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RENEWABLE ENERGY
What is ‘renewable energy’?
Renewable energy is the energy derived from solar power, wind power, biofuels and biomass, geothermal energy and water power, such as tidal, wave and current action Renewable energy technologies tap into natural cycles and systems, turning the ever-present energy around us into usable forms.. For many homeowners, businesses and government agencies, renewable energy is helping build a cost effective, sustainable energy future.
What is ‘solar’ energy?
Solar energy—power from the sun—is a vast and inexhaustible resource. Once a system is in place to convert it into useful energy, the fuel is free, non-polluting, and will never be subject to price spikes in the energy markets. Solar power technologies include various forms of solar photovoltaics (PV) and solar thermal systems.
PV panels have been used for off-grid purposes like powering homes in remote locations, cellular phone transmitters, road signs, water pumps, and millions of solar watches and calculators. PV can also be attached to the electrical grid to produce clean, fossil-free energy. Developing nations use PV as a way to avoid building long and expensive power lines to remote areas. And every year, solar-powered cars race across Australia and North America in heated competitions.
What is ‘wind’ energy?
Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy in wind into clean electricity. When the wind spins the wind turbine’s blades, a rotor captures the kinetic energy of the wind and converts it into rotary motion to drive the generator. A small wind system can be connected to an electric distribution system (grid-connected) or it can stand alone (off-grid). Small wind electric systems are one of the most cost-effective home-based renewable energy systems. These systems are also nonpolluting.
When the wind blows, the rotor blade of a wind turbine stops a percentage of the wind. That percentage is what is converted into energy. According to physics, the maximum amount of wind energy that can be converted is 59.3%. This is known as the Betz Limit.
Will renewable energy work on my home or business?
Yes, if you have sunlight or wind available throughout the day. We can give you a quick assessment.
Will I need to adapt my home, business or electrical appliances to run on renewable energy?
No. Renewable power electric systems will readily work with your current electrical system. You won’t have to buy new appliances or change your electrical outlets; everything will work just the same as it did before. The only change you can expect is that you won’t have to pay a big electrical bill every month, or be tied to fossil fuels.
Should I wait for new technology?
No. Now is very good time to invest in renewable energy. Federal and state governments are currently offering generous rebates and incentives. Indeed, since these programs are designed to reward early adopters, those who act now will benefit more. Additionally power costs are consistently on the rise. Investing in renewable energy is a smart, forward looking way to plan for the future.
What amount of renewable energy do I need?
Every home, business or government application is different, so what you need will depend on your energy needs, space, application and goals.
Residential photovoltaic solar systems average 3 kW. Off-grid applications that require solar or wind power can use from 500 watts to 5kw. When paired with grid-connected power, or small fossil generators, a renewable energy installation can be sized to provide backup power, or primary power with less fuel required from fossil sources. Your own needs will depend on the space, application, and goals planned for your home, business or other application.
At ZeroBase, we believe that an optimized system is the best system, so we always advocate that our customers look into energy efficiency when they are considering solar and wind power products. The less power you consume on a daily basis, the less power you have to produce. This makes renewable energy systems more affordable to the consumer as well as being generally is good for the country and the planet.
How reliable is renewable energy?
Renewable energy technologies are very reliable. They have proven to be dependable sources of energy for small off grid cabins, independent telecommunications installations, small villages, large office buildings, mass retailers, governmental agencies, and the military. Some of the largest companies in the world have buildings powered by solar and wind energy, and the United States military is investing in the use of renewable energy for their installations around the world. ReGenerator products are built to ISO9000 levels, and have very high quality standards—our products are built to last.
Why are batteries important in renewable energy installations?
Battery power storage can be an important part of any renewable energy application. When power goes out, battery backup can provide electricity to your home for a pre-determined amount of time. What many people who put renewable energy systems into their home or business do not realize is that when the grid goes down, they cannot access their renewable energy because it is automatically shut off by the utilities to avoid sending electricity up the power line and possibly harming someone.
With a battery bank in your system, you will not run out of power when the sun goes down, the wind dies down, or—most importantly—the grid fails. The batteries are automatically charged by the ReGenerator, and stay ready for use when the grid or other power source is unavailable. Properly managed, stored battery power can keep essential systems running for many hours or even days until sun, wind, or grid power is again generating power.
What happens at night, or when the weather turns cloudy…or when the wind stops?
Since the amount of power the solar part of your renewable energy system generates is a direct result of sunlight, it solar panel will produce slightly less energy when the weather is cloudy. Solar panels will not produce any energy at night. Your wind turbine requires the wind to rotate, so if the wind speed slows or dies down, its output will be reduced or halted.
