Gaia: eco adventure villages & zevolution - powering retreats sustainably

panels, inverters, efficient lighting, wind turbines, etc

http://roderick.gaia.com — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 08:33:43 GMT

Use what local resources you have. At our island, we get plenty of sun, and we often get wind. Haven't looked too deeply into tidal or current energy systems, but wind and solar will suffice.

For now, we generate about 8 kwhrs per day from the solar panels. enough to power some light bulbs a few fans and a fridge. we have a battery bank that can hold 36 kwhrs. so after several days of little usage, the battery bank fills up and we can use that for when we have a surge in guests. before we install the wind turbines, we've installed a weather station to help us monitor wind speed and direction so we can figure out which type of wind turbine to install and where to install them.

until then, as a back up we use a diesel generator that delivers around 4,000 watts. so if the batteries were empty and there was no sun, it would take 9 hours to charge the batteries to full capacity. this is much more efficient than turning on the generator when we need power - because we'd be generating 4,000 watts and using only perhaps 1,000.

another thing we are doing is using biodiesel. but... there's a more efficient technique, which is using discarded vegetable oil from our resort and other nearby resorts, which can be used for the generator with a few additives. we're working on that.

on top of everything, i'm getting a sweet deal - it makes infinite economic sense to do this, AND, makes marketing easier, AND, pulls in students and other folks because it offers us the opportunity to demonstrate clean energy and teach people about it.

the whole system, to power a resort with a capacity of 35 guests at any given time, and a family of 6 or 7 people looking after the island, will cost me around usd 30,000 when all is installed. including 10 130 watt peak solar panels from kyocera, 24 batteries, an inverter to change electricity from 24 volts to 220 volts, the wiring, a charger to charge the batteries from the generator, and two wind turbines that are 1,000 watt peak each. I should be paying around 700 bucks a month for five years to pay off the system. I was spending 400 bucks a month on the generators, maintenance, etc when we were only full for the weekends. after five years, the solar panels are good for another 20 years (guaranteed), and the batteries for another 5-10 years. So that's free energy.

On top of all that, I negotiated a sweet heart deal - we use the island as a showcase for the company that provided us with the solution. since we attract all sorts of NGO's who are in charge of development projects, they get great coverage to a potential market. it serves as a showcase for other islands in the region who may wish to adopt clean energy. and, it serves as a showcase where this guy can take his potential buyers to, entertain them, and show them a working model. so I pay less than the 700 bucks i should be paying, and only slightly more than the 400 bucks i was paying for weekend only, dirty generator energy.

and there you have it :~)

one final point. this kind of energy transformation is only possible with efficient electrical appliances. that means replacing incandescent light bulbs with flourescent ones, or ideally LED lights. It means replacing old fridges with new ones. it means no ACs, and instead efficient fans for cooling. it means using top-opening fridges that are much more energy efficient than standing ones.

best of all - no more generator noise. sexy solar panels. and a cute little system that displays all sorts of numbers.

Biodiesel: Everything you need to know

http://roderick.gaia.com — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 14:14:48 GMT

Below are several websites I discovered with excellent information on how to use biodiesel for all sorts of energy applications.

Powering generators

Fueling diesel cars

Fueling diesel boats

Powering heaters

Indonesia - the country in which I live - has just offered international investors up to six million hectares of land FOR FREE to invest in biodiesel generating plantations - usually derived from palm oil or Jathropa. As far as I've researched, once petroleum exceeds USD 40 per barrel, biodiesel becomes economically feasible. It's much better for the environment and is also good for engine performance, surprisingly enough.

The best thing about it - you can create your own biodiesel! There are thousands of folks around the world doing it now. You can get used cooking oil from your local dunkin donuts, add a bit of inexpensive additives and do a simple filtering process, and voila! - you can power a diesel generator, your car, your boat, or your heater - AND - it will smell like donuts. Good deal hmm? It's not quite that simple, but check out the following sites and you'll see why lots of folks are doing it.

Anyhow, for my project I'm looking very seriously at developing biodiesel as a sustainable source of energy. And at the same time reducing waste from cooking oil. It's simply a SMART thing to do.

Here's some excellent resources for us to check out:

Kitchen Biodiesel Walks you through making a small batch of Biodiesel

Biodiesel Homebrew Guide The definitive guide to use for homebrewing Biodiesel.

