Engineered Efficiency offers Unlimited Live Training

While I personally thought Autodesk would announce next (not this) release would be the final release of Land Desktop, the announcement itself really comes as no surprise. Since the Technology Preview release of 2004, Civil 3D has evolved from a really cool new technology to a technology now able to sustain real-world design. For firms still using Land Desktop, switching to Civil 3D has less to do with the technical abilities of the software, and more to do with the cultural paradigm and the raw cost.

Civil 3D is not an incremental upgrade to Land Desktop; it’s a replacement for Land Desktop. For that reason many firms still have weighed Civil 3D vs LDT, and simply decided to stay on LDT subscribing to the notion “if it aint broke, don’t fix it”. More often than not that argument is code for, we’re not willing to commit to the hours upon hours of training our staff will need to be productive on Civil 3D. While Civil 3D certainly has the potential to save lots of time [money] in the long run, it’s difficult to convince management to forgo the necessary cost of training.

News of a reseller offering training is far from monumental. Something monumental would be a reseller offering unlimited live training to their customers. That’s exactly the announcement Engineered Efficiency recently made. EE CivilAccess and EE GuidedAccess customers will have the opportunity to enjoy unlimited free access to an impressive curriculum including; Core Concepts; Residential Design; Site Design; Transportation (local roads); Survey; Styles; Data Management; and Workflows.

Something especially appealing to those migrating from Land Desktop is the other services included in the EE CivilAccess and EE GuidedAccess portfolios. In addition to unlimited instructor led training, EE customers receive their impressive ProPak Base [Express Tools for C3D], access to an exclusive knowledge base, and support tokens. Their GuidedAccess offering provides a 5-step implementation, including the all important pilot project mentoring. The folks over at Engineered Efficiency have all but ignored the conventional reseller model, offering their clients premium services at an affordable price.

To learn more about EE’s impressive offering check out their website at www.eng-eff.com.

AutoCAD 2011 No Experience Required – Now Available

Over the last several months you’ve probably heard me talk about (sometimes a little too much) my “upcoming” book, AutoCAD 2011 and AutoCAD LT 2011: No Experience Required. It’s with great excitement that I finally get to announce AutoCAD No Experience Required is no longer “upcoming”; it’s now available from a book retailer near you!


AutoCAD No Experience Required is both a tutorial, and Autodesk Official Training Guide aimed at empowering novices to acquire the necessary skills to work in AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT immediately. The book is structured such that readers start with a blank drawing, and by following a series of concise explanations and step-by-step tutorials creates a complete plan set, including a 3D model of a summer cabin.

Since AutoCAD No Experience Required takes you from project start to project finish, readers also have the opportunity to learn the most up-to-date techniques, tactics, industry standards, and methods. For example, the increasingly popular U.S. National CAD Standards are applied throughout the book.

AutoCAD 2011 and AutoCAD LT 2011: No Experience Required was named an Autodesk Official Training Guide, and can be found from most major book retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. If you own an Amazon Kindle Device, or have the Amazon Kindle application installed on your computer and/or smartphone (iPhone, Android, or BlackBerry), you can also pick up the Amazon Kindle Version of AutoCAD NER.

Solar water heating

Solar water heating or solar hot water is water heated by the use of solar energy. Solar heating systems are generally composed of solar thermal collectors, a fluid system to move the heat from the collector to its point of usage. The system may use electricity for pumping the fluid, and have a reservoir or tank for heat storage and subsequent use. The systems may be used to heat water for a wide variety of uses, including home, business and industrial uses. Heating swimming pools, underfloor heating or energy input for space heating or cooling are more specific examples.

In many climates, a solar heating system can provide up to 85% of domestic hot water energy. This can include domestic non-electric concentrating solar thermal systems. In many northern European countries, combined hot water and space heating systems (solar combisystems) are used to provide 15 to 25% of home heating energy.

In the southern regions of Africa like Zimbabwe, solar water heaters have been gaining popularity, thanks to the Austrian-and other EU-funded projects that are promoting more environmentally friendly water heating solutions.

