opened a reed switch on the frame will open a circuit and turn on the alarm.

Figure 12: A simple experiment to demonstrate a magnetic pull of objects under magnetic fields. The figure shows two iron balls hanging on two levers. On the other side of the levers there are hinges that enable the ball to get near each other but not to move toward of the magnet. When the magnet is close to the balls it passes a magnetic field through the balls. The magnetic field magnetizes the balls turning them temporarily into magnets and causing them to pull each other.

Figure 13: Reed switch is an example that when you place a magnetic field near two ferromagnetic materials they became magnetize and pull each other. The contacts of the switch are at the center. When you bring a magnet near the contacts they pull each other and close a circuit. This demonstrate that the magnetic fields in the galactic disk cause the stars to attract each other and help to sustain the high speed of the stars in the galaxy rotation curve.

Another simple experiment can be conducted by placing two bolts or screws on a thin plastic board keeping a small distance between them. When you position a bar magnet beneath the board, near the screws, they will get magnetize and attract each other. Still another experiment is the known experiment where an iron dust is place on a board and a bar magnet is placed beneath. If you will watch closely you will see that the dust grain actually attracts each other until they form small dense veins of iron, in the direction of the magnetic field. The veins are created by the attraction of the dust particle to each other.

The sun energy balance

As show in Figure 11 the sun is heated by changing magnetic fields from the galactic center. The sun high magnetic permeability helps to concentrate the magnetic flux from the galactic center and maximize the absorption of energy from the galactic center magnetic fields. The changing magnetic fields induce electro-motive force and electric currents in the sun. Those currents pass through the sun plasma and heat it according to I2R. The heat energy increases the particles kinetic energy and velocity at the sun core. The high velocity of the particle leads to high impact collision that creates new particle and new mass. This is a conversion of energy into mass according to E=MC2. The kinetic energy of the particle at the sun core is converted to mass when the kinetic energy in the relative velocities of the colliding particles is higher then the rest mass of the newly created particles. Since the heat energy at the sun core is converted to mass the heat energy is decreasing and there is a cooling effect that limits the temperature in the sun core below a certain level.

Figure 14: The sun energy balance. Energy is received by the sun from magnetic fields created by the galactic center. The magnetic fields create electric currents inside the sun. The currents create heat, and at the sun core the heat is converted to mass by high energy collision of particle. When some of the hydrogen created by the sun is fused to helium the mass surplus of the fusion is converted back to energy. The fusion energy is absorbed by the sun and is used to heat the sun and create more mass. Some of the sun energy is lost by electromagnetic radiation.

The conversion of energy to mass at the sun core produces the building blocks of matter – electrons, protons and neutrons. The sun and other stars cores produce the light elements in the universe for instance Hydrogen, deuterium, tritium, helium and lithium and are the main source of light elements in the universe. The sun core fuses the building blocks of matter electron, proton and neutron into elements like helium in nuclear fusion. The sun is 21% helium so considerable amount of hydrogen is fused. The fusion reaction utilizes the presence of hydrogen and extreme heat to create helium or alpha particles. Since the mass of the fused helium is lighter then the mass of the four neutrons and protons there is a conversion of mass to energy. In other words part of the mass created by the magnetic fields induction heating is converted back by the fusion to energy. The energy produced by the fusion is lower then the original energy from the galactic center magnetic fields. Also the mass that the fusion reaction converts to energy is smaller then the original mass created from the magnetic fields. The energy that is produced by the fusion is absorbed by the sun and is used again to create new particle and mass. The fusion reaction is limited by the sun core temperature that is control by the cooling effect applied from creation of new particles and mass.

Neutrino emission from the sun

For three decades there was a neutrino paradox related to the sun. The sun emitted only third of the neutrinos that where expected from the standard solar model based on the sun fusion. However the paradox was solved lately by experiments done at SNO neutrino detector. The neutrinos once believed to be massless like photons but know are known that the neutrinos have mass. The existence of mass of the neutrino is based on the fact that when neutrinos pass in space there are oscillations between the three flavors of the neutrinos. The SNO neutrino detector confirmed that and settled the long neutrino paradox. Assuming that the SNO findings are correct and there is no contamination that influenced the data, there is seemingly a conflict between the theory presented here and the SNO findings. If the sun is heated by the galactic center magnetic fields and the fusion is only a by product and limited in scope, then the neutrino emission supposes to be much smaller then in the full scale fusion of the standard solar model. The solution to this conflict is that the nucleosynthesis of the building blocks of matter electron, proton and neutron emits neutrinos.

For instance you can see the emission of neutrino in the collision of electron and positron that creates a quark:

e+e- à W+W- à q qbar μ v

The collision creates quark pair, muon and neutrino.

The emission of neutrinos from the sun is the sum of the neutrinos from the small scale fusion reaction, and mainly from creation of new particles and mass.

Tokamak converts energy to mass and not mass to energy

It is well know that the half century of fusion research, especially in Tokamak fusion reactors, did not yield the desired unlimited energy source, that was hoped for. It is likely that similar to the sun the high energy collisions of the particles in the fusion reactor create new particles and new mass in the plasma, instead of increasing the temperature of the plasma. This is evident from the fact that the heating energy required to heat the plasma is enormous and the Tokamaks are constantly upgraded with new heating modules. The evidence that the heating energy of the fusion reactor go to production of new mass is in the presence of positrons in the heated plasma. When the reactor plasma is heated the high velocity collisions create electron positron pairs. Like the sun the Tokamak convert energy to mass and not mass to energy.

