Wind farms

[Not Sure]

My friend removed his iil furnace and installed a heat pump to heat and cool his house a few years ago. It works great as long as the temps stay above 20. Below that, and it will not heat the house above 50 or so. He mainly uses his pellet stove for heat now, othrrwise he freezes. His is a multizone system I think Fujitsu brand.

LOL Someone didn't do their Math ,
2 years ago my Mechanic used his woodstove and shut off his heatpump . When he turned it on was unaware of the ice . It literally self distrusted because of an out of balance fan .
Heat pumps can be combined with gas or oil furnaces

Fujitsu's are a good choice

 

[prsboogie]

Based upon my exposure to the sun - I could cover my entire electric cost and send some to the grid..

I imagine in the summer i might, the winter, no way.

 

[dlague]

Based upon my exposure to the sun - I could cover my entire electric cost and send some to the grid..

10 Solar Panel System = about 4 KWH that is with solid sun exposure for 5-6 hours, clouds reduce that production. 1 200 watt panel 56 x 39.1 x 1.6 inches ; 36 pounds approximate

 

[Funky_Catskills]

I imagine in the summer i might, the winter, no way.

I heat with oil..

Large roof - no trees blocking - southern exposure..
I've been decreasing my electricity usage as well by doing certain things...

I have some ideas on how to lower it more.

i think I can pull this off...

 

[deadheadskier]

If you have the right set up, I say go for it. I've got a couple of friends with zero regrets on going solar.

Hopefully the tax credits get extended beyond 2016.

 

[Not Sure]

If there was a inexpensive way to store Solar energy ? The Billion dollar question .

 

[Funky_Catskills]

If you have the right set up, I say go for it. I've got a couple of friends with zero regrets on going solar.

Hopefully the tax credits get extended beyond 2016.

Same..
Germany has so many houses converted.. And it's not really that sunny there..

 

[Funky_Catskills]

If there was a inexpensive way to store Solar energy ? The Billion dollar question .

Tesla Powerwall seems like it's going in the right direction..

 

[prsboogie]

If there was a inexpensive way to store Solar energy ? The Billion dollar question .

I had seen an episode of this NEW House couple years ago and there were students at M.I.T. at the time working on a system to store energy from solar in 55gal poly drums filled with plain H2O. They had a converter which they switched in the evening to change from charge to discharge. They estimated the system they had to cost around 300K for a home with about 2000 sq.ft. i will see if i can find the show on you tube.

 

[deadheadskier]

Same..
Germany has so many houses converted.. And it's not really that sunny there..

The most solar I've seen anywhere in the eastern US BY FAR is in Vermont. Hardly a sunny place. That's my running joke with all my friends there. "Dude, where's your solar panel? Thought it was a requirement to live here."

Renewables aren't perfect environmentally or economically, but you have to start somewhere.

After living along the Ohio River and in West Virginia and seeing the filth and destruction from fossils there and then seeing the devastation at Fukushima from afar, renewables are where the future tech focus should be.

 

[Not Sure]

I installed a Apricus glass tube system , I had an extra pice of tubing in my shed that I didn't realize had a caterpillar cocoon in . It jammed in the pump on collector side and turned the water into Steam . Got me thinking if any Co Gen systems out there ?

 

[prsboogie]

I had seen an episode of this NEW House couple years ago and there were students at M.I.T. at the time working on a system to store energy from solar in 55gal poly drums filled with plain H2O. They had a converter which they switched in the evening to change from charge to discharge. They estimated the system they had to cost around 300K for a home with about 2000 sq.ft. i will see if i can find the show on you tube.

https://youtu.be/k7ok8cOJbmo This isn't the exact thing I'm looking for but this is very cool. No idea how much it will cost??

 

[steamboat1]

They shut down Vermont Yankee. Guess where the nuclear waste is being stored.

 

[Jully]

A European company I think Danish has proposed putting a wind farm south Martha's Vineyard farther out to sea than the failed Cape Wind project. The cost of power for these offshore turbine is quite a bit higher than on land turbines. It baffles me at times.

I'm not familiar with that project, but true offshore wind is actually the only truly effective form of wind power in my opinion. It's used in northern Europe in the Atlantic and these are not your traditional turbines, they're massive, can't be seen from the shoreline and make no noise that impacts anyone cause no one is around.

