Green
posted by pasofol on July 6th, 2008 at 1:13PM
posted by pasofol on July 6th, 2008 at 1:13PM
This article made me laugh.
There's being green and there's making everyone green!
http://www.young-germany.....html?no_cache=1
Also
nanosolar company seems promising if they are able to produce a good product for that price. About a buck for a watt wholesale. Although everything they make is going to utilities and nothing to private home owners. Doesn't seem like they intent to change that. I want off the grid.
http://www.celsias.com/ar...solar-now-cheap/
Right now it's about 3-4 bucks wholesale and 4-6 retail.
Problem I have with solar is it's not good in winters when there's little sun and not as intense. But doesn't require maintenance once installed unlike say wind turbines. Wind turbine is good but depends on location and doesn't output much of value at low speeds. So if you live in Canada/Poland you basically need a combination of both to be able to stay off the grid. Or huge battery banks relying on only one source.
Been checking http://www.replenergy.co....145f395a645f26da to see history/current wind speeds. A $800-$1200 wind turbine will produce about 2-3 Kw/hrs a day, of course that's a average and won't be able to store it all in batteries. A $1000 solar panel would give me a ~175watt solar panel, include clouds so on makes it about 80watt efficient for conservative 8 hours (.6 Kw/hrs) Excessive loads will be dumped on a water heater. Cost of battery banks $500, inverter $150+ depending on how much it converts 1000watt should be more then enough. Charger controllers still have to find the right type for the wind turbine since it's power/vdc fluctuates considerable compared to solar it needs a controller that handles the load. Most solar ones will basically die on high wind conditions and when that happens things really fall apart literally like no load on the turbine makes it spin out of control.
For my needs initially that will do. Just need power for laptop/internet/lighting/tv basic appliances. If I put a small fridge that's a constant small drain and I may have to look more closely at my usage/calculations.
Is it practical overall?
Depends on if you are willing to make sacrifices/life changes. First thing is no energy hugs such as the following common items.
Electric oven
Clothes dryer (electric)
Water heater (electric)
Central Air Conditioner
Microwave oven
Toaster
Coffee maker
Range burner
Window unit air conditioner
Refrigerator
Basically anything that requires electricity to make heat needs to go/replaced.
I'll be using gas instead of electricity for cooking/heating. I'll add things to the system as my needs grow/change.
I'll try to do this if I intent to stay in Poland for longer period of time. The less then 25sq/m "house" can be built with my limited budget with most likely my own two hands. Yes it may collapse on me one day. The house is another linked matter all on its own.
Also food can be grown on my land which will produce most of my fruit/vegetable needs for the summer months. Sadly I'm becoming more like what Dennis envisions without actually trying to.
Feel free to correct my spelling/grammar.
There's being green and there's making everyone green!
http://www.young-germany.....html?no_cache=1
Also
nanosolar company seems promising if they are able to produce a good product for that price. About a buck for a watt wholesale. Although everything they make is going to utilities and nothing to private home owners. Doesn't seem like they intent to change that. I want off the grid.
http://www.celsias.com/ar...solar-now-cheap/
Right now it's about 3-4 bucks wholesale and 4-6 retail.
Problem I have with solar is it's not good in winters when there's little sun and not as intense. But doesn't require maintenance once installed unlike say wind turbines. Wind turbine is good but depends on location and doesn't output much of value at low speeds. So if you live in Canada/Poland you basically need a combination of both to be able to stay off the grid. Or huge battery banks relying on only one source.
Been checking http://www.replenergy.co....145f395a645f26da to see history/current wind speeds. A $800-$1200 wind turbine will produce about 2-3 Kw/hrs a day, of course that's a average and won't be able to store it all in batteries. A $1000 solar panel would give me a ~175watt solar panel, include clouds so on makes it about 80watt efficient for conservative 8 hours (.6 Kw/hrs) Excessive loads will be dumped on a water heater. Cost of battery banks $500, inverter $150+ depending on how much it converts 1000watt should be more then enough. Charger controllers still have to find the right type for the wind turbine since it's power/vdc fluctuates considerable compared to solar it needs a controller that handles the load. Most solar ones will basically die on high wind conditions and when that happens things really fall apart literally like no load on the turbine makes it spin out of control.
For my needs initially that will do. Just need power for laptop/internet/lighting/tv basic appliances. If I put a small fridge that's a constant small drain and I may have to look more closely at my usage/calculations.
Is it practical overall?
Depends on if you are willing to make sacrifices/life changes. First thing is no energy hugs such as the following common items.
Electric oven
Clothes dryer (electric)
Water heater (electric)
Central Air Conditioner
Microwave oven
Toaster
Coffee maker
Range burner
Window unit air conditioner
Refrigerator
Basically anything that requires electricity to make heat needs to go/replaced.
I'll be using gas instead of electricity for cooking/heating. I'll add things to the system as my needs grow/change.
I'll try to do this if I intent to stay in Poland for longer period of time. The less then 25sq/m "house" can be built with my limited budget with most likely my own two hands. Yes it may collapse on me one day. The house is another linked matter all on its own.
Also food can be grown on my land which will produce most of my fruit/vegetable needs for the summer months. Sadly I'm becoming more like what Dennis envisions without actually trying to.
Feel free to correct my spelling/grammar.
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Should have brought up
posted by pasofol on July 6th, 2008 at 1:26PM mirco-chp which is quite interesting and seems like North America isn't adapting the technology fast enough. Canada with it's current high heating costs during the winter months makes it an ideal product.
Basically it's a gas heater but there's an engine that does the burning which makes electricity. It works best with a household/building that have constant heating needs.
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