The Other Kind of Solar Power ????

That got my attention.  What other kind of solar power is there?  We have been so inundated with advertising about photo voltaic power little attention has been given to solar thermal. Recently someone brought this application to my attention.

Go here   http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/07/solar-powered-factories.html#more

For a very informative article

Europe is much further along in development of solar thermal applications. Imbedded in the above mentioned article are links to a You-Tube video showing how solar concentrators can even melt steel in a few seconds.

On a more mundane scale low heat installations can be used effectively to heat water cook food and heat houses. Cost of installations are lower  than PV and  in terms of energy  it is three time as effective in extracting energy from sunlight compared to PV.

Because I live in high latitudes where we have long dark winters I was extremely skeptical about solar cookers. Then I remembered an old time gadget called the hay box cooker.  You heat up the food in a pot; then when it is up to temp you place the cook pot or Dutch oven in an insulated (hay) box to let the residual heat finish the cooking.  Some limitations apply. This works better for slow simmer dishes. A seared steak on the BBQ is not going to work nor will stir fry. But steamed rice, potatoes, stews would work.

So you use solar heat during the day to generate the heat and let it simmer in an insulated box to finish. To store addition heat you could also heat up ceramic bricks with solar then place them alongside the Dutch oven pot inside the insulated box.

Passive solar homes have been promoted by architects for several decades. Various methods have been promoted to store heat for release overnight. This is another form of solar thermal just by another name. Some of these methods even lend themselves to retrofits on existing buildings not just new purpose built designs.

For some reason we have come to expect one solution fits all. This is not realistic.  But if we can achieve something that displaces an expensive energy source for 50% of the time we have still reduced our annual expense.

The oil industry is even using solar power to recover more oil by heating water to steam and injecting the steam into the almost spent oil pool. More oil can be recovered this way.

Because solar thermal is less known here we have a steeper learning curve head of us.

Low Tech of Yesteryear

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I found a website containing a large number of articles dealing with historical technology going back almost 2000 years.  Yes 2000 years! It’s not a typo.

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2009/12/trolley-canal-boats.html

What is really fascinating is how some technology was eclipsed by other trends and then abandoned.  What is really amazing are the findings of experts that in some cases this technology was more efficient than modern petroleum fuel replacements.

Kind of begs the question as to why did we go with oil?

Hopefully some people will read the articles and will attempt to adopt some of what they read. For off grid in particular I believe   this would be advantageous.

Long before we had steam or electric power   medieval engineers built human powered cranes capable of lifting several tons of loads. Sounds handy for anyone attempting to build their own home from scratch without help from electric or diesel powered cranes.

There is even an article on how not to use alternative energy.

This leads into several articles dealing with pedal powered device.  One of the first lessons it gives is that electrical generation is perhaps the least efficient way to get a job done. The articles illustrate various pedal powered machines including a farm harvesting device   that does a tremendous amount of work just using human muscles.

While some of these may not have a tremendous level of interest in North American the apple harvesting and cider making operation sure caught my eye. I used to live in a region where a lot of apple cider was made. One place I rented had a large number of apple trees so something like that would have been of great interest at the time.

I have in recent times been asked for quotes for solar panels to power wood working shops.  Given they are all one man hobby shops pedal power might make more sense both financially and ecologically.

Even the index is too large to list so go there and see for yourself.

   http://www.lowtechmagazine.com

Two Distinct Lifestyles Seperated by a Common Terminology

Living off grid means very different things to different people.

Some people consider living off-grid only as living away from electric utility power.

Other people do not consider it as living off-grid unless all connection with modern conveniences and municipal services are broken. I have even heard someone calling any kind of financial banking as being a grid.  Does this mean you are not truly off grid unless you revert to a barter system and no longer use money?

Propane use is considered as being on-grid, as does having municipal water or sewers or even paved roads.

Ironically, this group does not seem to consider use of solar power as being a form of grid use. This completely ignores the fact  solar panel are very  high tech and relies  on a complex manufacturing process that is  very dependent on many grid services.

The NIMBYS have assuaged their conscience by shifting toxic manufacturing off shore to third world countries where people are more concerned with daily survival than long term environmental protection.

The process of making solar panels involves a lot of technical steps  requiring the use of toxic  chemicals and sophisticated  silicon crystal growing ovens  costing millions of $$$ to fabricate. This is not some little cottage industry with any impact on the environment.

The manufacture of batteries to store the solar energy collected during the day involves use of much toxic material such as lead and sulphuric acid.  Charge controllers and inverters add to the collection of highly sophisticated devices only a very grid dependent manufacturing complex could produce. Clearly the technology that many people rely on to enable them going ‘off-grid’ is anything but off-grid itself. The industry that develops and sustains this technology could not exist if it had to be off grid.

The other common perspective is that you are off-grid as long as you are not connected to any kind of municipal power grid.  The people  in this category  readily accept  the need for and use of other  so called ‘grids’ such as  a road network for transportation, propane for  cooking and petroleum fuel for a back up generator.

The reality is, both groups rely on modern electronics for everything from communications via the internet to LED lighting to some form of fuel to drive their vehicles on public roads. Try finding a non-electric gasoline fuel station that doesn’t have a digital display showing how much fuel is pumped into your vehicle...

