Yes this is ME.

I had this blog account flagged as a possible spam account. This is not a spam account, this is where I am gathering together and report on information that I find in alternate means to generate and utilize energy.

Our modern society thrives on energy. In the past, say two hundred years ago, society used little energy means. We lighted our homes with oils derived from animal and plant sources. We heated our homes with wood, charcoal or coal. We had no air conditioning and instead designed our homes to make use of natural ventilation.

We had no refrigeration, instead we cut ice made by the natural process of pond and lake water freezing in the winter. We harvested this natural product, stored it in ice houses lined with straw for insulation, then delivered and sold it to consumers during the warmer months. Pioneers also used root cellars, dug down below the frost line, to store roots and other produce that would keep in a cool place. They also used a evaporative cooling technique by building cooling houses over a flowing stream or river. They covered it with a coarse cloth, like burlap and channeled water to flow down over this cloth. The water evaporating from this cloth caused the air inside the house to cool.

They also salted and smoked meats to preserve them. Many products were pickled in brine for preservation.

Today we rely on energy to do what we did in the past by other means.

Horses no longer are our main means of transportation, we rely on fuel energized vehicles to get us from place to place and transport our products from manufacturing plants to consumers.

Energy is one of our prime businesses. The production and consuming of energy is probably the most important business in the world today. Without inexpensive energy, our world would collapse. Businesses would be forced to close. Transportation would grind to a halt. The first world buys the highest percent of the world's production of energy. The third world is striving to raise their energy levels.

Alternate energy sources will free us from the old traditional corporations that control the cost of today's energy. Many of these mega-corporations are seeing the "green" light and getting in on the move to alternate energy. They see that as a home goes solar or wind for a large share of their energy production, that their energy production will be less and less needed.

If every home in America had solar cells, photovoltaic systems installed on their roofs, along with solar water heating and solar air conditioning. If every home had a full electric vehicle plugged in at home recharging its batteries from this solar/wind electric production. The need for a centralized electric production would drop dramatically.

Consider that during the day, an average home roof, can generate more electricity than it consumes. With a large enough battery system, that same home can operate normally, with no draw from the electric grid system. This means that the need for centralized power generation drops to zero for this home. This means that the electric utility, does not have a consumer for its product and it can't collect its money from that home for that month. It means that the fuel producer that the electric utility uses, does not have the sale for that month.

Continue on back the line of energy distribution and we see that a whole industry would be out of a major source of business and income, and would have to transition themselves into some other business model to survive.

But this also means that the energy production business can supply more customers without building more infrastructure. In the real world, not every home or business will install home based solar electric systems. Many will not see the need for the expense or additional complexity to be added to their home.

But some of us are pioneers in this area, and will push on to find a better system of energy production. Better for the economy, better for the environment, better for our society.

Solar Oven

There is another way to get off the grid, even if only for some cooking needs. You can build a solar oven. They are easy to build and easy to use. Cardboard, aluminum foil, some glue, tape, staples and you are ready to cook.

Here is a link to a page dedicated to solar oven plans. There are some foldable solar ovens that can be purchased. But why take away the fun of constructing your own. A great learning project for the kids, great home school science project, and home "green" economics.

Alternate Energy Solutions

In reading all the discussion on how to get the USA onto a green energy economy, there is alot of talk about large scale electrical plants from wind farms to solar plants. One of the issues that arises from these types of developments are the need for additional grid infrastructure to carry the produced electricity to the end users.

Perkin's Plan calls for large scale wind farms down the middle of America over the plans to capture the almost constant wind there and convert it to electricity. The problem is the expense of adding grid infrastructure to carry this "free" energy source.

Though these large scale plants over some needed escape from the oil economy, it is still expensive.

To me the best solution is local small scale electrical generation. Solar water heating, photovoltaics, and wind generators installed on residences, commercial and industrial buildings would put the power generation right at the point of use relieving the need for added grid being built.