Residential solar thermal installations can be subdivided into two kinds of systems: compact and pumped systems. Both typically include an auxiliary energy source (electric heating element or connection to a gas or fuel oil central heating system) that is activated when the water in the tank falls below a minimum temperature setting such as 50 °C. Hence, hot water is always available. The combination of solar water heating and using the back-up heat from a wood stove chimney to heat water can enable a hot water system to work all year round in cooler climates, without the supplemental heat requirement of a solar water heating system being met with fossil fuels or electricity.

Among pumped options, there is an important distinction to be made regarding the sustainability of the design of the system. This relates to what source of energy powers the pump and its controls. The type of pumped solar thermal systems which use mains electricity to pump the fluid through the panels are called low carbon solar because the pumping negates the carbon savings of the solar by about 20%, according to data in a report called “Side by side testing of eight solar water heatings” by DTI UK. However, zero-carbon pumped solar thermal systems use solar electricity which is generated onsite using photovoltaics to pump the fluid and to operate its control electronics. This represents a zero operational carbon footprint and is becoming an important design goal for innovative solar thermal systems.

Today homeowners even can make their own solar water heater.

AutoCAD

Design and shape the world around you with the powerful, flexible features found in AutoCAD® design and documentation software, one of the world’s leading 2D and 3D CAD tools. Speed documentation, share ideas seamlessly, and explore ideas more intuitively in 3D. With thousands of available add-ons, AutoCAD design software provides the ultimate in flexibility, customized for your specific needs. It’s time to take design further. It’s time for AutoCAD.

Architecture, Engineering & Construction

    * 3D/2D ShareNow: share your designs with others, in one click
    * Bridge Modeler for AutoCAD Civil 3D: create bridges from Civil 3D objects
    * Autodesk Showroom: accessorize with real products and photorealistic results
    * Bluestreak Project Collaboration: collaborate with project group members
    * Butterfly DWG Editing: edit drawing files using your web browser
    * CommunityCommands for AutoCAD: discover commands from the community
    * Firefox Add-on: embed DWF files in HTML pages and view with Firefox
    * Freewheel DWF Collaboration: view and review using the cloud
    * Google Earth Extension: view your drawings in Google Earth
    * Locate Design Content with Snap: find design content anywhere
    * Neon Cloud Rendering Service: render your models via the cloud
    * Newport 3D Storytelling: real-time 3D storybuilding for architects
    * Plugin of the Month: utilities from ADN members including source code
    * Point Cloud Tool for 3ds Max/3ds Max Design: turn laser scans into models
    * Solar Radiation Tech Preview for Revit: analyze designs for solar radiation
    * STL Exporter: export Revit models to 3D printers
    * Try AutoCAD over Web via Twitch: trial applications over the internet

Manufacturing

    * 2D to 3D Tool: convert 2D data to 3D models
    * 3D/2D ShareNow: share your designs with others, in one click
    * Butterfly DWG Editing: edit drawing files using your web browser
    * CommunityCommands for AutoCAD: discover commands from the community
    * Feature Recognition: STEP, SAT, or IGES solids to Inventor models
    * Firefox Add-on: embed DWF files in HTML pages and view with Firefox
    * Freewheel DWF Collaboration: view and review using the cloud
    * Inventor Fusion Technology Preview: unite direct and parametric workflows
    * Krypton feedback for Inventor/SolidWorks: instant feedback dashboard
    * Locate Design Content with Snap: find design content anywhere
    * Mesh Enabler for Inventor: work with imported meshes in Inventor
    * Neon Cloud Rendering Service: render your models via the cloud
    * Plugin of the Month: utilities from ADN members including source code
    * Rhino Import Translator: directly import Rhino files into Autodesk Inventor
    * Sustainable Materials Assistant: assess sustainability of your designs
    * Try Inventor over Web via Twitch: trial applications over the internet

Media & Entertainment

    * Firefox Add-on: embed DWF files in HTML pages and view with Firefox
    * Freewheel DWF Collaboration: view and review using the cloud
    * Newport 3D Storytelling: real-time 3D storybuilding for architects
    * Point Cloud Tool for 3ds Max/3ds Max Design: turn laser scans into models
    * Try Maya over Web via Twitch: trial applications over the internet