Even those who claim to live the simple rustic life where they chop their own firewood do not escape some reliance on electrical power. The steel blade in their saws and axes came from electric furnaces used to produce good quality steel.  If they use a cast iron stove, the cast iron may come from a coke fuelled melting pot but all of the processing after the iron is poured out relies heavily on electricity.

So we have a dichotomy. Living off grid still depends a great deal on grid electricity.

The only escape would be to revert to agriculture based subsistence totally devoid of technology. Even the Amish and old Order Mennonites do not take it so far. They rely on kerosene lanterns, forged farm implements and accessories often made in   factories dependent on grid power.

Even the kerosene is a petroleum distillate derived from what detractors call fossil fuel.  The glass in the preserving jars and the windows is formed in electricity driven factories.  So just how off-grid is that?

The other faction that subscribes  to the  concept that off-grid only refers to not being  connected  to a municipal  power supply  uses all the technology  they can, in order to reduce energy consumption and  in general  try to live as green as possible  by making use of  the latest  technology.

This faction is likely to have satellite TV and internet connectivity. If they have a job, it may even be a telecommuting job so they do not contribute a carbon foot print by commuting in a car.   Because they are plugged in to global communications they are more likely to be aware of developing trends and global social development.

The reality is both factions are dependent on a grid based high tech industrial base.  It is hypocrisy to disdain any forms of municipal structure as grid and therefore to be avoided.

Permaculture is the new buzz word embraced by the promoters of sustainability life style. I am bemused because these principles are exactly the same as what my grandfather was following, except he did not have a buzz word and counterculture gurus to guide him. He just did it because he was using common sense.

I am not saying ‘permaculture’ is bad or old fashioned. I am just surprised it required renaming things as if it was something newly invented by the latest generation...

There is a caution however.  Living in an agricultural mode that is pre industrial is  to  adopt a way of life  where infant  mortality is the norm and if  children survive to adulthood this life is likely to be short because of the brutal living conditions needed to eke out a subsistence living.

The minute you begin to rely on any sort of manufactured products such as knives axes and plow shares you start the movement towards grids.

The old saying beating swords into plowshares speak to more than simply a philosophical   trend.  It is indicative that metal resources were scarce and there was just enough metal around to supply either swords (weapons) or plowshares (peaceful tools) but not necessarily enough for both.

The industrial age led to technical developments that allowed greater production of metal because deeper mines could now produce more metal and engineers invented new machines able to produce new products made from the more abundant metals.

A cast iron axe does not work. It is too brittle and shatters. Steel was difficult and expensive to make until the advent of electric furnaces.  Sheet tin was almost unheard of before the development of rolling mills.  Rolling mills use big electric motors to run. Tin and sheet steel facilitated the production of low cost consumer goods like kerosene lamps.

Without sheet metal it is questionable how many low cost consumer goods would have been produced.   All of this industrialization would not have been as rapid or even possible without reliance on the various grids the PC purists who eschew any and all forms of grids.

In terms of living green; which mode is greener?  There is the back to the lender (err) who hand cuts trees for a primitive log cabin in the woods. Heating and cooking is done with a wood burning fire. Remember a cast iron stove is not allowed by definition of total abstinence of any grid whatsoever.  You could build a fireplace using river stones

Light has to be with home made candles.

Food production will be mostly traditional because anything else relies in some way on grid reliant industrial manufacturing. 

Transportation is by animal or animal drawn wagons or by foot. This places a limitation on mobility and range of social community interaction

The other choice is the high tech off-gridder who only disconnects from the utility power grid. However he uses LED lighting produced in a grid dependent factory and is powered by solar panels produced in another grid dependent factory.  The high tech   off-gridder may have a telecommuting job or commute to work in a modern hybrid vehicle that uses the least a mount of fuel resources.

The high tech off-gridder is fully connected and quite often keeps abreast of new developments that would allow them to enhance their lifestyle.  

They heat their home using one of several options. Wood stoves using catalytic converters or wood gasification to produce zero visible particulates and have non visible emissions that fall within the EPA guidelines.  If they garden to grow some of their own food they conserve water using new drip irrigation technique. They may even water these crops using only captured rain or recycled grey water.  The food will likely be clean organic because their internet connections bringing them news letters explaining these developments and how to implement them at home.

For the majority of people a compromise somewhere in between is most likely to be acceptable.  The point being these politically correct  people who insist on redefining  the term ‘off-grid’ to include all sort of  things  that was never envisioned  by the first electrical engineers who coined the word  should be careful because if you take their  definitions to the ultimate  logical conclusion will find themselves  in a linguistic  corner they cannot get out of..

I subscribe to the meaning ‘off-grid’ only means being not connected to the power grid.

~~ END ~~

Off-Grid or Off-Shore

Many people chose to retire and go live on a boat cruise around.

An even greater number of people buy a large RV or motor home and drive around to see the country. When they camp out in the wild not in a park intended for RV camping its called Boon Docking. 

A common aspect of all this to living off grid is the fact they all need to be self sufficient. The RV owner uses a holding tank and must find a ‘SANI dump’ to empty the holding tank. Boats cruising inland waters or within 3 miles of shore must also find pump out stations.  Building codes requires all homes on or off grid to have a septic disposal system.  In all cases, boats, RV or off-grid homes must provide their own power, lights, and heat in colder areas and cooling in hot climates.

