<DrumBeat: June 18, 2007The Oil DrumLies, damned lies and BP statistics>

89 comments on Some Notes on The Midwest Renewable Energy Fair, Solar Ovens, And Small Wind

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AlanfromBigEasy on June 18, 2007 - 12:12am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

The best microhydro designs in the world (IMO) are at

http://www.mhylab.ch

If you would like help in figuring out what to do, let me know.

Best Hopes for more MicroHydro,

Alan

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MicroHydro on June 18, 2007 - 1:31am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Indeed. For those lucky enough to have land with a year round stream with the required flow and drop, MicroHydro is the gold standard for personal electricity generation. Low cost, low tech, and no batteries needed. For downunder:

http://www.platypuspower.com.au/

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wimbi on June 18, 2007 - 6:09pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Right. So here's my plan. Replace that hard to find hill and stream with a very simple stirling pump driven by biomass/solar. The rest of the microhydro is the same, you now have a biomass hill rather than a dirt/rock one. Your biomass/solar hill can be anywhere.

So, now you have it all. Except a really big hole in the ground which you use for hydo energy storage if you care to do a little digging.

BTW, a thermal machine designed to do nothing but pump water can be very very cheap compared to one made to do harder things like generate electricity.

The world is saved. I can now go down to New Orleans and happily eat myself to death as the gods fated me to do from the beginning.

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AlanfromBigEasy on June 18, 2007 - 9:03pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

http://www.arnaudsrestaurant.com/menu.html

http://www.nomenu.com/

Note the $38 dinner at the bottom, drink, tax and tip included in these. And the "Top Sixty" Ethnic restaurants (in a city of 250,000) This is the website of our "Talk Radio" food guy. #1 talk show in New Orleans, 2 to 5 PM weekdays,

http://www.neworleans.com/New_Orleans_Restaurants/

Best Hopes for Fine Dining in New Orleans,

Alan

This reminds me ....

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eric blair on June 19, 2007 - 8:08am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

with a very simple stirling pump driven by biomass/solar.

And where are you buying this stirling engine?

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wimbi on June 19, 2007 - 3:15pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Hey Eric. By now I would have thought that everybody knows that I MAKE stirling engines. I don't buy them. The ones I want ain't for sale. Have to whittle 'em out with a pocket knife on the back porch.

This one looks like and actually is a piece of pipe. Inside are the usual parts. They rattle around when the thing is heated. You use the rattling pipe to pump water.

A very old idea. Very simple. Very cheap.

And why aren't they being made and sold? Damned if I know. Especially when really crappy and really expensive stirlings are being funded by VC's, apparently the ones with way more bucks than brains.

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eric blair on June 21, 2007 - 6:47am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Hey Eric. By now I would have thought that everybody knows that I MAKE stirling engines.

And many of us lack access to machine tools or even the knowledge of how a cutting tool can work harden metal, how toi hand sharpen a cutting tool, how to work a cutting path, et la.

And why aren't they being made and sold? Damned if I know.

The nitrogen charged, made from pressed sheet metal, 1 hp unit was claimed to exist by http://www.omachron.com back in the last century.

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