View Full Version : Renewable Energy Solutions for homes
LuckyLuke
20-12-2010, 22:08
Hi.
I want do some research on green energy solutions for homes. Does anyone know of companies that offers such a service or product line.
From wind turbines, solar panels to pure sine wave inverters and battery packs.
I am thinking of starting small and building on so that hopefully I can get off the eskom power grid.
Any information will be appreciated. Thanks
http://www.kestrelwind.co.za , http://www.gwstore.co.za , http://www.sustainable.co.za
go www.google.cn
then enter solar water heaters. You will surprised at their prices. The goods is almost cheaper than the transport around $850 will get you low pressure water heater
after you have solar water then think about the rest. Remember any battery has a limited life span. so charging batteries for lights at night is expensive in the long term
LuckyLuke
13-01-2011, 22:33
@ Wireice. Thanks for the links.
@ herbs. I definitely see your point about first putting up a solar water heater.
My neighbour has just put up a 500W wind turbine and a solar water heater. For now he is only powering the lights. He is hoping to get a 30 - 40% saving on a R800 eskom bill. I will keep in touch with him and see how it performs.
He got his stuff from www.windwattsturbines.com
faulty_it
16-01-2011, 13:42
@ Lucky Luke there's this thing called magni work , Looks like the online comunity is a bit devided but it might be worth a look?
LuckyLuke
18-01-2011, 07:41
@Faulty_it. Hey. I went magniwork.com. That video I have seen before. I was interesting but I could not find much info on it. At the time I was building my Water Fuel Cell. I was also experimenting with High voltage spark plugs to burn water. I was also tempted to build a perendev motor, but those neo magnets were too expensive. I got/had a load of documents and vids of free energy devices. None of them as simple. Even my water fuel cell never showed results. Do also have an interest in zero point energy?
drakcore
18-01-2011, 14:57
Dont go "magniwork.com"/"and other names" you are just wasting your time with that scam bomb, even making your own earth battery is more productive.
Start on ("http://www.rexresearch.com/1index.htm", "http://peswiki.com/index.php/Main_Page", "http://www.overunity.com/", "http://www.zpenergy.com/", "http://www.energeticforum.com/").
Those websites will point you in the right direction.
faulty_it
18-01-2011, 15:15
Going green sounds awesume, I doubt I'll find the time this year but Sounds like you could save some cash if you installed solar power etc. I'm aware of the start up costs but in the long run you'd save some good moola.
@ magniwork subject
agreed scam. If some1 disagrees who has a working example like to see it.
@energy
We should still try to figure out how to store and use a lightning bolt.
drakcore
18-01-2011, 15:26
If you are interested in solar panels, wait a few years as there has been major breakthroughs which have increased their efficiency by several factors which still needs to reach the public.
ALways remember the GOLDEN RULE....it Takes Energy to Greate Energy....SUN,WIND,WATER,FUEL is samples of Energy.
And then there is the Power Factor also 1.0=Not Possible 0.9=exelent 0.7=Good 0.3=Bad ... 1KW-input x 0.7 = 700W output
LuckyLuke
18-01-2011, 16:43
@ drakcore. Ive been to most of those sites. I did my Btech thesis on the Water Fuel Cell.
If you interested, check, http://www.panaceauniversity.org/courses.htm
@ stolla. I think you mean Energy can't be created or destroyed, but only transferred. Still, reading up on some of those projects GEET Generater, Water Fuel Cell, Water Spark Plug, Perendev Motor, Bedini School Girl Circuit, you begin to think that Newtons Law might be flawed and that you can "create" more energy than what you put in.
You can find info on all those from the link above as well as the links drakcore mentioned.
Another good site is http://jnaudin.free.fr/ and a very interesting project is with the lifters. Google it. With high voltage people are have to make these lifters lift off the ground. They just need to be able to control it now. Then technically we could be flighing soon in a lifter. And little energy is needed, as it used High voltage and little to no current. I think its uses ion thrust. Not a new science, but still interesting.
If you are interested in solar panels, wait a few years as there has been major breakthroughs which have increased their efficiency by several factors which still needs to reach the public.
