Solar & Wind Power

Sun Energy, Wind Energy & Home Solar Power

Archive for January, 2011

Jan
26

My invention for the BC Hydro Invent the Future Contest is a simple home based solar thermal power generator which would produce electrical energy as well as hot water for domestic use.

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Jan
26

Carinelle1955http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/carinelle1955PeopleSolar, Roof, Shingles, 2010, International, Builders, Showsolar roof Shingles 2010 International Builders Show

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Jan
26

This is part 3, please watch parts 1 & 2 to see how I built this. The testing continues. I have seen alot of you mounting your solar heaters on a flat wall, so I did the same thing. If you angle your box towards the sun you can increase your temp dramatically. The concern I have now is if I tilt the box I could damage my intake and exhaust tubes.

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Jan
26

How to build a Solar Panel from Solar Cells DIY Part 1
This is a video of how I build solar panels from single solar cells wired in series.
This is a great DIY “do it yourself” Green power project.
These solar panels are very powerful and following these steps you will be able to make them for 1/3 of what they sell them for in the stores.
If your looking to get off the grid or just drop your electric bill this is perfect for you! Stay tuned for up and coming parts. I will seal these solar panels and test them in up and coming videos.
We will even show how we install it on my own home and how I connect it to our grid tie inverter.
I hope you enjoy the video.
All the best,
-Pete
Mixcat.com
mixcatcom

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Jan
24

We’re planning to incorporate Solar design features into our next home – actually, we’re looking at wind & solar. Which magazines are worth subscribing to? Which are not?
I should specificy that we’re more interested in passive solar than in solar panels.

Actually, check out some of the links on http://www.builditsolar.com

If you are going to do much of the work yourself, you will be sadly disappointed by what is available in print:

Homepower magazine http://www.homepower.com for example, it most often reads like a sales brochure, because "hands on" to a number of people usually means buying most of the system ready made in a kit. Hands on for me is breaking out the soldering iron and doing point to point wiring on components to construct the regulators (often called charge controlelrs.) Too much chaff for a hands on person to find useful. Some of the ads are useful.

Nuts and Volts http://www.nutsvolts.com/ is a bit better, but their topical coverage is far ranging so you do not always get as much as you would like. Spendy, might be better to sheck it out at the bookstores and buy it off the newstand when a decent article appears.

Mother Earth news http://www.motherearthnews.com is pretty good, but the best bang for the buck there is to buy their archives on CD rom, which is 3 disks, broke down by decade. There is a fair amount of substance, sometimes you encounter an article that sought to convert one item over to another, only it would have been much less work and cost for them to have started out from ground level and construct (with used parts) the same thing, which they sought to construct in the first place, a solar charged electric tractor is one specific item I have come to mind as one the author of the article could have done better. You might find the book they published "The Mother Earth News Handbook of Homemade Power," which is not real good for specifics in some areas, but is good for some ideas if you are good at working from thumbnail sketches, you can fill in the blanks where there are gaps in detail. The book was written more as a "primer" than a complete compillation.

For your wind systems, there is a lot to be found at http://www.lindsaybks.com Hugh Piggott has written a few good books on the home construction of windmills. The LeJay Manual is a good reprint that has a lot of good info for home constructing- down to the wooden propeller profiles. As well as the book "Generator Secrets."

One of the good sources for materials and tools supplies and systems is Northern Tool http://www.northerntool.com

One thing on propeller materials- never us ABS and never use PVC. As tempting as those can be they break. When they break, the blades will go for a great distance in modest winds. They can kill too.

Jan
24

I moved into a house, on the roof of which a solar attic fan is installed. I am wondering if the fan activates automatically when I turn on A/C or heat or fan in the control box on the wall in my living room. Also, I am wondering how I can be alert when it does not work. Thank you in advance.

Many of those types of fans work on a thermostat. When the temperature in your attic gets above a certain degree the fan come on. You will just have to go up in the attic on a really hot day to see if it is on and working.

Jan
24

I want to build a solar collector. Maybe air or maybe fluid. I’ve heard to gather higher heat gain, green may be a better color to use instead of black. Possibly due to the fact that trees and plants are green.
Has anyone heard this before and has there been any studies done to prove this?
Any suggestions on sites dealing with DIY solar?

Thanks.

There are three factors you want to consider when it comes to absorbing the sun’s radiation. Together they might be considered under the term Albedo or the reflectiveness of a surface. They are 1 the angle of the sun’s rays, the color of the surface, and the roughness of the surface. When all else is equal darker colors are better. Black would be best.

Don’t go by the color green because of photosynthesis. This is only about 5% efficient at transferring the sun’s energy into storage. The cheapest photovoltaic cells are better than this and a good solar thermal collector may be more than 80% efficient. I have seen percentages for the various colors in a solar book but can’t presently place my hands on it.

Two suggestions for solar thermal panels would be to use twin wall for a solar thermo-siphoning water heater as outlined in this site: http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-your-own-flat-panel-solar-thermal-collector/

You will find lots of good ideas here as well: http://www.builditsolar.com/Experimental/experimental.htm

But the cheapest panels will almost always be solar air panels.

Jan
24

I would like to use a certain picture for my solar power project that has cords crossed out as an advantage. Is this true? When you have solar power do you not use electrical outlets anymore?

Hi I am the owner of Mountain Wind & Solar http://mountainwindnsolar.com (please be aware though that this website is still under construction).

you still have to use outlets.

If you use a Grid-Tied Inverter then the power from the solar panels is put into your home, and you use energy the same way (through outlets)

If you have any specific questions about wind turbines or solar panels feel free to email me at go_green@mountainwindnsolar.com

Jan
23

Los Angeles Times reporter Susan Carpenter shows the equipment and costs involved with charging an electric car using home solar panels.

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Jan
23

Make money on Facebook discounted link to Hyper Facebook Profits http://tinyurl.com/easy-facebook-profits

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