footprints

On Mar 14, 11:33 am, "Flytyer37" wrote:
I'm in the process of having a house built for my family. More for
the wiff and I, since the kids are out of the house.
I'm building the house to be "green." Geothermal heating and cooling,
low flow water systems, high R-value insulation using Structural
Insulated Panels or SIP, recycled/recovered materials (including fly
ash "cement"). My energy usage should be about 1/3 to 1/4 of the
standard house of this size. We're even considering solar cells.
I had one "bubba" call me a tree hugging liberal because of this. I

Once people start building the next 160 coal fired power plants that
are on the docket look for power prices to go up significantly. Solar
power for lighting systems is very good if you go to all LED lamps.
(California and other places have proposed outlawing incandescent
bulbs - it will happen everywhere sooner or later).
The use of LED bulbs will take a little more up front thought and more
detail in the layout of switches etc. Your goin to have more lighting
fixtures with less output per fixture. Lighting a house will require
more task lighting and less lighting of big areas.
As of now you can't easily come by lighting fixtures that are 12 volt
( except for trailers, campers etc. ). If I were building a house I
would consider installing a 12 volt lighting system. There are some
12 volt lamps available and more on the way. IF you go with 120 volt
AC your battery has to power them via an inverter -a not very efficent
machine.

politely (smirk here) responded that with all of his energy usage and
his big truck he had to buy more oil to run all of this than I would.
We buy most of that energy from countries inimical to our "American"
way of life, such as Russia, Iran and Venuzuela. As a matter of fact,
some of that money is used to make weapons for and give support to
folks that are killing Americans and whose stated goal is the
overthrow of the US. I finalized my statement (thank ROFF here) by
asking "why do you hate America so much."
By the way, its really fun watching some bubba's head explode like
something out of a Monty Python skit.
Oh, by the way, my long term goal is less footprint and less pain on
the wallet.
Frank Reid

On Mar 14, 10:17 am, " wrote:
On Mar 14, 9:45 am, "Larry L" wrote:

One such project was recently adding solar panels to my travel trailer, to
keep the batteries charged.

That's pretty cool. I've been wanting to add solar panels to my
house,
but I'm planning on moving within the next year. The capital
investment
is just too large unless you're planning on living there for at least
5-10 years.

Regardless, that's great.
- Ken

Pretty soon you will be able to buy them at the factory in
Hillsboro.
http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/...870.xml&coll=7

This artical say they are going to cnver a chip plant. I think they
mean the crystal growing plant just north of IDT.

On Mar 14, 5:47 pm, wrote:
On Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:31:41 GMT, "Larry L"





wrote:

wrote

so there is none, but if they were placed flat on the roof of a trailer,
the few extra inches of surface area wouldn't account for much, and
certainly not enough to outweigh the panels' use.

the ones I got are 1/2 inch thick and weigh under 15 pounds each ( the
shipping weight was 15 including packing and fudge factor )

The way I mounted them won't give me maximum output but will give them
maximum protection from accidental damage .... I worry about that more than
the panels "wearing out" before paying for themselves

It may be too late for you to do this, but for portable panels (IOW,
panels used in or around anything that regularly moves), I use
off-the-shelf aluminum square tubing (1" will do) to make a collapsible
"stand" (picture just the back of pool chaise for an idea) and as such,
can aim the panel(s). You can cut it with a hacksaw, drill it with even
a Yankee, and a few stainless bolts and plastic endcaps, and you're good
to go. As to protection, a Lexan (NOT Plexiglass) sheet high enough
above the panel so as not to touch it will stop most common impact
damage. A box made with a double piece of signboard in the back and the
Lexan front doubles as a storage/transport container for a portable
setup.



( I ran my first
travel trailer into the corner of our house the first time I took it on a
trip, the second one was smashed into a million pieces, and I was lucky to
live through the process, when a double semi-truck filled with gravel
literally drove through the trailer, the current trailer had it's roof
railing torn off on it's first trip to fish Hot Creek about 8 years ago { I
HAD to be under a tree} and I poked a small hole in the rubber roof on it's
latest journey when I just HAD to park under a tree at Hayspur while there
to fish Silver Creek ...trust me you don't want to be my trailer :-)

So you're to travel trailers what Frank is to, well, himself...

