Enviro-Shelter Experiment Winter 2013 ( Wk 4)
ESE-4
Sol-Era Log Entry 2013-2-22 Earth Continuum 7 342
The heavens opened up today and it is like the sky is falling, the rain is coming down in torrents. Waves and waves of rain precipitate towards a already situated ground. The spill way is like a river rapid goshing over the dam trying desperately to erode away the Earth. I have pulled all my feelers inside, and am now looking out at the world like an Aquanaut trapped inside a bathysphere. All the Animals have retreated back inside the barn, and if this doesn't let up soon, I will have to suit up and go feed them. The weather radar is showing more rain on the way with predictions of thunder storms.
Sol-Era Log Entry 2013-2-23 Earth Continuum 7 341
All through the night I was awaken by thunder blasting off in the distance, but now that rains have settled down to just a drizzle. The windows are all fogged over, and my dog goes over and licks an area so he can see out. I went down and opened up the valve that feeds the hydro-electric plant and took the highest reading yet from the meter on the unit, which was pegged a bit over 111 volts AC.
Now that the hydro system is functioning well we will add at least two more batteries for electrical storage. The battery bank in most all off grid systems acts as a buffer against changing, unpredictable weather patterns, thus becoming an essential part of the system. Battery technology has come a long ways, but needs to evolve a bit more before reaching the point of where I'd call a class of, " Super Batteries " but then of course you have to weigh in the cost over time along with the application.
Sol-Era Log Entry 2013-2-24 Earth Continuum 7 340
Today I am up watching the Sun brighten up through the blinds. Wow! What a welcome sight. The Earth is so wet. We sure can us some drying out around here. Today, will spend some time working around the greenhouse running in that circuit from the hydro system, and planting. Once the hydro power is established inside there, we will use it to finish the construction. Most all construction equipment nowadays is run off a rechargeable battery system, from cordless drills, jigs, and circular saws so keeping the cordless tool kits topped off is easy with the hydro- electricity. The trick is to keep multible battery chargers going at once, so you keep a fresh set of batteries to rotate at all times during the construction process.
We now have a completed circuit into the greenhouse. The voltage drop is almost nominal, with the larger 10 gauge conductor as the main line in. Today the Sun has been out with clear blue skies.
All the Solar systems have replenished themselves fully.
Sol-Era Log Entry 2013-2-25 Earth Continuum 7 339
Today will be another very wet day. As far as I can see on the radar is that all familiar red blob moving liquid Sunshine from the friendly skies. Well sometimes I guess not so friendly, but nevertheless yes a friend regardless of what we humans term bad weather. Mother Nature is always busy going about her business in an attempt to reach a state of equilibrium. Global Warming? Well yes, the Earth is warming and has been warming since the end of the last ice age. Has Humans contributed to this, " Global Warming" well yes of course they have accelerated the warming quite a bit, mainly by displacing natural places with huge constructions of thermal mass, like concrete cities full of black asphalt roads, and parking lots, with millions of combustion engines that produce a gas that also accelerates the greenhouse effect. The trouble with this whole concept of global warming is thus that there just isn't enough fossil fuels left in the crust of the Earth to burn, to permanently alter the inevitable outcome of this Planet and its relationship with its star, the SUN. In the end every building on Earth will be solar powered, every car, every appliance, every single electrical device on the planet will be solar powered. So one just aswell get started right now on this grand journey into the future. When I use the term, " Solar Powered " I am using it as an all encompassing definition as, is Hydro power, Solar Power? Yes! It is the Sun that drives the Hydro cycle on Earth through evaporation. Is, " Wood Power, or Organics " Solar Power? Yes! Because it is the Sun that drives the photosynthesis cycle on Earth. Is, " Wind Power " Solar Power ? Yes! Because it is the uneven heating of the surface of the Earth by the Sun that causes the winds along with a spinning planet in space. After one has been using solar energy in a setting for awhile, you will get into a kind of rhythm with the Sun, the wind, the rain, and the growing seasons, and you can tell even without noticing the meters, or indicators the amounts of energy available, as you become instinctively knowing when to cut back or excel forward with a project. Well nowadays I guess the weather channel does play a role in planning future events as always but use all the intuitive tools at your deposal.
Sol-Era Log Entry 2013-2-26 Earth Continuum 7 338
All things moisture, Earth is truly a water planet. The storms seems to have moved on today, and hopefully we will see the Sun again. All during the night I could hear the wind blowing things around. All I could think about was the fact that the wind project is still unfinished and these winds are not tapped for energy yet. So for this week I am determined to get the wind machine project finished.
In your area you will need to do a local analysis as to what renewable energies to tap, but for most areas on planet Earth you will have ample amounts of sunshine, and winds during the changing seasons if not prevailing. Here we have the seasonal winds, so getting them tapped early in the upcoming Spring time will be a plus for the overall energy input plan.
We are the children of Earth and the more we learn how to live within her own nature, the happier we will be as a species. A new generation of humans all around this planet are beginning to join the silent revolution by declaring their energy independence, and starting a lifestyle that will lead away from this chemical, radioactive, unnatural man made world that is dying all around us. All so called, " Modern Cities" that are dependent on fossil fuels for their economy base will fail, and we are already beginning to see the signs. Even greats like Wal-Mart will fall into the abyss of run away energy cost, averted only by internet shopping, with localized electric/solar vehicle delivery systems, after the breakup of the most massive chain store monopolies is fully realized.
Sol-Era Log Entry 2013-2-27 Earth Continuum 7 337
A bright Rising Sun greets my waking eyes. Today is a very energetic happening. We got the wind machine upgrade fully installed. After the upgrade was installed the machine is catching the winds much better, but the gusts were dying down during the afternoon so good accurate readings of the power output will have to wait till later.
Prefabrication of new wind machine upgrade.
Wind Technician installing new blades
Finished upgrade !
As you can see by the pictures we now have six blades instead of three, and the new blades are longer and wider to catch more of the cross sectional area of the incoming winds. If we upgrade the wind machine again it will be to raise it upon a higher tower. If you want to know how we got up there to exchange the blades well we used a very tall ladder. After anchoring it to the utility truck the ladder became a sufficient access point in which to do the work, also we used the top rack of the truck as a staging area with boards making a platform.
Sol-Era Log Entry 2013-2-28 Earth Continuum 7 336
Today is what we call an exceptional natural energy day, with the winds blowing, the Sun is shinning brightly in blue open skies, and the hydro-electric is still at maximum power from all the rains last week. Also the outside temperature is such that no additional heat is needed for the human comfort level. All the battery storage banks are fully topped off, and the system is running on direct input from all the sources. Inside the greenhouse the plants are jumping up, as if a mid-spring day. I have turned, Little Mac out to graze the fresh grass growing in the front yard. He will not wander to far from, BB his pasture mate. The red Rooster was out there this morning as well for he had somehow got out of the pen. So after coaching him over with some grain, caught him, clipped his wings on one side then placed him in a separate pen. The Dogs were pretty curious about a bird wandering about, but they didn't attack him which is a good sign.
The Apollo Wind Machine is an AC, 12 volt 3 phrase generator, so since we want to convert the AC power into DC in order to charge our battery bank. We can use a rectifier to accomplish this. We are testing a , three-phase bridge rectifier today. The device that is part of the test today is pictured below. If all goes well this little piece of technology will save us a lot of expense.
No comments:
Post a Comment