Saturday, January 30, 2010

The Legend of Malin Kundang

An old woman and her son lived in a little village. Her son was called Malin Kundang. They were very poor but they loved each other very much.
One day Malin Kundang told his mother that he would go to town and work there. At first his mother did not allow him but finally she let him go with tears.
Malin Kundang worked hard in a big town and in a short time he became a rich man. However he completely forgot his poor old mother.
Some years later he sailed to a harbor near his village. When his mother heard about this news she came to meet him. Malin Kundang pretended not to know her. He said, “You are not my mother. Go away!” His mother became very sad and before she went she said, “Oh, Malin Kundang, you are a wicked son. You’ll never be safe now. You and your money will turn to stone.”
Some days later his ship left the harbor. The sea was calm but when he reached the open sea there was a great storm. The ship was drowned. Malin Kundang and his money changed into a stone.
Now people call it Batu Si Malin Kundang. We can see the stone from Air Manis, a village on the coast of West Sumatra near Padang.

The Legend of Jaka Tarub

Jaka Tarub is the hero of a legend that is very popular among the people of Central Java. Although he was only the son of a simple farmer, he was handsome as well as kind, honest and brave. He liked to help other people. He was always sided with those who were weak but innocent and those who were poor but honest.
One day, a long time ago, when he was returning home from hunting, he happened to pass by a lake. How amazed he was to see several beautiful girls bathing in the lake amid a dense jungle.
Jaka Tarub had reached the age of marriage, and he thought of possibility of getting of the pretty girls as his wife.
As he was thinking hard of a way to get acquitted with any one of them, he caught sight of their clothes, which were piled up under a tree on the bank of the lake. He decided to steal one of the garments. That was what he did and then he did.
After they had finished their bath, the girls walked ashore to fetch their garments. One of them, however, screamed suddenly and wept as she found that her own garment was gone. While they were searching for the lost garment, a rainbow appeared in the sky and glided down towards the lake. Now it was time for them to go back to heaven. As the other girls climbed up the rainbow on their way back to the sky, the one whose clothes had been lost was left alone, weeping, for she could not enter heaven without her heavenly dress.
Seeing this, Jaka Tarub was astonished greatly, because he now knew that they were certainly not ordinary women but nymphs. He felt very sorry for the poor nymph and decided to approach her.
How surprised the nymph was when she saw Jaka Tarub standing before her. She at once thought that he must be the thief who had stolen her clothes, so she blamed and scolded him.
He begged her pardon for what he had done and told her the reason. The sympathetic manners of the handsome boy impressed her so much that she was at once willing to forgive him. She begged the gods as well to pardon him and the gods blessed them. The two soon fell in love with each other.
In no time Jaka Tarub and the nymph, who now had been changed by the gods into a very beautiful ordinary maiden, got married and lived happily ever after.

Friday, January 29, 2010

King's Frog

Once upon a time, there lived a king whose daughters were all beautiful, but the youngest was so beautiful. Close by the king’s castle lay a great dark forest, and under an old lime-tree in the forest, there was a well. The day was very warm, the king’s child went out into the forest and sat down by the side of the cool fountain. When she was bored she took a golden ball, and threw it up on high and caught it, and this ball was her favorite plaything.
Unfortunately the princess’s golden ball did not fall into the little hand and rolled straight into the water. The king’s daughter followed it with her eyes, but it vanished, and the well was deep, so deep that the bottom could not be seen. She began to cry, and cried louder and louder, and could not be comforted. When she lamented, someone said to her, “What ails you, king’s daughter? You weep so that even a stone would show pity.”
She looked round to the side from where the voice came, and saw a frog stretching forth its big, ugly head from the water. “Ah, old water-splash, is it you,” she said, “I am weeping for my golden ball, which has fallen into the well.”
“Be quiet, and do not weep,” answered the frog, “I can help you, but what will you give me if I bring your plaything up again?”
“Whatever you will have, dear frog,” said she, “My clothes, my pearls and jewels, and even the golden crown which I am wearing.”
The frog answered, “I do not care for your clothes, your pearls and jewels, nor for your golden crown, but if you will love me and let me be your companion and play-fellow, and sit by you at your little table, and eat off your little golden plate, and drink out of your little cup, and sleep in your little bed - if you will promise me this I will go down below, and bring you your golden ball up
again.”
“Oh yes,” said she, “I promise you all you wish, if you will but bring me my ball back again.” But she thought, “How the silly frog does talk.”
When he had received this promise, put his head into the water and sank down. In a short time he came swimming up again with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the grass. The king’s
daughter was delighted to see her pretty plaything once more, and picked it up, and ran away with it. “Wait, wait,” said the frog. “Take me with you. I can’t run as you can.” But she did not listen to him, she ran home and soon forgot the poor frog. He was forced to go back into his well again.
The next day when she was eating at table from her little golden plate, the frog came creeping splish splash, splish splash, up staircase, and he knocked at the door and cried, “Princess, youngest princess, open the door for me.”
She ran to see who was outside, but when she opened the door, there sat the frog in front of it. Then she slammed the door to, in great haste, sat down to dinner again, and was quite frightened. The king saw plainly that her heart was beating violently, and said, “My child, what are you so afraid of? Is there perchance a giant outside who wants to carry you away?”
“Ah, no,” replied she.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Energi Matahari