Education

    * 3D/2D ShareNow: share your designs with others, in one click
    * Autodesk Showroom: accessorize with real products and photorealistic results
    * Bluesteak Project Collaboration: collaborate with project group members
    * Butterfly DWG Editing: edit drawing files using your web browser
    * CommunityCommands for AutoCAD: discover commands from the community
    * Freewheel DWF Collaboration: view and review using the cloud
    * Multitouch HCI: manipulate designs without a mouse or keyboard
    * Plugin of the Month: utilities from ADN members including source code
    * Locate Design Content with Snap: find design content anywhere
    * Try Applications over Web via Twitch: trial applications over the internet

Wind Power – Alternative Renewable Energy

Energy is essential for life. Since prehistoric times, when man used bonfires to keep warm at night or to cook food, energy has been  the force behind human evolution. In its various forms, energy now moves vehicles and even rockets that will take us to new frontiers in space.

Paradoxically, the use of fossil fuels like coal and oil, while it has allowed for an unimaginable development, endangers the very existence of humanity, given the limited supply of these fuels.

Today, modern man is faced with unbridled energy consumption, on the other hand, and a shortage of energy resources, on the other. This situation has resulted in a relentless search for alternative renewable sources that reduces our dependency on fossil fuels.

In this context, the exploitation of wind energy becomes increasingly interesting as it is a clean and abundantly available alternative.  Alongside other alternatives, such as nuclear, hydro, solar and geothermal energy, wind power is becoming more prevalent around the world. Wind farms are now a common sight in many countries, where they provide cities and industries with electricity.

Wind power is also important because of the current downturn in the automobile industry. Many of the technologies used in the automobile sector can be used for the industry production of windows and  the construction of wind turbines.

What is a wind generator?

A wind generator is equipment for producing electrical power using wind energy. The machine catches the wind power and conveys it into mechanical energy. This mechanical energy drives the move of the blades (or paddle) in a motor to produce electricity power. Nowadays wind generators contribute thousands of megawatts (MW) of electricity to network. Wind generators are a very common energy solution for vast farms in rural area with many great benefits. Especially they are ideal for strong wind areas.

You don’t need to be an electrical or mechanical engineer to set up your own wind generator. The system is easily set up yourself with tons of guides you can find on internet or in a bookstore. The component for assembly and install a wind generator are also easily found around the market.

Wind generators were invented and used for long time in history as forms of wind turbine or windmill. Many years ago, when electricity power was not discovered, windmills were used to saw timber, grind grain and coin, pull boats and draw up and pump out water for irrigation and water supply. Today, 3 terms of windmill, wind turbine and wind generator are mostly used to name the same device.

There are many benefits of using wind generators. Hereafter are some of these:

1. Wind generators are environment friendly with two following feature:

    * They never generate harmful emission into atmosphere and waste materials to environment.

    * Wind generators do not use any fuel to generate power, so that they don’t hurt the natural resources of energy like gas, petroleum, coal…

2. Wind generators, as said above, do not consume any no-renewable natural sources. Therefore this help to secure the energy stabilization, eliminate the risk of global energy crisis. This is one of the best way of power saving.

3. You have to spend an amount of money for build up a wind generator. But for long time of exploiting energy, it is really cheap power. You will have your own electricity power totally free after a shot time of years. This is really economical energy solution.

4. If you own a wind generator, it really your own wind power plant for life. You never depend on state electricity network. Of course the works of your intire business or factory are not affected by government power-cut some times.

5. Wind a wind generator on your hand, the power is on forever without any interruption. This is really 24 hours per day, 7 days per week continuous electricity supply for your own place. Even if the system may stop for maintenance, the wind generator also have feature to store power, no need to worry about that.

If you want to save our planet by avoiding energy crisis, build your own wind power generation system right now to help the world and to support yourself.

Best Windmill Plan for your homemade Wind Power

Do you intend to set up a homemade wind power plant? The most important thing to assure the success of a homemade power system is its plan. Wind power generating system using a windmill is not an exception. The best windmill plan should be including these following features:

    * Guidance documents with illustrations: Visual descriptions with pictures and sketches work better than only-text ones. If your windmill guide includes illustrative descriptions for making steps, it makes your task much easier.

    * Easy language to understand: If your windmill-building guide contents a lot of technical terms, it is better to find another one. You should find out the one that is easy to understand. It will make your work goes smoothly.

