Renewable Energy

ron schenker

What is the market like in your area for homes that use renewable energy? Up here in the great white north, I'm reading and hearing alot about solar energy, windmills, wood heat, etc. I'm thinking in the not too distant future, there will be more and more homes and even whole communities "coming off the grid"

CE1

I have been watching the same thing hapen in my area. I see a lot of alternative fuel souces and the most popular here seems to be wood pellet fired boilers for co-generation operations. Internationally, fuelcell technoloigy is advancing at a very fast pace. ckeck this site out.

http://www.fuelcellstore.com/

They actully sell a 1000 watt fuel cell generator. Expenisive but the price is comming down and probbly will get cheeper as the technoligy becomes more popular.

CE1

Check this one out also:

http://leedcasestudies.usgbc.org/ove...?ProjectID=420

slickshift

The cost of electricity on Cape Cod is mind numbing
There's talk of taking a fair part of the Cape "off the grid"
http://www.capewind.org/index.php?e1

maj

Windmills are not just lawn ornaments here in Iowa and what else would be better for heat than ------CORN , of course!!!!!! You have to wait a year to get a good corn burner around here. They can't keep up with the sales.

CE1

I have used wood to heat with for over 15 years and have saved a bundle by not having to use oil or gas. I have about 90 acres of heavily wooded land that I log. I cut about 6 cords of firewood and 3000 to 4000 bf of 5/4 hardwood every year. I guess that if you try to use local renewable sources of energy the US is much better off. A good example would be corn from Iowa, wind power from the ocean, solar power in the Southwest, wood from the northwest/northeast. People need to think about this very seriously because oil in a very limited resource. Things are going to get very ugly about who has it and who is going to get it.
I am still working on trying to get myself off the grid. The best technology that I have seen is the fuel cell. This is a golden business opportunity for installing and maintaining fuel cells if you get into right from the start. I am watching it very closely and plan to jump on it when the time is right. Right now I am learning as much as I can and waiting for the opportunity.

I still remember all of the windmills along interstate 580 from Oakland to Manteca. Just wondering if they put up more.

ron schenker

Any geothermal heatpump units out there?

CE1

"Canada's government (which officially notes some 30,000 earth-heat installations for providing space heating to Canadian residential and commercial buildings) reports a test geothermal-electrical site in the Meager Mountain–Pebble Creek area of B.C, where a 100 MW facility might be developed at that site."
Is this what you are talking about? Geothermal seams to be a local use type source of energy which relates to what I was saying in a previous post.

Glasshousebltr

Years ago, using an old terry cloth headband attached to some ruberbands via paper clips with a 4ft rod, I managed to rig an good alternator to turn with an eliptical pully.

Even though it never really produced any energy, it did manage to wear out her lower jaw and shut my ex-wife up from time to time.

Bob

__________________
Bob

jmic

Bob,
LMAO

__________________
___"Remember You Never Get A Second Chance To Make A First Impression"______________________
Joe

ron schenker

CE1... A residential use heat pump that is buried underground to take advantage of the earth's warmth in the winter and coolness in the summer. They are gaining popularity in Canada, however farther north is less feasible because of the frost line. I'm thinking in the mid and south U.S. they are being used to save on heating and cooling costs.

CE1

I see that the comedy team has arrived. Good timing


Technical note:

Bob!
Bob!
Bob!

You need to use your special purpose to increase excitation in order create more energy on you generator design.

Please take note of this design flaw for further projects like this in the future.

CE1

Ron;
The heat pumps that I have seen or heard of are like an a/c unit with a condenser unit outside. I take it that the condenser unit is replaced with a coil buried underground. There is still the issue of using electricity or some other form of fuel to power it. It comes down to efficiently converting a fuel source to the end use and the costs associated with converting of the fuel source.

I couldn’t resist the comedy team and had to go for it in the previous post. What a bunch of Loons.

John