DIY Green Solar Energy

This is part 2 of a tour with detailed explanation of a residential solar thermal/solar hot water heater system. Here I do into detail on various parts/components including the controller, temperature sensors, expansion tanks, flow meter, bypass valve assembly and stagnation control methods like vacation bypass valves, heat dump radiator, and covering the collector with a tarp. The system is the Enerworks one. It’s installed in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, so cold climate issues apply. The solar panels or collectors are flat plate type. The solar tank and the natural gas backup tank are shown, as well as the heat exchanger and all piping. How the solar energy from the sun heats the absorber in the collector and then the food grade propylene glycol (antifreeze) and water mix is also covered. For more on solar thermal/solar hot water heating systems, see: rimstar.org – rimstar.org

Build Your Own Solar Air Heater – shop.new-energy-portal.com + DVD & e-book + up to 20% energy savings + step by step in 10 chapters + 80 min. + German, English, Dutch DVD available on http www.new-energy-portal.com ____________________________ Solar air collectors directly contribute to energy savings, operate independently and can be easily retrofitted to almost any building. The TRUBADU S-Line solar air heater blows hearted air directly into the building, so that you can save up to 20% on heating costs. Through its simple and effective design, the S-Line solar air heater can be replicated on a weekend The video instructions and E-Book guide the viewer step by step through this construction process. New Energy Portal is an information platform on renewable energy and energy autonomy. This network connects energy consumers directly with each other and with new ideas. http

www.SolarEnergyGuide.net – How to Build Homemade Solar Panels – Simple Tips to Get Started There are many reasons that a person may be interested in learning how to build homemade solar panels. Tapping the sun for power is becoming more popular and used by a growing number of people. With high energy costs and having to struggle to pay one’s monthly utility bill, the motivation is definitely there to come up with alternative sources of energy. Solar panels can be used to fuel one’s home just like oil. You’ll be able to run your appliances and use the various pieces of equipment that you always have. However, even with all the benefits of a renewable energy system, it can still be very expensive to have it installed by professionals and the equipment themselves can be very costly. To purchase a large panel, you should be prepared to spend a few thousand dollars. If you want to get your whole entire roof paneled, you will end up paying a pretty penny. Fortunately, it is possible to a build your own DIY solar panels. You just might be surprised. It is much easier than it sounds. You will need a few tools and materials including plywood, strong glass, solar cells and a good, step-by-step guide. This will require that you set aside an adequate amount of time and find a well repudiated and well written “how to build homemade solar panel” guide. You won’t want to waste your valuable time and money using a system that’s either too difficult for you or that is not easy to follow …

FIGHT HIGH HEATING OIL prices and allow to save money for other things like paying your mortgage or refinancing your home. Hope this helps:-) Note: Look T THE VIDEO RESPONSES THEY ARE VERY GOOD! This is a prototype easy to build rooftop forced air heater that produces 45 degree increases at a high CFM CFPM rate. This one is made out of cardboard. A real one can be made out of weather proof material COROPLAST. The name Coroplast applies to a wide range of extruded corrugated plastic sheet products based on polypropylene copolymers. The natural polymer is chemically inert and is generally considered non-toxic and safe for use in contact with food. The base resin meets FDA requirements as listed in Food Additive Regulation Title 21, Section 177.1520(c), Item 1.1, covering food contact uses. www.greenpowerscience.com

All upcoming buildings may soon be required to install solar heating panels once the Energy Regulatory Commission gazettes a new regulation. The commission has already forwarded to the Attorney -General the final draft of the regulation which will make it mandatory for all premises whose consumption of heated water exceeds 100 litres to install solar panels. Developers have however raised concern that the regulation was likely to push up the cost of properties, but ERC Director – General Kaburu Mwirichia says benefits will far outweigh resultant losses. Wanjiru Gaitho reports.

*** NEW *** Arduino code available at : code.google.com A short video of my garden and operation of the DIY solar water heater for the hot tub. About two years ago I bought a Lay-Z-spa portable hot tub. The only problem is, its has no insulation and can be expensive to run. Luckily I have a south facing garden which is quite a suntrap. Over the winter I built a solar hot water collector from 125 metres of thin walled black UV stable PVC irrigation pipe. I used tanalised timber for the frame and glazed it with UV stable corrugated clear PVC. The controller is an Arduino Duemilanove running two LM335Z temperature sensors and the pump is an old Grundfos Selectric central heating pump controlled by a 5v relay. The custom software provides both freeze and overheat protection. Thanks to Neil from reuk.co.uk for his advice and input. *** Update 09/11/2011 *** Well, we are at the end of the summer here in the UK.(Such as it was) I only designed it to run from Early April to early September and I’ve been doing some rough calculations to work out my electricity saving. Feel free to check my maths. The pump has ran for ~400 hours. It only pumps when the temperature in the coil is 4 degress higher than that of the pool and it pumps 3 litres a minute. So: 60 minutes x 3 litres x 400 hours means over the summer its heated 72000 litres of water If it take 4180 joules of energy to heat 1 litre of water by one degree it takes 16720 joules to heat it by 4 degrees. 16720 joules x 72000 …

MTD Solar Heating is a low cost method of harvesting the sun’s heat energy. It was designed for do it yourselfers.

Zero Energy Design® abundant, clean, free-fuel, passive solar energy can easily eliminate the need to burn expensive dirty fossil fuels to heat air and water in most populated locations. The lowest-cost way to get started is Passive Solar Design – All it needs is well-designed, properly-oriented glass. Two our our key Zero Energy Design® concepts are: (1) Isolated Solar Gain in a greenhouse / solarium, and (2) Our unique Thermal Buffer Zone, which uses free natural convection air flow to move warm air from the sunny greenhouse to the cold opposite side of the building. By Larry Hartweg ZEDmaster@ZeroEnergyDesign.com See more details on our ZeroEnergyDesign and PassiveSolarInfo websites.

This is a video of the Passive Solar Heating System in use at www.envirosponsible.com in Whitby, Ontario, Canada. It provides a great deal of heat, and the installer, Chris, will be making it more effecient by adding a second computer fan to push the warm air at the top, painting the inside better and taping the duct work. Also, the duct work will be directed into the office where the door can be closed and used in a smaller air mass. This kind of heater is ideal for urban survival and bugging in, since it requires no power input and is cheap and easy to make. It’s not just for strawbale, cob, cabins, cottages, earth ships or businesses. They can be installed on a home, and they look great when done right. Ragnar Benson would be proud. Visit our site at envirosponsible.com or call us at 905-666-2002.

SolarBeam is installed a the government building in Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada to provide solar hot water for the facilities heating system. When the sun is shining, the SolarBeam provides free solar hot water from morning to evening because it can track the sun throughout the day. There is no issue with snow collecting on the SolarBeam because when the system starts tracking the snow starts sliding off. The snow shown on the SolarBeam right now used to be almost a foot deep in the morning. The SolarBeam’s parabolic dish has a black backing, so as the sun reflects on its surface, it gets heated and slides off. The system provides an average of 10kW of thermal heat per hour. The SolarBeam is sold through distributors around the world and can be used in any application that uses hot water. For example: fire stations, schools, hospitals, beverage companies, pharmaceutical companies, wineries, government buildings etc. The SolarBeam can be installed in the ground or on a concrete flat roof. The SolarBeam ‘s parabolic dish is 15 feet wide and the post is 8 feet tall. It uses anodized aluminum as its reflective material, not glass. This makes it very safe to use in residential and commercial applications. For more information about the SolarBeam, check out the website at: www.solartronenergy.com