Renewable Energy Is The Future

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by freebeard

The rocket stove takes off!

Smallest one burns a ton an hour? Way bigger than anything I have a use for.

... and I took exception to "an accelerant such as diesel fuel is used to ignite the wood waste, just as you would start a campfire or open burn pile."

I never use accelerants. I use lichten or twigs.

... I was contemplating how smokey the last campfire was though. Not unusually smokey, but getting a clean burn is really what you want. Perhaps that's why my favorite part of a campfire is when it's reduced to charcoal.

[freebeard]

That's too high-tech? Here's the other end of the scale:

DIY Scotch Eyed Auger Adapter

Still a rocket stove.

[Piotrsko]

ANYTHING you use to start a fire, by defination, has to be an accelerant. Have not experienced a campfire spontaneously start itself, but I am still hoping

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

A $200 genset gives you backup in case of grid outage

Finding one that cheap here is the issue...

My retirement dream is a house on the river, with micro hydro electricity generation from a spring that feeds into the river.

Even a repurposed alternator out of a truck might generate enough power for most of the appliances someone would need at home, considering either some that can be directly powered by a 12-volt battery (which in this case would act more like a voltage regulator than as a no-break, unless you were doing some maintenance to the micro grid requiring the generator to be shut off for a while) or in a more conventional household voltage through an inverter.

[Piotrsko]

Anymore 'Muricans need to generate about a Kw to get through the day as a minimum. so your alternator needs to produce probably around a hundred amps continuously. Not really practical for an automotive part.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

Anymore 'Muricans need to generate about a Kw to get through the day as a minimum. so your alternator needs to produce probably around a hundred amps continuously. Not really practical for an automotive part.

That's almost precisely what we use; about 1 kW on average. Baseload is about 0.3 kW, and loads increase from there.

Adding an EV probably increases consumption another 3,300 kWh per year or about another 0.4 kW.

I'd really need to be generating about 1.5 kW on average, possibly more since I would go full electric everything (heating/cooling). The stream would probably need to be at least 2 kW of energy to factor in losses.

Basically need a 2 horsepower generator to run continuously.

...just looked this up for fun. Apparently typical efficiency is usually between 0.7 and 0.9. I assumed 0.8.

I need 100 gallons per minute and 50ft of head height to supply my 2.5 kW of water energy that outputs 2 kW of power at 80% efficiency. At $0.10 per kWh, that would deliver $1,750 (about $150/mo) of electricity.

Double the flow, and you need half the height, or double the height, and you need half the flow, etc.

https://greener4life.com/Hydroelectric-Power-Calculator

Seems doable. I've seen several springs feeding into the North Santiam River that I assume easily have these specs.

[oil pan 4]

My leaf uses 300 to 400 kwh per month.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

My leaf uses 300 to 400 kwh per month.

My wife works 1.5 miles away, and I work from home.

[Piotrsko]

Odd junk I am aware of: a 1 cubic yard bucket on a frontloader has about 1 ton of water capacity so at lift it has 6 foot/tons of energy. Seems like enough to run some sort of generator for perhaps a couple of minutes.

There was a demonstration smashing flat a foriegn sedan on PBS WEATHER by dropping that water on that car.

How does one size an overshot waterwheel for horespower?

[freebeard]

They prolly know here: Fieldlines.com: The Otherpower discussion board