Promotech News

  • Moss FM: First Plant-Powered Radio Uses "Biological Solar Panels"

    Moss FM is the world’s first plant-powered radio! The neatly arranged pots of moss form a Photo Microbial Fuel Cell that captures electrons generated during photosynthesis and converts them into electricity, even when there is no light. The project was developed by Swiss designer Fabienne Felder in collaboration with Cambridge University scientists Dr. Paolo Bombelli and Ross Dennis. While the technology is still in its infancy, the team hopes that it will become commercially viable in as little as...more

    posted on February 11, 2014
  • Moss FM: First Plant-Powered Radio Uses "Biological Solar Panels"

    Moss FM is the world’s first plant-powered radio! The neatly arranged pots of moss form a Photo Microbial Fuel Cell that captures electrons generated during photosynthesis and converts them into electricity, even when there is no light. The project was developed by Swiss designer Fabienne Felder in collaboration with Cambridge University scientists Dr. Paolo Bombelli and Ross Dennis. While the technology is still in its infancy, the team hopes that it will become commercially viable in as little as five to ten years.

    posted on February 11, 2014
  • Qatar Unveils Luxurious Off-Grid Floating Hotels for 2022 World Cup

    Sigge Architects has partnered with Global Accommodation Management to propose a series of floating hotels and apartments for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The nation has been worried about accommodating the influx of soccer enthusiasts, and these floating hotels and apartments will help accommodate over 25,000 people in a space-saving and—the designers claim—energy efficient manner.

    Sigge Architect’s designs are linked to the mainland by boats and new transit lines in Qatar....more

    posted on January 27, 2014
  • Qatar Unveils Luxurious Off-Grid Floating Hotels for 2022 World Cup

    Sigge Architects has partnered with Global Accommodation Management to propose a series of floating hotels and apartments for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The nation has been worried about accommodating the influx of soccer enthusiasts, and these floating hotels and apartments will help accommodate over 25,000 people in a space-saving and—the designers claim—energy efficient manner.

    Sigge Architect’s designs are linked to the mainland by boats and new transit lines in Qatar.  The hotels will be accompanied by luxury apartments and are part of a new island called Oryx Island off the coast of Doha. This new island will be equipped with its own utilities and power, and these new hotel buildings will exist entirely off Qatar’s grid. The hotel will have an independent sewage treatment plant, power generation and recycling possibilities. Designed to be luxurious in nature, the interiors depict modern design with large expansive glass walls to take in the ocean views. The hope and promise is that this island can be repurposed for future events and and can be towed to another location.

    Qatar definitely has the resources and money to accomplish these plans. The Barwa Real Estate Company will be developing Oryx Island at a cost of $5.5 million. These floating hotels are a beautiful solutions to the continual need for housing during our melting ice-cap era, though the environemental impact of the hotels is fairly unclear—the island will most likely affect the stability of the marine life, environmental quality, and water quality of the area.

     

    posted on January 27, 2014
  • India plans world’s biggest solar project. Now about the financing …

    The sun sets over the parched Indian state of Rajasthan, where the world’s biggest solar array is planned.
    India has just 2,200 megawatts of grid-connected solar power — less than a quarter of the capacity in the U.S. But four years ago, the heavily coal-dependent country had only 18 megawatts, so it’s been quickly upping its game. 

    And now it’s talking up plans to build the world’s biggest solar power plant in the desert-dominated state of Rajasthan, which...more

    posted on January 24, 2014
  • India plans world’s biggest solar project. Now about the financing …

    The sun sets over the parched Indian state of Rajasthan, where the world’s biggest solar array is planned.
    India has just 2,200 megawatts of grid-connected solar power — less than a quarter of the capacity in the U.S. But four years ago, the heavily coal-dependent country had only 18 megawatts, so it’s been quickly upping its game. 

    And now it’s talking up plans to build the world’s biggest solar power plant in the desert-dominated state of Rajasthan, which abuts Pakistan’s border.

    If built, the $4.4 billion solar array would cover an area larger than Manhattan and be capable of producing 4,000 megawatts of electricity — an amount that Nature compared with the output of four nuclear power plants. It’s proposed for an area near a government salt-mining operation.

    A half dozen state-owned companies last month signed a memorandum of understanding related to the project. Financing such a mammoth project, though, will not be easy, so India is preparing to turn to the World Bank for assistance. domain-B, an Indian business magazine, explains:

    The ministry of new and renewable energy has submitted a proposal to the department of economic affairs (DEA) for approaching the World Bank for loan assistance of $500 million for implementation of the 750 MW first phase of the proposed 4000 MW ultra mega solar power project to be set up on the vacant land of Hindustan Salts Ltd at Sambhar, Rajasthan, at a total estimated cost of $1.09 billion.

    The DEA is evaluating the proposal and once it is forwarded, the World Bank is likely to consider financing the project, minister of new and renewable energy Farooq Abdullah informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply on Friday.

