According to CERA vice chairman Constantinos Iliopoulos, the scheme will be tested on 125 volunteer homes for a year, to see if its implementation in all households would be sustainable. If so, the aim is to install the systems on all Cypriot homes from 2014 onwards.
“The system will be implemented in homes for a year on a pilot basis, to see the consequences it will have on the entire system and the aim is to implement it more generally later,” Iliopoulos told state radio yesterday.
“A small photovoltaic system that corresponds to the house’s consumption will be installed on the homes, so that at the end of the day the production from the photovoltaic will be roughly the same as the house’s consumption,” he added.
“We estimate that broader implementation after the pilot scheme will take place in 2014 for the entire population, if our observations, estimations and figures are as we expect them to be.”
Iliopoulos explained that the systems would produce electricity throughout the day – when there is sun – only needing the central supply network during the evening hours.
But he added: “We need to see the reliability of the system and see through this pilot implementation what the financial consequences will be to the system. Because if you think that all houses have zero consumption, the network (the EAC) will not be able to cover its maintenance and operational costs and therefore we will have to find a way to charge consumers, so as to cover these costs.”
According to the CERA official, the system has not yet been implemented in other EU states, apart from Denmark and Italy, where it is also being tested as a pilot scheme.
Acting EAC spokesman Yiannis Tsouloftas yesterday said the authority was not against such measures, so long as it was compensated for the subsidiary services it provides.
“What the EAC wants to ensure is that it is compensated for the subsidiary services it offers, with the aim of keeping its system functioning,” said Tsouloftas.
He explained: “For example, an application is made to supply a house with electricity and this house is quite far out of town. We have to plan a network to supply that house. Say that costs us around 5,000; we estimate that through consumption we will receive a certain amount a month… and because we estimate making some profit, we charge the client less.”
Tsouloftas said the EAC viewed it as an investment: “If the customer now comes and starts net metering, we won’t have the estimated returns. So who will pay for the money we initially put down?”
Also, he argued, solar power was unreliable. “If for two or three days a year there are clouds and no solar production, we can’t say we didn’t make any provisions as we thought there would be sun. We can’t depend on the sun, so we have to have the system ready in case it is needed.”
“Our investigation into the matter showed that up to 5,000 house roofs could immediately be turned into solar power producers without operational problems…It is time for the EAC to abandon its negative stance towards self-production of electricity,” said the Greens.
“Unfortunately the promotion of solar power use in Cyprus hits a dead end due to unacceptable and intolerable bureaucracies and a lack of vision (as well as vested interests),” it added.
2012年8月23日 星期四
2012年6月18日 星期一
Lighting the way for better bulbs
John Goscha’s first start-up out of Babson College, Ideapaint, made it possible to put a whiteboard on any surface. His new venture, Lucidity Lights, wants to persuade consumers to put energy-efficient, inexpensive light bulbs into any socket.
The ultra-quiet company, with offices in Cambridge and a lab in Woburn, has raised more than a million dollars so far from angel investors, Goscha says, and has brought on board R&D veterans from General Electric and Osram Sylvania.
Goscha says that after leaving Ideapaint in mid-2010, he started thinking about the lighting market, and federal regulations that will start phasing out incandescent bulbs in October.
“When else in my lifetime will there be a multi-billion-dollar market open up due to federal regulations?” Goscha asked.
And, he says, the alternatives available to consumers aren’t very appealing — those spiral-shaped compact fluorescent bulbs, or more expensive LED-based bulbs.
“We talked to 20,000 consumers by standing in the lighting aisle of Home Depot and doing phone and Internet surveys,” Goscha says. “The number one thing they don’t like about compact fluorescents is the color of the light — it’s harsh — and the number two is the delay in start time. People are used to having a light bulb that just works.”
Goscha says that Lucidity is developing a bulb that will be shaped like the incandescents you know and love but use about 80 percent less energy. “It gives off the light color that people like, and it’s dimmable,” he says. “It will be inexpensive and have a longer life than a compact fluorescent.”
Goscha doesn’t want to talk about the company’s approach. “We’re filing patents now,” he says. But several people familiar with the company say it is working on a kind of magnetic induction lamp, a technology that has been around for decades but which has not seen commercial success. These kinds of lamps produce a magnetic field that excites mercury inside the bulb. The mercury produces ultraviolet light, which is converted to visible light by a phosphor coating inside the bulb.
One challenge, says Rob Day of Black Coral Capital, is getting the power electronics that supply electricity to be small enough to fit inside a standard bulb shape. “There’s just not a lot of real estate there in which to hide all of the electronics,” he said.
Another challenge, Day says, is “the consumer lighting market is so crowded, and it’s really hard to break into.”
