On Thu, 14 Mar 2002 at 19:31:48, Dexter wrote: (ref: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>)
> >> On Thu, 14 Mar 2002 at 17:05:48, wrote: >> >the carpet building up the voltage. I've been trying to think of a way >> >to charge a battery off her, a kind of homemade cat-powered UPS... > >Hmmm. A neighbour of mine, here in Houston, TX, has built his own unique >(for a home-made dwelling system) power system. > >Three 4' x 8' solar powered steam generators (tanks with water and black >metal panels in them to absorb solar energy and heat the water they lay >in) with plumbing to a pump connected to a generator, which feeds through >diodes into a power controller and storage. He does need to use a few kwh >of electricity in winter (in TX that's two months) and generates surplus >power in summer, even after running the air conditioning of the house. I gather in the US spare power can be sold to the power companies. Bill can't do that as he has no connection (8-)# > >It cost him about $4000 to cobble up, and will pay for itself in under 3 >years. > >And he always has plenty of hot water too. Bill Cable (Nesqlug) has an even more ambitious setup. He reads this so I won't go into too much detail. His warning comment before I last stayed with him was 'We are not typical Americans' He built his own house in a Vermont forest, and all his services (water/electricity/sewage) are his own. He has a vast solar panel array and a wind generator, which provide power for most of the year. There is a standby diesel generator for emergencies. He even has a shop (workshop for us Europeans) with a vast array of high power electrical woodworking equipment, which run off DC lead/acid batteries. He even has fresh running spring water out of a tap in the kitchen - I was involved in the plumbing of that last year. > >For on-topicness, he monitors and controls it with an Atari ST, which has >a 68000 processor. :o) .... and Bill runs his QLs off the storage batteries. -- QBBS (QL fido BBS 2:252/67) +44(0)1442-828255 tony@<surname>,demon.co.uk http://www.firshman.demon.co.uk Voice: +44(0)1442-828254 Fax: +44(0)1442-828255 TF Services, 29 Longfield Road, TRING, Herts, HP23 4DG