28 What Kind Of Solar Panel Would Be Sufficient To Run My Computer Off The Grid 24hrs A Day

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In round figures, let’s say you’ve got a 500 watt power supply in your computer. That seems pretty average. Now maybe most of the time your computer isn’t using all 500 watts, but that’s how much your power supply can deliver when it needs to, so we should design a solar system that can accomodate that much as well, so that it’s not the weak link in the system.
You need 500 watts over 24 hours, or about 12 kilowatt hours per day. Of course, your solar cell isn’t going to work for that part of the day when the sun is down, so you have to be charging a battery + driving the computer while the sun is up. To keep the figures round, let’s say you get sun for half the day. Then your solar system has to provide 12 kilowatt hours in only 12 hours. Basically, you are going to need a bare minimum of 1000 watts worth of solar cells.
A sample solar cell (URL below) is 11.5″ x 14.75″ and provides 11 watts. That would be one watt for every 15 square inches of solar cell. So you need 15000 square inches of solar cell to get your 1000 watts. That would be approximately 10′ x 10′.
Of course, the 11 watt rating is probably only what you get under ideal circumstances (like the sun shining directly at the cell, under conditions of no smog and no clouds, etc.). Circumstances are rarely ideal. So you probably want to add a large fudge factor to make up for it. Maybe double the size of your solar cell to 10′ x 20′.
Now maybe you live in northern Alaska, for example, where you hardly get any sunlight at all during the winter, but the sun is up all day in the summer. That probably wouldn’t change your solar cell much, but you would require a much larger bank of batteries to last throughout the winter.
You can see that there are a lot of factors to weigh. Maybe if you’re going to spend a fortune building a solar system, you could shell out a little more for an extremely power-efficient computer.

Global Warming Causes Severe Storms

Research Meteorologists found that the temperature changes brought on by global warming are significant enough to cause an increase in the occurrence of severe storms. Severe storms are those that cause flooding, have damaging winds, hail and could cause tornados. Their study revealed that by the end of this century, the number of days that favor severe storms could more than double certain locations, such as Atlanta and New York. Researchers also found that this increase would occur during typical stormy seasons and not during dry seasons when it may be beneficial.

Global Warming

As new storm forecasts hit home, areas already prone to severe weather need to be on the lookout for more storms. The latest forecast says global warming spells bad news for those areas.

Nancy Werner has seen many storms blow through trees in her yard, but there's one storm she'll never forget.

"We started hearing things land on our house," Werner said.

A stump is all that's left of what she heard falling. "We went upstairs and found limbs through our ceiling," Werner said.

The storm cost Werner $40,000 in repairs, but more severe storms could add up to a lot more. Research meteorologists at Purdue University are using climate models to study future weather conditions that would most likely produce a severe storm. Severe storms are ones that cause flooding and have damaging winds and hail. Some spawn tornadoes.

"What we found is that increases in human-induced greenhouse gases will lead to more frequent severe storms in the United States," Jeff Trapp, Ph.D., a meteorologist at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., said.

Based on the models, the researchers believe the number of days that favor the formation of severe storms could more than double in places like Atlanta and New York. These added storms will likely hit areas during already heavy storm seasons and extend wet weather seasons.

"This obviously impacts people in terms of potential hazards to their life and property," Dr. Trapp said.

Researchers hope warning homeowners of increased storm days will help more people prepare earlier. Werner already has a plan in place.

"We've decided we're going to a hotel," she said. Researchers plan to use higher resolution models to find out how often future storms will spawn tornadoes.

HOW STORMS DEVELOP: Storm clouds form as moisture evaporates from the earth into the atmosphere, where the droplets jostle against each other. The air cools off rapidly as it reaches higher altitudes. Sometimes a cold front -- the boundary between where the cold air from one air mass meets the surrounding air -- will force warm, moist air upward into the colder air. This moist air cools off and the water vapor condenses onto tiny particles in the air, called condensation nuclei, collectively forming clouds. The process continues: more and more water vapor turns into liquid and the moist air warms up even more and rises higher and higher. A thunderstorm results.

WHAT CAUSES LIGHTNING? As more and more water droplets collide inside a cloud, their atoms bounce off each other more forcefully. This knocks off electrons. The ousted electrons gather at the lower portion of the cloud, giving it a negative charge, while the upper part of the cloud becomes positively charged. Eventually the growing negative charge becomes so intense that electrons on the Earth's surface are repelled and burrow deeper into the Earth. The Earth's surface becomes positively charged, and hence very attractive to the negative charge accumulating in the bottom of the cloud. All that is needed is a conductive path between cloud and Earth, in the form of ionized air.

ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING: Global warming refers to an average increase in the earth's temperature, which has risen about 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past 100 years, and to changes in climate. A warmer earth may lead to changes in rainfall patterns, and a rise in sea level, for example, as the polar glaciers melt. Some of this rise is due to the greenhouse effect: certain gases in the atmosphere trap energy from the sun so that heat can't escape back into space. Without the greenhouse effect, the earth would be too cold for humans to survive, but if it becomes too strong, the earth could become much warmer, causing problems for humans, plants and animals.

New technology developed by Microsoft for photography DNA Image

Microsoft together with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) has innovated a New Image DNA Technology to fight against child abuse. Microsoft has done withe their own dedicated Microsoft Research section and Dartmouth College. This Technology is a revolutionary step in the mission of stopping child abuse.

With this Technology of Image DNA, the system fetches the images that resemble each other, no matter whether they have been edited, resized, etc. and then logs them. The images are then matched using a certain methodology. This process involves the inspection of several aspects like monochrome of the image, chopping the image into smaller bits and the intensity gradients are turned into a signature. Despite of any edition the signatures will still retain originality. Thus, facilitating the system in looking for its replicates. there may be some similarities that could do comparison of the QR codes, thereby allowing the same cells to compare their images. Hence, this process aids the system in finding the images with similar gradients and duplicates of the Image across the web world.

The ISP’s are then provided with all the signatures, data strings to map the counterparts of the Image. To take full advantage of this Technology, government needs to issue a policy so as to do the authorization of the ISPs and content providers in order to enable to use this Technique of Image DNA. Microsoft is donating this Technology to the NCMEC, that later on will be licenced to other law enforcement agencies all over the world. Besides that this methodology of Image DNA can be efficiently used in indoor, internal networks of law enforcement for identifying the same victim at multiple station, this system could even be used to

While this could well be used in closed, internal networks of law enforcement to determine the same victim across multiple situations and abusers, this system could also be enabled to disentangle the Internet and ISP networks for its replicated data. With the invention of the New Image DNA Technology, Microsoft again has led the society in mission of fighting against child abuse and harassment cases.

Ref : http://blogs.zdnet.com/igeneration/?p=3655

Human and Robots: Visions of the Future

The future is not written yet and who knows weather robots are dangerous or not. What is for sure is that humans, being the curious beings, will develop new advanced generations of robots. Robots and other high-performance inventions have always been of a vast interest for humanity. A great number of scientists have spent the whole life in their laboratories with one aim – to work out innovative schemes, develop them and create some highest qualitative ranking robot. This engrossing process has reached its peak with the technical push that took place due to the endeavors of a number of brilliant and clear intellects of scientists all over the world.

The most striking fantasies in this sphere are brought successfully into reality and a great number of robots are in service of people in order to make the process of work or manufacturing automatic. It happens so that people and robots go together in this life side by side, in some spheres of life they are even interchangeable and who knows into what this opposition “Human and Robots” will translate.

There are two perceivable outcomes:

Robots and humans that live and prosper together…Or robots realize they don’t need as that much…

For now it is up to out fantasy to express what we think will happen in human-robot relations in the future. This is a collection of 3d images of various creative 3d artists that shows their vision of that future. Some of the coolest visions of our future with robots is by Franz Stainer and his Personal Robot series of works.

Personal Robot 04

Author: Franz Steiner
Software: 3ds max
Artist page

Who will win in this game of chess? When there is the opposition of the mechanical creature and the human intellect it is not easy to predict the outcome of the game. You can make books, but you will never be sure about the results, they are unpredictable.

Personal Robot 08

Author: Franz Steiner
Software: 3ds max
Artist page

In the process of the humming work robots can be of a great use for people. With them less time would be spend for the most complicated tasks and the crunch times would take place not so often. The only question that is left – to find such a robot.

MU morning

Author: David Cabrera
Software: Photoshop
Artist page

Early in the morning when you are still sleeping on foot and can not utter distinctly a word this buzzing cute little machine will treat you with strong aromatic coffee. If you only wish, it can add some spices to your taste, for example cinnamon or a peck of red pepper.

Personal Robot 07

Author: Franz Steiner
Software: 3ds max
Artist page

When you touch gently the lips of your beloved your heart begins to beat speedily, the mind is hazed with pleasant feelings and you fly away. These minutes can fly not so that you’d notice, but they are so sweet and inimitable.

