Minimising Costs with Ultra-efficient Technologies.
The development of new, ultra efficient technologies is revolutionising the way that we use energy.
The trend towards portable, lightweight, battery powered mobile devices has finally forced
manufacturers to class efficiency as a high priority.
Any well designed solar & wind energy system uses ultra-efficient appliances, especially selected
for
their ultra-low power draw.
Although some of these new devices are potentially expensive, the financial savings on the cost of the
solar & wind power system often amount to many times more than the extra investment cost.
Passive Solar Buildings.
It didn't take long for early cave dwellers to figure out the advantages of a cave entrance that faced
the sun. They also used the earth as an insulating medium.
Ironically, today we have a world full of highly trained & highly paid architects, many of whom
don't
seemed to have learned from the experience of our ancestors.
The natural energy aspects of a building are called 'passive solar' properties. Passive solar design
makes a massive difference to the power consumption and environmental impact of any building.
If you want to learn about passive solar design, an excellent example is the Rocky Mountain Institute
(RMI) building. When you read about it, remember that this building is now over 20 years old.
Water Heating.
Most solar & wind powered buildings use solar water heating panels in the summer months to help
provide hot water. It is rarely viable to heat water from solar electric (pv) panels.
It is sometimes possible to use spare capacity on larger wind turbines to 'dump' excess energy into
a
hot water tank. Interesting results have been had with compost water heating systems and on a
larger scale anaerobic digestion collects naturally occuring methane.
In mid-winter, water can be heated by gas or a modern solid fuel burner, such as a high efficiency
pellet/wood chip boiler which are increasingly popular in Scandinavian countries.
DC & AC Systems.
Energy is stored in the batteries of a stand-alone system as DC power. In order to convert it to mains
or AC power, like you find from a normal wall socket - it needs to run through an inverter.
Inverters are a great solution for running occasional AC loads, however due to their own internal
power losses, we do not recommend that they are used for devices which have longer running times.
Take lighting for example - it can be used 24hrs per day, and so to have a large inverter sitting on
standby, just in case, will use lots of precious power. The same is also true for audio and
refrigeration equipment.
In most solar & wind power systems 12v or 24v DC lighting is used, unless the building or cable
distances are particularly large.
Next... Sizing the power system >
