Reap the Wind – The World’s Fastest Growing Source of Electricity

When we think of windmills, we conjure up images of Holland, the western plains, medieval Spain and even ancient China. From ancient times to the present, windmills have been used to grind grain and pump water. By the 1890s, windmills were also being used to generate electricity in remote areas of Denmark.

Today, wind power is the world’s fastest growing source of electricity.

more…

Article source: Planetwatch.org

A Simple Solar Powered Backup System

The other morning I woke up, tried to turn on my radio and discovered I had no electricity. Hearing trucks I looked out the window to see the power company replacing a pole. 2 trucks, several workers and my black lab supervising.

“It sure would have been nice if they had said something I grumbled”. No coffee no shower (electric water pump as I live in the country) I wandered over to the computer and fired it up to check newsvine. Fortunately it’s a laptop and I use my cellphone as a modem so I was able to get on line. Unfortunately the battery in the laptop doesn’t last that long so I was soon without that link to the world which left me just my battery powered radio for my news fix. How primitive.

Several hours later I was connected to the grid again but I had also resolved to come up with a plan that would at least give me some sort of backup during a power outage. This one was a minor annoyance but I have been in outages lasting days or weeks so it seemed like a reasonable thing to do.

First I checked off the electric gadgets I would absolutely need or want during a longer power outage.
Cellphone – A means to recharge the battery. Like many Americans I don’t bother with a land line phone anymore.
Lights – At least one light capable of providing reading light and a second room light for cooking, etc.
Laptop – A source of power for my laptop computer.
Battery charger – A means to charge batteries for small stuff like radios, flashlights, etc.

Everything else is pretty much optional. I have propane for heating and cooking, The refrigerator/freezer is propane or electric so I can switch to propane no problem. I can easily store potable water. So now the big question, what to use for backup power?

The very first off the shelf solution I thought about was a gasoline powered generator. It would provide more than enough power but it has several drawbacks. It needs regular maintenance, it requires the storage of gasoline which tends to go bad over time, it’s noisy and an expensive solution for the small amount of power I actually need.

I wanted a quieter cheaper less troublesome option, so I decided to build a small backup power system using a deep discharge lead acid battery typically used for RV’s and a couple of solar panels. I would have to convert the 12 Volt DC power from the battery to 110 AC so I needed an inverter of some kind. Fortunately I already had the battery (it also powers the electric trolling motor on my fishing boat) and a small inverter that I use in my truck to power stuff when camping. So really I just needed the solar panel(s) and some hookup wire.

A quick trip to Harbor Freight netted me a couple of 5 watt panels that were on sale for a grand total of 80 bucks. Now 10 watts isn’t much and I could have gone for a 45 watt 3 panel package which retails for about $249.00 and added another battery for greater capacity and I may still do that but I figured 10 watts trickle charging a good sized battery would do the job for now. Speaking of batteries, if you put together a system like this, be sure to get yourself “deep discharge batteries” as they are made to give up more of their charge without damaging the battery. An ordinary car battery if repeatedly fully discharged will soon not hold a charge at all. Even deep discharge batteries should not be drained entirely. Also locate your batteries in an area where they will not freeze, sit directly on concrete or where the hydrogen gas that is generated when they are charged might be near something that could ignite them such as an electric motor.

The great thing about solar is that if you design a system with expansion in mind it is not that hard to add on. With more or larger panels you do need a charge controller which is a small black box gadget that keeps the panels from overcharging the batteries when they are full. These start at about 30 bucks and up depending on size. With more panels, storage capacity you could actually save money by taking an entire circuit and converting it to solar. Say a garage for instance.

A word of caution here. I am a tinkerer and have worked with electricity all my life so I have a good understanding of what works and what doesn’t, what is safe and what is not. If you don’t feel comfortable working with electricity, batteries or understand parallel vs series circuits, etc. consult a friend or professional who does have these skills. Even a small 12 volt system is capable of starting a fire. Always keep your household current separate from your backup power supply current.