Food storage and cooking is pretty much the same in all cases. 

Off-grid  homes have  several advantages because  they  have  adjacent land on which to place large  PV arrays or wind turbines not to mention storage  sheds  for fire wood and a work shop.  This is not practical for most RV and boat owners.

In practical terms there is little difference in the daily life.  You have to make meals; you spend some time doing maintenance and some time socializing with other people. After sun down is the biggest difference. Unless you have some kind of a battery system you are stuck relying on candles and Coleman style lanterns for light. 

Modern boats now have 24V battery systems while a lot of RV still sticks with 12V but modern off-grid homes rely on 48V battery banks.  The reason has to do with voltage losses in the wiring.  Because RVs often stay in parks catering to campers in 5^th wheels and small older trailers and vans 12V is still very common with these people.

Larger boats and not to mention off-grid homes tend to power appliances with 120V AC appliances by using inverters. Once past the inverter it really doesn’t matter what voltage the battery is. Propulsion motors and generators have their own dedicated start battery so this doesn’t really make a difference either.

The bottom line is that these alternative lifestyles all have many things in common.

There is something to learn from each of these that can be applied to the others.

COOKING APPLIANCES

I think we can all agree cooking is as much art as it is a science. Cooking appliances are simply tools but it’s pretty hard to be artistic when given the wrong tools.

There will always be a lot of debate when discussing the merits of some specific item. Some people swear by ‘Dutch ovens’ claiming they are the best without really knowing why or how these are best.

For off-grid people the amount of energy that is used is the most important consideration. Cooking is the process of applying heat to food stuff in such a manner as to render the food edible and palatable. A conventional kitchen stove with 3 – 4 burners and an oven is not always the most efficient way to cook food. Counter top appliances are specialized tools intended to do the job in the most efficient way.

Examples of this are slow cookers or Crock Pots. These often only use 100-watt elements to slowly simmer stews and sauces over a longer period of time. This can be very effective when used in conjunction with solar panels that produce a modest amount of power over the span of the day.  The crock pot is often a double layered container with a lid that keeps the heat inside.  In other words very little heat escapes and is wasted.  The better models even have a temp sensor to cut off the power if it gets too warm.

Rice cookers are similar but use more power and are optimized to gently steam rice to perfection.  Compared to a conventional stove with a pot on top this also serves to optimize energy use because it eliminates operator error in guessing how much energy to use. In addition it eliminates the mismatch of pot and burner dimension that allows wasted heat to escape up around the sides of the pot.

The conventional stove with the spiral rings that become glowing red-hot is not particularly efficient in transferring heat into the food using the minimum amount of time and energy to get the job done.

Type of food and style of cooking plays an important part. Consider a wok and a slow cooker. The wok needs very high temperatures to lightly sear the food outer surface while leaving the insides moist and tender. If the wok is held at a much lower temperature   the results are disappointing and sometimes unpalatable. A slow cooker is the opposite. It gently warms a mixture of ingredients and allows the flavor to suffuse the entire mix over many hours. 

Several styles of ‘toaster ovens’ exist; each with its own specific advantages. At its most basic, they are just the same as a toaster laid on its side with some kind of glass door in front like an oven.  They are constructed with a single layer of metal where the outside surface gets almost as hot as the interior. This represents escaping and thus wasted heat. Better models have a double layer construction possibly even some insulation in   between and better fitting doors. There may also be a heat control knob that allows the user to control partial heat settings for less energy consumption.

Some of these ovens use a calrod heater element while others employ a quartz glass tube. Although both glow red when in use the quartz tube emits longer wavelength infra red heat that penetrates deeper. The resistive wire or calrod tends to char or brown the surface of the food like a slice of toast being browned. The quartz tube ovens are better for dishes like pies and deeper dishes because   they heat the entire portion without burning the surface layer as quickly.

Convection ovens heat foods by circulating heated air instead of direct heating by radiant means.  The manufacturers claim this will allow you to bake a cake; something not so easily done in a toaster oven.

Some  convection oven combine a rotisserie  function with the hot air flow for more even cooking  of the  surface of a bird or roast.

Several countertop grilles are now available with the George Forman grill possibly being the best known, thanks to widespread advertising and marketing in big box stores. 

Because these countertop appliances deliver exactly the right amount of heat into the food in the shortest possible time the end result is lower energy use.

These grilles have several advantages. Their design brings heat to both sides of a piece of food simultaneously. When cooking fatty meats the sloped design drains the fats away from the meat. Nutritionists regard this as a preferable method of cooking fatty meats.  This design lends itself to quick food preparation because you can take a frozen meat patty or steak place it on the grill and be done in 4 minutes or less.

The ribbed design leaves air pockets in between the browning strips that give that pleasing striped char texture.  It also makes great grilled cheese sandwiches.

The  small  one  patty size  only uses a 600 watt element  while the  large 4 patty  grill uses a 1100 watt element. The amount of heat wasted is minimal because the grill closes like a clam shell to keep the heat inside. 