The galaxy energy cycle

The sun and other stars receive energy from the galactic center in the form of changing magnetic fields. Those magnetic fields heat the stars and enable them to shine and convert energy to mass. The question of course is where the galaxy is getting this immense energy from? The answer is that the mass created in the stars have gravitational potential energy relative to the galactic center. The dust and gas is free falling to the galactic center and in the galactic center it falls into black holes and neutron stars to create accretion disks. The free fall and the accretion disks multiply the mass and energy of the gas and dust.

The stars mass is constantly increasing from the galactic center magnetic fields. This mass is released by the stars to the interstellar space in several ways:

Solar wind that is ejected constantly from the sun and the stars.

Coronal mass ejections which are abrupt and massive form of the solar wind.

Red Giants decomposition. The red giants outer layers are far and loosely connected to the red giants core. The outer layers can eject large amount of mass up to 0.2 per second.

Planetary Nebula. Planetary Nebulas are born from red giants and also eject large amount of mass. During the Planetary Nebula life cycle its mass can drop from about 8 at its birth to about 1.1 .

Supernova and Nova also eject large amount of mass to the interstellar space.

The mass ejected from the stars fills the interstellar space with large amount of dust and gas. It is impossible to see the center of the Milky Way galaxy from earth because the interstellar dust and gas is blocking the view. It is also impossible to see the outer edge of the Milky Way Galaxy because of the dust and gas. The interstellar dust and gas falling to the galactic center is the fuel of the galaxy.

The dust and gas after released by the stars will start to free fall to the galactic center. The free fall of the dust particles can be divided to the following stages according to the distance from the galactic center:

When the dust particle is far from the galactic center the galaxy can be divided to two sections. One includes the galactic center and the other the outer part of the galaxy. The gravity force on the dust particle is the difference between the galactic center gravity forces and the galaxy outer parts gravity forces.

When the dust particle is near the galactic center. The gravity of the galactic disk is near zero. The gravity of the black holes at the galactic center keeps pulling the dust particle.

At the galactic center the dust particle is part of an accretion disk of a supermassive black hole and is gradually attracted to the accretion disk center.

At the galactic center the falling dust and gas in the black hole accretion disk is producing a lot of energy, evident by the high luminosity of galactic centers.

The dust and gas at the accretion disk became plasma moving at relativistic speeds that creates strong magnetic fields by the dynamo effect. The kinetic energy of the plasma motion is converted to changing magnetic fields that propagate in the galactic disk to provide energy to the stars in the galactic disk. The particles in the supermassive black hole accretion disk reach relativistic speeds that multiply the particle mass and energy.

In some galaxies the galactic center is exceptionally luminous and called Active Galactic Nuclei or AGN.

Figure 15 shows the energy cycle of the galaxy. It is shown that the galactic center magnetic fields create mass at the stars far from the galactic center. This mass has a significant gravitational potential energy, with respect to the galactic center. But, the magnetic fields do not lose energy in creating this potential energy; the magnetic fields only lose energy equal to the rest mass of the new particles created in the stars. The yellow arrow shows the energy of the magnetic fields absorbed by the stars. The red arrow shows the much larger amount of energy received by the galaxy from the free fall of the particle.

Figure 15: The galaxy energy cycle. The cycle starts when changing magnetic fields from the galactic center heat the star using induction. The heat or kinetic energy of particles at the star core is transformed there to mass(shown as the yellow arrow). A mass M0 created in the star core reach the star surface and ejected into space as solar wind. The particles start a relativistic free fall to the galactic center (shown as red arrow). The mass and energy of the particle after passing in the supermassive black hole accretion disk could be 1000 times the original energy M0 invested by the galaxy.

Figure 16 shows the energy cycle of the galaxy. The energy cycle is divided here to its components at the galactic center and at the star. At the galactic center the free falling dust and gas reach back holes accretion disk (4). The black hole accretion disk converts the dust and gas into plasma and according to the dynamo effect strong magnetic fields are generated and heat the stars at the galactic disk (1).

At the stars the galactic center magnetic fields heat the star. The energy is converted into mass by high energy collisions of particles at the sun core(2). New mass and matter is created and when it reach the star surface it is ejected by solar wind into the interstellar space (3)and start to fall to the galactic center.

Figure 16: The galaxy energy cycle divided to galactic center section and star section. At the galactic center the falling dust and gas produce magnetic fields that disperse in the galactic disk and heat the stars. In the star the magnetic fields from the galactic center heat the star and the heat energy is converted into mass by high energy particle collisions. When the new mass and matter reach the star surface it is ejected as solar wind and start to fall to the galactic center.

Figure 17 shows a graph of the energy cycle of a unit mass M0. The Y axis depicts the energy added to the galaxy. The X axis depicts the distance of the unit mass from the galactic center. The origin of the X axis is the full length of the distance from the star to the galactic center. As the distance to the galactic center decrease the X axis increase.

The energy cycle begin at the origin of the X axis where the unit mass is created in a star by the magnetic fields. When the galaxy is creating the unit mass it losses energy equal to the rest mass of the particle. Therefore its energy balance at the X axis origin is negative. The unit mass is then ejected from the star and start free falling to the center of the galaxy. As the unit mass fall its speed and energy increase. At the galactic center the speed and energy of the unit mass multiply by the accretion disk of the supermassive black hole.

Figure 17: The galaxy energy cycle in terms of unit mass. The cycle starts when changing magnetic fields from the galactic center heat the star using induction. The heat or kinetic energy of the particles is transformed in the star core to mass. A mass M0 created in the star core reach the star surface and ejected into space as solar wind. The particles start a relativistic free fall to the galactic center. The origin of the X axis is the distance of the star from the galactic center, as X increase the distance decrease until the falling mass reach the galactic center and the distance is zero. The mass and energy of the particle when reaching the galactic core could be 1000 times the original energy M0 invested by the galaxy.

