XIYA LI

UI / UX

Product

About

Sustainable Energy Station

APR. 2019

Design development

This is a design for sustainable energy station at a local residential area near Ponte delle Cascine, Florence, IT.

The amount of sunlight in the site is limited, especially during the afternoon. As the area is usually unevenly heated, wind can be a suitable choice for providing clean energy. For this project, the most appropriate powering strategy is the distributed wind powering. It suits the small-scale use in the playground that I designed and the residential use in the greenhouse and building. The wind power suits the particular climate in Florence, which has the wind speed ranging from 12 - 19 km/h most of the time. Among the different wind turbines, the most energy-efficient and appropriate is the single small turbine. It can partially offset loads or support a completely-off grid home. To support the distributed wind system, the salt water battery can be both appropriate and efficient. employs a concentrated saline solution as its electrolyte. They are nonflammable and more easily recycled than batteries that employ toxic or flammable materials.

Materials that are typically used for the rotor blades in wind turbines are composites, as they tend to have a high stiffness, high strength, high fatigue resistance, and low weight.[51] Typical resins used for these composites include polyester and epoxy, while glass and carbon fibers have been used for the reinforcing material.[52] Construction may use manual layup techniques or composite resin injection molding. As the price of glass fibers is only about one tenth the price of carbon fiber, glass fiber is still dominant. The stiffness of composites is determined by the stiffness of fibers and their volume content. Typically, E-glass fibers are used as main reinforcement in the composites. Typically, the glass/epoxy composites for wind blades contain up to 75% glass by weight. This increases the stiffness, tensile and compressive strength. A promising source of the composite materials in the future is glass fibers with modified compositions like S-glass, R-glass etc. Some other special glasses developed by Owens Corning are ECRGLAS, Advantex and most recently WindStrand glass fibers.

Aquion Energy’s battery adopts sodium ions as the substance for the electrolyte. Its mechanical materials can be recycled in normal recycling streams. Chemical materials can be disposed of without special equipment or containers.The battery material is non-toxic and non-flammable.
The company claims to provide a low-cost way to store large amounts of energy (e.g. for an electricity grid) through thousands of battery cycles, and a non-toxic end product made from widely available material inputs and which operates safely and reliably across a wide range of temperatures and operating environments.

The battery materials are non-toxic. The device used Siemens power inverter technology.

Final Design Decision







Wind Turbine

Wind turbines are generally inexpensive. They will produce electricity at between two and six cents per kilowatt hour, which is one of the lowest-priced renewable energy sources. As technology needed for wind turbines continues to improve, the prices will decrease as well. In addition, there is no competitive market for wind energy, as it does not cost money to get a hold of wind. The main cost of wind turbines are the installation process. The average cost is between $48,000 and $65,000 to install. However, the energy harvested from the turbine will offset the installation cost, as well as provide virtually free energy for years after. Wind turbines provide a clean energy source, emitting no greenhouse gases and no waste product. Over 1,500 tons of carbon dioxide per year can be eliminated by using a one megawatt turbine instead of one megawatt of energy from a fossil fuel. Being environmentally friendly and green is a large advantage of wind turbines.



Salt Water Battery

A salt water battery employs a concentrated saline solution as its electrolyte. They are nonflammable and more easily recycled than batteries that employ toxic or flammable materials. Aquion Energy’s batteries are classified as standard goods with no special handling required in shipment. It has no life-reducing side reactions while not in use. It is robust to any variable cycling profiles and long duration intervals while partially charged. Maintenance cycling to maintain performance/life is unnecessary. Its optimal operating temperature range is -5 °C to 40 °C and are little affected by operational temperature swings. It operates without auxiliary loads or an external power supply. Its chemistry is not susceptible to thermal runaway. Active thermal management is generally not required, except given extreme ambient temperature. Its mechanical materials can be recycled in normal recycling streams. Chemical materials can be disposed of without special equipment or containers.




Reference:

“Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Energy – Clean Energy Ideas”. Clean Energy Ideas. 19 June 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
“Residential Wind Energy Systems – Bergey Wind Power Bergey Wind Power”. bergey.com. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
“About Wind Energy: Factsheets and Statistics”. www.pawindenergynow.org. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
Hussein, A.K. (2015). “Applications of nanotechnology in renewable energies—A comprehensive overview and understanding”. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 42: 460–476. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2014.10.027.