Energi surya atau matahari telah dimanfaatkan di banyak belahan dunia dan jika dieksplotasi dengan tepat, energi ini berpotensi mampu menyediakan kebutuhan konsumsi energi dunia saat ini dalam waktu yang lebih lama. Matahari dapat digunakan secara langsung untuk memproduksi listrik atau untuk memanaskan bahkan untuk mendinginkan. Potensi masa depat energi surya hanya dibatasi oleh keinginan kita untuk menangkap kesempatan.

Ada banyak cara untuk memanfaatkan energi dari matahari. Tumbuhan mengubah sinar matahari menjadi energi kimia dengan menggunakan fotosintesis. Kita memanfaatkan energi ini dengan memakan dan membakar kayu. Bagimanapun, istilah “tenaga surya” mempunyai arti mengubah sinar matahari secara langsung menjadi panas atau energi listrik untuk kegunaan kita. dua tipe dasar tenaga matahari adalah “sinar matahari” dan “photovoltaic” (photo- cahaya, voltaic=tegangan)Photovoltaic tenaga matahari: melibatkan pembangkit listrik dari cahaya. Rahasia dari proses ini adalah penggunaan bahan semi konduktor yang dapat disesuaikan untuk melepas elektron, pertikel bermuatan negative yang membentuk dasar listrik.

Bahan semi konduktor yang paling umum dipakai dalam sel photovoltaic adalah silikon, sebuah elemen yang umum ditemukan di pasir. Semua sel photovoltaic mempunyai paling tidak dua lapisan semi konduktor seperti itu, satu bermuatan positif dan satu bermuatan negatif. Ketika cahaya bersinar pada semi konduktor, lading listrik menyeberang sambungan diantara dua lapisan menyebabkan listrik mengalir, membangkitkan arus DC. Makin kuat cahaya, makin kuat aliran listrik.

Sistem photovoltaic tidak membutuhkan cahaya matahari yang terang untuk beroperasi. Sistem ini juga membangkitkan listrik di saat hari mendung, dengan energi keluar yang sebanding ke berat jenis awan. Berdasarkan pantulan sinar matahari dari awan, hari-hari mendung dapat menghasilkan angka energi yang lebih tinggi dibandingkan saat langit biru sedang yang benar-benar cerah.

Saat ini, sudah menjadi hal umum piranti kecil, seperti kalkulator, menggunakan solar sel yang sangat kecil. Photovoltaic juga digunakan untuk menyediakan listrik di wilayah yang tidak terdapat jaringan pembangkit tenaga listrik. Kami telah mengembangkan lemari pendingin, yang bernama Solar Chill yang dapat berfungsi dengan energi matahari. Setelah dites, lemari pendingin ini akan digunakan oleh organisasi kemanusiaan untuk membantu menyediakan vaksin di daerah tanpa listrik, dan oleh setiap orang yang tidak ingin bergantung dengan tenaga listrik untuk mendinginkan makanan mereka. Penggunaan sel photovoltaic sebagai desain utama oleh para arsitek semakin meningkat. Sebagai contoh, atap ubin atau slites solar dapat menggantikan bahan atap konvsional. Modul film yang fleksibel bahkan dapat diintegrasikan menjadi atap vaulted, ketika modul semi transparan menyediakan percampuran yang menarik antara bayangan dengan sinar matahari. Sel photovoltaic juga dapat digunakan untuk menyediakan tenaga maksimum ke gedung pada saat hari di musim panas ketika sistem AC membutuhkan energi yang besar, hal itu membantu mengurangi beban maskimum elektik.Baik dalam skala besar maupun skala kecil photovoltaic dapat mengantarkan tenaga ke jaringan listrik, atau dapat disimpan dalam selnya.