    The World Bank decided last year to shift away from financing coal plants, so this big solar project should be right up its alley.

    India has been a prickly negotiator during climate talks, frustrating other countries by stalling progress on emissions agreements. But at least it’s starting to walk the right walk on solar and wind at home.

    posted on January 24, 2014
  • Promotech Launching the new website

    Promotech-ltd is pleased to announce the launch of the new and improved corporate website in January 2013. The new site is redesigned with a new appearance and a lot of new information making it easier for you to find information and access services. We will be adding information regulary featuring our newest products and services. Take a look! We sincerely hope you enjoy visiting it. Please let us know if you have any questiions.

    more
    posted on January 10, 2013
  • Promotech Launching the new website

    Promotech-ltd is pleased to announce the launch of the new and improved corporate website in January 2013. The new site is redesigned with a new appearance and a lot of new information making it easier for you to find information and access services. We will be adding information regulary featuring our newest products and services. Take a look! We sincerely hope you enjoy visiting it. Please let us know if you have any questiions.

    posted on January 10, 2013
  • Chinese Biogas Manual

    China has huge rural/agricultural communities that traditionally struggled with energy production and sanitation. Part of the government's response was in the form of the attached manual. Its effectiveness is immense, as it empowers people to construct and operate their own digesters within their communities. Once the digester is constructed it serves the needs of the whole community, providing biogas to run agriculural machinery, heat water, or power stoves. As well as providing energy it provided a way...more

    posted on January 07, 2013
  • Chinese Biogas Manual

    China has huge rural/agricultural communities that traditionally struggled with energy production and sanitation. Part of the government's response was in the form of the attached manual. Its effectiveness is immense, as it empowers people to construct and operate their own digesters within their communities. Once the digester is constructed it serves the needs of the whole community, providing biogas to run agriculural machinery, heat water, or power stoves. As well as providing energy it provided a way to deal with human waste, neutralising another large rural problem; parasites.

     At the moment there are millions of successfully operational digesters in China, and their atitude of open-source technology, and community upliftment through education is truly inspirational.

    "This manual has been translated virtually verbatim from the Chinese. It conveys not just the substance but the tone of Chinese technical education for rural areas. A decisive feature of China’s technical education is that it encourages people to assimilate and modulate technology to their own needs - the result is that people develop themselves."

    posted on January 07, 2013
  • Red dye plant could lead to green battery

    An organic coloring from a plant used to create dye for textiles can be turned into a highly effective, natural cathode for lithium-ion batteries.
    Scientists at Rice University and the City College of New York have found that the madder plant or Rubia tinctorum can produce purpurin, an organic molecule that can electrochemically interact with lithium and bind lithium ions.
    Purpurin is found in the roots of the madder plant, the same roots which have been boiled to color fabrics in civilizatio...more

    posted on January 07, 2013
  • Red dye plant could lead to green battery

    An organic coloring from a plant used to create dye for textiles can be turned into a highly effective, natural cathode for lithium-ion batteries.
    Scientists at Rice University and the City College of New York have found that the madder plant or Rubia tinctorum can produce purpurin, an organic molecule that can electrochemically interact with lithium and bind lithium ions.
    Purpurin is found in the roots of the madder plant, the same roots which have been boiled to color fabrics in civilizations in Asia and the Middle East going back more than 3,500 years ago. From these “ancient roots” the Rice and City College team believe they could find the root of a more eco-friendly lithium-ion battery.

    Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are considered a key piece of energy storage technology for many devices and gadgets of the future – including electric vehicles. However, they are made from rare materials which are often costly and are troublesome to dispose of. “They’re not environmentally friendly,” said Arava Leela Mohana Reddy, a research scientist at Rice. “They use cathodes of lithium cobalt oxide, which are very expensive. You have to mine the cobalt metal and manufacture the cathodes in a high-temperature environment.”
    Proper disposal and recycling is also a big issue as extracting cobalt from the batteries is also an expensive process. It’s estimated that in 2010, almost 10 billion lithium-ion batteries had to be recycled. Both producing and recycling cobalt based cathodes are energy intensive processes, pumping an estimated 72 kilograms of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for every kilowatt-hour of energy in the battery.
    On the other hand, purpurin is a naturally occurring substance that is easy to extract and produce. Growing madder to make batteries would also have the additional benefit of soaking up carbon dioxide, preventing it from accumulating in the atmosphere.