Of course, you could say the same about the paint business, where Ashland-based Ideapaint has made a pretty significant splash. As with Ideapaint, Lucidity is working on a product that “will be on the shelves of the Lowe’s and Home Depots of the world,” Goscha says.
The company consists of Goscha and seven PhDs, he says, including Jakob Maya, a Sylvania veteran who is VP of development and manufacturing, and Victor Roberts, a former GE exec who is VP of technology.
The state’s venture capital arm, the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation, is adopting a new name: MassVentures.
“There were too many similar acronyms out there, like the MTTC and the MTC,” said president Jerry Bird, referring to the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. “And we just think MassVentures better describes what we do, and who we’re serving.”
“What we want to do is complement what the private sector is doing,” Bird says. “I think our role is to go in with the angel groups, help capitalize the deal appropriately, and then help the company transition from that backing to a being venture-backed company.”
The ultra-quiet company, with offices in Cambridge and a lab in Woburn, has raised more than a million dollars so far from angel investors, Goscha says, and has brought on board R&D veterans from General Electric and Osram Sylvania.
Goscha says that after leaving Ideapaint in mid-2010, he started thinking about the lighting market, and federal regulations that will start phasing out incandescent bulbs in October.
“When else in my lifetime will there be a multi-billion-dollar market open up due to federal regulations?” Goscha asked.
And, he says, the alternatives available to consumers aren’t very appealing — those spiral-shaped compact fluorescent bulbs, or more expensive LED-based bulbs.
“We talked to 20,000 consumers by standing in the lighting aisle of Home Depot and doing phone and Internet surveys,” Goscha says. “The number one thing they don’t like about compact fluorescents is the color of the light — it’s harsh — and the number two is the delay in start time. People are used to having a light bulb that just works.”
Goscha says that Lucidity is developing a bulb that will be shaped like the incandescents you know and love but use about 80 percent less energy. “It gives off the light color that people like, and it’s dimmable,” he says. “It will be inexpensive and have a longer life than a compact fluorescent.”
Goscha doesn’t want to talk about the company’s approach. “We’re filing patents now,” he says. But several people familiar with the company say it is working on a kind of magnetic induction lamp, a technology that has been around for decades but which has not seen commercial success. These kinds of lamps produce a magnetic field that excites mercury inside the bulb. The mercury produces ultraviolet light, which is converted to visible light by a phosphor coating inside the bulb.
One challenge, says Rob Day of Black Coral Capital, is getting the power electronics that supply electricity to be small enough to fit inside a standard bulb shape. “There’s just not a lot of real estate there in which to hide all of the electronics,” he said.
Another challenge, Day says, is “the consumer lighting market is so crowded, and it’s really hard to break into.”
Of course, you could say the same about the paint business, where Ashland-based Ideapaint has made a pretty significant splash. As with Ideapaint, Lucidity is working on a product that “will be on the shelves of the Lowe’s and Home Depots of the world,” Goscha says.
The company consists of Goscha and seven PhDs, he says, including Jakob Maya, a Sylvania veteran who is VP of development and manufacturing, and Victor Roberts, a former GE exec who is VP of technology.
The state’s venture capital arm, the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation, is adopting a new name: MassVentures.
“There were too many similar acronyms out there, like the MTTC and the MTC,” said president Jerry Bird, referring to the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. “And we just think MassVentures better describes what we do, and who we’re serving.”
“What we want to do is complement what the private sector is doing,” Bird says. “I think our role is to go in with the angel groups, help capitalize the deal appropriately, and then help the company transition from that backing to a being venture-backed company.”
2012年6月13日 星期三
Led Lighting - Technology With a Bright Future
"We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology." Dr Carl Sagan.
How many Chinamen does it take to change a light bulb? Well the way technology is developing, light bulbs may not have to be changed at all in future!
Providing they're LED of course!
In the end it all boils down to energy management. Whether we like it or not, this is the immediate challenge for South Africans today. If we fail to tap proactively into alternative energy solutions, we'll suffer increasing inconvenience and find ourselves in financial hot water sooner than later.
In the residential domain, lighting may not be the primary energy consumer. Hot water, cooking and space heating comprise the bulk of your electricity bill. However, in the commercial and industrial sectors lighting can easily take up a massive portion of the electricity account.
Enter the light emitting diode ... latest warrior of the light!
They've been winking at us for years and by now everyone has come into contact with LED technology. For years we've seen indicator lights on TVs, sound systems and electronic systems, Christmas lights and more recently car tail and headlights. Over recent years solar powered traffic lights and billboards have made their appearance, using LED lights which come in a range of colours. Lately LED technology has taken a step up to what are now termed high-powered LEDs.
These include powerful floodlights and hi-bay lighting used in large warehouses and which use a fraction of the electrical energy, but deliver the same lux levels.
LEDs are clearly heading for a brighter future, and apart from specialised applications, nothing can compete with them!