Another countertop device is the roaster pan with lid.  Hamilton Beach makes a pan that can accommodate a 20 pound turkey with trimmings.  According to my   cook expert this appliance takes about half the time to cook a bird compared to a conventional kitchen stove.  One reason may well be that the lid fits snugly over the top thus keeping in all the heat.  A normal kitchen oven has a 1” diameter chimney that continuously vents hot air into the kitchen space.

The volume inside the roasting pan is more like an enclosed Dutch oven than the larger volume contained inside a regular kitchen oven.  With a temperature regulating control less energy is required to maintain the heat for cooking inside the smaller volume.

A normal kitchen oven is supplied with 240 Volt to a 3000 watt element whereas the countertop appliance is powered by a 120V fed from a 1500 watt outlet. The rating plate says the pan element is 1100 watts.

From the above it is evident all of these countertop cooking appliances can be powered from a 2500 watt inverter and a suitably sized battery bank. If charging from wind, water, or solar takes place at the same time so much the better.

This is not to suggest  off-grid cooking  can  be done electrically as if  you are still connected to  the grid but it does highlight  that some  careful use  can be made  of  a few  select electric appliances. Unlike  wood stoves or even most  gas fired appliances,  electric appliances can be set to start with a timer  on the  occasions  when everybody has to be away from home  and are not available to  cook  the meal during the  day.

Sometimes this can be a real advantage.  When everyone is away all day, loading a truck with firewood it’s nice to come home to hot chili stew and fresh baked bread. Timers can be used to sequence the bread maker and the crock pot making the stew.

FUELS FOR OFF GRID

A large part of living of grid is finding ways to power equipment and appliances.

At first blush solar looks great due to its apparent simplicity.  However if a hail storm damages a solar panel it is not usually possible to repair by hand in the field.

A wind turbine stands a better chance of being repairable in the field as does a water wheel.

Reliance on fuels and power derived from highly industrialized sources takes away from the independence sought after by people wanting to live off grid,

The recent natural disasters in Japan with earth quakes and Tsunamis illustrate this point clearly. These disasters crippled a highly industrialized nation. Even basic food growing is affected because they need refined fuels for the farm machinery, not to mention a road network to deliver food from farm to city customers.

Because of the massive advertising and general literature many people are not aware of any alternative to buying gasoline at the pump. The ubiquitous internal combustion engine can run on a variety of fuels. Spark ignition engines can run on a variety of gaseous fuel such as propane methane or natural gas which is simply another word for methane. Alcohol is yet another fuel which has been used for decades in both race cars and industrial engine. A hundred years ago naphtha was used as a fuel.

Compression ignition engines  commonly called diesels  can  run on refined diesel fuel but also on vegetable oils  both new and waste sourced and  with  some modification propane and natural gas.

During the war time years ingenious adaptations to use wood gas as fuel was widely adopted in Europe.   Wood gas is something that can be made at home. No one is suggesting these alternative are as  good as  refined diesel or gasoline but  if the fuel is something  you can  create yourself  from local  resources its worth looking into

Waste wood is one of the most common home fuels since time immemorial.  But there are many more methods to use it than simply burning it.

A quick Google search will find enough hits to fill a thick book.

Methane and natural gas are two names for the same chemical substance. The naming is primarily used to designate the source. Gas from deep drilled wells is termed natural gas but the same gas derived from decomposing organic matter is called methane. Both can contain trace contaminants that must be filtered out before use.

Methane is my favorite off-grid fuel because it develops naturally whether you want it or not. That challenge is to collect and store it for later use.

Land fill sites treat methane as a nuisance waste product originating in the garbage heaps. Enterprising land fill operators have for a few decades been collecting this gas and using it for generator fuel so the operation is energy self sufficient.

The irony being land fill sites are designed to minimize methane creation. Think what they could be achieving if they optimized the land fill site to create methane.

All farm and livestock operations generate a huge amount of methane from the animal manure. To them it is a disposal problem. Why not instead make it a resource instead of a problem   A Frenchman called Jean Paine developed a composting system that heated and lighted his farm and gave him fuel for his farm vehicles .Look here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHRvwNJRNag

Another farmer named John Fry experimented with animal manure. Look here:

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/MethaneDigesters/MDToC.html

His book written in 1975 can be downloaded (12 chapters) because it is no longer copyright protected.

Every month I get a different collection of hits when I enter the same search string into Google, clear evidence this is a popular and very active topic.

For those who live in a conducive climate region look up Jatropha and Yellowhorn plants, these are both oil bearing trees and bushes   that can be harvested year after year. The berries are pressed to yield  a vegetable oil suitable for either cooking or direct use for diesel engines,  I have seen figures of 800 gallons per acre per year and  in favorable  regions  perhaps even greater yields. This could be a cash crop in addition to being  a home brew fuel  situation.  Conventional harvesting machinery and techniques  suffice. This is not rocket science requiring  strange new equipment, techniques or knowledge. This is just  ordinary farming  with a different crop.

I have not touched on  the more conventional  subjects of sun wind and water power  because so many other website already cater to these subjects.  My goal is to  highlight  subjects  relevant to being off grid but not covered  in detail in the mainstream literature.

~~  END  ~~

BATTERY CARE AND MAINTENANCE

Everyone already know about checking   the specific gravity of the cells and topping up the electrolyte with distilled water not tap water but there are additional things  related to good care and maintenance.

