General Music Chat

I just went through some extensive training sessions , and I was just curious about what every one thinks about this.
Especially about misconceptions ,because I just had a bunch of them shattered
Personal Input is much appreciated.

Training on solar power? What kind of training?

Glen,
I designed my new house with an abundance of south facing windows (passive solar)and lots of thermal insulation.
The concrete radiant heat floor is hydronic, (1000' of PEC tubing in five 200' loops (return spiral configuration). The warm water is heated with a standard propane domestic water heater, but it is possible to preheat it with soler collectors. Probably not worth the additional cost and hassle, but we'll have to see what the future holds.

I have always believed that solar energy tecnology is a good thing to develop,

however,

I am a sceptic and a capitalist by nature, and when government initiatives , often with motives more political then scientific, pump money into an idea best left to people and corporations better suited to do the research and work, I suspect that it might do more harm then good.

HJ

Bob ,ya got time. Everything from NEC, to foot printing ,to product application, to ,regional differences, to I don't want to turn this into long winded time wasting post.
On L.I. we are paying over $. 20 kwh,plus taxes. Extreme cost .

I own two different indoor heaters. One is the Heat Surge which is advertised on TV a lot, it has a fake fireplace. It puts out a LOT of heat. The other is the Solar Comfort which looks like a wooden end table. It uses four infrared bulbs. Since we started using these our heat (gas) bill has AVERAGED about 37.00 per month. Our electrical bill went up slightly. We figure that we are saving at least 75.00 per month. The main furnace only goes on when it's below ten degrees fahrenheit. I know this isn't solar power but it's a way to cut down your heating bill. We also installed new very efficient windows a few years ago and that also has made a huge difference in the utilities. We have a dehumidifier running constantly in the basement and that puts out a fair amount of heat also. What kills us is the AC bill in the Summer. It gets VERY warm and humid in KC in the Summer, no way to survive without AC. they do make indoor AC units, will look into getting one.
I heard that within five years they will start mass producing solar units for roofs that will be much more affordable and relatively easy to install. There's all kinds of research being done these days and hopefullly it will lead to decreased energy consumption and new jobs. I heard they started blowing up hydroelectric dams in the Pacific Northwest because of increased use of wind power and other new technologies which is making hydroelectric power obsolete. They expect the salmon population to dramatically increase over the next ten years. Many good things will happen to the Earth when all these efficient energy sources start being implemented...

Howlin ,you are more on the right path than you think. I was talking more about P.V. systems[photo electric]
I have had tremendous success with solar hot water assist. In example,,,
1600 gallons fuel oil heat,old steam system,separate water heater,,
New hydronic system with 80 gallon solar system tied in,,,Modern oil heat equipment.....5 people in house....
Try 400 gallons of fuel per year.
I am effectively putting myself out of business as a fuel oil dealer,get this, Without any GOVT help. Oh well ,whats a few more people on the dole.

Time to diversify!

My south-facing gable is all glass. Winter heat costs have been cut by half. AC costs remain static & high, though.

I'm gonna be checking into that new Mitsubishi system for that.

I have a few more designs to implement, if I ever finish the old stuff I've started...

Bob that time is near,,,, right now.
What the importance of proper design and installation is where many misconceptions come into play and open the door for many unqualified contractors.
I was just asking for some feed back, and once again ,I am dealing with some very Intelligent people[all musicians are]
Thanx for your input.

Good projects Phil, good luck.

Actually some of these newer panels are producing tremendous power even on a cloudy day. I was shocked not literally, but it does start to change your thinking.

Just thinking out loud here:

I saw some "research" that stated the energy and materials utilised in the manufacture of Solar Collections System was such that the system would have to operate at full capacity for over 100 years with no maintenence for the SCS to recoup it's own expense.
(This was old stuff maybe 10 years ago)
In light of all the "green propaganda" would this not make the system a Carbon footprint positive project from the get go?

I'd love to see the way Howlin is building his place. I was always impressed with the stone age utilisation of solar energy (all passive of course) like the mud brick homes of the Hopi Indians 72 degrees inside year round. And the Temples of India designed for flow through air for cooling.

Perhaps SCS helps reduce end user expense, perhaps not. But it would seem the overall expendature of energy from concept to construction make them less efficient and just as environmentally damaging as fossil fuel systems.

I still hold the axiom that no system can create more energy than it uses, to be true.

There's buildings in the Arab world where it gets WAY OVER 100 degrees that are also in the 70's all year without any AC. They are starting to build roofs out of a white material (don't know what the material is) that naturally cools the building. Awnings can make a difference in both Summer and Winter (forget how but it's logical). Just making sure your place is better insulated can cut heating and cooling costs. For a while one of the trends was earth contact homes. I worked for a few people that lived in them but some liked them, some didn't. Geothermal also provides very low cost heating and cooling bills, the initial cost is much more expensive but the people I've sorked for who have it say it's absolutely wonderful and worth the initial expense. The new heat pumps are also supposed to be MUCH BETTER than their predecessors. Some of my customers (I do cabinet restoration) have the newer heat pumps and love them. Wind power is also very exciting. There's a small wind turbine where I pay my water bill and the receptionist said it can power the utility needs of 37 four-bedroom homes. I can see neighborhood asociations deciding to pool their money and installing wind turbines. That would make a whole lot of sense and make selling your home VERY attractive to a new buyer.

The guys from my old band bought some sort of transportable, easy-to-assemble solar panel thingie to drive their amps for outside (daytime)gigs. It's a lil tripod stand with a screen, sorta like what ppl used to use for home movies. It powered 2 1,000 watt power amps, the board, & 2 guitar amps all at the same time at an outdoor even Dddonnie ran sound for. He said it was cloudy that day, too.

Looks like we have the technology. We need to work on making it affordable & ever more efficient.

I've been waiting for solar power to catch on for a long time. The companies producing conventional electricity are very expensive, actually I think it's price gouging, and the environmental impact is destroying the planet, along with industry and carbon fuels in vehicles. And that's the short list...

You can check out www.instructables.com and find articles on building windmills, lots cheaper than the commercial alternatives, but higher powered ones are more difficult and more expensive to build, but still a better deal than buying them.

Solar power is being used out west for a lot of billboards, you see a lot of them with a small panel about 18" square, maybe even smaller, on a post, that keeps the billboards lit at night and recharges during the day. Windmill farms are also pretty common.

Locally, one of the places I go to take pictures is Black Bayou Lake. They have a bird blind set up with a couple of feeders, and a nice room with full length windows for taking pictures. Just outside is a similar small solar panel, it powers a fan in the top of the building and there is also an outlet so it would be easy to plug in a laptop to transfer pictures. I haven't used it yet, but I've been in there several times while the fan is running, it seems to work quite well.

I also have a friend who lives out in the boonies, he has a 2' x 4' solar panel he uses to power a RV size refrigerator. He told me it keeps it cold for 2 days with no sun at all, just on the charge already accumulated. He also uses it to run power saws, cordless tool chargers and such.

I'd like to see more people start to use solar and wind power, both for environmental reasons and to reduce the profits of the ripoff utility companies.

And by the way, if you don't already know it, when you set up solar or wind power for your home, your utility company is required by federal law to buy any excess electricity you produce back from you at the same price they charge for theirs. So if you set up enough solar and wind power to produce more power than you need, you get a check each month from the electric company.