Unique to LED lighting is the fact that the source of light is not a filament, gas discharge, or arc, but rather a semiconductor.
Unlike an incandescent light bulb, light in the LED arises in a tiny photonic cloud between the positive and the negative electrodes of the diode. The power to this LED is delivered by a power supply or a driver that has to be 'intelligent'. This is what actually determines the output and durability of an LED.
For electrical contractors, saving energy by replacing traditional incandescent bulbs with more energy efficient light sources has become common practice in recent years. ESKOM recently spent millions on giving out free compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) to the public in exchange for the inefficient tungsten variety. In spite of the current popularity of CFLs, an increasing number of energy-conscious consumers are upgrading yet again to LED technology.
According to Phil Hammond, Cape Town-based Illumination Engineer: "LEDs are nearly 8 to 10 times more efficient than incandescent lights and certainly twice as efficient as fluorescent lights."
Hammond, who's on the committee of the Illumination Engineering Society of SA in Cape Town, adds that LEDs convert virtually all of their energy into light with little energy wasted to heat. Incandescent bulbs, on the other hand, only convert 10% of energy into light while the rest of this costly energy is given off as heat. In addition, the heat given off by incandescent bulbs increases the cost of air-conditioning, a vital consideration in a heavily lit commercial or industrial environment.
As the magnified photo shows, the fragile filament in an incandescent bulb is very similar to a heating element.
Durability is also behind the popularity of LEDs. Unlike older technologies, LEDs have no breakable glass or filament and have longer life spans. An LED can burn for 50 000 hours compared with a typical CFL life-span of between 5000 and 15 000 hours. Traditional incandescent bulbs don't come close, and generally last for less than 1000 hours. Just think of those ubiquitous halogen down lighters which only last for a few months. Now dimmable LEDs are coming out!
How many Chinamen does it take to change a light bulb? Well the way technology is developing, light bulbs may not have to be changed at all in future!
Providing they're LED of course!
In the end it all boils down to energy management. Whether we like it or not, this is the immediate challenge for South Africans today. If we fail to tap proactively into alternative energy solutions, we'll suffer increasing inconvenience and find ourselves in financial hot water sooner than later.
In the residential domain, lighting may not be the primary energy consumer. Hot water, cooking and space heating comprise the bulk of your electricity bill. However, in the commercial and industrial sectors lighting can easily take up a massive portion of the electricity account.
Enter the light emitting diode ... latest warrior of the light!
They've been winking at us for years and by now everyone has come into contact with LED technology. For years we've seen indicator lights on TVs, sound systems and electronic systems, Christmas lights and more recently car tail and headlights. Over recent years solar powered traffic lights and billboards have made their appearance, using LED lights which come in a range of colours. Lately LED technology has taken a step up to what are now termed high-powered LEDs.
These include powerful floodlights and hi-bay lighting used in large warehouses and which use a fraction of the electrical energy, but deliver the same lux levels.
LEDs are clearly heading for a brighter future, and apart from specialised applications, nothing can compete with them!
Unique to LED lighting is the fact that the source of light is not a filament, gas discharge, or arc, but rather a semiconductor.
Unlike an incandescent light bulb, light in the LED arises in a tiny photonic cloud between the positive and the negative electrodes of the diode. The power to this LED is delivered by a power supply or a driver that has to be 'intelligent'. This is what actually determines the output and durability of an LED.
For electrical contractors, saving energy by replacing traditional incandescent bulbs with more energy efficient light sources has become common practice in recent years. ESKOM recently spent millions on giving out free compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) to the public in exchange for the inefficient tungsten variety. In spite of the current popularity of CFLs, an increasing number of energy-conscious consumers are upgrading yet again to LED technology.
According to Phil Hammond, Cape Town-based Illumination Engineer: "LEDs are nearly 8 to 10 times more efficient than incandescent lights and certainly twice as efficient as fluorescent lights."
Hammond, who's on the committee of the Illumination Engineering Society of SA in Cape Town, adds that LEDs convert virtually all of their energy into light with little energy wasted to heat. Incandescent bulbs, on the other hand, only convert 10% of energy into light while the rest of this costly energy is given off as heat. In addition, the heat given off by incandescent bulbs increases the cost of air-conditioning, a vital consideration in a heavily lit commercial or industrial environment.
As the magnified photo shows, the fragile filament in an incandescent bulb is very similar to a heating element.
Durability is also behind the popularity of LEDs. Unlike older technologies, LEDs have no breakable glass or filament and have longer life spans. An LED can burn for 50 000 hours compared with a typical CFL life-span of between 5000 and 15 000 hours. Traditional incandescent bulbs don't come close, and generally last for less than 1000 hours. Just think of those ubiquitous halogen down lighters which only last for a few months. Now dimmable LEDs are coming out!