Personal Robot 05

Author: Franz Steiner
Software: 3ds max
Artist page

Love is a curious thing – never knows when it happens so that you will be overtaken with this feeling and who will be the matter of your sleepless nights. It can be a bonny girl from the next door, a handsome boy from the night-club or… even a cyber creature.

I’m Robot

Author: Widyantara
Artist page

Some time ago, when I was a human being I was dreaming about the perennial youth, the thoughts that were so peculiar for every woman. My dreams turned into life immediately after my death and I have obtained the desired eternity – now I’m a robot.

Mecha

Author: tinypants
Artist page

This robot looks like the one that was made either in correspondence to the model of a human being or using the human’s corpus as the basis. A little bit creepy and at the same time intriguing. Anyway, the excellent model and the great work!

Personal Robot 02

Author: Franz Steiner
Software: 3ds max
Artist page

I’m not sure that it is more pleasant to work in the company of robots, but it definitely has certain advantages. One of the main is the high efficiency of the process of work, furthermore not a lot of time is spent for the idle talks, spreading silly rumors and gossiping.

I Repair Your Broken Cyborgs

Author: Randis Albion
Software: 3ds max, Photoshop
Artist page

Here is the workshop of a person how knows a thing about robots. When something happens with their artificial integrity or perfectly done schemes he always set for help. He is the very person who can repair each mere trifle and adjust the trouble.

Robot Girl

Author: luisramos
Software: Maya
Artist page

Here is a refreshing variation on a girl’s theme. This robot renders the girl, the cyber one. Interesting concept and well-done model. Its author should have spent not one hour to create such a good example of a robot.

Personal Robot 06

Author: Franz Steiner
Software: 3ds max
Artist page

This robot looks like a housekeeper who takes care of everything around. In its duties are household activities and it copes with all the everyday duties without any difficulties in a short time and without procrastinations.

World's Longest Keyboard

Jean Shin who design this interactive sculpture simply gave the name TEXTile. As the name suggest it's as smooth as the clothe made in Textile Mill.

The design includes more than 22,528 computers and 192 custom keycap which are attached with fabric, a custom keyboard and software assets as well as interactive video projection and painted aluminum frames. It sets out line by line transcript of the electronic communication that the artist and manufacturing in creating enabling it to sculpture in its own archives!

The sculpture was created as a comment on the extent of the impact that e-mail and other virtual communication has had on our lives I suppose if a banner saying "e-mail is a good thing" would have made the too!
The first three ranks of the civil e-mails key assets that allow visitors to type in their own messages that are projected onto the opposite end of the fabric.This amazing invention (world’s longest keypad) is placed at The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia.

Space Tourism: SpaceShipTwo by Virgin Galactic

Richard Branson from Virgin Galatic has unveiled the amazing SpaceShipTwo space tourism vehicle. SpaceShipTwo will carry 6 tourists at a time to 65 miles above the surface of the earth, beyond the Apogee of where our atmosphere ends and space begins. Passengers will experience the full weightlessness of space and unparalleled views of the Earth before returning safely to land. While SpaceShipTwo has not yet been live tested, its completion and introduction to the press is a significant step toward public space travel.

SpaceShipTwo will be carried by a mother ship, the WhiteNightTwo, to a suborbital altitude of 9.5 miles before it undocks and launches its own thrusters into pure black space. Not long after, it’s final altitude will be reached and its passengers will join the lucky few to have ever entered the expansive reaches of space. The ticket price for travel into this final frontier is suggested to run at $200,000 each for a trip that lasts roughly two-and-a-half hours. While it’ll be a few years until SpaceShipTwo’s voyage, We here at TheBlogIsMine dot Com have an opportunity to start saving money for the space travel.

Space Images The Best of Hubble’s Shots

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by the Space Shuttle Discovery in April 1990. It is named after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble. Although not the first space telescope, the Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well-known as both a vital research tool and a public relations boon for astronomy. The HST is a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency, and is one of NASA’s Great Observatories, along with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope.


During it’s period of operation, the Hubble has recorded tons of fascinating images that never stop to amaze people. You simply can’t stay untouched looking at these images. To some these images represent beautiful natures work of arts, physicist may say that they provide us with an insight in our universe, mathematicians may be impressed by forms created by specific mathematical rules, architects look at the beauty of the expression, and you might even say that this is a definite sign that god has created the universe.

No matter which group you belong to, you’ll be amazed by these out-of-this-world pictures. The images that have not been seen by bare human eye, and there may pass many more decades before that happens, if ever. Meanwhile, we have Hubble’s electronic eye to keep us entertained.