Irish Silicon

Installing Sun Java JDK in Ubuntu

If you want to install the Sun Java JDK in Ubuntu use the apt-get installer and enter the following

apt-get install sun-java6-jdk sun-java6-plugin sun-java6-fonts

This will also download any related components

Smart and Net Metering must allow irish domestic producers to offset their ESB Bills

There is considerable discussion and anticipation regarding smart metering for domestic producers of electricity in Ireland. The tender has still yet to be issued by the ESB for Smart Metering.

Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (Deputy Eamon Ryan) has stated in Parliamentary debates the importance of smart and net metering

Smart metering will facilitate:

+ Better demand management, particularly at peak times, leading to reduced emissions resulting from increased energy efficiency and reductions in electricity usage,

+ The enabling of micro generation and distributed generation, as smart meters will be able to record electricity exported to the Grid,

+ Improved customer service: smart metering will allow remote meter reading allowing for more accurate billing. Smart metering technology also has the potential to enhance competition by facilitating customers wishing to switch supplier and suppliers wishing to offer innovative products.

Net metering is necessary as it records both imports and exports of electricity or, at a minimum, meters which offset electricity imported by individual customers against volumes of electricity exported to the electricity system from the same property. Traditional electricity meters do not record or offset the volume of any electricity exported.

If a domestic user is allowed to offset their bill against electricity used e.g Joe consumed 1000 units but produced 900 units, therefore Joe owes the ESB 100 units. Then Joe is receiving 15.04 cent per Kwh produced.

If however Joe is not allowed to offset is electricity bill then Joe may be paid at a considerably lower rate. Large scale producers received 5.7 cent for each kwh they produce, if a domestic producer received 8 cent per kwh and net metering with offsets was not in place they the scenario could occur that during a windy night Joe produces 8 kwh and consumes 2kwh then Joe would be paid for 6KWh x * 8 cents.

The offset scenario would be more beneficial to Joe as over a period of time his consumption and production is assessed and he is paid 15.04 cent for the units he produced and consumed in that time period. Wind is unpredictable in nature and my observations on wind speed using a weather station, is that it is either "feast" or "famine". You either have a little or a lot not a steady stream unlike solar photo voltaic. Therefore net metering using offsets will allow the domestic producer to benefit from this renewable resource.

Debugging your IT career - Changing career paths

The IT sector can be seen as a very challenging, enjoyable but demanding career. Sometimes people want to change career paths and consider a career outside IT. If I wasn't working in IT/academia I would like to work in forestry/renewables.

If however you are not sure what you should be doing then a book by Janice Weinberg Titled Debugging Your Information Technology Career, Elegant Fix Press, 2008 maybe the answer.

Eweek have a good article on this decision making process and some practical career paths.

Green Energy Conference - Sustainable Energy Solutions & Opportunities - Tipperary Institute , Thurles Campus - 19 & 20 May 2008

A Green Energy Conference - Sustainable Energy Solutions & Opportunities will take place on Tipperary Institute , Thurles Campus - 19 & 20 May 2008. The conference is organised by the Tipperary Energy Agency

The conference programme is available here:

May 19th will include sessions on

Session 1:Welcome, opening Address and Setting the Local Scene; 9:30-10:40

Session 2: Technological Solutions - Currents & Future Options; 11:00-13:00

Session 3: Finance and Implementation - how to make it happen; 14:00-15:40

Session 4: Integration - Bringing it all together; 16:00-16:40

On the 20th of May there are a number of seminars and two workshops taking place.

These will run in parallel. Details of the seminars can be found here

Information on the workshops (Biomass district heating and Renewable Engineering Feasibility tools) can be found here:

A copy of the programme in pdf format can be downloaded also:

Skystream 3.7 - 1.8 kW Residential Wind Turbine

The skystream wind turbine has been developed by Southwest wind power . South west are a well established american wind turbine manufacturer. The Skystream 3.7 has been developed by Southwest Windpower in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and is the newest generation in residential wind technology.

Its full 1.8kW is achieved at around 10m/s with a maximum rotor speed of 325 RPM. This low RPM means that the machine operates at a very low noise level. The turbine was rated at 9 m/s but can produce 2.4 kW at 13 m/s (approx)

A number of users have reported issues with the turbine in cold freezing weather. I would recommend you read their comments on Keepturining.com

The power curve for the turbine is impressive and has been independently verified by the NREL

The turbine It’s the first all-inclusive wind generator (with controls and inverter built in) designed to provide quiet, clean electricity in very low winds.

I will be keeping this turbine in mind as it can be connected directly to the electricity supply of my home due to its built in inverter. I would prefer a higher kW output but its price might make it more attractive.