The attraction of the dust and gas to the galactic center require several conditions that make the galaxy energy cycle more efficient. Black holes at the galactic center will make the energy production of the galaxy more efficient. On the other hand Black holes at the galactic disk will prevent free fall of nearby particles to the galactic center and disturb the energy production of the galaxy.

Part of the dust and gas ejected by the stars is lost by the galaxy and do not reach the galactic center. This dust and gas is scattered in the space between the galaxies and create the intergalactic medium. The intergalactic medium is rich with heavy elements produced by the stars. Some of the dust can escape the gravitation of the galaxy by high velocities. The origin of the high velocities could be supernova or high energy collisions between stars. If a galaxy is losing large amount of mass in this way it will hinder the galaxy energy and mass production.

The distance between the stars is far enough to enables the dust and gas particle to be attracted by the galactic center gravity and not by stars gravity.

The gravity of the stars accumulate some of the nearby free falling dust and gas. This accumulation of free falling dust and debris over billion of years is a dominant force in the creation of the planets around the sun and other stars.

The two complimentary parts of the galaxy energy cycle, the mass created in stars by magnetic fields and energy from free fall in accretion disk is within reason. However, combining them create a paradox that a galaxy is producing mass and energy from nothing and does not obey the energy conservation law. New developments in quantum mechanics find that vacuum contain large amount of energy. Therefore we can assume that vacuum is the true source of the mass and energy produced by the galaxies.

We are used to think of the gravitational potential energy as conservative but is it really?

Let’s take for instance a simple example. An asteroid is passing slowly near earth. Now we didn’t put the asteroid there and we didn’t invest any energy. Still under the influence of gravity the asteroid will gain speed and heat as it fall to earth. Where the energy came from? It must be vacuum.

The mass of the galactic center create strong gravity that pulls the dust and gas. The gravitational potential energy of the dust and gas multiply the gas and dust mass and energy. Therefore we can say the following sentence: mass create gravity and gravity creates mass.

Spawning of a small galaxy by a larger galaxy

The galaxies produce constantly new mass and energy. Since the galaxy mass increase more dust and gas is falling to the galactic center and the magnetic fields get stronger to deliver more energy to the stars. As the magnetic fields in the stars are getting stronger the mass of the stars increase. Because the magnetic fields in the galactic disk are getting stronger extra energy is available and new stars are born. During the NASA Apollo missions, samples of the moon rock where analyzed, to find that the sun temperature increased by 10% during the last billion years. This means that the sun mass increased by 10%. This increase is enormous.

The sun mass increase indicates that many stars in the galaxy have mass increase and therefore the galaxy has mass increase. The constant mass increase leads to spawning of new galaxies. As a galaxy is getting more massive and heavy the arm of the galaxy are also getting heavier. The stars in the arm are getting more massive and new stars are born. As the arm is getting heavier it is also getting more distant from the galactic center. At some point the dust and gas produced by the arm is not pulled by the far galactic center but by the closer galactic arm. The falling dust and gas to the galactic arm create a massive center that start to produce changing magnetic fields. This process spawns a new satellite galaxy that has its own energy cycle. As the satellite galaxy is getting bigger its magnetic fields are getting stronger and repel the main galaxy. The spawning of new galaxies is observed everywhere in the universe. Most of the observed colliding or interacting galaxies are actually spawning of new galaxy. In Figure 20 there is a picture of galaxy M51 that depict spawning of new galaxy in the left side of the picture. The arm of the galaxy is very elongated and far from the galactic center. The dust and gas at the newly created galaxy is falling locally to the satellite galaxy and not to the main galaxy. There are three factors that influence the spawning of new galaxy:

The distance of the local arm from galactic center. The more distance the arm is, the easier it is for the new galaxy to be spawned.

The mass of the local galactic arm. The more massive the arm is, the easier it is for the new galaxy to be spawned.

The mass and gravity attraction of the main galaxy galactic center. The more massive the main galactic center is, the harder it is for the new galaxy to be spawned.

The spawning of new galaxies creates new black holes at the main galaxy galactic arm. The new black hole is the center of the new galaxy and operates its energy cycle.

Elliptical galaxies could also spawn a new galaxy. The mechanism is different from that of the spiral galaxies. Before spawning the elliptical galaxy will get elongated and then gradually will have appearance similar to that of eyeglasses or the number 8.

Everywhere in the universe there are examples of massive galaxies with nearby smaller satellite galaxies. Those smaller galaxies were spawned from the massive galaxy and are offspring of the massive galaxy. The Milky Way is an example of a massive galaxy with nearby satellite galaxies. The satellite galaxies where spawned from the Milky Way. There are 14 satellites galaxies of the Milky Way like the Small Magellanic Clouds and The Large Magellanic Clouds. A look at the Local group also reveals that Andromeda includes many satellite galaxies. The M32 is a satellite galaxy of Andromeda M31 and was spawned by it. In the arms of Andromeda, there is still evidence of the M32 spawning.

Figure 20: Picture of M51 is an example of galaxy spawning. The mass and size of the galaxy is constantly increasing. When one of the galaxy arms is very heavy and far from the center of the galaxy, its gravitation is very strong. The dust that stars in that arm eject into space is attracted to the center of the arm and not to the center of the galaxy. The arm mass is increasing and it is starting to behave like a galaxy with its own energy source and mass production. The satellite galaxy starts to separate from the main galaxy when it’s magnetic fields increase and push out the main galaxy. The Milky Way satellite galaxies were spawned from the Milky Way.