If it's CIGS you're referring to, I agree. Apart from their improved efficiency over silicon based cells, they're expected to cost much less than existing tech too. Sasol are apparently building a manufacture plant in Parow for a 2012 launch.
http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/sa-thin-film-solar-plant-may-be-operating-within-two-and-a-half-years-2009-11-20
LuckyLuke
18-01-2011, 16:51
are you referring to solar/photo voltaic panel (not solar/UV geyser panel)
I heard that the big oil companies also govern the price of solar panels. So I'm not sure how much cheaper it would be.
are you referring to solar/photo voltaic panel (not solar/UV geyser panel)
Me? Yup, CIGS are photovoltaics.
I heard that the big oil companies also govern the price of solar panels. So I'm not sure how much cheaper it would be.
I suspect you're right, although CIGS are a new tech, the patents of which are owned by a competing firm I think. Developed by a Pretoria boy, funded (and owned) by a German corporation...
That and the manufacturing process is known to be less costly.
LuckyLuke
18-01-2011, 17:33
Thats good news. Ill give it another year then. Ill first save up for a solar geysers. In the meantime Ill monitor photo voltaic panel prices.
faulty_it
21-01-2011, 12:37
If you let energy run down a pathway and you split the stream does it split 50/50?
Overseas, RETAIL prices of solar panels have dropped as low as $1.76/Watt (R12.30) and even $0.98/Watt (R6.87) in pallets:
http://www.sunelec.com/
Why on earth are we still being charged around R30/Watt? Cheapest I can find is R24/Watt - that's nearly four times the above RETAIL pallet price in the US! Four times! We should all start asking hard questions of these distributors, they are ripping us off ... there is little point going solar in SA at these prices, the system will never pay for itself. And remember, that's RETAIL - our distributors get panels much cheaper than the retail price.
LuckyLuke
20-03-2011, 10:33
at those prices. we could import ourselves and undercut our competition in SA.
The problem is always the transport, insurance and import tax. Try requesting a quote from the supplier including all of these. The price is usually good if you have the cash to take a complete container load.
The problem is always the transport, insurance and import tax. Try requesting a quote from the supplier including all of these. The price is usually good if you have the cash to take a complete container load.
Those are the things the local suppliers blame, but that clearly doesn't make up the full story - shipping a car doesn't double the price of the car. Shipping most things doesn't double the price. Also it doesn't explain why prices have stayed level in SA since 2009 in spite of a better Rand, worse dollar, and much lower product costs from suppliers .. either they were making losses in 2009 or margins have gone up.
And much of the stuff is shipped from manufacturing bases in Asia, not necessarily the country you're remitting to; the US also pays similarly high shipping, in fact they're on the opposite side of the planet to Asia.
It may be partly that our local distributors are too small to negotiate better prices, and/or aren't interested in doing so. If a big local retailer imported a lot of panels they could probably bargain better prices.
I suspect another problem is that local subsidies may be distorting the demand side toward major MW-scale projects.
I think I should publish the quotes I got on solar geysers. The cheapest is less that $100.
Where is a good place to publish a PDF document. Can I attach a PDF to this post ?
LuckyLuke
21-03-2011, 10:12
looks like you can attach a file. just click advanced when replying and you will see the add attachment paper clip. I think that should work.
importing could be easy. selling them on the other hand will be difficult, unless you can offer the service to install too.
I'm sure there are wuggers interested in cheap solar bits and don't need/want installation services? I'm definitely keen on Photovoltaics!
I would only use solar to suplement my power needs during the day, or if I have loads of money, to generate some back to the grid.
To store all this energy in batteries is a very BIG expence. Untill there is a better way to store energy, leave the batteries.
Gas is great for cooking, water heating and general heating.
Use gas to supplement you solar water heaters.
drakcore
23-03-2011, 17:21
Instead of using batteries as the storage medium use hydrogen or even air.
*Produce hydrogen during the day with the solar cells and store the gas in large tanks which can be used latter with a generator.
*Air can be used as a storage medium as well which can power a engine that runs on air.
Thing with batteries is that they are expensive and they need to be replaced over time.
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