    * Windmill Component descriptions: Your do-it-yourself windmill guide must provide you with visual and textual descriptions in details for all the components you need to use for device assembly. It shall be better if that the guide shows you which type of components can work best for the actual condition of your jobsite.

    * Local information relevant your place: If your guidebook provides you with information on the best tools and equipment available in Africa while you are about to build a windmill in USA, your guide is considered a useless material. Select a guidance document that provides equipment information of places where you are.

Build your own windmill to generate power is a great action to save our planet from energy crisis. Select a good plan that suitable with your budget and your site before set up your homemade power system.

Switch to low carbon solar energy

The Sun is a gigantic fusion reactor which radiates energy into space. The amount of energy our planet receives in one hour from the Sun is of the same dimension as the world energy consumption in one year. This energy drives the water cycle, causes winds and provides light and heat. The use of these renewable sources of energy is becoming crucial for future and carbon reduction strategies.

Adhesives for solar industry

Sika has extensive experience in boding solution for construction and production processes and has successfully transferred product and process know-how from these areas to the solar industry.  With Sika bonding technologies, new design options, reduced processing times and cost savings become feasible. Sika adhesives for solar solutions have an outstanding resistance to UV radiation, weathering and heat degradation. They maintain a very strong, yet flexible bond between parts over a wide range of temperature and climatic exposures and therefore contribute to increased service life of the solar panels.

Solar roofs

Sika have over 40 years of experience in the manufacture of single ply membranes that can be laminated together with solar cells for “building integrated photovoltaic” systems. A roof system with a proven track record of high performance and low maintenance is a critical component of solar systems  that have an expected rooftop service life of 25 years. In fact, be it building integrated solar cells or rigid cells placed on the roof, a key component in the sustainability equation is a roof system that lasts as long as the solar system- with as little maintenance and interruption as possible.

Highly reflective liquid and sheet roofing membranes

Certain rooftop solar systems absorb light not only from  the sun to produce electricity but also from the reflective roof surface itself – in some cases increasing the efficiency of the solar cell up to 15%. Sika’s highly reflective liquid and sheet membranes make a significant contribution to increased electricity production from the same area of roof space covered by solar modules.

Homemade windmill – guidelines for windmills set up

What can we do to cope with world energy crisis today? The first thing we can do right away is to save the existing power with several saving methods. Second, we can try our ways making more power using alternative energy resources. Most popular homemade solutions are wind and solar power systems.

Herein after some guidelines you should consider if you intent to set up a windmill for generating power at home.

1. The initial investment cost for a windmill is not too cheap. But consider long time of electricity generation, the price for power becomes zero. It will save you a big amount of money for long run of power exploit.

2. People keep thinking that windmill can only be built in very strong wind area. In fact windmill can be installed in areas with speed of wind less than 11 miles per hour (11mph) even slightly less.

3. Another thing that makes people afraid of building a windmill is the initial investment cost. However, you can install a windmill at home at a much less price. Furthermore, it is very important to consider many things else while building up a windmill on your own.

4. One more important thing is to choose a good plan before making a windmill at home. Decide the output power you want your windmill to generate.

5. Select sturdy components so that your windmill is strong enough to support itself against heavy winds.Make sure your homemade windmill not be damaged under strong winds.

6. Compare the prices of the components and equipment available in the market and go for the materials that best fit your site and your budget.

Set up your DIY windmill now to make power at home from wind energy to eliminate your power bill.

How to make solar panels for home energy

Plenty of people have been looking into installing solar panels in an effort to combat rising energy costs.  When most of these people see the prices of the professionally installed panels they realize it may not be a luxury they can afford.  There is an easier, more cost efficient way to harness power from the sun and that is to learn how to make solar panels for your self.

Any motivated do-it-yourselfer can learn how to make solar panels for their home, workshop or business.  When compared to the cost of purchasing and installing a pre-made solar energy system, learning how to make solar panels for your energy needs and the materials you need to execute the project are far less.  By learning how to make solar panels for yourself, you have greater control over the size and design of your system as well.