The sun luminosity could be influenced by other factors like its position in the galactic arm. The sun could be in the outskirts of the galactic arm and during the last billion years reached the galactic arm backbone or more central position in the galactic arm. The magnetic fields in the galactic arm backbone are stronger then the magnetic fields at the outskirts of the galactic arm. Therefore the luminosity of the sun could be influenced by its position in the galactic arm.

The sun luminosity depends also on the spawning of new galaxies. After the spawning of new galaxy the amount of dust and gas falling to the galactic center is smaller because there are fewer stars in the galaxy. The smaller amount of dust produce weaker magnetic fields at the galactic center and this leads to decrease in the energy the stars at the galactic disk absorb. This will decrease the luminosity of the stars.

We can estimate the time it takes to spawn a new satellite galaxy. This estimation is based on assumptions and not on precise data.

A small satellite galaxy contains about 5 billion stars. The number of stars in the Milky Way is about 200 billion star. We assume that the Milky Way galaxy is adding to its mass 0.5% in billion years (1/20 of the sun mass increase). We can find that every 5 billion years the Milky Way is spawning a new galaxy. For this calculation we also need to assume that the Milky Way is staying roughly in the same mass after many spawns. It is possible that the galaxy mass is not staying the same but increase after many spawns.

If we observe many galaxies in the sky we can notice that there is no standard size for the galaxies. So part of the galaxy mass increase is permanently kept within the galaxy to constantly increase its size and the other part is lost to spawning of new galaxies.

If for instance only 50% of the galaxy mass increase is going for spawning of new galaxies the period between spawning of galaxies is 10 billion years.

A galaxy like the Milky Way will spawn a new galaxy every roughly about 10 billion years. In Figure 21 there is a graph of the galaxy mass, energy and luminosity during the spawning of new galaxies. Until a new galaxy is spawned the mass of the galaxy is increasing exponentially and new mass added to the galaxy increase the mass creation rate of the galaxy. After the new satellite galaxy is spawned the mass of the main galaxy is sharply reduced as the new galaxy mass is removed from the main galaxy.

After the new galaxy is spawned the amount of dust and gas falling to the main galactic center is reduced. This will reduce the strength of the magnetic fields from the galactic center and provide less energy to the stars.

The link between the sun luminosity and its position in the galactic arm could be understood from the rotation of the galactic arm. The galactic arm is spinning with constant angular velocity in all distances from the galactic center as in Figure 5 . If the angular velocity was not constant the galactic arms would scatter and lose their packed structure. The galactic arms keep their solid structure because of two reasons. First the stars in the galactic arms are magnetiz



By: Dan Bar-Zohar

The wind turbines that are made at home can be used to replace the conventional sources of energy. They are green and renewable sources of energy. The home wind turbines are a fairly new concept for the families who are investing in green sources of energy and often they don’t know how to use wind energy. The solar panels are more common but using wind energy for home is a new technology. There are many wind turbine options in the market and depending on how much your usage is, they can cost in the range of $500 to $22,000 inclusive of installation. Now, that is a whopping amount! The good news is there are certain eBooks available on the Internet, which will not burn a hole in your pocket but will actually aid you in production of green energy in less than $50.

The home wind turbines lower the cost of energy bills, and if you are capable of producing more than required, you can even go off grid or you may supply your generated electricity to the grid, and at the same time earn some extra money.

The home wind turbines are not recommended for areas where the population density is high. This is because you will not have access to enough wind. So it will be better if you make small roof top wind turbines. With these you can easily reduce your electricity bill by 10% at least. In case you are residing in a remote area, chances are that there will be more wind and you can have the option to install the home wind turbine at a higher height. Usually you should install the wind turbine at 80-120 feet. With that height stronger wind will be accessed, which will make more energy. You will also need a battery back up to store the electricity thus produced.



By: Energy 4 Earth

Home Made Energy – Learn about wind and solar energy www.renewableenergy4earth.com

The sand screens and micron filters were selected because of the durable and corrosion resistant fiberglass and PVC construction. The specific model of Eden micron filters was chosen to maintain the filter element flux at approximately 3.3 gpm/per 10″ equivalent.

Due to the relative remoteness of the installation site, multistage-centrifugal, high-pressure pumps have been selected for their reliability, availability of parts, economics of operation and easy maintenance. Centrifugal pumps in general are smoother, quieter, and require less ancillary equipment (i.e. pulsation dampeners) than positive displacement pumps. Hydropro has found that positive displacement pumps are much more prone to failure and lengthily downtimes than high-quality centrifugal pumps.

The Grundfos Booster Modules were chosen for several reasons. The inline style helped conserve space and provided ease of installation, allowing everything to be mounted on the same skid (with the exception of cleaning/flush tanks, raw water booster pumps, and chemical feeds). These submersible, multi-stage centrifugal pumps were also chosen because they are very efficient and quiet, and are constructed of corrosion resistant, 904L super austenitic stainless steel.

The high pressure feed and concentrate headers were made of 2205 duplex stainless steel for superior corrosion resistance, and the structural skid was constructed of FRP for low weight and zero maintenance. ERI´s Pressure Exchanger was chosen because of its high energy efficiency, dependability, and corrosion resistant materials.

Performance

Values for the projected power consumption rates that were presented in the proposal were based on a 27ºC feed stream of 45,000 mg/l TDS and a permeate flow rate of 100,000 gpd. The membrane manufactures projection software was used to determine the system parameters at a recovery of 35%, and these parameters were subsequently used to determine the projected power consumption. The result was an anticipated feed pressure of 900 psi and a specific power consumption rate of 3.02 kWh/m³.