In addition some people are now using AGM or GEL batteries.   This completely changes battery and maintenance procedures.  With the batteries being sealed it is no longer possible to check specific gravity.

Several reasons justify use of these sealed, spill proof batteries.

Transportation regulations make transport of the traditional acid filled lead batteries more difficult because they are classed as hazardous material.  No such restriction exists for AGM.  This makes it possible to ship them to places carriers like UPS would not otherwise consider.

AGM batteries have less self-discharge and do not sulfate as quickly. This makes them attractive for applications where prolonged periods of inactivity are regularly encountered.   Vacation cabins may have a solar panel on the roof but in the absence of an occupant, who removes snow from the panel in winter times?  The result could mean long periods between full recharge sessions.

Sulfation is most likely to be a problem under circumstances of intermittent use and periods of sitting partially discharged. Lead sulfation is the normal result of converting sulphuric acid and lead into a current flow. 

Although every user manual clearly states to recharge a battery immediately after use how many people actually pays heed to this.

They will partially discharge a battery, and then leave it sitting because they have not discharged it fully. I have to confess I am guilty as the next person. The usual excuse being the battery will be used again real soon and we all know it can be destructive to leave a charger permanently attached and running.  The rationale being the battery goes back on the charger right after we fully discharge it.   Trouble is, that never seems to happen.

Now we have an expensive battery sitting they’re slowly deteriorating and loosing its capacity. 

Apart from constant vigilance and care there are some other things you can do.  Products called desulfators are available.  These are electronic pulsers that soften the accumulated lead sulfate so that it will revert back to sulphuric acid and lead oxide when a charge current is run through it.

As electrons are withdrawn from a battery lead sulfate forms as part of the process.  This sulfate is initially soft but begins to harden over time. A close analogy is thick mud splashed in the vehicle. When it is fresh and wet rain or a regular garden hose can easily rinse it off. As it dries and hardens   it becomes more difficult to remove.  Leave it baking in the sun for a week and you need a pressure washer to remove it.

Sometimes thick encrustations are even difficult to remove with a pressure washer requiring several tries to remove it.

Lead sulfate is similar.  In this case the electrical voltage is the pressure and the volume of water is the current.

Because  PV panels are very expensive  most  solar panel installation  are on the skimpy side when it comes to  charge current  and  weak sunlight  morning and evening also  detracts from the full charge current possible.

The conventional wisdom also contributes.  Most guidelines recommend a three-day reserve in case of cloudy days. This is a sensible approach.

Unfortunately it sometimes results in partial discharges then a couple of days of cloudy weather.   During this period of no sun the lead sulfate tends to harden, making it harder to reverse when finally some charge current once again becomes available.

The available charge current may not be strong enough to completely reverse the entire lead sulfate. This residue will remain and when further discharge occurs this old lead sulfate gets added to with new lead sulfate.   If a large charge current is not used this sulfate build up becomes permanent.  It may only be 1% but over time the accumulation of residual lead sulfate will rob your battery bank of storage capacity.

Attentive and prudent battery owners will have noted instructions in their user manual about  ‘equalization charges done at periodic intervals. The intent of such equalization charges is to flush out lead sulfate.

In essence it is an over charge and will cause the battery to bubble and loose electrolyte; you must top up the battery before starting and after doing the overcharge.

Unfortunately this process is not recommended for sealed AGM or GEL batteries.  The electronic desulfators are the only alternative.

It should also be mentioned that AGM and GEL cells required more care in charging because voltages vary compared to wet lead acid cells. They are less tolerant of over charging and suffer permanent damage if the batteries are charged to the point of out gassing.

Each type of battery has specific recommendations from the manufacturer.  Long service life is dependent on how closely you adhere to these recommendations.

The old garage type charger is no longer sufficient. It is a constant voltage taper current type, which is not suitable for optimum charging of any type battery. 

An added complication has to do with charge current as a percentage of total battery capacity.  Most battery manufacturers will recommend not charging at more than 25%of the amp hour rating. This means a 100 A-H battery should not be charged at more than 25 amps. What they seldom mention is the minimum charge rate should not be less than 10% so you now need at least 10 amps.  Charging a 100 Amp-Hour battery at 2 amps is not doing it justice nor will it reverse accumulated lead sulfate completely.

More recently lithium ion batteries have begun to be advertised as bulk storage suited to marine RV and off-grid homes use.

The technology has proven itself  in small battery sizes but  it is so new   we have not really seen  long term use  in  big  amp hour sizes to know if this is viable. How many people keep the same laptop or cell phone for ten years?

The really high cost also proves to be a detriment.  Not too many people can afford to put themselves on the ‘bleeding edge’ of technology.

END

Carbon Emissions and Hydo-Electric Dams

 It seems that every time electricity consumption is mentioned, the writer links electricity use to carbon emissions. So what do they base this on? 

Evidently they have not heard about hydro-electric power generation, or else they are ignoring it. 

These writers take a swipe at power dams in passing by mentioning fish migration blockage. Clearly they have no real understanding of how many power dams are designed.

Fish ladders have been used for over half a century that I know of. Possibly longer, if you really delve into it.

