www.JackrabbitCheese.com
Our solar hot water system for the new cheese room is coming along ever so slowly. I built a coil of about 90 feet of 3/4″ copper pipe as a heat exchanger to preheat the water we use for washing. I’m no plumber, but surprise! No Leaks! I also constructed a rack of PVC plastic [...]
The United Nations FAO offers this analysis of solar-powered dairy projects. Their conclusion: It’s feasible, but not cheap. Note that, in 1981 dollars, a cheese facility of the size we’re building would cost over $150,000. That’s over $355,000 in 2008 dollars.
Using innovation, used equipment, comparison shopping, and just plain Yankee frugality, we’re putting ours together [...]
Despite today’s chilly weather, I finished installing the solar panels today.
I bolted the frame to the roof, with 1″ spacers to keep the frame from actually contacting the shingles (and trapping water). I connected Pex tubing to each inlet and outlet of the panels, because there isn’t enough room to reach the connection once the [...]
(A warehouse in Los Angeles covered in solar panels.)
Ed, an urban dweller in Arizona, writes:
Looking at your web site, I was struck by the difference between urban and rural approaches to solar hot water. You can make anything, put it wherever you want, and its appearance is governed only by your own aesthetics.
Where we live we are constrained by city [...]
As we continue our development toward solar hot water heating for the new cheese facility, I’ve found a couple of very interesting resources:
This page tells how to make a solar water heating panel for under $5. Yes, you read that right. It’s not of sufficient volume to heat a house, but it’s an interesting project– [...]
How much does a batch solar heater cost? That’s a question I can answer, because I built one for use in our cheese facility.
I started with a tank from a doscarded 30-gallon propane hot water heater. Freecycle is great for stuff like this.
I stripped off the exterior metal and the insulation, wire brushed the residue, [...]
(Builditsolar photo.)
So, how does one build this “miracle” of solar heating: the simple and cheap “batch” heater? It turns out there are plenty of plans out there. For starters, a simple “solar shower,” in which water in an inner tube or bucket is heated for personal use, is one of the simplest forms. But for [...]
(ByExample.com image.)
A couple of weeks back, I posted that our experiments in renewable energy had been expensive. I also voiced a desire to find projects that are not just renewable, but cheap and reliable as well.
Here’s one: the “batch” solar hot water heater. “Batch” simply means that the water is heated in a tank rather [...]
There’s something majestic and noble about wind turbines and solar panels. Looking at them makes me feel good. They’re good for the planet, good for individual sustainability, and they also seem like an act of defiance against the corporate “pushers” of fossil fuels.
Yet nothing in the simple life is as simple as it seems. In [...]