Dry stack block surface bonded concrete block walls for HTMs Dry stack concrete block (cinder block) technique uses surface bonding cement (SBC) instead of mortar for high thermal mass walls that are actually stronger than conventionally laid block walls. Only the first course is bedded in grout on the footer to establish plumb and level for the wall. The rest of the dry stack block courses are laid without need for any mortar between the cinder blocks. This building method has been around for well over a century, so it is nothing new or really even very unique in commercial buildings. SBC was formulated to build million gallon municipal cisterns for water storage. The original SBC recipe used horse hair for the structural fibers. Blocks need not be of any special design. Please note that solid, poured in place, concrete walls are just as effective, but forming and pouring is outside the skill level of most people. With any surface bonding cement, conventional mortared block, or poured-in-place cement wall, it is key to note:
Get off-grid & emergency power from this solar briefcase & battery packs : TreeHugger The HANS Solar Briefcase and PowerPack systems do double duty by supporting the Billions in Change movement. We've come a long way in terms of remote and emergency power options over the last ten years, having gone from relying almost completely on gas or diesel generators and boxes of single-use batteries to solar chargers and rechargeable batteries for supplying electricity, and from gas lanterns to LED lights for illumination, which is good for the average camper or emergency preparedness kit. When I think of how many 'disposable' batteries I used over the course of my life, before I started buying rechargeable batteries and powerpacks that I could recharge with solar power, it adds up to a staggering amount of waste. "The HANS™ Solar BriefCase is a lightweight, portable, and simple-to-use set of solar panels designed for charging the HANS™ PowerPack from virtually anywhere on Earth.
Sustainable design, zero energy passive solar green home HTM high thermal mass holistic housing consultation packages for the earthhome do-it-yourselfer With over 20 years of experience, we are the original zero-energy green home building company! Sustainable design, zero-energy, passive solar homes are free from mechanical climate control systems for truly independent living. Our website is packed with loads of valuable free information, so please take the time to read all of this passive solar chapter and all of the many detail pages. HTM construction homes will function just fine in any climate, anywhere in the world. Passive solar heating and radiant cooling energy needs to be quickly absorbed and released. Embodied energy in choice of construction materials is an important environmental concern. Chapter 2 - Photogallery of our most sustainable HTM design, created over twenty years ago Orientation naturally plays a major role in any passive solar design. Healthy homes ventilate constantly to ensure a fresh indoor air supply. Beware of envelope home stick-frame architecture still being sold as 'green building'.
Off-Grid Home | Solar Panels | Backwoods Solar Your own independent off grid power systems can provide most electric conveniences at a remote home site, where bringing in utility lines would be impossible or prohibitively expensive. Just extending utility power 1/4 mile or more to reach a home site can cost $15,000 and up, and that's before you get any power. Equipment to produce your own solar electric power may cost less. If power lines are not near your land, you can choose clean renewable resources, and boats and recreational vehicles can use the same equipment on a smaller scale. Natural and free energy already on your site in sunlight, wind, or falling water can be converted to off the grid electricity. We specialize in power entirely from solar panels, wind power, or micro hydro power, plus generator backup in climates short on sunshine. We Use Off-Grid Power! For over 30 years, Backwoods has specialized in off-grid power for the remote home. Our off-grid power catalog introduces beginners to the joy of making your own power.
A Simple DIY Thermosyphon Solar Water Heating System Search The Renewable Energy site for Do-It-Yourselfers System schematic -- Thermosyphon Solar Water Heater As shown in the schematic, when sun is on the Solar Panel, the water in the panel is heated, becomes less dense and rises up into the Storage Tank. Sun and gravity take care of the circulating the water, so no pump is needed. The system as shown here does not have freeze protection, so it must be used in non-freezing climates, or be drained for the winter. Building the Collector I used a roll of aluminum 10 " wide, which I cut to length and fit under the tubes. There is a 3/4 insulation sheet behind the plywood and another thinner plywood on the back to protect the insulation sheet. There are two sheets of sun tuf corrugated polycarbonate on top. For more more construction details on on a similar type of collector construction here... and here... Collector Installation Some more pictures of the finished collector. Storage Tank and Plumbing Click on pictures for full size Results To Date
Living Off the Grid: How to Generate Your Own Electricity Our off the grid house near Anaconda, Montana Taking the Alternative Energy Plunge When my wife and I moved to Montana last year, we found a comfortable home on several acres with a view of the mountains. There was only one hitch – the house was off the grid. In fact, everyone in the subdivision generated their own power, including the bed and breakfast nearby. That doesn’t mean it was primitive. Solar panel with tracker Life Off the Grid The previous owner showed me the critical facilities and told me how to operate them. On our third night in the house, we went to bed as usual to the faint sound of wind outside, a sound we were already beginning to enjoy because it generated most of our power. Wind turbine I got up and went outside to check the power equipment. I had just learned the first lesson of wind and solar power: they can’t always be counted on when you need them. Battery bank Alternative Energy Cost Electrical inverter/charger Backup Generator Backup generator Lessons Learned
7 Solar Water Heating System Designs by Michael Hackleman Issue #65 (Rob Harlan is a general and solar contractor with 25 years of experience with solar water heating systems in Mendocino County, California. Rob primarily designs and installs photovoltaic systems today.) MH: Rob, will you give a brief history of the last 30 years of solar-water heating system design and implementation? Rob: Solar-water heating systems got a real boost in the 1970s when tax credits were offered by state and federal programs to help folks make the investment. These systems were intended primarily for domestic hot water, i.e., showers, dishwashing, cooking, and clotheswashing. They were also popular for heating the water in pools and hot tubs. MH: As I recall, a lot of manufacturers also disappeared when the tax credits went away. Rob: Some designs were indeed flawed—poorly implemented, overly complex, or incorporating untested ideas. Rob: And—on active systems, a controller turns a pump on and off as solar heat is available. Rob: Freezing protection. Rob: True. 1. 2. 3.
