Interesting idea, but I'd have to say I prefer PV myself. No moving parts. Solar got a bad rap in the US in the 80's due to alot of poorly installed solar thermal systems. Now everyone expects their PV system to leak.... I can't actually remember doing any maintenance on my PV system in the last year (it has sealed batteries), except maybe shoveling the snow off the panels after returning from vacation. Solar thermal is the obvious way to go for any heat collection needed (at least two thirds the loads of a house here in Colorado), because of higher collection efficiency, but I have yet to find a way to convert low grade (100 or 200C) heat into electricity that withstands the tests of the real world.
> > > Here's an idea I had, I think it's new. If a house is using solar power,(not > > panels, but solar water heating panels) to heat its hot water, then a > > stirling motor could be placed on or incorporated into the top of the hot > > water cylinder where the heated water enters the cylinder. Thereby heating > > the hot part of the stirling engine cycle. The flywheel attached to the > > engine could be used to generate electricity, providing the power for the > > house. A solar panel could charge batteries to take over when the output of > > the stirling engine drops below a certain level, at night or very cold > > winters for example. So fewer batteries, fewer solar panels for electricity > > and double use,(or triple if the house is water radiator heated), of the > > solar heated water. > > Wha'd'ya's think? > > I think the effectiveness of the Stirling Cycle engine is proportional to the > difference in temperature (delta T) of the two active sides, and typical > low-tech > solar thermal is not going to make enough of a temperature difference in most > situations to justify the investment. For me, I'll stick with solar thermal > for > heating my water and house and PV for electricity (some day). However, don't > let > me discourage you from this kind of creative thinking - I think it's great. _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
