Backyard Coal Plant — New DIY Project
April 1, 2021
Today we’re announcing our new DIY project: a backyard coal plant. … More Backyard Coal Plant — New DIY Project
Category: Generation
The Institute Has Solar Power
December 17, 2019
Since October we’ve been installing solar panels, an inverter, and battery here at the institute. Last week we got permission from our energy utility to operate our system. It took longer than expected, but we’re up and running. You can read about our site evaluation, system design, components, system layout, and part of the installation … More The Institute Has Solar Power
Solar Hot Water Panels Year 1 Data, sort of — Lab Note 1.08
December 11, 2019
Last year I built prototype solar panels and summarized the preliminary data gathered in some test runs (see this project’s archive here). I’ve been collecting performance data over the last year and am now ready to present the results. Data Collection The data for this analysis comes from three temperature loggers (Elitech RC-4, P.S., we … More Solar Hot Water Panels Year 1 Data, sort of — Lab Note 1.08
The Institute is Getting Solar Panels — Part IV: Installation
October 22, 2019
Avid readers will notice that we haven’t been posting much over the last month. That’s because every free moment has been given over to installing our solar panels (see the earlier posts here). Here I’ll recap the physical installation of the panels and other components. In the next post, we’ll go through how we ended … More The Institute is Getting Solar Panels — Part IV: Installation
The Institute is Getting Solar Panels — Part III: System Layout
October 3, 2019
We’ve been chronicling our addition of solar panels (see them all here). Today we’re going to go through the layout and electrical diagrams of the system. The Layout The panels will be mounted on the back of our garage. This is for a few reasons. First, our house’s roof slopes west–east while the garage is … More The Institute is Getting Solar Panels — Part III: System Layout
Upcoming Workshop — Installing Solar Panels, Oct. 5, 1–3 p.m., Free (Space is Limited)
September 25, 2019
We are installing solar panels on the institute and we’re doing it ourselves (see our blog posts on this topic here). If you’ve considered doing it yourself but want to get a little hands-on experience and an idea of the scope of the job before going forward, this workshop is for you. The federal tax … More Upcoming Workshop — Installing Solar Panels, Oct. 5, 1–3 p.m., Free (Space is Limited)
The Institute is Getting Solar Panels — Part II: Components
September 19, 2019
We’ve been chronicling our addition of solar panels in Part I and another post evaluating our solar resources. In this entry, we’ll go through the different components of the system and how we chose them. We have received no compensation from any of the companies mentioned. The Panels Many types of panels are out there … More The Institute is Getting Solar Panels — Part II: Components
The Institute is Getting Solar Panels – Part I: System Design
August 29, 2019
We’re excited to announce that we’ll be installing solar panels at the institute this fall. While this has been in the long-term plans for some time, we have been prioritizing things that are more do-it-yourself, such as building solar hot water panels and gardening. In the LTI tradition, though, we’ll be doing as much of … More The Institute is Getting Solar Panels – Part I: System Design
Evaluating Our Solar Site
August 1, 2019
We’re likely to get solar panels this fall, so I’ve begun to evaluate the site where the panels will go. Most of our sunny grounds are given over to the garden, greenhouse, and our solar hot water system. The south side of our garage, though is perfect. What I wasn’t sure of, though, was which … More Evaluating Our Solar Site
Small-Scale Hydropower?
January 28, 2019
Hydropower has a mixed environmental record. Large projects like dams that impound entire rivers are coming down across the west, as their impact on fish hatcheries and other ecosystems is now better understood. Furthermore, in addition to carbon-free power, one of the benefits was supposed to be flood control, but we are now seeing that … More Small-Scale Hydropower?