2011年10月13日 星期四
Unleashing the inner beast with hard-court bike polo
Ah, polo—the sport of kings! When it first emerged in Central Asia hundreds of years ago, elite cavalry units would play polo as a military training game. In the sixth century, even the king of Persia was known to take on the queen and her ladies.
And yet, who but a royal can afford a horse? As time went on, the game grew to be more egalitarian. In 1891, pioneering Irish cyclist Richard J. Mecredy swapped the horse for a bicycle, and bike polo was born.
Today, bike polo is a people’s sport. Teams play regularly in cities around the world, competing in tournaments and maintaining friendly rivalries. Pickup games are played every week; all you need is an old beater of a bike, a helmet and a wheel guard to protect the spokes from getting mangled.
Every Thursday at 7 p.m., bikers roll up to the Golden Hill Recreation Center to play hard-court bike polo (held on hard ground rather than a grass field) beneath the lights of the basketball court (or the handball court, if the hoops court’s being used). In case anybody wants to join in, Mike “Lawnmower” Maverick always shows up with an extra bike and a big bag of mallets, the waist-length sticks used to control the ball.
Companies like EighthInch sell polo-mallet kits, and there’s even a bike polo iPhone app, but many players prefer to fashion their own gear and customize their bikes. Trevor “Fraggle” Fray, a bike messenger whose dreadlocks were sticking out of a helmet covered with stickers (“dirty hippie,” one reads), rides a ’cycle with a stiff, mountain-bike frame and both front and back brakes hooked to his left-hand brake lever, leaving his right hand free to wield his mallet. Renee Green went one step further by simply hacking the right handle off her handlebars.
Maverick’s mallets are home-made—hockey poles or bamboo rods affixed with cylindrical heads made of plastic piping. On one, the end of the head was plugged with a piece of cutting board. It’s kind of like “knights making their own swords,” he explains. “You make it in your garage, and it’s like your own design, and you bring it to the court, test it out against the other knights.”
Unlike L.A.’s thriving bike polo scene, San Diego has only about a dozen regular players. They started holding games three years ago; Jordan Green (no relation to Renee) says they would often spend more time looking for a court than playing. When they appealed to the city, they were given four orange cones to use as goal posts.
Only about four players had shown up when I headed to the Golden Hill Recreation Center around 7:45 p.m. on a recent Thursday. Usually, they play in teams of three, with matches going to five points. Fray started calling friends to round up another player for a proper game, and, finally, a quiet fellow named Josh Montonavous rolled up. The game was on.
And yet, who but a royal can afford a horse? As time went on, the game grew to be more egalitarian. In 1891, pioneering Irish cyclist Richard J. Mecredy swapped the horse for a bicycle, and bike polo was born.
Today, bike polo is a people’s sport. Teams play regularly in cities around the world, competing in tournaments and maintaining friendly rivalries. Pickup games are played every week; all you need is an old beater of a bike, a helmet and a wheel guard to protect the spokes from getting mangled.
Every Thursday at 7 p.m., bikers roll up to the Golden Hill Recreation Center to play hard-court bike polo (held on hard ground rather than a grass field) beneath the lights of the basketball court (or the handball court, if the hoops court’s being used). In case anybody wants to join in, Mike “Lawnmower” Maverick always shows up with an extra bike and a big bag of mallets, the waist-length sticks used to control the ball.
Companies like EighthInch sell polo-mallet kits, and there’s even a bike polo iPhone app, but many players prefer to fashion their own gear and customize their bikes. Trevor “Fraggle” Fray, a bike messenger whose dreadlocks were sticking out of a helmet covered with stickers (“dirty hippie,” one reads), rides a ’cycle with a stiff, mountain-bike frame and both front and back brakes hooked to his left-hand brake lever, leaving his right hand free to wield his mallet. Renee Green went one step further by simply hacking the right handle off her handlebars.
Maverick’s mallets are home-made—hockey poles or bamboo rods affixed with cylindrical heads made of plastic piping. On one, the end of the head was plugged with a piece of cutting board. It’s kind of like “knights making their own swords,” he explains. “You make it in your garage, and it’s like your own design, and you bring it to the court, test it out against the other knights.”
Unlike L.A.’s thriving bike polo scene, San Diego has only about a dozen regular players. They started holding games three years ago; Jordan Green (no relation to Renee) says they would often spend more time looking for a court than playing. When they appealed to the city, they were given four orange cones to use as goal posts.
Only about four players had shown up when I headed to the Golden Hill Recreation Center around 7:45 p.m. on a recent Thursday. Usually, they play in teams of three, with matches going to five points. Fray started calling friends to round up another player for a proper game, and, finally, a quiet fellow named Josh Montonavous rolled up. The game was on.
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