However, this does not have to mean you are without power. If you have battery storage as part of a system matched to your required electricity load, you can draw from the batteries to have power when the renewable resources are low. Regenerators are designed to easily partner with traditional fossil-fuel generators as additional backup. Further if your power system is interconnected to your local utility grid, you can draw power from the grid whenever you need it. You won’t experience any power interruptions—the switch between solar system power and the utility grid happens automatically.
What happens if there is a blackout?
In the event of a black out, grid-tie renewable energy systems are designed to shut off. This is a safety requirement by the utility company so that their technicians can safely repair fallen electrical lines. However, if you use a ReGenerator, you will still have power stored in the battery bank, and all you need to do is plug an extension cord into the unit. You can also set your ReGenerator unit up to provide power to your home or installation at any time.
How safe are solar systems?
Solar cells are very safe. There are no moving parts to solar, no exhaust and nothing toxic to leak out of the system. Further, the electricity produced by a regenerator is just like the electricity that comes out of the outlets in your home.
Does renewable energy make financial sense?
Renewable energy is a smart financial investment because you will save money on electrical costs for years to come, including money for any fossil fuel you are currently using for diesel, propane or gasoline generators.
If you are a homeowner, having renewable energy will increase your home value. Most renewable energy consumers who purchase their system expect to recoup their investment within 5-10 years. Depending on the rebates and incentives offered in their area, they may pay back the cost and begin realizing a lifetime of savings even sooner.
If you are a commercial or government enterprise, business continuity can be a key reason for using renewable energy; when the power goes out, business stops. With a renewable energy installation or product such as the ReGenerator, your competitor’s business may be impaired, but you will have the power to continue operating through a power outage.
Further, many electrical utility contracts for commercial and government installations have a tiered consumption cost associated with use. This means that businesses will pay for power at a base rate and then at other times the price goes up exponentially. The top tier power is defined differently in different situations. Price variation can be dictated by the time of day, certain weather conditions, or even after a certain amount of power is consumed. Avoiding these costs is a big deal to commercial institutions and is typically known as “Peak Shaving”. Renewable energy systems are a perfect mechanism for avoiding the high costs of Peak Power. Companies use renewable energy to shave off their consumption at the highest level. In these situations, renewable energy can pay for itself very quickly.
Will the government give rebates and tax incentives for going solar?
The incentives and rebates are both real and substantial. Both state and federal governments offer tremendous financial incentives for Americans to ‘go renewable’. A combination of incentives and tax credits can cover 50% or more of the total cost in some locations! The most important thing to keep in mind about these governmental programs is this: they won’t last forever. Now is a favorable time to take advantage of federal and state mandates to switch to renewable sources of energy, because once the adoption rate reaches a certain level, the incentives will be seen as no longer needed and be discontinued.
REGENERATION
What is ‘Regeneration’?
ZeroBase Energy is pioneering the concept of ‘Regeneration’—renewable energy generation—as a way to lessen impacts on the environment and increase personal, enterprise and national energy independence and sustainability.
In the ‘green building’ industry, architects and engineers are incorporating elements such as energy efficiency, water recycling, parks on roof tops, and other enhancements to lessen the impact of development on the environment.
ZeroBase Energy is fast becoming a leader in on-site, point-of-use energy generation, management and usage by creating transformational products that put the energy creation and generation process right at the point where it is needed and used, eliminating the wasteful ‘long tail’ of drilling, mining, shipping, piping, power plants, electrical lines, transformers and other costs associated with our global energy system.
How does regeneration help the planet?
Regeneration reduces dependence on fossil fuels and thus the need for, and transportation of, coal, oil, and gas, thereby reducing the day-to-day expense, pollution, and risk of environmental degradation associated with oil extraction, truck and train accidents, plant and pipeline explosions, and the like.
By using a ReGenerator to create, store and manage energy on-site, at the point of use, the entire energy system left behind because the user now has a personal ‘electric utility in a box’…ready to supply reliable power day and night when placed in a backyard, on a mountain or behind a school. With regeneration, energy consumers are no longer at the mercy of foreign and domestic suppliers, energy resellers, utilities and governments; now they can experience personal control of their energy consumption, forever.
Why should energy regeneration be important to me?
Regeneration is clean, easy to use, affordable, and puts energy independence in your hands. With a ReGenerator, you’ll have your own mini-electric utility generating energy 24/7/365, and you’ll never again have to pay a monthly utility bill for that power. While a ReGenerator can be paired with the electricity grid and even fossil fuel generators, it can also resupply itself if those energy inputs are unavailable. Regeneration reduces the impact of your energy consumption by locating the energy creation right where you are, under your control, and it provides your energy with clean, renewable, natural resources like the sun and wind.
What is the history of the ZeroBase Energy regeneration concept?