Once the system was installed and operating, the specific power consumption was calculated based on actual system parameters and the result was a much lower value of 2.65 kWh/m³. There were several reasons the actual value was lower, the main reason however, was the conservative design. Because of some uncertainty in the feed water quality, the SWRO system was designed with a relatively low flux (approximately 8 gpm/ft2), and a somewhat large hydraulic envelope. As it turned out, the feed water TDS was closer to 36,000 ppm and fairly stable. The lower feed TDS enabled the system to operate at a lower membrane feed pressure of 790 psi and a higher permeate flow rate of 120,000 gpd, consequently using less energy than originally projected and making higher quality permeate.

Conclusion

With most of the system assembled, the installation was fairly straightforward and went smoothly. The two units were installed, started up, tested and operator training was completed in less than three weeks. There was, however, a problem with the feed water quality and the pretreatment system, which was discovered after only 24 hours of operation. It immediately became apparent that the raw water was loaded with particulate that was quickly fouling the sand screens and the micron filters. Fortunately, the feed system could be modified to flow into an existing 250,000 gallon seawater tank from the wells, and the SWRO feed was then drawn out of this tank. This settling tank solution worked quite well and provided a feed water with a pre-filter SDI of 1.25.

There was also one other performance issue that needed to be resolved. Initially, the permeate quality was less than what was projected, and it was not clear why. The system was extensively checked ant tested for leaks, and the possibility that seawater was somehow mixing with the permeate was eventually eliminated. It was finally determined that the membranes did not meet the design rejection required to produce the projected permeate TDS. Once the membranes were replaced, the system was making plenty of high quality permeate that was well below the maximum acceptable permeate TDS.

KAJUR and the residents of Ebye have since been enjoying low-cost, high-quality water for over a year now without any noteworthy system failures. They are so pleased, in fact, that KAJUR has recently awarded Hydropro another SWRO job utilizing work exchanger energy recovery.



By: Energy Recovery Inc.

Energy Recovery Inc. is a Clean technology company that supplies the PX Pressure Exchanger for seawater desalination.

Right now, there are a few things you can do around your home to air seal it to save money during the winter months and during the summer.

As mentioned in Part 1, your home is a “thermal envelope”. That is the sum total of the home’s insulation systems: walls, ceilings, foundation, floors, windows, and doors. These work more effectively with good, tight fits that seal out the weather and air. By having a tight seal on your home’s thermal envelope, the less energy you waste or lose by exchanging it too often with the air outside.

Now, we’re going to look at exterior doors, the laundry center, the water heater tank, HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning), attic insulation, attic ventilation and rain gutters.

Presenting The Doors!

We all want our doors to be attractive, secure, and weather proof. Like windows, when they are properly installed and kept in good condition, they can save you energy and money. If your door is hard to close or open, moves the whole door frame when you open or close the door, rattles when it is closed, or you see daylight and feel a draft coming from around it, then your door needs work.

When a door doesn’t close correctly, it obviously fails to seal. If your exterior door is difficult to open or close, the first thing to look for is if something is caught in the door or if something is sticking out from the door frame, such as a ***** head not fully tightened against the hinge. Next, determine with a carpenter’s level whether the door is hanging plumb (straight up and down) and if the door jambs are parallel to each other. Sometimes, a ***** head not tightened into the hinge can prevent a door from closing properly and over time deform and loosen the door frame or the door. Also, check to see if any hinges move toward or away from the door jamb or if they wiggle. Hinges should be tightly fastened to the door and the door jamb with no other movement except at the hinge joint.

Once I lived in an old house and the back door was hard to close because the whole frame moved with it. It was one of those things I kept putting off to fix. Then one night, I pulled the door shut so hard that I pulled the entire door and door frame out from the wall of the house. I tacked it back in place for the night but the next morning, I settled down to repair it. The original nails had rusted down to the thickness of thread while the wooden shims that kept the door seated properly had rotted because moisture got inside the door frame.

If your door frame moves when you open or close the door, don’t put it off repairing it like I did. Fix it now. First, remove the casing from both the inside of the door and the exterior. Be careful – often in older homes, door casing and other moldings are unique or are no longer available. Sharp-edged casing pry bars are perfect for this. With a little patience and care, you can remove the casing without damaging it too much. A putty knife and a claw hammer are also useful. Again, be patient and careful – you are disassembling not destroying.

After you remove the casing, look for any damage to the wood making up the door frame; such as if it is rotten or split. Check to see if the shims are in place and intact. If everything looks right, check the frame to see if it is plumb. Add shims as needed and check that the door opens and closes correctly. Usually, it is easier to tack a scrap 1? × 2? across the door when it’s closed to seat the door frame properly. When it’s plumb and shimmed, carefully nail the frame into place. Next, vacuum debris from the area and seal up seams and gaps with either caulk or expanding foam. Re-fasten the casing and cover up the old nail holes with color-matched wood putty.

If you can close a kleenex in your door and then pull it out easily or if your door rattles from noise or the wind, it means it’s just not seated snuggly. The easiest starting place to for this fix is to add weather stripping. Usually, doors made over the past 25 years have had weather stripping built onto them. But being a door is rough work. Over time, the weather stripping gets stripped from the door. In some cases, the same weather stripping types are still used by the door manufacturer and can be easily replaced. Usually with much older homes, it’s not the case. You’ll be either replacing worn-out weather stripping someone else applied, or you’ll be putting on brand new.

