alternative energy, zero sunshine, no wind!

CamperMan

OK

alternative energy, zero sunshine, no wind!

any suggestions, we are in teh cabin in Sweden for the winter, solar panels up, wind turbine up... no sunshine for the past few weeks, probably over a month, the small wind turbine doesn't even turn, not a slight breze out there...

it's getting tiresom listening to the generator going, although the generator is used to charge the battery bank up so we dont have to run it all tehhe

The total amps delivered by 4 x 100 watt solar panels and a small 20 watt wind turbine over the past 4 weeks is about 3 amps...

Any ideas on other alternative energy sources?

mawk

you could make a small steam power setup if you have access to firewood. even use the wind turbine parts without the rotor. wont make a huge lot of power but it would be a fun project.


another choice depending on terrain; if you happen to have hills nearby, find a stream and dig a bit of a pool. drop a hose in the pool and run it down the hill towards the cabin. the head from the elevation difference will give a lot of pressure even without huge drop. a vale and a nozzle sets up beautifully to drive a water wheel. This works into the kilowatts without huge equipment so 100W is probably managable with garden hoses and elbow grease

Grudaire

Is there anyway to store energy there so that whenever the sun is shining or the wind is blowing that you could store up the excess?

Don't know of any small scale solutions - they seem to have enough trouble doing it on a large scale...

mawk

Cliste wrote: »

Is there anyway to store energy there so that whenever the sun is shining or the wind is blowing that you could store up the excess?

Well he mentioned having a battery bank so I assume all the power is coming (via inverter) from them.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1203647021/the-powerpot
Maybe something like this or a biolite?

Tabnabs

You're in high latitudes, in the depths of winter, a very different setup to Ireland in the wet and windy weather. From my experience of staying in remote mountain farms in Norway, you accept the lack of electricity when it's not there and resort to oil lamps and candles for light and stoves for heating, cooking and melting snow if the river is frozen too deep to penetrate by axe or chainsaw.

But, what are your neighbours doing?

Nailin4Whales

Peltier modules onto the fireplace. They'll need a fan and heatsink though or some other source of cold air. They provide high current at a very low voltage so you'll need a converter IC/circuit

mawk

Nailin4Whales wrote: »

Peltier modules onto the fireplace. They'll need a fan and heatsink though or some other source of cold air. They provide high current at a very low voltage so you'll need a converter IC/circuit

Been meaning to for a while, so I ordered a peltier module today. I'll build a TEG when it arrives and report back

CamperMan

Nailin4Whales wrote: »

Peltier modules onto the fireplace. They'll need a fan and heatsink though or some other source of cold air. They provide high current at a very low voltage so you'll need a converter IC/circuit

will look into this.. the wood fire burns for at least 10 hours a day during these periods of dull weather