Work
Country people know how to work. They dig in and do the job until it's done. This spirit of work is most evident at this year's energy fairs. RE folks have moved heaven and earth to make these fairs celebrations of joy and hope. After the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair ended, Karen and I talked with the tired but still smiling MREF crew. Dozens of the finest folks gave months and weeks of their lives for a single weekend's event. They worked hard not for money, but for our future. These folks...
Just say Yes to sunshine
Living with renewable energies means graciously accepting what Nature offers. Colin McCoy and Christine Reising do just that. Their Oregon mountain home is heated and powered by the Sun. This owner designed amp built, earthbermed building uses only energy resources found on site. Colin and Christine have made a home that is warm, sustainable, independent, and inexpensive. They accomplished this for themselves by accepting the plentiful renewable, natural resources that surround them. Colin and...
Info Lqd
neighborliness that is common today and, all too often, unsatisfying. And yet on another level there was even a spiritual aspect to it, a strong desire to live in harmony with nature. As Hunter Black put it, I think it was more from a spiritual yearning to reflect the divine than a practical understanding of what we were getting into that led to the creation of this solar system. There was, and still is, a lot of risk in creating a system like this. We don't know how much mechanical trouble we...
The Spark
The sun's power shines on us all. The understanding of this power is transmitted from person to person as a spark. I have felt this spark jump between the eyes of solar-powered people. Thousands of sparks massed together at the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair on this summer's solstice for a solar-powered explosion. The knowledge and understanding shared was incredible. Above sixteen 63 Watt PV modules on a Wattsun tracker. This array was part of a 120 Volt DC ac system. Behind the array is Lake...
Thermosyphon Heat Exchanger
Prior to the advent of thermosyphoning heat exchangers, designers had two choices when installing a closed-loop solar hot water system. One they could use a storage tank with an internal or jacketed heat exchanger, or two they could use an external tube-in-shell heat exchanger with a pump. Solution one seemed like the best way, but it posed two problems. Heat exchanger equipped tanks were very expensive and when tank replacement became necessary, the heat exchanger went too. Secondly, because...
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HELIOTROPE INVERTERS amp CONTROLLERS SPECIALTY CONCEPTS CONTROLLERS DEALER INQUIRIES WELCOME Wm. Lamb Corp. P.O. Box 4185, North Hollywood, CA 91607 U.S.A. 10615 Chandler Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91601 U.S.A. 818 980-6248 FAX 818 980-0856 Above The Ananda Electric crew in front of the system's PV array. Back row, left to right Jim Agee, Jack Knowles, Jeffrey Philpott, and Rodger Hall. Front row, left to right Pam Jung, Bob Ramsaur, and Suzanne Betts. Central Solar System Serves Four Homes...