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Links

Here is a page full of links that I find interesting or informative. I will try to give a little info on each link.

Drainwater Heat Exchanger

Here is a link for the Drainwater Heat Exchanger. This device recovers heat from hot shower and sink water which runs down the drain and is generally wasted and uses it to prewarm the water going into the hot water heater so it doesn't take as much energy to heat it. This is claimed to save as much as 50% or more of the energy needed to heat the water as opposed to heating the water from dead cold. I have purchased one of these and will have it installed soon when my house gets hooked up to the sewer system. I will post pictures of the installation as it progresses and results when I have some. Until then, check out the website. They are better at explaining this than I am. If you happen to contact them, let them know I sent you.

My drainwater heat exchanger installation

Drainwater heat exchanger

Windmill links

Windmills are an excellent way to get power when the sun is scarce. While not always the case, generally when it is not sunny there is some kind of wind. Wind also blows at night when the sun isn't shining. Sometimes it is sunny and windy at the same time. Windmills are available in very large sizes or fairly small sizes. I think that for a residential installation several small units should be used. If every house had at least 1 windmill it could at least relieve some of the overloading of our current electrical infrastructure reducing the occurrence of largescale blackouts. Also, if our electrical generation were distributed amongst all the houses, a terrorist attack on a generation facility would not be so devastating.

 

Here is the windmill I want to get and install this summer. This is a small windmill that is supposed to start in low wind. (4.5 MPH) This unit claims to generate 800 watts at 33 MPH. It is nothing more than an alternator with the electromagnet core replaced with a core containing permanent magnets so no power is wasted creating the magnetic field. Also, there is no need for any circuit to turn on power to the electromagnet when the unit is rotating or turn it off when the unit stops. It comes with a six bladed carbon fiber blade that is 59" in diameter. It can be mounted on 1.5" schedule 40 steel pipe. Click the link below for more info.

Hornet windmill

Other windmill links below.

Survival Unlimited Windmills

 

Biodiesel links

Here are some biodiesel links. Biodiesel can be used anyplace standard diesel is used. Since diesel and home heating oil are the same thing. Biodiesel could replace them both. Biodiesel can be made out of almost any oil producing plant. (corn, soy and canola to name a few and also used cooking oil from the french fryer at your local fast food resturant) We could be paying our own farmers for our fuel and increasing our economy instead of paying the people who support terrorism and want to hurt us. Biodiesel burns cleaner than standard diesel. Most pollution produced by burning biodiesel is reabsorbed by the next crop of plants that are grown to make more biodiesel. It is less dangerous than standard diesel if spilled because it is basically just vegetable oil and it will just rot like any other vegetable matter instead of making a big toxic mess. When Rudolph Diesel first introduced his engine to the world it was running on peanut oil. His thought was to give his engines to agricultural communities and they could grow their own fuel. I read an article where a major oil company executive, in an effort to state how impossible it would be to switch to biodiesel, stated that it would take the entire production of the top 4 corn producing states to meet 10% of our diesel needs. So in my mind I think if we had hybrid diesels with double the mileage we currently have that would equal 1/5 of our current diesel needs and we still have 46 states left to grow fuel in for the other 4/5 of our needs. Daryl Hanna is using it in her pickup. Neil Young is using it to fuel the trucks and busses for his current tour. Willie Nelson is involved with a company to distribute and advertise biodiesel. His product is called "BioWilly". His representative has given me permission to post the link to his website. You will find it below and it is worth checking out.

 

A history of Rudolph Diesel and his biodiesel burning engine

Here is the link to the company Willie Nelson is involved with.

Here some students converted a school bus to run on biodiesel and traveled around the country

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Veggie van runs on biodiesel made from waste vegetable oil from local fast food restaurants

Biodiesel America

Build your own biodiesel processor from an old water heater

 

Hydrogen links

Hydrogen has been used in this country and other parts of the world for many years. It is not an energy source by itself but instead an energy carrier much like gasoline or diesel. The big difference being when you burn it what you get instead of a pile of pollution is pure water or H2O. Also, we are able to make it again and again using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen as opposed to drilling in the ground to pump out oil that can only be used once. Hydrogen was replaced by natural gas when we discovered it existed because it was ready to go out of the ground and cheaper and in larger quantities than hydrogen. At the time, hydrogen was produced during normal coal processing. Unfortunately, burning natural gas releases carbon dioxide just like gas or diesel fuel. The most popular way to get hydrogen today is to process natural gas into it. Still, this releases that nasty carbon dioxide. So the best way to get hydrogen is to use renewable sources such as solar cells and windmills to generate electricity then use that electricity to make hydrogen out of water. Clean renewable energy. One of the arguments made against using hydrogen is that it is dangerous to transport. My answer to that is hydrogen is no more dangerous than gas or diesel or natural gas and we transport them all the time. Also, hydrogen can be generated anywhere you can get water and electricity in the same place. I have never passed a gas station that doesn't have at least one toilet and one light bulb meaning every gas station in America has the raw materials needed to generate hydrogen so no transportation is required. I have also heard the argument that a truck transporting hydrogen would never get completely empty unless you had a pump on the truck to empty it out so transportation efficiency would not be as good as liquid fuel that just pours out of the truck. While I agree with this to some extent, I have to say they are doing this very thing with liquid propane now and making it work and hydrogen would be no different. We are already transporting liquid propane and natural gas so the infrastructure to transport hydrogen is already there. Even if it is not as efficient to transport, or make, it does have the advantage in that we can indeed make it again and again making it a clean renewable carrier of energy. If we outfit gas stations with hydrogen generators we could start by having one or two at every gas station and increase that number as we grow the hydrogen economy. If a gas station owner chooses to add solar cells and windmills to generate at least some of the required energy then hydrogen becomes cleaner to use and cheaper to make. Below are links that are informative as well as amusing. Check them out.

Here is a quick history of hydrogen

This is an amusing link that will teach children and adults alike about hydrogen. It should be a lot of fun.

 

This is a link to my solar setup. It is small and crude but it works suprisingly well.

My solar setup

This is a link to my low voltage lighting page. This shows some of the ways I have used the products in the lighting products section below.

My lighting projects

Here are books I have read. (only one right now)

The Renewable Energy Hand Book by William H. Kemp

I found this book informative and amusing. There is actually a sense of humor here as well as a wealth of useful information. I recomend this book to almost anyone and especially the beginner.

Here are links to forums and websites that promote energy independance.

The Chester County Citizens for Climate Protection is a grass roots organization dedicated to educating the community on the severity and serious consequences of climate change. In addition, the organization will promote actions designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to improve our quality of life.

The Chester County Citizens for Climate Protection Facebook Page is here.

PennEnvironment is your state environmental group — protecting the places we love, advancing the environmental values we share, and winning real results for our environment.