Setting my system up was a piece of cake. I mounted the panels on a piece of plywood, angled them at about 45 degrees, aimed at the sun and secured firmly to the roof. Running the wires down to the battery, observing the correct polarity and hooking them up, they were soon working away pumping 15 volt direct current into the batteries. I ran a pair of wires from the battery into my kitchen where my laptop resides and I setup my inverter with a power strip so I could plug several things in at once. Plugged in a desk lamp to test and presto I was in business. Although it is a backup system I use it regularly both to save on the electric bill and to make sure it is functioning properly. No use letting free electricity go to waste.

Now happy in the knowledge that my connection to the internet is secure (as long as the cell tower stays online) I can think about other important stuff like making coffee without electricity. I read some where that they used to do that back in the old days.

.

Saving The Planet One Click At A Time

Now you can protect habitat, promote species diversity, plant trees, even reduce CO2 all without spending a dime.

Photo by Jef Poskanzer. (License Creative Commons Attribution)

When you click on a banner at EcologyFund.com, a small contribution is made to the project of your choice whether it is saving the rain forests or buying land reserves it’s a great way to help the environment without spending any money. You can actually protect 64 square feet every day at no cost to you but a couple of minutes of your time.

Now if you absolutely have to spend money you can patronize the various sponsors or just by registering for free you can have an even bigger impact. Check it out at EcologyFund.com and do your part to save the planet.

People To People Lending Online

An interesting way to make your savings dollars continue to grow is a website called Prosper. It brings lenders and borrowers together in a safe, fair and effective way to loan or borrow money. Fraud and credit checking for the lender and and the ability of the buyer to lower their rates by convincing bidders of their credit worthiness makes this social lender worthy of being called one of the most interesting investment sites on the web. Loans range from people wanting to payoff high rate credit cards,medical bills, home improvements, vacations, small business loans and nearly every other reason you can imagine.

It works like this:
The borrower creates a loan listing specifying the amount they want to borrow, the interest rate they are willing to pay and the reason for the loan. The website will do a fraud and credit check and the borrower will be assigned a credit value ranging from AA to E and HR (high risk).

Potential lenders bid on a portion of the loan (minimum of $50.00) with the interest rate they are willing to accept. Once the loan receives the number of bids necessary to fund the loan, extra bids may reduce the interest rate further. The website takes a small fee, reviews the loan one last time and then if everything looks good funds the loan. By spreading the risk over a number of loans the lender reduces the total risk and can effect a more reliable return on their investment. Loans are for a 3 year period and may be paid off early. Funds are deposited direct to the borrowers checking account and loan payment is transferred automatically once a month.

Now like any investment there is the potential for loss so it is up to you to do your due diligence and to take responsibility for your own decisions. I am not an investment adviser and I have written this article as an information and educational resource only. My personal experience so far has been excellent but your results might be different.

To date Prosper has funded over 79 million dollars in loans and has over 380,000 members.

Support Your Favorite Non-Profit Without Spending A Dime

Would you like to do more to support a good cause but don’t have the resources? Here is an innovative way to help, using your computer and a search engine called GoodSearch.

Simply click on a button on the GoodSearch website to install GoodSearch in your toolbar. Add GoodSearch to your IE, Firefox, or Mac toolbar. When you search using the GoodSearch engine, the charity you select will receive a donation (50% of GoodSearch revenue). It’s that simple. Powered by Yahoo, the money comes from advertisers so it doesn’t cost you or the non-profit anything.

Currently 40,000+ nonprofits are now on-board and 100 more are joining daily! For instance “Save Darfur” has earned $3,290 at the time this is being written.

So what are you waiting for? Only takes a minute to go to http://www.goodsearch.com/ and get setup. Once your new GoodSearch engine is installed be sure and select it from the drop down menu. Check on the GoodSearch website for other ways to spread the word.

Hello world!

Welcome to EcoFlash. News and views on the environment, climate change, sustainability, alternative energy, poverty and politics that affect your life. I don’t have all the answers to the world’s problems but I will chip in with the occasional suggestion or criticism and I hope you will too.