A fish ladder is a series of shallow pools that flow slow enough and are not so high that migrating fish cannot jump them.  Anyone who has seen bears fishing in a west coast river will realize migrating fish can and do jump a barrier several feet in height. The bears are smart enough to realize if they stand in the rapids they can catch jumping fish without the use of nets. 

Many dams do in fact incorporate fish ladders in their overall construction.

I read somewhere of plans to demolish an existing power dam on the Snake River in Washington on the border to Oregon state. This is a branch to the Columbia River. Detractors have for years been complaining that the dam is preventing fish migration. Yet a Google search revealed that these dams do in fact already have fish ladders.  Construction dates back to 1933

The dam already exists and is not producing any carbon emissions. Furthermore the dam has now been in existence so long that removal of the dam will have major effects on upstream farm irrigation.

Given that a lot of diesel powered machinery will be used to cart away the debris from the demolished dam this really does not make a lot of sense.

If these greenie fanatics really care about carbon emissions there are other options available.

  

The argument that the old dam turbines are inefficient may be valid but turbines can be replaced and upgraded.  .

The past century was marked by mega projects where everything had to be bigger and better .Then came along an idea that said ‘small is beautiful’

Gradually power engineers are realizing that a super grid spanning the continent may be too expensive and have too many inherent problems.

The new thinking being many small power generators that are dispersed can be just as effective as one big power generator feeding power to locations thousands of miles away.

New designs can mean hydro-electric generation cans co–exist with fish migration. And it may even mean power generation is now possible from streams that were previously considered unfeasible.

Valid concerns about old aging dams not being seismically sound are another valid concern. Smaller dams or better yet dam less construction definitely deserves more study and development.

Hydro-electric is in effect using solar power but indirectly. Sun energy is what produces evaporation which in turn leads to rainfall that results in streams running down to the sea.  If you look at how  the production of the solar cells and the necessary electronic controls plus the manufacture of toxic lead acid batteries  it becomes obvious that  a hydraulic power dam is less polluting to the environment.

Recent developments in water power means we can now generate power from flowing water without damming the creek or stream or impeding fish migration.  Much research has been made in tidal water power generation which involves horizontal water flow with only a modest rise and fall in elevation. Some of these tidal generators do not rely on elevation at all.  These designs could extract power from flowing rivers and streams where there is no possibility of a vertical dam drop nor would they impeded fish migration.

~~  END  ~~

Why not use 12v DC for Off-Grid

Many people when  first contemplating  going off grid  expect to use  12V DC  power because they  see 12V batteries  and 12V lights used in RV; so they think this is  how  power is used in  off-grid applications.  It’s is a reasonable assumption but fraught with technical problems. Except for lights, few 12V appliances are durable like their 120V AC household equivalents.  Take a 12V coffee maker as a common example. You can buy such devices in RV shops and truck stops. In order to heat up enough water for two cups or one big mug full takes a certain amount of power.  300 watts is about the minimum   that will heat up water in anything resembling a reasonable length of time. 

At 120V the 300 watt coffee maker will draw 2.5 amps. At 12V DC the coffee maker needs to draw 25 amps to heat up the same quantity of water in the same length of time.

2.5 amps only require a thin wire.  The #16 gauge wires often used in automobiles is rated to carry 10Amps so it is perfectly safe and remains cool in use.  However, in order to carry  25 amps requires at least #12 gauge wires  provided  you use high temperature  insulation or better yet  #10 Ga wire which is rated for 30amps.

The 12V appliance will not last as long because the construction does not stand up to prolonged use and typically fails in a few months instead of lasting a few years as is common with normal household appliances.  The same can be said for all 12V appliances.

A quick review of products reveal   the cheapest 12V coffee maker is around $35 whereas the cheapest 120V AC model is $12.95 not to mention which the range of choices for 12V models is limited while the number of AC products in almost limitless by comparison. There is also a wider range of styles available.  A similar situation can be seen for just about any product you care to mention. 12V appliances are often only found in specialty stores.

Another aspect has to do with wire losses using the same example of a 300 watt coffee maker and let’s say there is 25 feet from the power source to where the coffee pot is plugged in.  You need to use #10 Ga wire and this results in a 10.79% loss in the wiring.  This will mean it takes that much longer for the water gets hot and you are wasting 10.79% of your solar power.

Let’s look at the losses for the 120V coffee maker. Voltage drop at 120V is only 0.69% and you can get away with using #18 Ga wire. The electrical code does not permit using any smaller and in any case such small wires are too fragile for general wiring work.

So it should be obvious that not only can you use smaller wires which cost less to buy but the losses in the wire are less than if you used 12V DC.

Conventional 120C AC wiring is very common and the fittings are readily available in just about any hardware and home repair supply stores. This makes it attractive due to low price and being readily available. If you are not sure how to wire it there are any number of self help guide books including guides as to what the code calls for.

If you choose to wire with 12V you will need specialized hardware, fuses and or breaker or breakers. In many cases special  (read expensive) terminals bus bars and definitely larger and thus more expensive copper wires. The cheap stuff is simply an invitation for a fire down the road.

Inverters in varying sizes are available at reasonable cost. It is possible to get inverters able to power entire house holds.

There are still cheap junk products in the market but there are also plenty of quality brands with a long history of excellent performance.  One hint never load the inverter to 100% of the rating. If you need 1000 watts select a 1500 watt inverter because the inverter will run cooler and last longer.