A catch-all term, Renewable Energy can mean many things in a growing industry, from grid-connected wind power to residential geothermal heat pumps; from biofuels to solar fields. One sector of renewable energy in particular is called ‘distributed generation’, or DG, the small-scale production of electricity at or near the point of use. DG has the potential to improve power supply reliability, reduce electricity costs, and lower harmful emissions. It also has the potential to aid in homeland security by reducing national exposure to vulnerable centralized power production and the thread of the grid system.
In fact, the DG revolution has begun. Consumers around the world are looking for reliable, on-site power solutions for disaster management, infrastructure hardening and business continuity as power outages become commonplace and energy prices increase. Fuel price volatility and climate change have made fossil-based power options increasingly unsustainable around the world.
Meantime, electrification in the developing world and the build-out of electrical infrastructure is pushing countries to leapfrog centralized power production and embrace distributed generation and micro-grid technology. This mirrors the trajectory of the mobile phone, which has offered nations the benefits of a reliable communications network without the heavy investment in fixed-line phone infrastructure.
The trend toward distributed independence and scalable solutions, with minimal infrastructure investment and lower total cost of ownership, has ushered in a large and growing market for deployable clean energy. Regeneration is the application of distributed, renewable energy using sophisticated transportable appliances designed to generate, store and manage power from any source—solar, wind, fossil, the grid, and more—anywhere in the world. Regenerators offer easy use, independence and scalability heretofore unknown in the energy sector.
Where does regeneration go from here?
ZeroBase Energy is working to expand our product catalog to provide energy consumers with regeneration products that provide for needs ranging from water, to light, refrigeration, power and more. As we develop our catalog, we anticipate offerings that will include a wide variety of products offering regeneration that are ever more efficient, clean and versatile.
REGENERATOR PRODUCTS
What exactly is a ZeroBase Regenerator?
The Regenerator is a unique product that is essentially a distributed energy hub for your home or business. The units integrates all the tools you will need to manage your emergency and off-grid power: best-in-class inverters, solar panels, and batteries. All of these components are specially designed to manage and produce solar power, but can also manage wind power, fossil-fuel generators, even the electricity from the grid. All of this with the ease of quick-connect integration unlike anything on the market today.
The rugged fiberglass composite casing is weather proof, fitting wherever you need stand alone power or power management. The products look good in any location, and can be delivered with any type of graphics or color pattern needed. Regenerators have been used in a wide variety of applications on the tops of mountains, in post earthquake disasters, behind remote cabins, even as backup to suburban homes.
How many ReGenerator products are there?
The currently model of ReGenerator, the H Series, is available in various configurations, including 3000 watt output and 6000 watt output versions. ReGenerator products can also be customized with various battery, solar, charge controller, inverter, and plug configurations, as well as colors and graphic wrapping. Wheeled trailers—military or civilian grade—are also available.
Is there a standard product, or can I create my own?
ReGenerator products can be configured to your specifications, much the way a computer or new car can be customized to meet a particular customer’s choices. ZeroBase Energy manufactures its products using a ‘mass customization’ method, meaning that all ReGenerator’s share the same high quality standards, but can be delivered to our customers in the configuration they require to provide the power they need.
Specialty Engineering is something we are uniquely familiar with. Customers with specific power applications that demand special interconnection, ruggedization, or unique system integration should contact ZeroBase Energy to discuss their needs.
What is the difference between power output, power generation, and power storage?
Much like the amount of water that can be pushed out of the end of a hose or spigot, Power output is the amount of power that a ReGenerator can provide via its output plugs. ReGenerator products can provide up to 4500 Watts of continuous power, peaking up to 10,000 Watts for short bursts of power.
Power generation is the amount of power that a ReGenerator can produce via its internally integrated solar panels, its externally added solar panels, wind turbine or added fossil fuel generator.
A ReGenerator can generate 720 Watts from its internally integrated solar panels, an additional 480 watts from its add-on solar panels, and up to 10,000 Watts of power from externally added solar panels, wind turbines or fossil generators.
Power storage is the amount of power that a ReGenerator can store in its battery bank. A ReGenerator can store from 12.9 kiloatt-hours to 28.8 kilowatt-hours of energy.
What ReGenerator accessories are available?
ReGenerator accessories include trailers for mobility (in both military and U.S. highway certified models), ground mounted solar panels at 240 Watts each, small wind turbines at 350 Watts each, and much more.
How much does a ReGenerator cost?
One unit, fully configured, costs about $30,000. Depending on the configuration, and the number of ReGenerators bought at one time, your cost may be less.
Where are the ReGenerator products made?
ReGenerators are designed, engineered, and manufactured in the United States.
How long have ReGenerator units been commercially available?
ReGenerator products have been sold since 2008.
Do ReGenerator products carry a warranty?
Yes, a 5 year limited warranty is offered for H Series ReGenerator products.