Once you have a quality manual and you have learned how to make solar panels, the supplies are fairly simple to find.  Most can be found at your local hardware store like, plywood, sheets of glass, and a roll of copper wire.  It is also easy to locate inexpensive solar or photovoltaic cells to use in your project.  Many are available over the Internet or you may have a retailer available locally.  One you’ve learned how to make solar panels and you have your supplies, it usually takes about a day to assemble a 100-watt panel.  This is the perfect amount of electricity to operate small appliances or a small workshop.

The most important step is finding a quality manual with detailed instructions for learning how to make solar panels.  In many cases you get what you pay for, so don’t be afraid to spend a few extra dollars on a well-reviewed instruction manual.  Overall, the cost of the making your own panels is so low, the price of the how to guide is minimal-you will still be paying way less learning how to make solar panels on your own than purchasing a professionally installed system.

With a little bit effort, you can be on your way to learning how to make solar panels to meet your energy needs.  Then sit back and bask in the pride the next time the power goes out on your block.  Your lights will still be on because you learned how to make solar panels and your energy supply is still in your battery bank.

6 000 MW of wind power ‘ready to be commissioned’ – Sawea

The South African Wind Energy Association (Sawea) on Thursday said that information from wind energy project developers in South Africa showed that 6 000 MW of wind energy was "ready to be commissioned right now".

Developers were, however, waiting for the power purchase agreements (PPAs) under the renewable energy feed-in tariff (Refit), as they could not take a project to a bankable stage unless they had a power offtake agreement in place.

However, Standard Bank director of investment banking coverage for South Africa and Africa, Paul Eardley-Taylor said that a number of entities (such as industrial and mining companies) could be interested in signing PPAs with renewable power producers, outside of the Refit programme, if one considered increasing electricity price forecasts for 2015.

As South Africa awaited the draft of the integrated resource plan 2010, or IRP2010, which was initially expected by the end of June, interests promoting different forms of energy generation stated what they hoped to see from the document.

Representing Sawea, Mark Tanton purported that the country should aim to derive 25% of its total electricity generation mix from wind energy by 2025. That would amount to about 30 000 MW of installed wind capacity.

Tanton said that this figure would in turn mean the creation of an additional 40 000 jobs, 12 000 of which would be permanent jobs in rural areas.

He also noted that some 60% of the wind turbine could be manufactured locally, and would thus contribute significantly to industrial development.

Tanton emphasised that Sawea wanted the IRP2010 to be a "risk-adjusted" plan, which looked at the "true cost" of producing power from all the technologies proposed, and ensured a portfolio mix that was complementary, affordable and sustainable in the long-term.

And importantly, clarity and limited ambiguity were expected from the IRP2010.

Representing the Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa, Ayanda Myoli stated that South Africa had the opportunity to be a "big player" in the nuclear industry, and if a nuclear build programme of 20 000 MW was initiated, some 77 000 jobs could be created in the country. Of these jobs, some 50 000 would be permanent jobs, not only in operation and maintenance of nuclear power plants, but also in downstream supplier industries.

The country's nuclear policy was said to support the local beneficiation of uranium, for example.

Myoli also said that localisation, and development of high-end skills was high on the agenda.

Eskom representative Adele Greyling stressed that Eskom wanted the IRP2010 to address the issue of security of supply, as well as for the document to make provision for the entrance of independent power producers (IPPs) into the market, and to also ensure a more diverse energy mix.

She said that Eskom was ready, willing and able to facilitate the process of IPPs entering the market in South Africa, but emphasised that the process was not up to the utility alone.

Greyling added that Eskom felt that it would be practically possible for renewable energy to contribute 20% to the entire energy generation mix by 2030.

Independent industry commentator Chris Yelland said that it was of utmost importance that the drafting of the IRP2010 should follow due process.

Yelland was concerned that the IRP2010 was not being drawn up by independent consultants, which were free of vested interests, and was rather being driven by stakeholders - which were largely dominated by Eskom and the Energy Intensive Users Group, as they had the finances to be most involved with the process.

He highlighted that it would be difficult to accept the outcome if one did not accept the process.

IRP2010, spearheaded by the Department of Energy, would determine current and future energy requirements for South Africa for the next 20 years.

Energy Minister Dipuo Peters said previously that the country has reached a "delicate situation, which requires us to take bold and decisive decisions on whether to build coal-fired or nuclear power stations for baseload energy requirements".