Man discovered the use of power and has been utilizing it blindly. Almost everything is dependent on power – our food, transportation, communication, entertainment and the list is endless. We can’t think our lives without power but it is dreadful to know that we are facing power crisis. All the plans to develop and explore will remain unexecuted if the power is not available for it.

As reported by The Daily Mail, a research professor at Portsmouth University in England has claimed to have a solution for the world’s power crisis. Professor Carl Ross has come up with the idea of manmade artificial “power islands.” These power islands will secure the energy from the sun, wind and tides in one place and later can produce power for millions if implemented properly. The process includes creating a series of artificial islands designed to ingather wind, solar and tidal power all in one convenient location.

As far as the environmental issues are concerned, it may be assumed that creating of island may lead to usage of land and may create other pollutants. Ross says that these islands would be floating ones and can be moved as required. Since the islands would be floating, they can be used in two ways – their upper surface will support wind turbines and solar panels while underneath tidal turbines will control the power of ocean currents. These power islands would not only produce power but will be more environmental friendly. There will be no adverse noise effect on the residents which is very common near wind plants or visual problems near solar plants.

Ross is confident that just 200 of these power islands are enough to source the required power for the entire United Kingdom. The plan was published in the Journal of Ocean Technology where Ross states that the units are easy to deploy and the ideal place could be the opening of English Channel off the west coast of Scotland. The published plan also forecasted the reduced carbon footprint that can be expected from the use of islands. It has been calculated approximately 158 million tones of CO₂ can be ceased from being released into the environment during the life span of the island which has been estimated as of 80 years.

But it is wise to see both sides of a coin. So, it is great that the environmental issues, which is the top-most concern of the world, will be taken care of up to an extent, but the islands would come at an extremely high cost. The approximate value of each island has been estimated up to $2.4 billion, which is a sumptuous amount to be considered and that too when U.K. alone requires 200 islands!

In spite of all these discussions regarding the cost, Ross is positive about this research and says that money will be initial investment which would be recovered after just 11 years of use.

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Image: www.treehugger.com (courtesy Energy Island)

Trendsetter is what we call things which are path-breaking in their field. This article gives you news regarding all those things which are setting trends globally; let us have a sneak peak review of it.

Internet Of Things (IOT):

The world is now safely packed inside the internet, why not your daily routine be also taken care by it?

You could have spotted scenes in Hollywood movies featuring with high-end electronic gadgets which defy all your imaginations. “How far is the current world going to sustain with the supersonic growth in the field of computer technology?” is a million dollar question. These films use the technique of virtual reality with very high percentage as shown in the below image.

IOT is the one which answers the above question. What is IOT? IOT is the abbreviation for Internet of Things. The term IOT was first explained by Mr. Kevin Ashton. This is a sum of things which can be possible by mixing varieties of integrated technologies, robotics, wireless communication, microelectronics and augmented reality. Slightly confusing for a normal person, but can be understood when explained with examples; it is much easier to understand. The physical things are embedded with sensors, which allow the object for sensing and controlling through the remote existing network infrastructure. The process of IOT can be done by assigning an IP address to that thing which needs to be sensed and controlled. This provides the transferring of data through the network. The technology is widely used in the fields of manufacturing, oil and gas extraction etc. The days are not too far that these things could actually happen inside your house also. In future, there may be a case like your fridge instructing you over the phone regarding things to buy while you are inside grocery shop. That’s freaky, but nice, isn’t it?

TULIPS, as we all know, is a wonderful flower giving inspiration with its awesome colors and look. This flower shape is used as a power bank to produce power. This article briefs about the latest trend in the solar power creation and its related usage.

The latest nation to enter the list for controlling carbon emission is Ethiopia. The nation’s mission, to make itself a carbon neutral nation by the year 2025, is now getting a new face of creating power source. Ethiopia has sourced AORA SOLAR, to make a solar power generator. AORA SOLAR is a company, which produces hybrid solar systems. The Company developed a power plant in the shape of TULIPS.

This generator in the shape of flower consists of a high tower. This tower has mirrors embedded on it. The mirrors are positioned in such a way to track the sunlight that they send the rays up to the top of the tower. The top of the tower is shaped as TULIP’S petals. The flower shape consists of water storage areas inside it. However, continuous heating of the water makes it boil and produces the steam. The steam produced is in turn used to power a turbine generator and with the help of this generator electricity is produced. Each plant is capable of producing around 100KW of power. This amount of power is enough to give electricity for 60+ homes. Apart from this electric power generation, the generator also produces heat energy at the rate of around 170KW. The specialty of this generator is that it works under any climatic condition on a wide variety of fuels like diesel, LNG, biogas, natural gas apart from sunlight. The added advantage of this TULIP power generator is it uses less amount of water to propel the turbines. When compared with concentrated solar power technology, only around 8% of water is enough to run the turbine in this method since it also uses hot air to do the rest. The trendiest part of this power generation system is that it can be commissioned as separate units and each having the capacity of 100KW which can be interconnected. The separate unit feature allows the company to install the set up phase by phase. During maintenance for any one of the units, the power generation will be continuous since the other one is functioning. The function of such solar power plant is mentioned below.