Reused cans, solar "heat pump" (sort of)
 

Interesting video. He describes a lot of his materials, naming things fairly specifically.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRZvAAqzXIw

Very cool! The washing process, would that be the same for recycling aluminum? It sounds like a great deal of work...

LOVE It
 

Good stuff. I wonder if those new 22 oz cans will work better/worse??
or budweiser aluminum bottles??

He never once mentions the "co$t" of the fan used to circulate (blow) the air through all those cans, nor the size/cfm-capacity needed of that fan.

Does anybody have rough estimates of how many watts equivalent heating each m^2 of absorbed sunlight has?

I always open the curtains on the southern windows of the house, and when the sun is shining, it makes an enormous difference. Unfortunately, the cold days in the NW are also the cloudy ones.

I recall the number:

• 10-Year Average Insolation 5.38 kWh/m^2/day for Phoenix, AZ (high = 7.70 in Jun; low = 2.75 in Dec) [source: NASA - Surface meterology and Solar Energy Data Set].

• ~ 1000 W/m^2 at earth surface, but on diurnal cycle.

Based on that, I'd give a rough estimate of 300 watts of heating power per m^2 when the sun is shining brightly, in the winter, in AZ.

I was initially excited, but I don't think there is much application in the NW. If I were in Phoenix, I'd consider it a crime to burn anything or use more than a modest amount of electricity to heat the home.

I do not run the heater. :)

I also consider it a crime any time I see a solar panel in Oregon. It would be better to install that panel in AZ and have the landowner send a check every month to the person that owns it. Besides, Oregon electricity is extremely clean and renewable.

I saw plenty of solar panels in Germany. Some barracks had them on the roofs or we drove past fields of them off-post.

The Phoenix VA has solar panel parking. I thought that it was genius and have long thought that all parking lots should have that. It would be expensive, but it would then provide shade and electricity.

They are also putting them up here at Arizona State over the walkways and some parking lots, which I imagine everyone appreciates now that it is "cold."