Energy Resources Journal » electric http://newpathenergy.com Energy: How to Save It, How to Make It - and everything in between! Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:58:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Electric Cars and Rising Gasoline Prices http://newpathenergy.com/electric-cars-and-rising-gasoline-prices/ http://newpathenergy.com/electric-cars-and-rising-gasoline-prices/#comments Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:54:44 +0000 newpathenergy http://newpathenergy.com/?p=1304 Rising gasoline prices may just make other forms of alternative means of transportation become more attractive. One of the ways not to be affected by the rising prices of gas is to have an alternative means of travel. Of course, saving up on gasoline use may help in some way, but such actions may still leave one affected with the rising prices of gas. A better way would be trying to use a mode of transportation aside from one that makes use of fuel aside from gasoline. One such example is the use of an electric car.

An electric car is one type of an alternative vehicle. It makes use of electricity as its primary power source. Instead of an internal combustion engine, the electric car, also commonly called as an EV or electric vehicle, has an electric motor to make the vehicle move. It is an alternative fuel vehicle that does not use refined fossil oil for fuel.

Electric cars get electricity for power by means of electric battery packs built on board. One of the advantages of using electric vehicles or EV’s is that they are environmentally friendly. Unlike fossil fuel that emits a number of pollutants into the air when being used, the use of electricity for power does not do so, except that the power plants that may produce them do. But with using electric cars, the emission of harmful pollutants may be reduced substantially. Less cars using fossils fuel and gasoline would help make this possible. And someday, when more electric power is sourced from nuclear, solar, wind and hydro-electric power plants, pollutant emissions will even be reduced more.

Performance-wise, electric cars offer smoother and noiseless operation that cars relying on gasoline. Electric cars provide stronger acceleration and the electric motor requires lesser maintenance than the internal combustion engines of cars using gasoline and other fossil fuels. By using electricity through batteries, energy conversion is more efficient. Electric motors makes use of 75 percent of the chemical energy converted into electricity to run the car. Internal combustion engines or ICE’s only are able to make use about 20 percent of the energy stored in gasoline to power the vehicle.

If most think that the electric car is a recent invention, then they are mistaken. The electric vehicle is in fact one of the earliest vehicles known to exist. Small electric powered vehicles even predate the development of the diesel and gasoline engines. The earliest electric carriage was built between 1832 and 1839. The development of other electric cars also increased for some time during the 1860’s along with the improvement of the storage battery. It was even the electric cars that held many of the speed and distance records during this time. But unfortunately, the advent of the internal combustion engines came during the early 1900’s, which led to the decrease in the use of electric cars.

With the appearance of the more powerful and affordable diesel and gasoline powered cars starting in the early 1900’s, the market for electric cars slowly disappeared. Although there were still electric cars being made, those that do exist were being produced for specialized applications. One of the most common use for the electric vehicle today may be found in the golf carts as a primary mode of compact transport in golf courses. But because of the rising gasoline prices as well as the worsening pollution, there has been an renewed demand for the less polluting alternative electric vehicles in recent years.

 NOVYAR

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]]> http://newpathenergy.com/electric-cars-and-rising-gasoline-prices/feed/ 0 Is there any way to tell if there is something wrong with my electric meter? The electrical portion of my? http://newpathenergy.com/is-there-any-way-to-tell-if-there-is-something-wrong-with-my-electric-meter-the-electrical-portion-of-my/ http://newpathenergy.com/is-there-any-way-to-tell-if-there-is-something-wrong-with-my-electric-meter-the-electrical-portion-of-my/#comments Sat, 29 May 2010 09:30:45 +0000 newpathenergy http://newpathenergy.com/?p=1035 utility bill last month went from $33/34 to 83. I have been unplugging everything when not using. I did nothing different from the previous month. I had the meter person come out to reread the meter
and the figures were pretty close to what it said on the bill. I pointed out the disk that spins around showing the usage(the more electricity you use the faster the disk spins) was spinning over 50% faster and I had unplugged everything except the refrigerator and tv(I couldn’t reach the outlet) The disk had been spinning 50% slower when I had everything plugged in and turned on. My brother and I can’t figure out what is going on. The meter guy said that if there was something wrong with the meter that the disk would be spinning slower not faster. I have not used anything new. My new utility bill says I have used (was 695 elec watts last statement and this statement says 808) Since I got last bill I cut back even more. I unplugged everything electrical except the refrigerator and tv. And no I am not watching more tv than last month. My refrigerator is an energy star Appliance 3 years old. The electrical portion should have come down not go up! Anyone know of what is going on?

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]]> http://newpathenergy.com/is-there-any-way-to-tell-if-there-is-something-wrong-with-my-electric-meter-the-electrical-portion-of-my/feed/ 3 Solar powered Electric water pump, float switch problems? http://newpathenergy.com/solar-powered-electric-water-pump-float-switch-problems/ http://newpathenergy.com/solar-powered-electric-water-pump-float-switch-problems/#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 17:25:14 +0000 newpathenergy http://newpathenergy.com/?p=875 I have a solar plant, that runs a well, that fills up a 6000 gallon tank. The tank has a float switch in it. A couple days ago i noticed the tank was empty, and cannot get the pump to come on. It seems the fuses are ok, and i have moved the float switch around with a stick trying to get it to come on. Does anone have any other ideas on how to fix this problem?

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]]> http://newpathenergy.com/solar-powered-electric-water-pump-float-switch-problems/feed/ 2 Does a solar electric (PV) system consume more energy to manufacture than it will produce in its lifetime? http://newpathenergy.com/does-a-solar-electric-pv-system-consume-more-energy-to-manufacture-than-it-will-produce-in-its-lifetime/ http://newpathenergy.com/does-a-solar-electric-pv-system-consume-more-energy-to-manufacture-than-it-will-produce-in-its-lifetime/#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 14:08:33 +0000 newpathenergy http://newpathenergy.com/?p=873 I’ve seen several discussions on blogs regarding the net engergy gain (or loss) of solar systems. Some people claim it’s a net energy loss, but I have a hard time believing that to be true. Can anyone answer with either a credible source or facts that back up their answer? I’ve done a lot of searching and found very little to help me clear up this question. And please don’t mix financial information into this discussion, I’m only interested in the net ENERGY of solar electric (photovoltaic) systems.

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]]> http://newpathenergy.com/does-a-solar-electric-pv-system-consume-more-energy-to-manufacture-than-it-will-produce-in-its-lifetime/feed/ 6 Are long-life (low-energy) electric light bulbs hotter or cooler than old-style bulbs? http://newpathenergy.com/are-long-life-low-energy-electric-light-bulbs-hotter-or-cooler-than-old-style-bulbs/ http://newpathenergy.com/are-long-life-low-energy-electric-light-bulbs-hotter-or-cooler-than-old-style-bulbs/#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:59:39 +0000 newpathenergy http://newpathenergy.com/are-long-life-low-energy-electric-light-bulbs-hotter-or-cooler-than-old-style-bulbs/ Which kind of electric light bulb gives out most heat for the equivalent amount of light – one of the old (UK) bulbs or the newer low-energy bulb? I believe the low-energy type are just miniature fluorescent lamps, so in theory they should be cooler.
But I want to check on this before using these in a lampshade.

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