TC,
R



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If your going to build rack for solar stuff, this is what you need.

http://www.b-line.com/product/PDFLibrary/strut.asp

Or the equivalent Super-Stut, Kindorff, Unistrut etc. They all make
hinges, rollers, brackets of all kinds. I saw a set-up recently that
used aluminum strut and the catalog hinges etc. The set up fit on top
of a van and unflolded using a portable drill. When it was collapsed
for traveling the cells closed active side together and were well out
of the wind.

"BJ Conner" wrote \\


Solar
power for lighting systems is very good if you go to all LED lamps.
(California and other places have proposed outlawing incandescent
bulbs - it will happen everywhere sooner or later).


Wow, this makes be believe that I should investigate LED lamps for my fly
tying, instead of using an inverter and OTT lights. Color temperature is
important for my usage but I'd bet LEDs can be had in close enough to
sunlight ???

On Mar 16, 12:47 pm, "Larry L" wrote:
"BJ Conner" wrote \\

Solar

power for lighting systems is very good if you go to all LED lamps.
(California and other places have proposed outlawing incandescent
bulbs - it will happen everywhere sooner or later).

Wow, this makes be believe that I should investigate LED lamps for my fly
tying, instead of using an inverter and OTT lights. Color temperature is
important for my usage but I'd bet LEDs can be had in close enough to
sunlight ???

Check out some of the map lights that plug into car lighters. Some
even have the flexible goose neck goodes. Color could be a problem.

On 16 Mar 2007 10:48:41 -0700, "BJ Conner"
wrote:

On Mar 14, 11:33 am, "Flytyer37" wrote:
I'm in the process of having a house built for my family. More for
the wiff and I, since the kids are out of the house.
I'm building the house to be "green." Geothermal heating and cooling,
low flow water systems, high R-value insulation using Structural
Insulated Panels or SIP, recycled/recovered materials (including fly
ash "cement"). My energy usage should be about 1/3 to 1/4 of the
standard house of this size. We're even considering solar cells.
I had one "bubba" call me a tree hugging liberal because of this. I

Once people start building the next 160 coal fired power plants that
are on the docket look for power prices to go up significantly. Solar
power for lighting systems is very good if you go to all LED lamps.
(California and other places have proposed outlawing incandescent
bulbs - it will happen everywhere sooner or later).
The use of LED bulbs will take a little more up front thought and more
detail in the layout of switches etc. Your goin to have more lighting
fixtures with less output per fixture. Lighting a house will require
more task lighting and less lighting of big areas.
As of now you can't easily come by lighting fixtures that are 12 volt
( except for trailers, campers etc. ). If I were building a house I
would consider installing a 12 volt lighting system. There are some
12 volt lamps available and more on the way. IF you go with 120 volt
AC your battery has to power them via an inverter -a not very efficent
machine.

Um, you can buy 12vdc stuff all over, such as Lowe's and Home Depot (in
the US). And the funny thing is that much of it is actually sold as
120vac stuff, which it is also because it comes with a transformer.
Simply snip off the transformer, and use with 12vdc (or if you're using
it on a boat or in an RV with "shore power," install a switch on the
12vdc side and you can use the same light with either. Most aren't LED,
they are LV Halogen.

TC,
R

wrote


the US). And the funny thing is that much of it is actually sold as
120vac stuff, which it is also because it comes with a transformer.


The idea of using de-wallwarted lights for an RV is ... well, I admit I hate
to admit it about a 'publican', ..... and I admit I hate hating to admit it
.... but it's damn bright

So you're to travel trailers whatFrankis to, well, himself...

TC,
R

Just 'cause a guy hasta take a day off work due to self-inflicted food
poisoning once in a while doesn't mean he's masochistic. (By the way,
do NOT drive on Aksarben Drive in Omaha till multiple rainstorms can
clean it up).
Frank Reid