Cell Energy in Sligo stock this unit and they are in the process of providing me with a quote.

Skystream 1.8kW, 325 rpm, 0.4 W at 6 m/s, Rotor diameter 3.72 M, Power and rpm rated at 9 m/s

Wind Turbine Considerations for an Irish climate

Even though I am only in the early stages of gathering wind data for my house I decided to do some research into wind turbines and the practical considerations one must keep in mind.

Mike Sagrillo in the 2002 August September issue of Homepower 2002 wrote an article titled "Apples and oranges - choosing a home-sized wind generator". Mike made some good suggestions about selecting a wind turbine. They are:

1 - The KW rating is not enough of an indicator for its performance, you need to find out at what wind speed the turbine generates that amount of energy.

2 - Look at the power curves, if your average wind speed is 5 m/s then that is what you should make your decision on, not on peak values which rarely occur. Different manufacturers will rate their peak power at different wind speeds so try and pick a speed that reflects your site and ascertain the power output for that wind speed.

3 - Lower rpm turbines are usually quieter turbines. In order to run at lower rpms they use a large rotor diameter which gives them a larger wind swept area i.e. can use more of the wind. Several of the lower rpm turbines can operate at lower wind speeds and generate decent power.

4 - Heavier turbines are more rugged and will usually last longer. In Ireland we have significant gusts etc so a rugged turbine is more preferable.

5 - 3 bladed turbines wind generators avoid yaw chatter, which happens when a two-bladed machine yaws. The term “Yaw” refers to a wind generator pivoting on its bearings around the tower top to follow the continually changing wind. Some two bladed turbines do use a spring plate mechanism so as to absorb some of the yawing vibration so as to mitigate the yawing chatter

5 - Warranties etc, a turbine may need to be lowered and greased once a year, how much will that cost etc

6 - Proper blade and rotor balancing is critical so as to have smooth operation. Mike notes that a unbalanced rotor will display tail wagging symptoms.

Urban-wind.org have a catalogue which list the European Urban Wind Turbine Manufacturers.

Using the above criteria I reviewed the turbines with a view to quiet operation and power ratings around 5 - 6 m/s.

The following turbines met my initial criteria

Iskra 5 kW turbine, 200 rpm, 1.284 kW at 6 m/s. Rotor diameter 5.4 meters, 3 blades (page 23), Power and rpm rated at 11 m/s

Travere Industries 2.1 kW, 440 rpm, 1.120 kW at 5 m/s. Rotor diameter 6 meters, 2 blades (page 45), Power and rpm rated at 8 m/s

Tulipower HAWT, 2.5 kW, 0.958 kW at 6 m/s, Rotor diameter, 5 meters, 3 blades (page 47), Power and rpm rated at 10 m/s

Wind Energy Solutions, 2.5 kW, 0.958 kW at 6 m/s, Rotor diameter, 5 meters, 3 blades (page 53), Power and rpm rated at 8.5 m/s

Thurles Birds enjoying the fine weather

The birds in the Thurles Bird Sanctuary are enjoying the milder weather in Tipperary Ireland. You always hear them before you see them.

Upperchurch Weather Station

I now have a WH1080 weather station up and running in the back garden. Local and visitors will tell you that it is windy in upperchurch. We will now know how windy, rainy, temperature etc.

The unit records wind, temp, pressure and rain using two double AA batteries and sends the info to a touch screen wireless controller in the house. The touch screen uses 3 double AA batteries and has a USB port.

Data is averaged out over 5 mins and can be downloaded via usb using the easy weather app that ships with the weather station

The weather station is 4 metres above ground and was purchased from the ukweatherstore on ebay.

I hope to configure a low power minature linux box to post the data to the internet.

Last night we had a peak gust of 11.9 metres per second and 4.8 mm of rain fall. The kitchen dropped in temp from 25 to a low of 16.3 degrees C.

WH1080 Weather Station Kit

Good demand for IT skills

loadzajobs.ie have a considerable listing of jobs in the IT area on their website.

Java - 763 jobs listed require Java skills
Network - 606 jobs listed require networking skills
Web Developer - 621 jobs listed contain the term web developer.

This is good news for Tipperary Institute and their graduates of software development, IT support and multimedia.

Channel 4 now available on LIDL satellite dish systems

Brian Greene posted the Channel 4 details to twitter yesterday. We now have Channel 4 installed at home, which means we can watch shameless.

Select Installation and go to add manual TP section.

Select Transponder 10729GHz V, 22000 symbol rate, FEC 5/6 on astra 2d and scan that transponder for free channels. It will find Film 4 and and a channel called 8350. 8350 is actually Channel 4, we renamed 8350 to Channel 4.

Thanks Brian