Some New Stuff

This is just a collection of some interesting (at least to me) items added tot he site over the last week or so....

Harvesting Fresh Water From Fog
Areas with regular daily fogs (e.g. some coastal areas) can harvest impressive amounts of fresh water from the fog.  Nets catch the fog and then channel droplets from the fog into a catch basin. 



Details...

Booklet on "Hot Water From Your Woodstove"
This is a good 45 page booklet from Lehman's describing a couple systems for adding a heat exchanger coil to the firebox in your woodstove to heat water.  Good detail on both thermosyphon and pumped systems, and lots of information on troubleshooting and doing the installation safetly.




Details...




Skysails -- Kites for Towing Ships
These are large kites that can be deployed under favorable wind conditions to reduce fuel consumption.  With favorable winds, fuel consumption can be reduced as much as 50%.
Operation of the Skysails is largely automatic.




Details...



Homes From Cylindrical Grain Storage Bins
A collection of links to homes made from cylindrical steel grain bins.  These homes offer a thermally efficient shape, and some options for good insulation thickness -- plus and interesting look.

Details...









Gary

Wind Power for Dummies

There is a lot of interest in residential wind power -- the Wind page on Build-It-Solar often gets the most visits of any page on the site other than the home page.   There is LOTS of interest in wind power. 
But, successfully planning and installing a wind turbine is hard -- the hardest of the common renewable energy projects.  You really need to do your homework carefully to achieve a successful wind turbine installation.


Wind Power for Dummies is the best book that I've found to get across all the things that you need to consider to do a wind turbine installation, and the concrete information to help you pull it off. 

Ian Woofenden has been doing residential wind power for many years.  He conducts wind power workshops from his wind powered home in the San Jaun's, and he has been the wind expert and editor and author for Home Power for many years -- he knows his stuff, and he writes well.

One area the book does not cover in depth is building your own wind turbine, there are other good books for this... 

If you want to know whether wind can work for you, and how to go about pulling off a successful installation, this is the book to start with.


Gary

Energy Fairs

This is the season for a lot of the annual energy fairs, so check around and see if there is a good one to go to in your area.

The fairs are a great way to learn about renewable energy projects, go to workshops, meet some renewable energy people in your area, and find some deals.

I keep a list of all the Energy Fairs I know about here...

If you know of others that are not on the list, please let me know...

Gary