    The team’s battery used a cathode composed mainly of purpurin extracted from the red madder with the addition of 20 percent carbon to add conductivity. The cathode is easy to produce; purpurin is dissolved in alcohol solvent and lithium salt. Much like madder roots color fabric, the cathodes color determines whether it’s ready for use – when lithium ion binds with purpurin, the solution turns from reddish yellow to pink.
    Currently the team was able to build a half-battery cell with a capacity of 90 milliamp hours per gram after 50 charge/discharge cycles. They estimate that a commercial battery using purpurin may only be a few years away, counting the time needed to ramp up its efficiency or hunt down and synthesize similar organic molecules.
    The team is also looking for organic molecules suitable for use as a high-capacity anode, the other electrode in a lithium-ion battery.
    The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Army Research Office.

    posted on January 07, 2013
  • Peel-And-Stick Solar Panels:

    For all their promise, solar cells have frustrated scientists in one crucial regard -- most are rigid. They must be deployed in stiff, often heavy, fixed panels, limiting their applications. So researchers have been trying to get photovoltaics to loosen up. The ideal: flexible, decal-like solar panels that can be peeled off like band-aids and stuck to virtually any surface, from papers to window panes.
    Now the ideal is real. Stanford researchers have succeeded in developing the world's first peel-a...more

    posted on December 07, 2012
  • Peel-And-Stick Solar Panels:

    For all their promise, solar cells have frustrated scientists in one crucial regard -- most are rigid. They must be deployed in stiff, often heavy, fixed panels, limiting their applications. So researchers have been trying to get photovoltaics to loosen up. The ideal: flexible, decal-like solar panels that can be peeled off like band-aids and stuck to virtually any surface, from papers to window panes.
    Now the ideal is real. Stanford researchers have succeeded in developing the world's first peel-and-stick thin-film solar cells. The breakthrough is described in a paper in the December 20th issue of Scientific Reports.

    Unlike standard thin-film solar cells, the peel-and-stick version from Stanford does not require any direct fabrication on the final carrier substrate. This is a far more dramatic development than it may initially seem. All the challenges associated with putting solar cells on unconventional materials are avoided with the new process, vastly expanding the potential applications of solar technology. Thin-film photovoltaic cells are traditionally fixed on rigid silicon and glass substrates, greatly limiting their uses, says Chi Hwan Lee, lead author of the paper and a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering. And while the development of thin-film solar cells promised to inject some flexibility into the technology, explains Xiaolin Zheng, a Stanford assistant professor of mechanical engineering and senior author of the paper, scientists found that use of alternative substrates was problematic in the extreme.

    "Nonconventional or 'universal' substrates are difficult to use for photovoltaics because they typically have irregular surfaces and they don't do well with the thermal and chemical processing necessary to produce today's solar cells," Zheng observes. "We got around these problems by developing this peel-and-stick process, which gives thin-film solar cells flexibility and attachment potential we've never seen before, and also reduces their general cost and weight."
    Utilizing the process, Zheng continues, researchers attached their solar cells to paper, plastic and window glass among other materials.
    "It's significant that we didn't lose any of the original cell efficiency," Zheng said.
    The new process involves a unique silicon, silicon dioxide and metal "sandwich." First, a 300-nanometer film of nickel (Ni) is deposited on a silicon/silicon dioxide (Si/SiO2) wafer. Thin-film solar cells are then deposited on the nickel layer utilizing standard fabrication techniques, and covered with a layer of polymer. A thermal release tape is then attached to the top of the thin-film solar cells to augment their transfer off of the production wafer and onto a new substrate.

    The solar cell is now ready to peel from the wafer. To remove it, the wafer is submerged in water at room temperature and the edge of the thermal release tape is peeled back slightly, allowing water to seep into and penetrate between the nickel and silicon dioxide interface. The solar cell is thus freed from the hard substrate but still attached to the thermal release tape. Zheng and team then heat the tape and solar cell to 90°C for several seconds, then the cell can be applied to virtually any surface using double-sided tape or other adhesive. Finally, the thermal release tape is removed, leaving just the solar cell attached to the chosen substrate.
    Tests have demonstrated that the peel-and-stick process reliably leaves the thin-film solar cells wholly intact and functional, Zheng said. "There's also no waste. The silicon wafer is typically undamaged and clean after removal of the solar cells, and can be reused."
    While others have been successful in fabricating thin-film solar cells on flexible substrates before, those efforts have required modifications of existing processes or materials, noted Lee. "The main contribution of our work is we have done so without modifying any existing processes, facilities or materials, making them viable commercially. And we have demonstrated our process on a more diverse array of substrates than ever before," Lee said.
    "Now you can put them on helmets, cell phones, convex windows, portable electronic devices, curved roofs, clothing -- virtually anything," said Zheng.
    Moreover, peel-and-stick technology isn't necessarily restricted to thin-film solar cells, Zheng said. The researchers believe the process can also be applied to thin-film electronics, including printed circuits and ultra thin transistors and LCDs.
    "Obviously, a lot of new products -- from 'smart' clothing to new aerospace systems -- might be possible by combining both thin-film electronics and thin-film solar cells," observed Zheng. "And for that matter, we may be just at the beginning of this technology. The peel-and-stick qualities we're researching probably aren't restricted to Ni/SiO2. It's likely many other material interfaces demonstrate similar qualities, and they may have certain advantages for specific applications. We have a lot left to investigate."

    posted on December 07, 2012
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