Open Designs For Alternative Power Sources?

aristoidaneel asks: "I'm currently working on several ideas for alternate power supplies (solar, fuel cell, wind, etc.) and I was noticing the daunting cost for simple information ($300 for the Handbook of Hybrid Power Design) not to mention the cost of materials. I would like to begin collecting and posting information under an open license of some sort for alternate energy sources, including new technologies and research as well as tried-and-true methods. I would like to see what others think of this idea."

home power

[Anonymous Coward]

Home power is a mag at almost every barnes and noble book store.. its like $7.50... but it does have a -lot- of info in it. The magazine is completely about alternative power/fuel sources, with regular articles on commercial and DIY fuel cell/photovotalic/hydro/wind/etc power sources. I think it'll costs like $50 or something for a cdrom with all their back issues.

Re:home power URL

[Tumbleweed]

http://www.homepower.com/ [homepower.com]

This is a great mag - nice to see others out there know of it...

Open Plant

[HRB]

An OpenSource PowerSource ? Yes sounds cool...

What about an Open nuclear power plant ? It just needs a handful of physics undergrads and a a few programmers to build such a thing.

I am looking forward to see mails like this in the developper mailinglist:

"... I just updated the control-rod driver ... the power control works fine again, but the emergency shutdown is broken "

I

Re:Open Plant

[SEWilco]

"Say, Harry, how do you know the emergency shutdown is broken?"

More links

[SEWilco]

• Cor van de Water Renewable Energy [freeyellow.com]
• Tomi Engdahl's Power Supply Page [fatti.com]
• Open Directory Power Electronics [dmoz.org]

Great Idea..

[Xunker]

I think it's an idea whose time as come.. especially for those of us who live in places where the cost of 'juice' is rising.

I've lately become a big fan of flywheels; use solar power to 'charge them up' in the day, and they can deliver power at night. Yahoo! has a big section on them [yahoo.com], and there are other resources, though I can't think of any right now.

Re:Great Idea..

[sporktoast]

Is that the same section of Yahoo that has the link to a company who sells informational tapes on Free Energy [fuellesspower.com], Gravity Engines [fuellesspower.com], DC to DC converters with no amperage loss! [fuellesspower.com], Fuelless Engines [fuellesspower.com] and Fuel from Water [fuellesspower.com]?

Not that flywheels are crank science like the above... But they do put on a spectacular show when they fail! All that radial inertia suddenly free to go off in the straight line it's always dreamt about.

Microbial fuel cells?

[Dr.Dubious DDQ]

If there ever was an easily-renewable thing, it's microbes. It seems to me there was a mention relatively recently on Slashdot about "Gastrobots" [usf.edu], as a small-scale example.

The idea of turning septic tanks into generators appeals to me. This sort of thing might also someday make an adjunct to methane-burning power plants in landfills.

Personally, I'd love to find a way to make the medium that the microbes grow in safe to drink - imagine, brew your own beer AND generate your own power at the same time! (This fuel cell [reading.ac.uk] runs on yeast...)

Some other random links:
here [automation.hut.fi]
and here [k12.in.us]
---
"They have strategic air commands, nuclear submarines, and John Wayne. We have this"

What about your public library?

[tallpaul]

Can you get that book (or others) at your public library? Sure, you might have to wait a week or two, but it usually can be done. If you're a college student, frequently college libraries are linked on a national level (while public libraries are usually linked locally) and you can order books from almost anywhere.

Information wants to be free.... or.. something.

Funky source for alternative power...

[cr0sh]

You want a real funky source?

Check out "The Survivor" series, published by Kurt Saxon and Atlan Formularies [kurtsaxon.com]...

This series is filled with a lot of great home power tips and techniques (in addition to a TON of other survival stuff). Many are quite dated, but there are a few articles that you just can't find anywhere else (one was about a plan to "harvest" water from the Sahara using ultra-large concrete condensation systems, bee-hive shaped - never came to fruition - makes you wonder why). A plan was given for building various types of methane digester systems for the home (very complex things). One article details how to build your own solar cells. Various articles explore wind power in many forms.

If there ever was a series of books that are "must have", this is it. I only have one beef with the series: Kurt Saxon puts these little diatribes throughout the book - little anecdotal stories - some are off-putting in that they seem to be racist in character. As you read the stories more, you find that he isn't really racist - he simply hates shiftless bastards who won't get off their duff and do a little work!

That aside, the series is excellent for the amount of information you won't find anywhere else (the closest I ever came to it before was my back issues of Pop Sci and Pop Mech from the 1950's, as well as my Henley's Book of Formulas from the early 1900's)...