First, measure the gap between the door surface and the door jamb at several places. Add about 1/16 of an inch to this measurement and this will give you a rough thickness of the self-adhesive foam or felt you will need to apply. Typically, I apply the foam stripping to the door jamb. Since the door jamb doesn’t go anywhere there’s less of a chance for something bumping against it and tearing off the foam. The door, on the other hand, is meant to move and will encounter all sort of things in its travels. As mentioned, you want the door to close firmly. Be sure to buy more foam than you will need so you can add and adjust the foam until you have a good seal.

If your door is in too bad of condition to repair, then it really is no longer a matter of weatherization but security. Seriously consider replacing it. Residential exterior doors come in three standard widths: 30, 32, and 36 inches.

Generally, the most insulating material for an exterior door is wood because it doesn’t conduct heat as easily as metal, vinyl, or fiberglass. That being said, most inexpensive wooden doors don’t fare well over time. They wear quickly in the areas that have the most contact (door handles and foot area), their mounting screws can loosen or tear, and depending on the harshness of the weather they can dry out and split. Steel doors provide better security and stand up to wear but they conduct heat. Wood-core steel doors and foam core doors last longer, are stronger, and better insulated. Fiberglass doors usually are the most strong, durable, and well insulating but tend to be more expensive.

Door Sweeps and Door Jambs with Vinyl Weather-stripping

A door’s most drafty area is along the bottom where it meets the door threshold. Most thresholds are aluminum or wooden ridges that meet the bottom of the door and form a seal. However, since the door is constantly being opened and the threshold is being stepped on, the factory-installed weatherization can wear out quickly. It can be quickly and easily replaced with a self-adhesive vinyl strip that hangs down from the bottom edge of the door. You attach it on the interior side of the door.

There is another kind of door sweep that uses multiple vinyl strips to block drafts. Somewhat more expensive, but it slips on over the bottom edge of the door and is held on with screws.

One product I have used with great success is pvc door jambs with built-in vinyl weather stripping. Mounted on the outside of your door, these door jambs can either replace your existing jambs or slide over them. The vinyl weather-stripping can be pushed up snugly against the door to keep out drafts when the door is closed. Use a circular miter saw to make the proper angled cuts so they can be mounted attractively in place. When they are in position, they can be quickly nailed or screwed into place and then painted. While I like these, there are many other similar kits that might be more suitable for your particular job.

The Laundry Center

The big energy users in the laundry area are the washer and the dryer. The typical washer uses about 0.256 kWh per load. The main cost is obviously the amount of hot water the is used during each load. Top loading washers use up to 40 gallons while front loaders use 10-24 gallons. It is easy to cut costs here by washing in warm or cold water. However, the main energy savings comes from drying your clothes. Even though modern washing machines do an excellent job of extracting the water from clothes by spinning them, they still need to be dried.

Dryers tend not to be very energy efficient because they have one job: force dry, heated air into a rotating drum to evaporate water. Dryers use ten to fifteen percent of domestic energy in the United States. Dryers also cause lint. Lint comes from fibers in your clothing coming loose as the clothes tumble across each other in a dryer’s hot drum. Lint not only collects in your dryer’s lint trap but also through the dryer’s duct work. If lint begins to obstruct or clog your dryer’s duct work, the evaporated water from your nice, clean clothes will not leave the system. If the water is trapped, it will take longer and longer for the dryer to work. Therefore, once a year, pull your dryer away from the wall, detach the duct from the bottom of your dryer, and pull out as much lint as you can from the dryer and the duct. The first time you do this, you might be surprised how much you pull out. You’ll also notice a big improvement in the time it takes for your dryer to dry your clothes.

During the cooler winter months when you are heating your home, you may notice your home feeling drier. While not always a bad thing, if your skin feels dry and itchy or if you notice your sinuses feeling raw and irritated more often, maybe your home is too dry. One way around this is to disconnect your dryer vent tubing from the duct work leading out of the house. Place a nylon sock over the end of the vent tubing and tie it in place with a long twist tie or rubber band. (Make sure you block up the vent going outside). This way, every time you run your drier, you will heat and humidify your house too.

Hanging your clothes not only save energy but also helps them last longer. Dry your clothes on a drying rack or clothes line. If you can’t hang them outside, you can hang them inside by buying a retractable clothes line (outside models are also available). Set up the line in a hallway of your home and hang your clothes to dry while you are at work. Place a large floor fan in the hallway to help circulate the air. Tumble clothes in the dryer for a few minutes until they are warm. This will relax the fibers and you’ll avoid having wrinkled or stiff clothes from hanging.

Getting into Hot Water

The most expensive part of doing laundry is using hot water. And while you might be able to switch to using warm or cold water for your laundry, having hot water for bathing or cooking or washing dishes is an important convenience. Currently, the most efficient way to heat water for a home is an on-demand water heater. While these are increasing in popularity in the US, most homes still rely on the old tank-style water heater. Basically, its a 40 or so gallon tank of water that is heated either by natural gas or electric heating elements. True, the method works well but most of the energy used by tank water heaters is just for maintaining hot water on stand-by and ready for use. That means, it’s heating water when you are asleep or at work or on vacation. So, a lot of energy is wasted. Water heater tanks are wrapped with insulation but adding more will save energy.

Put a water heater blanket around your water heater. Most water heater blankets at the home center tend to be about an inch thick so that they can be sold in one piece but not be too heavy to be held up with tape. These are made of plastic-covered fiberglass and you wrap them around your water heater. In terms of R factors of insulation (R-value indicates an insulation’s resistance to heat flow), you will adding about 3 R’s worth.