HHO Games and Expo

One of the alternate energy technologies I've been studying is the electrolyzing of water into hydrogen and oxygen. The normal method uses a cathode and anode in water or an electrolytic solution (acidic or alkaline) with a divider between the two elements and separate hoses to collect the hydrogen and oxygen in separate compression tanks.

This is being pursued as a fuel for our nation's fleets of cars and trucks. There is research being done now to develop more efficient electrolyzing methods to produce hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles.

One method of utilyzing hydrogen is being pursued by researchers, both professional and amatuer. The electrolyzing of water into its component HHO gasses (Hydrogen and Oxygen) without the separation, and using this gas to fuel or augment the fuel in an internal combustion engine.

Many researchers are working on designs that fit in the engine compartment of a vehicle and produce HHO at enough volume to supply HHO to the engine while in operation, rather than producing the HHO and storing it in tanks to be drawn from as needed.

Doing a google search on HHO finds many devices that claim to perform. Be ware of those, as there are many scams out there for these products. But there are some devices that do perform. This is not some easy box to mount, wire and plumb into any engine system. There are matters of adjusting the oxygen sensor circuit, to allow for the differences in oxygen in the system and get a proper leaning of the gasoline or deisel fuels.

This Veteran's day there will be an Expo for those who are doing this work in HHO production for vehicles in Palmetto, Florida at the Manatee County Fairgrounds. The HHO Games and Expo promises to be one of the first of its kind. With many demonstrators there and investors looking for the next great HHO device.

This looks like an exciting event for alternate energy.

EV Three Wheeler Deisgn

R Q Riley has the designs for making your own three wheel vehicle which you can choose the power plant. These designs were show cased in Popular Mechanics in the 70's and 80's. The Tri-magnum is one of these designs. Cost runs $3500 plus motorcycle used as the base. Power plant is extra cost, unless you use the motorcycle motor.

The XR-3 is one of their newer models.

EV, Electric Vehicle

Along with all my others considerations in the renewable energy is running vehicles on electric.

Recharging electric vehicles, EV from renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics and wind generators makes this a truly green fuel. The efficiency of full electric car runs about 80% verses less than 30% for a liquid fuel operated car. Running on biofuels would be a first step to renewable fuels, and would be a good idea for long range vehicles.

Most of our driving is short range, commutes to work, and shopping. These short range trips can best be served by full EVs. Hybrids are a compromise that allows people to stay on the gasoline economy, but they are still at best 30% efficient at using their fuel.

Advancements in batteries already have a car reaching over the 100 mile per charge range. With lead acid batteries the range is close to 40 miles, which covers the average trip from home for most Americans.

In considering operating a vehicle on electric only, I have considered converting an existing gas operated vehicle to electric. Such a conversion can cost $20,000 as long as you supply your own labor, up to $40,000 to have someone else do the work for you.

The best ideas I've come across start from the pavement up, and redesign the car to be electric from the start. First is to design only the car you need. If your main use is only as a commuter vehicle, a one or two seater may be all you need. As such a much lighter vehicle can be designed. A three wheel design, allows light weight, with a full enclosure for all weather use. A single wheel motor can be used, and design considerations are then to handle the battery weight and size needed to attain an acceptable range.

Speed is the another consideration. There are many electric vehicles hitting the market that are in the NEV, or Neighborhood Electric Vehicle range. This range is limited to 30 mph roads, and are little more than built up golf carts.

A three wheel vehicle can be designed to have highway speeds and a range of 40 miles.

Here is a You Tube presentation of wheel motors. These have been in development since 1890. When gasoline internal combustion engines won out over electric, this development was placed on hold. The recent resurgence interest in EVs has brought this development back into play.

I consider this to be the best solution as you get rid of the loses of power in a standard drive train. Wikipedia article on wheel motors.

Absorption Chillers

Absorption chillers are one way to use solar to cool your home or provide refrigeration needs.

One company I found producing systems that work in this way is Yazaki Energy Systems , in Plano, Texas. This system is available from Solarsa located in Tampa.

Here is a You Tube video about absorption solar air conditioning. This is the information for the Debs Park Adubon Center featured in the video.