The erstwhile Mysore State established the first major hydro-electric generating station at Shivasamudram as early as 1902 for commercial operation. The longest transmission line, at the highest voltage in the world, was constructed to meet the power needs of mining operations at Kolar Gold Fields. (Source) Since then, many hydro-electric projects were undertaken to increase [...]
The image shows India's first (19.04.1975) experimental indigenous satellite, covered in solar panels. A set of solar panels like this is called an array. Each solar panel has several solar modules and each solar module has many solar cells connected in series. If you connect two voltage sources in series, they behave like a single voltage [...]
The difference between ordinary fans and superfans is the motor. Motors work on the principle that like magnetic poles repel. The fan blades are attached to a shaft that is connected to the motor. The motor has two main kinds of magnets. A permanent magnet and an electromagnet. The polarity of the electromagnet is changed [...]
Our voltage sources and our electrical loads are separated by some finite distance. And therein lies a tale! It is necessary to conduct the electric current from the source to the load and back. These conductors are what we typically call wires. They are made of metal. Like copper or aluminium. Actually they could be [...]
Let's take an energy source like a battery or a PV module. When you draw no current from it, the voltage at it's terminals is called it's open-circuit voltage. When you connect any electrical load to it, current flows through it and it's terminal voltage decreases because some power is  wasted by it's internal resistance. [...]
Our batteries are expensive components of our off-grid solar installations. So it is a good idea to protect them from over-charging and deep discharge. To do this we use charge controllers. Charge controllers sense the voltage on the battery. If it is lower than a given threshold then they disconnect the battery from the load. [...]
Take a walk up to any terrace and look at the solar panels. They look like slides, don't they? Why ever is that? You would guess, correctly, that we want our solar panels to receive the greatest amount of sunlight. The sun does not rise in the exact east each day. The direction of sun-rise [...]
Trends: Industry predictions are that human society will move away from incandescent light bulbs to LED lamps in about a decade or two. People like smaller electricity bills. Environmentalists want less energy wastage as heat. Haitz's Law states that "every decade, the cost per lumen (unit of useful light emitted) falls by a factor of 10, and the [...]
The first step that the Energy Conscious people have to take, is to assess the effectiveness of energy saving devices and materials. What is embodied Energy? Wikipedia says: "Embodied Energy is the sum of all the energy required to produce any goods or services, considered as if that energy was incorporated or 'embodied' in the product itself." [...]
Thermodynamics teaches us that energy is neither created nor destroyed, but it can be converted from one form to another. It also teaches us that whenever there is an energy conversion some energy is lost to the environment as heat. This increases the disorder or entropy in our universe. Life forms are highly ordered, low [...]