Wind is way stronger multiple miles off the coast, putting farms in on smaller ridges just seems like putting a solar farm in a forest, or Seattle.

 

[Jully]

The most solar I've seen anywhere in the eastern US BY FAR is in Vermont. Hardly a sunny place. That's my running joke with all my friends there. "Dude, where's your solar panel? Thought it was a requirement to live here."

Renewables aren't perfect environmentally or economically, but you have to start somewhere.

After living along the Ohio River and in West Virginia and seeing the filth and destruction from fossils there and then seeing the devastation at Fukushima from afar, renewables are where the future tech focus should be.

Panel technology is improving at a surprising rate too. Being in a "sunny" area is not the same necessity that it was 6 or 7 years ago. I hadn't kept up with improvements and really didn't get it when there was this huge surge to get solar into the northeast.

It's still way way better to be in a desert, but it's not as bad as it used to be in cloudier places.

On a side note, mountaintop removal in the Ohio River Valley is so sad. Completely agree with your sentiment.

 

[marcski]

But for that 57million dollars, they could build a natural gas plant and fuel it for how manyyears, decommission the plant, and still save money over a wind farm.

I don't doubt your underlying throry, but I believe your math is way off here. I think the cost of building a new nat. gas power plant is 10x your figure.

 

[dlague]

If there was a inexpensive way to store Solar energy ? The Billion dollar question .

That is the key to energy sources that are not constant. The technology is close but the other key word inexpensive.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone

 

[Funky_Catskills]

Crazy thing about wanting to do this is there's always a contingent of people saying it shouldn't/can't be done for whatever reason..
It's getting less and less... But still out there...

 

[deadheadskier]

As far as the tax credits for renewable energy resources go,I AM hoping they end at 2016 and do not get extended. Here’s why:

First of all, they force every taxpayer to pitch into the very expensive “new”technology, whether it is viable or not, and whether they approve of it or not.I understand stimulus to get the industry off the ground, but there has to be amake it or break it point.

I would argue that the make it or break it point at minimum should be when renewables have been given the same total investment as Fossil Fuels

From 1950-2010 US energy subsidies were

$369B Fossil fuels
$74B Renewables
$73B Nuclear
$90B Hydro

There's no question per BTU, fossil fuel subsidies are a better deal for tax payers. Some studies show 25X more bang for the buck.

However that doesn't account for all costs to society. See my earlier concerns about mountain top removal and the filth along the Ohio River valley. Additionally we've had the Fukushima and Chernobyl disasters, the wasteland that's been created in the Dakotas and Canada from shale oil production (a land area as large as the state of Florida for the Alberta fields alone) and we could also get into the direct loss of human lives from both the production of those fuels and wars associated with them. How many people have solar panels killed?

So, for me, there's a lot more to it than just efficiencies and the miniscule federal tax line item drawn from my paycheck.

 

[Not Sure]

As far as the tax credits for renewable energy resources go,I AM hoping they end at 2016 and do not get extended. Here’s why:

First of all, they force every taxpayer to pitch into the very expensive “new”technology, whether it is viable or not, and whether they approve of it or not.I understand stimulus to get the industry off the ground, but there has to be amake it or break it point.

So long as there are tax rebates, the most popular line by the salesman to theprospective buyer is there is that 30% tax rebate. You will not hear about howwe have been able to trim costs and keep production costs down in their salespitch. Until they have to just keep the price within the tipping point that theconsumer will pay for it. IMO, it is artificially keeping the costs high.

When the tax rebates end, one of two things will happen. Either the businessgoes belly up, or the prices come down to where the consumer can afford to buyit without the tax rebate. With all that is invested in this technology, andall the people involved in this business, they will make sure their businessdoes not go belly up. For now, it is a huge cash cow.

The unit price isn't that great , it's all the extra Field piping or wells that adds about 1/3 . If you have a pond or spring that reduces the cost considerably . The last system I did had radiant floor heat and forced air ,3400sft house had 5000' pipe 800 aluminum heat transfer plates ( 6 screws in each one ) 4,800! , Labor was insane especially last winter trying to weave pipe through joist spaces.