Jul
22
2009
Inside A Turbine
Wind turbines, hydro dams, turbines that run on steam from geothermal, nuclear, fossil fuels, biomass, etc. All of these use a spinning motion derived from rising steam, flowing water or blowing wind to generate electricity. How do they do it? You’re about to find out.
Electricity happens when electrons start moving around. Running or spinning a [...]
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Jul
08
2009
Wind Power
Everyone has seen pictures of wind turbines— those sleek, white, three-bladed giants, usually standing in a group in a green field. When you hear about wind turbines, unless those are specifically implied, that is not what should come to mind. They are noisy eyesores which, though producing renewble energy, take a ton of energy to [...]
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Jun
30
2009
Case Study: SodaStream Energy Transfer
The other day I noticed something that even adults don’t usually realise. When you buy a product that uses no elecricity or batteries, yet it does something, you need to consider where the energy comes from. To do this, you need a basic understanding of energy. (skip the next bit if you think you already [...]
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Jun
20
2009
Baking in the Cardboard Box Oven
As I said in a previous post, I made a solar oven out of a cardboard box (well, actually two cardboard boxes, a sheet of plexiglass, newspaper, black paint, and tape) and wanted to try it out.
To test the oven I got one of those super unhealthy cookie dough rolls from the store (So I [...]
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Jun
02
2009
Cardboard Box Oven
A cardboard box won £50,000 (almost $90,000 Canadian) in the Financial Time Climate Change Challenge. It beat many inventions, including ‘a food additive that stops cows from passing wind.’ Of course, it was more than a cardboard box— it was a solar oven. Able, according to Kyoto Energy (the company that made it), to boil [...]
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May
03
2009
Become an Official Energy Hog Buster
Energy Hog (the kid’s part) is an animated website in the form of a game where you can learn how to become an official energy hog buster. You have to beat 5 games and when you are done you get a printable certificate. Only five major energy hogs are covered (with some notes on how [...]
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