Biodiesel Now A premier Biodiesel forum for homebrewers and commercial producers

InfoPop A forum especially for homebrewing Biodiesel. Has a nice global presence.

Biodiesel Basics A Yahoo group designed especially for beginners.

Anybody here experimented with biodiesel? This is a simple key to independence from the oil companies, although you'll still need some chemical additives...

Re: Intro to Photovoltaics :~)

http://telesterion.gaia.com — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 20:18:46 GMT

Hey, that's pretty snazzy - that looks like a well-conceived system.

I want one! That would be a perfect survival/camp system.

I'd have to look, but I don't think you can get something so modular and well designed that easily here in the states. Altho I haven't shopped for PV systems for years.

Nice animations too.

Intro to Photovoltaics :~)

http://roderick.gaia.com — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 19:54:00 GMT

Here's another site that's based here in Indonesia that's got some good animations on how solar panels work, and practical systems. Great for introductions to solar panel systems. Click on the 'animations' tree on the left, and check out the 'general' section. This is the company that installed our first solar system. We're using their S-4 battery system...

the website is www.sundaya.com (daya is power or force in Malay / Indonesian)

Intro to Photovoltaics :~)

http://roderick.gaia.com — Mon, 29 May 2006 07:46:40 GMT

Geeze, i'm new at this... was wondering what Bill and Donald were talking about with photovoltaics and looked some stuff up... duh... they're solar panels :~)

I've copied and pasted the stuff below, but here's the link in case you'd like to explore.

Solar cell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Photovoltaic cell)

Jump to: navigation, search

A solar cell is a semiconductor device that converts photons from the sun (solar light) into electricity. The general term for a solar cell including both solar and non-solar sources of light (such as photons from incandescent bulbs) is termed a photovoltaic cell. Fundamentally, the device needs to fulfill only two functions: photogeneration of charge carriers (electrons and holes) in a light-absorbing material, and separation of the charge carriers to a conductive contact that will transmit the electricity. This conversion is called the photovoltaic effect, and the field of research related to solar cells is known as photovoltaics.

A solar cell, made from a monocrystalline silicon wafer

The most common configuration of this device, the first generation photovoltaic, consists of a large-area, single layer p-n junction diode, which is capable of generating usable electrical energy from light sources with the wavelengths of solar light. These cells are typically made using silicon. However, successive generations of photovoltaic cells are currently being developed that may improve the photoconversion efficiency for future photovoltaics. The second generation of photovoltaic materials is based on multiple layers of p-n junction diodes. Each layer is designed to absorb a successively longer wavelength of light (lower energy), thus absorbing more of the solar spectrum and increasing the amount of electrical energy produced. The third generation of photovoltaics is very different from the other two, and is broadly defined as a semiconductor device which does not rely on a traditional p-n junction to separate photogenerated charge carriers. These new devices include dye sensitized cells, organic polymer cells, and quantum dot solar cells.

Solar cells have many applications. They are particularly well suited to, and historically used in, situations where electrical power from the grid is unavailable, such as in remote area power systems, Earth orbiting satellites, handheld calculators, remote radiotelephones and water pumping applications. Assemblies of solar cells (in the form of modules or solar panels) on building roofs can be connected through an inverter to the electricity grid in a net metering arrangement.

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Gaia: eco adventure villages & zevolution - powering retreats sustainably

panels, inverters, efficient lighting, wind turbines, etc

Biodiesel: Everything you need to know

Re: Intro to Photovoltaics :~)

Intro to Photovoltaics :~)

Intro to Photovoltaics :~)

Solar cell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

History

Applications and implementations

Theory

Simple explanation

Photogeneration of Charge Carriers

Charge Carrier Separation

The p-n junction

Connection to an external load

Equivalent circuit of a solar cell

Solar Cell Efficiency Factors

Maximum Power Point

Energy Conversion Efficiency

Fill Factor

Quantum Efficiency

Comparison of Energy Conversion Efficiencies

Solar cells and energy payback

Light Absorbing Materials

Bulk

Germanium

Silicon

Thin-films

CIGS

CIS

CdTe

Organic/Polymer Solar Cells

Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) Multijunction

Solar-concentrating photovoltaics

Light Absorbing Dyes

Silicon

Quantum Dots

Silicon Solar Cell Device Manufacture

Current research on materials and devices

Silicon Processing