You can make water heater blanket with higher R-values. One method is to use reflective aluminum foil insulation (a.k.a. foil-clad bubble-wrap) and cut enough strips long enough to go around your water heater twice. You could then add the store-bought water heater blanket and have an R-value of more than 7.5. With this amount of insulation, you should be able to turn down your heater’s thermostat and save even more money.

For safety, do not block any of the control panels, block off the bottom, or put any of insulation across the top of your water heater. Never obstruct the pressure release valve.

Keeping your hot water hot doesn’t stop at the water heater. Insulating your hot water pipes will also save energy and cut energy costs. Consider this: each time you turn on the tap for your shower, you let the water run until it gets warm. Let’s say the pipe from you water heater to your shower is 20 feet long. Now, that might only be a quart but that can turn into a couple of hundred gallons for a family of four in the course of a year. Also, consider that after your shower, there is still hot water in the pipe. By adding insulation, that heated water will cool more slowly. If you insulate your pipes efficiently enough, heat from the water heater will be more efficiently contained in your hot water pipes. You won’t need to wait as long for that hot water, you will waste less water, and you will save more money.

Just Venting…

There are several ways you can improve the efficiency of your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system (HVAC). If you have an old thermostat that isn’t programmable, turn off your furnace circuit breaker, carefully disconnect the thermostat from your wall, and throw it out.

Programmable thermostats can be found for under $25, are commonly found in home centers, and are easy to install. They connect to the same four wire leads that hooked up to your old thermostat. By programming temperature settings in your house to be colder during the winter or warmer during the summer when you are asleep or away, you can save energy and money.

Another easy way of increasing efficiency is to monitor your system’s air filters regularly. Depending on your lifestyle, you should change the filters regularly. If where you live tends to be dusty from busy nearby streets or if you have pets, change the filters every month. In some homes, it can be done every three months.

While disposable filters are cheaper, their expense builds quickly over time. Consider purchasing two washable air filters. Washable air filters usually cost less than $20 and can be rinsed out in a bathtub with hot, soapy water (in the summer, I hit mine with a pressure washer). By buying two, you can swap in a clean, dry one right way when its time to change out the other dirty filter.

One way to significantly improve your HVAC is to check your duct work thoroughly to be sure the system is sealed. A home owner can save up to $300 from their annual heating and cooling costs by sealing their duct work. Start at your HVAC system and feel for moving air coming from small holes or gaps in the duct work. When you find one, put a piece of aluminum HVAC tape over the hole. Remember: The volume of air leaked adds up; the more leaks you have the less efficient your system is. Check the entire run of your duct work; feel for air leaking from ductwork seams and loose joints. Check at the corners where the metal is folded for leaks, too. Also, make sure that air intake vents are not blocked by furniture or clogged with pet fur.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy Home Energy Saver website, insulating ducts in the typical American home costs about $250. Duct insulation will pay for itself in energy savings in about two and a half years, and continue to save energy and money in years to come. Depending on your duct work, there are many ways of doing this. Some 6 inch and 8 inch diameter sheet-metal ductwork can be replaced with insulated flexible ducting that costs less than $40 for 25 feet at a home center. If you use this, be sure to attach it so that it is snug with the supply ductwork and use aluminum HVAC tape. Other rectangular metal ductwork can be insulated with reflective aluminum foil insulation (foil-clad bubble-wrap), craft-faced fiberglass insulation, and regular gray duct tape.

Remember: you do not need to insulate the HVAC system intake ductwork, just the output side.

The Thing in the Attic

Unless your attic is finished, your attic space is essentially just outside your house’s enclosed thermal envelope. Heated air rises and conducts that heat into the structure and air of your attic and from there to space. Only one thing efficiently maintains and spreads the preferred temperature inside your house: insulation.

Heating and air conditioning account for 50 to 70% of the energy used in the average American home. Inadequate insulation and air leakage are leading causes of energy waste in most homes. Air sealing won’t benefit a whole lot if there is insufficient insulation for the whole house. Throughout most of the country, the US DOE recommends at least R30 (about 1 foot of blown cellulose or fiberglass) for attic insulation and a minimum of a R13 (a bit more than 3 inches of blown cellulose or fiberglass) in the walls. (http://www.ornl.gov/sci/roofs+walls/insulation/ins_06.html) Unfortunately, most homes built in the past two decades are built with R13 in the walls and attic; few have R30 in the attic.

Let’s say your home has R13 of blown cellulose insulation in the attic. The attic measures 1750 square feet and we’ll assume that the insulation has settled. To bring it up to at least R30, we need to add a further 17 R-value’s of insulation to the attic. The easiest way to do this is to either apply another 5 inches of blown cellulose or put down un-faced R19 fiberglass batts (about 6 inches thick).

To figure the cost for blown cellulose to cover the attic space, multiply the square footage by the thickness. Therefore: 1750 × 5 inches (or .416 feet)= 728 cu ft. The home center sells bags that are 16 cu. ft. Divide the 728 cu. ft. by 16 cu. ft and you get 46 (16 cu ft) bags. Some home centers may include the free rental of their blowing equipment as an incentive; others may not. To make the insulation work effectively, it must be spread evenly throughout the attic so that no thin spots or hollows are formed. Also, to keep the insulation out of soffiting, dams need to be built and installed at the end of each ceiling joist (or around light fixtures) before turning on the insulation blower.

Fiberglass insulation is typically figured by square foot. Rolls of R19 come in 23 inches wide or 16 inches wide. This is so the insulation fits between the joists. Roll lengths vary, usually between 48 and 77 feet long (though batts are available). What you should watch out for is just how big the roll is. In other words – can you get it through the attic’s entrance or trap door?

