How to power things using batteries and alt power, part 1 of 2

I've been looking into using solar power and batteries to power things. My first kit is used to charge a battery using a small panel, about 12" x 8", and the battery powers an LED light. The battery box also has a 5vdc USB port for charging USB things. Or simply for powering a USB device like a USB fan.

Terms

Here are some terms to get you started.

• Amps: how much current a device draws, per hour. A 1 amp device uses 1 amp per hour. 
• Amp hours: the capacity of a battery. A 2 amp hour (Ah) battery provides 2 amps for 1 hour, or 1 amp for 2 hours, or 0.5 amps for 4 hours.
• Volts: volts is another measurement of a battery. Devices have a minimum voltage they need to run. A radio powered by 2 AA batteries needs about 3.0 volts to run (2 * 1.5 for each AA). An LED can work on a range of voltages. If the ideal voltage for maximum brightness of an LED is 3.3vdc, then as the battery is used up, the voltage drops, and the LED gets dimmer. The LED might go out at about 2.9vdc.
• Watts: A general unit of measure which is volts * amps used. A 12vdc device that uses 0.5 amps per hour uses 12 * 0.5, or 6 watts per hour. Electricity in the US is charged by 1000 watts per hour, or 1 kw per hour.

My next step was looking into using a solar and battery system to power my flat screen TV.

Alternative power usually uses an energy producing device to charge up a battery. If you use solar power (photovoltaics) you are using a solar panel to charge up a battery, and the battery stores energy for later use. You won't need lights during the daytime when the sun is out, so the battery provides power for nighttime use.

In the case of wind power or hydro power, in both cases they turn a generator to produce power, which then charges a battery for energy storage.

But how do you size the system to meet your needs? A battery provides DC power but your TV needs AC power. So you will need an inverter to change from DC to AC power. Buying an inverter based on watts it supports is not helpful. You need to look at relevant energy units, volts and amps. While watts = volts * amps, watts is just a very general way of looking at things. The inverter must provide both the volts and amps our TV needs.

My TV is rated at 12vac and 50 watts (labeled "50w" on the back of the TV). This does not tell us the amps that it draws/uses so we must calculate that. 50/120vac = 0.417 amps, or 417 milliamps (called "mA" with a big A). Amps is how much power it uses per hour. "Amp hours" is for battery capacity, and is how many hours a battery will provide 1 amp. A 1 amp hour (Ah) battery provides 1 amp for 1 hour before the voltage gets too low to be useful.

Report: Massive misconduct and corruption at CDC

The report points out Dr. Poul Thorsen, a Danish scientist who has been indicted in 2011 by U.S. authorities for allegedly stealing millions from the CDC and tainting research to hide the dangers posed by vaccines. Thorsen remains on the loose.

In addition to uncovering other information, Kennedy and officials at the World Mercury Project say they have found evidence that Thorsen and his collaborators did not get permission from an Institutional Review Board (IRB) to carry out their research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2002 and the journal Pediatrics the following year.

“In 2011, the Department of Justice indicted Thorsen on 22 counts of wire fraud and money laundering for stealing over $1 million in CDC grant money earmarked for autism research,” the statement notes. “The product of Thorsen’s work for CDC was a series of fraud-tainted articles on Danish autism rates that, today, form the backbone of the popular orthodoxy that vaccines don’t cause autism.”

The CDC must be covering up big time. I still wonder why people would assume a mercury compound, injected into people, is just assumed safe. Perhaps it was just for money. Like these other US products that were assumed safe.

Report PDF is here.

Certification for glyphosate free foods

The Detox Project now has certification for glyphosate-free food products sold to consumers, and also ingredients used in products.

Why is this important? 

1. One German study found glyphosate and metabolites in urine of all people tested. 
2. High levels of glyphosate found in major American food brands. 
3. Glyphosate is thought to disrupt gut bacteria, which are important for overall good health.
4. Most corn, soybeans, and wheat crops in the US are sprayed with glyphosate to kill it all at once for harvest a few days later. More food found with glyphosate in it.  
5. Glyphosate is absorbed into every cell of the plant, it cannot be washed off.

Food Democracy Now also has a study testing food for glyphosate.  Just go to the Glyphosate tag in this blog for more articles on the dangers of Roundup.

Detox Project food testing FAQ here.

Europe renewable energy consumption is up to 76% in some places

Renewable energy consumption as percent of total energy consumption is 76% in some places. Iceland uses 76% of energy from renewables but that is probably mostly geothermal. But other numbers range from 11 to 50%.

Source
Alternet.

Teflon

Teflon is a brand of a type of fluoropolymer coating created by DuPont, is also called PTFE (polytetrafluroethylene). It's used on lots of cookware to make them non-stick, on vascular grafts used in coronary bypass surgery, ironing board covers, heat lamps and prosthetic limbs. But it can be dangerous.

EWG has some studies showing it kills birds. Here's a quick summary from EWG:

Studies show that thermal degradation of Teflon leads to the slow breakdown of the fluorinated polymer and the generation of a litany of toxic fumes including TFE (tetrafluoroethylene), HFP (hexafluoropropene), OFCB (octafluorocyclobutane), PFIB (perfluoroisobutane), carbonyl fluoride, CF₄ (carbon tetrafluoride), TFA (trifluoroacetic acid), trifluoroacetic acid fluoride, perfluorobutane, SiF₄ (silicon tetrafluoride), HF (hydrofluoric acid), and particulate matter. At least four of these gases are extremely toxic - PFIB, which is a chemical warfare agent 10 times more toxic than phosgene (COCl₂, a chemical warfare agent used during World Wars I and II), carbonyl fluoride (COF₂ which is the fluorine analog of phosgene), MFA (monofluoroacetic acid) which can kill people at low doses, and HF, a highly corrosive gas.

Teflon can also appear on heat lamps. One University of Missouri study showed a 52% mortality rate for chicks. These chicks showed severe pulmonary damage and lung lesions. Even temperatures as low as 325F can cause deadly off gassing.

Solid electrolyte rechargeable alkaline batteries on the horizon

Newer, rechargeable alkaline batteries might be able to compete with lithium batteries by using a solid electrolyte polymer developed by Dr. Mike Zimmerman, who was no Nova Science Now (see this article). This solid polymer can be used in lithium batteries to prevent sudden explosive discharges, or in alkaline batteries that currently use a paste electrolyte.

Zimmerman's company, Ionic Materials, says its polymer tech can make a rechargeable alkaline battery that can be charged and discharged at least 400 times.

But the number of recharges depends on how much C you charge the battery at. "Fast chargers" charge at a higher C which reduces the number of times a battery can be recharged to as low as 20-30 times.

But what is C? C is the capacity of the battery. If the battery has a capacity of 1000 milliamps, then charging at 0.5C means charging it at 500mA, which is a bit too high. For longer life, charge it at 0.25C, or in this case, 250mA.

Because ingredients in alkaline batteries are abundant and cheap, a rechargeable version of an alkaline battery could be cheaper than a lithium-ion battery. 

The Japenese are also working on a solid electrolyte.

Source
Green Tech Media.