Some of my designs are even intended to power air conditioners, assuming you have a large enough battery bank and recharging capacity.

An added benefit to wiring for 120V comes from the fact you can start up a regular genset and feed this power right into the off-grid home wiring circuits. Even the best solar system will see cloudy days and the battery bank will get depleted eventually.

Having the ability to run a back-up power source in those conditions is a benefit.

Inverters will automatically shut down when the battery voltage goes low. This will protect your battery from excessive discharge and subsequent damage.

Having a DC load directly connected to a battery may result in permanent damage to the battery if the DC load continues to deplete the battery below safe levels.

 

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Wind is Obsolete Technology?

This past week-end I have read news reports of what is described as a ‘failed’ experiment using obsolete technology. The comment concerned a political decision to scrap plans to build offshore wind turbine farms.

This is the first time I have heard wind power described as being obsolete technology.

Reading the article  in depth  I find the originator of the movement to  squash  wind turbines saying wind turbines is obsolete  and inefficient  power generation methods.

I am not sure  how  they managed to  calculate free wind  = electrical output  as being inefficient.. As compared to what?   Solar panels are said to be  at 21% - 23% efficient.

Engine driven generators are said to be 37% efficient. Digging into the subject I find   there is something called BETZ limit that says wind turbines have a theoretical maximum coefficient of 0.59 or 59% efficiency. 

Okay so it is not 100% but then again what is 100% efficient? 

Further ruminations got me thinking that in some locations wind power would come at too great a cost in relation to the return. 

Where I live we are sheltered by a deep valley carved by a river that shelters us from most prevailing winds. No amount of wind turbine capacity would serve to power my home because of the long periods of zero wind in between when a light breeze blows.

We also happen to live far enough north that at noon in the winter the sun is barely 30 degrees above the horizon.  That doesn’t produce any great amount of power.. Given the low sun angle those 23% efficient PV panels suddenly look very expensive per watt generated.

Micro hydro does not look feasible because there is no drop in the creek.

However; a number of other options are still possible. 

If it wasn’t for the fisheries & wildlife department, a water turbine that sits submerged in the creek would be workable for generating power.  The objection is that dam’s etc impeded fish migration. However an undershot water wheel that barely submerges more than 5” into the flowing water where the depth of water is a couple of feet would not impeded fish migration. Except;  the bureaucrats are not willing to even look at it.

We live in an area where logging was the mainstay industry. Sadly  the pine beetle has  killed off  thousands of acres  of  forest and  pretty much killed the industry as well..     

The devastation is so wide spread  logging companies  cannot  cut  down  these trees fast enough  to prevent  huge  amounts from rotting on the stump. Many local residents heat  with wood  because  dead pine trees are so abundantly  available for the cost of cutting  them down and hauling them away.

Something called a Stirling engine runs on heat from an external source. It is at present used to generate power either by focusing sunlight on the active heat collector or by burning petro-fuels to heat the heat collector. A European company builds  a home heat  system  that burns wood pellets  and heats the house while generating electricity  as well.

Unfortunately this company has no immediate plans to export such a stove to North America. An American  company  located  in the east  makes  Stirling engines but has no plans  to offer a small engine to the home power market. They say their focus is on military and space  satellite applications.

Although methane digesters  have been used for  many decades  including in Government  Department of Energy  pilot projects this technology  is largely unheard of  in the North American  domestic market.  Else where it is used extensively. When you go to any of the large engine manufacturers  you will find generator  sets  listed  for Biogas fuel and methane which is the fuel developed by methane digesters  These  generators are  sold  all over the world thus proving this is not a rare form of experimental form of energy creation.

Wood gasification is  yet another form of energy creation that is  widely known  and  has been demonstrated to power  anything from a food cooking stove to powering vehicles.

Although  ethanol  creation from corn has been denounced as a waste of fuel, the same  basic process  using suitable enzymes  to break down the feed stock  has been  demonstrated as being able to produce  ethanol for fuel  from  various biomass  that is normally dumped  into landfill sites as garbage.

The list of  previously invented and  developed  energy generating  devices  is  very long.

Yet most of these are not being used because the present generation of engineers rejects them for one reason or another. 

One oft heard reason being  “it’s not efficient”. 

.This one I have  problems with  because I have  difficulty  figuring out how something that runs on free fuel or  continuously running  water  can be calculated  as being  inefficient.

 Sounds more like someone inventing reasons to reject it by any excuse.

I grant you  there is  a capital cost  involved  in building the machine, but this is true  for any  method. Consider it takes a multi million dollar factory to produce solar cells. Even the manufacturers  declare in their  own specifications that their  solar panels  deliver efficiencies around the 21 – 23% range.

The much maligned  internal combustion engine is  said to be  37% efficient when powering a generator  at optimum load.  So why is solar considered better?  The answer being no exhaust pollution.  Well what about  wind turbines or Water  wheels?

My point in this blog  is merely to show there are many more options  available  when considering  power  sources  for a home  away from utility grid power..