There is one other book I can reccommend - if I remember correctly, it is called "Sun Power" - I have it in paperback form. It dates from the early 1970's. What was kind of neat about it is that it detailed how to build a solar parabolic mirror system for cooking, using simple materials you would be able to find in the "bush", in more "modern" villages in Africa. Kinda geared for those going into the Peace Corps or something...

Worldcom [worldcom.com] - Generation Duh!

Design resources

[Tau Zero]

I'm not sure what you're trying to provide here. Which of the following do you want to give information on (making or purchasing):

• Solar PV cells.
• Solar PV panels.
• Solar PV charge controllers.
• Wind turbine airfoils.
• Wind turbine blades/rotors.
• Wind turbine controllers, including overspeed and overcharge shutdown systems.
• Battery systems.
• Energy management systems.
• DC distribution systems.
• AC distribution systems.
• Asynchronous inverters.
• Synchronous inverters.
• Synchronous inverter/chargers.
• Solar-thermal hot water systems.
• Solar-thermal space heat systems.
• Solar-thermal absorption air-conditioning systems.

That's just a list off the top of my head. It's not hard to see why a large handbook of design rules, designs and other resources would be worth $300 or more; it has a relatively small market (mostly other serious designers and dealers), takes a large effort to compile and check, and it gets obsoleted quickly with the products on the market. It's also not hard to see how someone with an interest in selling their wares could bend the results to be favorable to what they are peddling. On the other hand, a web site full of elementary information and lists of suppliers (and consumer experiences) appears more reasonable to manage as an open-source effort.
--
Knowledge is power
Power corrupts
Study hard

Free (as in Beer) Energy

[bakes]

Although they get bagged alot by conventional science, there are many people researching into free energy, some with some success. There is some information on the Adam's Pulsed Motor/Generator and other devices on Aethmogen [aethmogen.com]. There is also some information on Leading Edge Research [trufax.org] and many other places. Most of this research is patented, although they are often pretty open with designs and help on building the devices

bakes
--

Alternative Power for Home and Business

[Bon Homme Richard]

Let the money-gouging fossil-fuelled utilities jack up their profits. There is one alternative energy technology that is driving toward underpricing grid-connected utilities on a do-it-now turn-key basis.

That would be thin-film photovoltaic technology. The company I work for (sorry marketing, no free plugs) is currently making thin-film PV modules for all-up systems that include batteries and inverters for a cost per watt over 10 years only 3% higher than grid utilities. We presently have about a 40% world market share, with most sales to Europe developing countries. Funny thing is, we're basically an oil company. :|

These modules are also transluscent (read: skylight replacements)and strong enough for building-integrated use (like a solar-electric array that can also be a greenhouse or office facade).

Another benefit: you never need another UPS- the system is by design a battery backup. And best of all, when your generation exceeds use, you can SELL the surplus to your local utility.

Pretty cool, huh? Go solar!

The books aren't racist!!!

[cr0sh]

I sincerely doubt you have read any of the writings in the books, that are "separate" from the main information in the books (the books consist mainly of reprinted articles from other magazines, most out of print or impossible to get ahold of - I have a few of the articles in old Pop Sci and Pop Mech mags from the 50's - a few articles are actual informative - ie, non-diatribe - articles that Kurt Saxon wrote, such as info on self-defense, and distilling, among others). If you had, you would know that he isn't racist - he simply doesn't see the worth of lazy, shiftless people - in other words, people who would rather have someone else do it (preferably without cost to them), rather than getting off their butts and doing it themselves! This isn't a racist attitude (unless you make lazy people a "race")...

Those articles aside, the books are chock full of information that CANNOT be found anywhere else, unless you are a MAJOR collector of old science and mechanical magazines (like I said, I have a small collection of mags from the 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's - the information is tough to find).

What you advocate is akin to say, deleting all man/info pages simply because there are a few things said in them you don't like - or burning all books because some may contain ideas that you feel are wrong.

Sticking your head in the ground will never make a problem go away - you must confront it head on, learn from it - then move on, and carry the knowledge you learned with you...

Worldcom [worldcom.com] - Generation Duh!

Not "Sun Power"...

[cr0sh]

it is actually entitled "Direct Use of the Sun's Energy" by Farrington Daniels, published by Ballantine Books, in 1964 (I guess I was a tad off) - ISBN 0-345-25938-6, Library of Congress Card Number 64-20913.

Excellent book, all the same...

Worldcom [worldcom.com] - Generation Duh!