What You Need to Go Off the Grid - dummies By Rik DeGunther Off-grid solar PV systems are expensive, so find any means you can to reduce the energy requirements. Most off-grid houses use a wide range of energy resources, in sharp contrast to the typical all-electric suburban home. Solar hot water heaters are always good candidates because they’re cheaper per kilowatt-hour than an off-grid photovoltaic system, and solar lighting systems are always wise. This variety can be an advantage in that you aren’t completely disabled by power blackouts. Off-grid solar electrical systems all use the same basic components, with other elements added according to need. Here are the functions of each part: Charge controller: The charge controller feeds current into the battery bank at the required voltage. Which type of current you choose depends on what you want to run. DC, which is more efficient because batteries use direct current, is usually the choice for small cabins and small power systems.
Solar Hot Water Basics What is Solar Water Heating? Solar water heating collectors capture and retain heat from the sun and transfer this heat to a liquid. Solar thermal heat is trapped using the “greenhouse effect,” in this case is the ability of a reflective surface to transmit short wave radiation and reflect long wave radiation. Two principles govern solar thermal collectors. Second, heat loss is more rapid if the temperature difference between a hot object and its environment is larger, in this case between the temperature of the collector surface and the ambient temperature. The most basic approach to solar heating of water is to simply put a tank filled with water into the sun. A more common collector is called a flat plate collector. This is quite simple, but there are some very technical factors involved in making the collector as efficient as possible. Another popular type of collector is called evacuated tube, which has a long, skinny absorber that is inside a glass tube.
Off-Grid Solar Lighting Market Is Expected to Represent US $2,294 Mn in 2024 | Oct 9, 2017 - ReleaseWire Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/09/2017 -- Sliding prices of components such as LEDs, batteries, and photovoltaic chips are prompting off-grid solar power product manufacturers in directing investments and funds towards enhancement of technology, efficiency, and durability of their offerings, states TMR in a recent report. In the fragmented off-grid solar lighting market, featuring few large-scale vendors such as Koninklijke Philips N.V., OSRAM GmbH, Total S.A., and SunnyMoney, and several small- and medium-sized players, pricing of products is a major determinant of success. Government initiatives in the form of tax abatements and tax-free loans are encouraging vendors to introduce highly cost competitive products; technology innovations and patented technologies are also being introduced at a rapid pace in the market and companies are launching products that can suit the diverse needs of consumers. offgrid-solar-lighting-market
Pump and Pipe Sizing for a Solar Water or Space Heating System Search The Renewable Energy site for Do-It-Yourselfers Overview of Sizing the Plumbing and Pump for Solar Collectors The basic underlying requirement is that you want a pump and plumbing system that will push enough heat transfer fluid (typically water) through your solar collectors to efficiently remove the heat that the sun is depositing in them. Too little flow, and the collectors will run hotter and less efficiently, too much flow and you are wasting money on bigger pipes and pumps than the system needs, and using more pump power than you need to. The steps involved in the pump and plumbing sizing: Calculate the flow that the collectors need Measure the vertical distance between the top of the collector and the tank water level Calculate the pressure drop and flow velocity for the plumbing system. The Example I will use my Solar Shed project as an example. In a nutshell, it has 6 collectors of 40 sqft each. Step 1: Calculate the Flow to the Collectors Pipe Pressure Losses
What it’s like to use an off-grid solar-and-battery system in your home Many Hawaiian homeowners already use the off-grid solar-and-battery systems championed by Tesla’s TSLA, +3.01% Elon Musk and others — and their experience shows what hurdles the technology must clear to become widely accepted by consumers. Hawaiians are eager to do anything they can to cut their power bills. Residential electricity prices in the Aloha State averaged 31.2 cents per kilowatt hour in May, federal data shows. That was 2½ times the average U.S. price. Per kilowatt hour prices are even higher outside Oahu, and have topped 40 cents on the Big Island. Because of the state’s high power prices, real estate agents use homes’ off-grid generating systems as a selling point. With a solar-and-battery off-grid system, solar panels make enough electricity in daylight to charge batteries that keep appliances humming after the sun goes down. No one is sure exactly how many Hawaiian homes use off-grid systems. But off-grid homeowners face some unique issues. Initial costs Special appliances
The Efficient Windows Collaborative: Guidance Efficient windows basics Designing new homes can be a complex issue, but some straightforward principles and guidelines may help you set a solid foundation for window energy efficiency upon which you can further improve with careful design. Two of the most straightforward principles of selecting efficient windows are these: The windows must meet the locally applicable energy code requirements ; Windows that are ENERGY STAR qualified for the home's climate ensure state-of-the-art energy performance even in locations with outdated or nonexistent energy codes. Code-compliant windows, especially if ENERGY STAR qualified, offer benefits including energy cost savings , improved comfort , less condensation and fading , and the potential for HVAC downsizing . Design considerations for window performance The figure below shows several design conditions affecting window performance.