The alternative energy thread

[Nekodaiden]

Post here if you are in any way into alternative energy! Bonus points for frugality - thousands of dollars worth of solar panels or a personal wind turbine don't count.


Today I made my first solar oven out of - an old pizza box! Plus duct tape, clear plastic wrap, black spray paint for the inside, aluminum foil, a stick and some string to adjust the panel.

Tested it earlier with a thermometer. Starting temp - 20C. Around 1/2 hour later, inside temp was 60C! Then cloud cover came and spoiled the fun.

I've seen these on youtube and some professional type ones for sale for around $200. Well, I don't have $200 to spare but I had to know if it worked. Now I'm going to draw up plans for a proper one.

 

[hopeful]

That is really cool! My wife and I tried to get solar panels (which I know you're not counting) but the electric company in town doesn't work with solar, apparently. I would love to use more environmentally friendly/responsible energy sources. I am looking forward to seeing people's responses on this thread to get ideas. Thanks for posting it.

 

[Forest Nymph]

That's great. At my university we have entire buildings devoted to renewable energy and green technology, and one of them has this amazing outdoor stone convection oven, and there are solar panels everywhere, including in our parking lots, probably because in this forested area parking lots get the most sun exposure.

Before I left L.A. the last house I lived in had solar panels and the school I attended there had a building that was entirely solar powered. Of course it was the science building, though there was also a solar array in one other place on that campus.

I took a class before I left there, where we had to make our own solar panel, kinda jakey ones that you could use on top of your hippie van or tiny house to get just enough electricity to maybe charge a cell phone, run a coffee pot and watch literally one movie (the professor made us watch a video on how you have to budget energy when you live off grid that way).

The region I live in has biofuels which I think are ethical because they're literally the leavings of timber companies, as long as those wood chips aren't being intentionally left for wildlife habitat or other environmental reasons, it only makes sense to power things locally with wood chips. I feel the same way about areas where corn is actually grown as a food crop (though not when it's grown in surplus, it actually is a water waste as ethanol unless it's grown sustainably).

I have mixed feelings about dams (you can give them fish ladders but some need to be torn down) as well as wind turbines (they're great in certain areas but if implemented too much they kill birds and bats, which I'm not okay with).

Solar is the most sustainable energy we have.

 

[warnerbrown]

Post here if you are in any way into alternative energy! Bonus points for frugality - thousands of dollars worth of solar panels or a personal wind turbine don't count.


Today I made my first solar oven out of - an old pizza box! Plus duct tape, clear plastic wrap, black spray paint for the inside, aluminum foil, a stick and some string to adjust the panel.

Tested it earlier with a thermometer. Starting temp - 20C. Around 1/2 hour later, inside temp was 60C! Then cloud cover came and spoiled the fun.

I've seen these on youtube and some professional type ones for sale for around $200. Well, I don't have $200 to spare but I had to know if it worked. Now I'm going to draw up plans for a proper one.

I dunno why solar panels don't count. I bought really cool batteries and don't worry about anything. I wouldn't invent something new if we already have a lot of cool possibilietes. If you need a reliable, visit it. I bought all my batteries there.