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Oil is not Expensive Enough

In my search for alternative power sources, I have found innumerable projects that actually worked as demonstrated by various pioneers.  Yet people have adopted none of them. I have come to the conclusion the reason being all of these projects required more effort than opening the wallet and extracting some paper money or writing a check. It would appear people are basically lazy and despite complaining of high oil prices they do nothing to build a workable alternative.

Evidently oil is not expensive enough to encourage people to seek alternatives.

Among my findings is an inventor scientist called Jean Pain. Look here:

http://www.daenvis.org/technology/Jeanpan.htm

http://www.permacultureactivist.net/PeterBane/Jean_Pain.html

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/methane_pain.html

The concept is not overly complicated and to some extent scalable.  In cold northern climates there will be a lower size limit below which extremely cold temperatures over whelm the system.

Although the original system used mostly wood chips, any decomposable biomass will work in a similar manner.  In many parts of the world growing plants poses a nuisance that requires extensive weeding and effort to get rid of.   In this area at least landfill sites have learned to separate out biomass for composting. Why not take the concept one step further?  Jean Pain demonstrated how he could even generate methane for fuel using his process.  This  concept  will work best in a farm  ranch or  agricultural  plantation where  continual  weeding and  plant pruning  is a necessary part of the  operation.   Instead of simply piling the waste biomass in a corner put it to work.

We already know there is not going to be a silver bullet that can replace every possible instance of oil consumption. So why continue looking with a single-minded intensity.

Instead we should spend some time implementing those ideas and concepts that have already shown to be effective.  Some ideas will only work is specific geographic locales. .    That is okay.  At least in those locales independence from oil consumption is that much closer to reality.

Renter in Dead End Job Wants to go Off Grid

This is what you often see or hear, when browsing the forum discussions.

Sounds like being between a rock and a hard place. It's not fun and options sound to be very limited. Realistically what can a person or young couple does if they fit that description?

I do not have any good quick solutions. Reducing   your energy consumption is a start, so is reducing purchases of consumer goods and service.

F you are not already interested and involved in outdoor activity consider starting now.

If you are reading this presumably you have access to a computer and the internet.

Look up bush craft and outdoor skills. Not everything has to be made from high tech expensive material.  There are a lot of things you can make for yourself that are quite suitable despite being homemade.

At one time I belonged to a pioneer re-enactment group and we made everything ourselves. I had a rifle I had assembled from parts. I taught myself to make lanterns and knives. Other people made storage chests or clothing.  It was a point of pride that we did not even allow plastic buttons or zippers on clothing. Tents were canvas not nylon.

Coolers were allowed to keep food from spoiling, but these had to be hidden inside wooden chests for appearance sakes. Nobody used plastic carriers for water. Instead we used wooden casks.

The point being such ‘primitive ‘camps were every bit as comfortable as any modern campsite.

Entertainment consisted of friendly competitions in target shooting, knife and tomahawks throwing and going ‘shopping’ looking to see who had what on their trade blankets.

Evenings were spent round a camp fire spinning yarns or telling tall stores, also the occasional sing-along or whatever, when people brought their instruments. .

Hand crafts included sewing of clothes and fancy work like beading lace etc. gun smithing, engraving and knife making.  There were opportunity to trade for raw materials to make things skins for making buckskins and antlers for making buttons and utensil handles. Cow horns were a popular item for everything from drinking cups to spoons to powder horns.

Perhaps it sounds corny to a city dweller but once you get involved you start to visit pioneer museums and looking with more interest at books about the early pioneering days.

If you learn to fix things look at flea markets, garage sales, and good will stores for things you can restore to use by making your own repairs. The repair does not have to look like factory new. As long as it works it can still be useful.

I have literally found enough material in the dump swap sheds to completely outfit myself for camping.

Going camping in summer is also off-grid. There are documented stories of people starting out by camping while building their first log cabin.

Here is the first big hurdle. Low cost or free land.  Its hard to find.    Sometimes arrangements can be made to get permission to camp out or make other rental arrangement. If you do not have any money, sweat equity may be an option. 

If you can stand it, working in a drudge job that does make some money (and savings) may be endurable if you know you are working towards a definite eventual goal and building a nest egg. The nest egg can give you the fresh start you need.

If you have prepared by avoiding the worst of the consumer society traps and been able to live more simply, so much the better.

Entertainment is geared to separate you from your hard earned money. If you can find low cost alternatives especially the kinds that produces a salable product or service that is even better.  We do not have cable or satellite TV. The wife knits socks and gloves to keep her arthritic fingers limber. To her surprise people are willing to buy these items and she get the wool for free by scrounging. I tinker, make leather craft; fix old things and so on. A friend collects movies then stores them on an external drive so we can watch them on our computer screen. As it happens many of the movies we like are no longer copyright protected. We love old movies. And then there are those old fashioned things called hard copy books. Many places give them away for free. 

Some of these books deal with how to build log cabins make camping stuff, and tools.

Others tell you how to use tools.

Going off grid is as much a state of mind as it is a physical action.  You will not like being off grid if you feel it deprives you of something.  You have to want to be living in the kind of life style being off grid requires.  Mostly it means being away from large urban centers and always being entertained at high expense.

We moved to an area where the biggest population group is 300 people.  We participate in the plays put on at the community center, and go to fall fairs.  If you join a church other activities are also available. Granted it’s not life in the big city but that is what we wanted to get away from.  

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