Once you’ve decided on what size works for you, divide the square footage (our 1750 square feet) by the length and you have the number of rolls you need. Craft-faced insulation has a paper vapor barrier facing. Because insulation is being added on top of other insulation in this case there is no need for the paper vapor barrier facing. While it is more expensive that the blown cellulose, fiberglass batts are convenient sizes that can be positioned and laid in place or trimmed as needed. And it’s always better to have extra.

Now, let’s say you’ve figured out how much you need…and that you can’t afford more than $50 at a stretch. Not to worry. The great thing about insulating is that it doesn’t need to be done all at once. You can take your time and build on it. The best way, though, is to figure out what area of your home you want to insulate first. Consider these two things: where is your thermostat located and where do you spend most of your waking hours in the home? Usually, the thermostat is in the living room and that’s were most people spend their time. The solution is simple here: lay in your first bundles of insulation over this room. But if your thermostat is in the living room and you spend your time in another room, such as a home office, you may wish to divide your insulation between the area over the thermostat and the office. In this instance, it’s best to take time to choose what priorities fit your lifestyle and how to proceed from there.

The autumn is the best time to install insulation in your attic. After all, during the summer, it could reach as high as 150° F, especially in a poorly ventilated attic. But, if you want to start saving money now during the peak heating season as well as later on during the air conditioning season, now is the best time to do the job. So, here’s some tips on how to make the job easy:

Know your attic’s layout and plan how to fit the insulation in place in advance. Buy your insulation the day before you plan to install it. Moving around and working in a cramped space takes up an awful lot of time. Start early. It’s a dirty job. Be sure to wear long sleeves and pants, gloves, safety glasses and respiratory protection against dust. Get some help so you can get in and out of the attic faster. The job will go much faster and you both will have someone to complain about the dust to. Take some 2 foot by 3 foot pieces of 3/4 inch thick plywood into the attic with you. Use them to stand or kneel on as you move through the attic. Often you’ll find it’s easier on your shins and knees to rest on the plywood rather than balancing on a joist and risk crashing through the ceiling sheetrock into the bathtub. Start at the far end and work your way back to your attic’s entrance. Insulation works best if it stays “fluffed up” or not compressed. You don’t want spend time putting it down nice and neat and tight only to discover that you must trudge across it to get out of your attic. When you are done, take a warm shower to remove the fibers, dust, and dirt that adhered to your skin. When you’ve finished insulating the attic, you will also want to make sure your attic trap door seals. As mentioned, your attic is just outside your home’s thermal envelope so your attic door is really a door to the outside. Make certain that it closes snugly and seals. Use weather stripping – it will make a difference.

Heat Shield to Maximum!

Your roof is a heat shield for your house. But in order for it to work at peak efficiency, it needs to be adequately ventilated. The National Roofing Contractors Association recommends 1 square foot of ventilation opening should be provided for every 150 square feet of ceiling area. (http://www.nrca.net/consumer/fyi.aspx)

If you’ve ever ventured into an attic on a sunny summer day, you know how hot it can be. Temperatures can easily reach 150° F. Trapped heat increases your air conditioner’s heat load. This raises your energy costs. Trapped heat also can damage the plywood sheathing, under-layment, shingles and personal items located inside the attic.

Roof ventilation works with two kinds of vents, an exhaust and an intake. Heated attic air flows out through a vent in the upper part of the roof. This pulls in cooler air to enter through intake vents located down in the soffiting or fascia board. Most houses built in the 1960s onwards use a combination of soffit vents and either gable vents, roof vents, or ridge venting to allow air to flow through the attic. By allowing the attic to breathe and circulate heated air out, the house is better able to let go of the heat it absorbs during the day.

Retrofitting roof vents is not as hard as it sounds. Nevertheless, it can be daunting to climb onto your roof and cut holes into it. I have found the easiest to install is the ridgevent system. Ridgevents come in metal or plastic kits. It has a hollow inside and either vents along its sides or under a flange. By straddling a slot cut though the sheathing at the roof’s ridge or peak, it allows heated attic air to leave without letting rain inside.

The actual installation technique varies slightly depending on the kit you use but very basically remove the top cap of shingles on the roof, and use a circular saw to cut a one inch wide piece of sheathing from either side of the roof’s ridge. If you’re installing full length venting, you’ll be cutting two slots the entire length of your roof so use a sharp blade and take your time. Afterwards, attach the ridge vent and caulk down the loose ends.

Now that you’ve seen what to look for in your home thermal envelope, you can start planning where to begin, whether it’s walls, ceilings, foundation, floors, windows, doors, or the roof. And while it’s import to consider how your home works as a whole, approach improving it one step at a time. Dividing the project of sealing your home into smaller, manageable jobs around the house makes it easier to tackle. Consider that all these jobs don’t need to be done all together all at once. Tackle ridgevents one weekend, insulation another, or a new thermostat some weeknight after dinner. You should notice more energy efficiency — however slight — after each improvement. They will add up and you will save money and your home will feel more comfortable. But be sure to take your time preparing and researching, read the instructions, and use good tools.

Above all, be careful when considering projects that seem beyond your skill level. If in doubt, hire a professional. After all, sometimes doing-it-yourself can really do-it-to-you.



By: Bounce Energy

Bounce Energy is a Texas Electric Company based in Houston. Bounce Energy’s goal is provide more than low Texas Electric Rates to our customers. With innovative and flexible plans, excellent customer service, and superior customer rewards, Bounce Energy offers a unique approach to Texas electricity.