Pembangkit Listrik Tenaga Panas Matahari

Kaca-kaca besar mengkonsetrasikan cahaya matahari ke satu garis atau titik. Panas yang dihasilakan digunakan untuk menghasilkan uap panas. Panasnya, tekanan uap panas yang tinggi digunakan untuk menjalankan turbin yang menghasilkan listrik. Di wilayah yang disinari matahari, Pembangkit Listrik Tenaga matahari dapat menjamin pembagian besar produksi listrik

Berdasarkan proyeksi dari tingkat arus hanya 354MW, pada tahun 2015 kapasitas total pemasangan pembangkit tenaga panas matahari akan melampaui 5000 MW. Pada tahun 2020, tambahan kapasitas akan naik pada tingkat sampai 4500 MW setiap tahunnya dan total pemasangan kapasitas tenaga panas matahari di seluruh dunia dapat mencapai hampir 30.000 MW- cukup untuk memberikan daya untuk 30 juta rumah.


Pemanas dan Pendingin Tenaga Matahari



Panas tenaga matahari menggunakan panas matahari secara langsung. Pengumpul panas matahari diatas atapmu dapat menyediakan air panas untuk rumahmu, dan membantu menghangatkan rumahmu. Sistem panas matahari berdasarkan prinsip sederhana yang telah dikenal selama berabad-abad: matahari memanaskan air yang mengisi bejana gelap. Teknologi tenaga panas matahari yang ada di pasar saat ini sangat efisien dan bisa diandalkan. Saat ini pasar menyediakan tenaga matahari untuk aplikasi dengan cakupan luas, dari pemanas air domestik dan pemanas ruangan di perumahan dan gedung –gedung komersial, sampai pemanas kolam renang, tenaga matahari-pendingin, proses pemanasan industri dan memproses air menjadi tawar.

Saat ini produksi pemanas air panas domestik merupakan aplikasi paling umum untuk tenaga panas matahari. Di beberapa negara hal ini telah menjadi sarana yang umum digunakan oleh gedung tempat tinggal. Tergantung pada kondisi dan konfigurasi sistem, kebutuhan air panas dapat disediakan oleh tenaga matahari hingga 100% . Sistem yang lebih besar dapat ditambahkan untuk menutupi bagian penting dari kebutuhan energi untuk pemanas ruangan. Ada dua tipe teknologi:Tabung vakum- penyedot di dalam tabung vakum menyedot radiasi dari matahari dan memanaskan cairan di dalam, seperti di panel tenaga matahari datar. Tambahan radiasi diambil dari reflektor di belakang tabung. Bentuk bundar tabung vakum membuat cahaya matahari dari berbagai sudut dapat mencapai penyerap secara langsung. Bahkan di saat mendung, ketika cahaya datang dari banyak sudut pada saat bersamaan, tabung vakum kolektor tetap dapat efektif.Kolektor solar panel datar- pada dasarnya merupakan kotak yang ditutupi kaca yang ditaruh di atap seperti cahaya langit. Di dalam kotak terdapat serangkaian tabung pemotong dengan sirip pemotong terpasang. Seluruh struktur dilapisi substansi hitam yang didesain untuk menangkap sinar matahari. Sinar ini memanaskan air dan campuran bahan anti beku, yang beredar dari kolektor turun ke pemanas air di bawah tanah.
Pendingin tenaga matahari: Pendingin tenaga matahari menggunakan sumber energi panas untuk menghasilkan dingin dan /atau mengurangi kelembaban udara dengan cara yang sama dengan lemari pendingin atau AC konvensional. Aplikasi ini cocok dengan energi panas matahari, sejalan dengan meningkatnya permintaan pendingin ketika panas matahari banyak. Pendingin tenaga matahari telah sukses didemonstrasikan. Penggunaan skala besar dapat diharapkan di masa depan, sejalan dengan berkurangnya biaya teknologi ini, terutama untuk sistem skala kecil.