RNC08's Blog

For the record the impact of all other forms of power including oil drilling have a smaller impact on the environment than a large scale solar power plant. RE : it is possible to actually farm on land used for wind power and oil drilling ! And ethanol requires more farming ! ...actually being green is not as easy as Voting liberal and buying a teeshirt !

Personally, I've always subscribed to the belief that while solar power may one day become a viable source of alternative power, it will likely be most successful on a smaller scale. In other words, when homeowners have a small solar power generator on their properties, not a huge solar power plant trying to power hundreds, if not thousands of buildings.

Sounds to me like some people are getting way too ahead of themselves in trying to set up a huge power plant like that. Start small, work your way up. I would apply that to wind powered generators as well.

And yes, I still believe we need to continue to use our oil and other natural resources that we have available *while* we're working on the new technology.

WMFE, PBS Channel 24, has had several intresting documentaries on the subject. Germany will have 20% of all domestic electric production by solar within 8 yrs, I believe they stated. The main arguement against solar is their effeciency against their cost of production,that will improve though. Being that panels are set on an angle, they don't block sunlight totally out at the ground level and groundcover can survive. German farmers routinely set space aside for systems and sell power back to the grid. They view it as another means of making money off of their land. Panels on homes, commercial buildings and highrises won't effect ground cover either. As far as the birds, their mortality rate is due to strikes against panels ? If so, that never stopped glass enclosed high-rises. Edison Power of New York offers incentives for mounting panels on rooftops, some of their commercial customers could sell power back during daylight opperation and only paid for electricity at night. Eventually it will be a good alternate, but only if the effeciency rating can be brought up considerably. Nuclear is the way to go now and one of the least greenhouse gas producers. Wind is all about location, you must have a prevailing wind. Of course none of this will happen as long as the Goverment tries tax away investment capital derived from the profit of energy producers.

...how can you stand to watch Public TV ? ...LOL

I'm not against the technology, but I think to needs to come along way for a system for the masses. Those printed photo voltaic cells are showing some promise in reducing the cost per watt.

RNC08 thats impressive.. Your list of unfinished projects is slowly getting larger than mine. Excellent Idea about the time on the water heater, another project I can start and never finish LOL. Seriously though it's a great idea, I don't think alot of people realize it all starts at home.

Just last week out of curiosity I started checking my appliances. Holy are my older cable boxes pigs. I unplugged one and am turning the other off now. Roughly 700 KW a year, considering we only use it for a few hours a day at the most.

...yes that is the second HHO generator I have built for my car and it is working very well ! ...I will draw up instructions and post them if anyone asks, I designed and built the one in the pic for less than $60 including modification to my 02 sensor and a nice “PWM” on the generator...Another thing to consider is the TV itself if you are using a CRT switching to a flat screen will cut your power bill a bit (conventional CRT's use 900% more power than a smiler size flat screen)

It is a lot simpler than it looks ..I was going to buy one myself but decided after looking at pictures on the net to make it on my own with out any help ! All it is , is a two electrodes placed close together in a tank of water with a bit of backing soda as an electrolyte with an air tight cap with two holes in it one (the larger line 3/8 inch) attached to the main air intake usually just after the filter and a smaller line attached to a high vacuum line I usually put a T in the break booster line and run a ¼ inch line to this one ...I really should make up some pictures and a set of instructions so people don't have to get ripped off by the guys on the net selling this stuff.

You're full of crap, Ronco.

Still, I am dying to know how to use hydrogen in my car. Did you have to modify the engine? Are you running it into a regular gas engine intake? Are you using distilled water? What are your leads made of? I had trouble with my leads in tap water.

Biofuels and nuclear energy have drawbacks and they both pollute. Still, they are both great resources. Nothing is perfect, but you are exaggerating here to the point of absurdity! Why do you hate solar? Did your ice cream melt in the sun or something?

...$800 billion is the figure for what congress wants to invest in Solar power for 09 , up from the $750 billion that was spent in 06 and 07 . Where did it go ? Into the Arizona facility that now belongs to Spain! (if you have not figured it out I do get people to pay more attention to this subject than they would otherwise do) The bird deaths are mostly from collisions , the reflective surfaces mess them up good ! I just thought the fact that a study was performed at Solar One and was not more widely publicized was interesting...and yes you can get a job picking up dead birds at any one of the large power plants , the average body count is 2 per acer per day LOL

On my HHO generator I first used an all stainless steel electrode that is 4-6 inch by 3/8 stanless bolts with 6 stainless washers (spaced with plastic washers) on each one I will send a pic this week, I used 4 electrodes 2 positive and 2 negative to balance the 12 volts I applied directly (so it would not boil) it did work but only on distilled water and it cost about $60 in steel alone! ....my second electrode is actually built from bronze welding wire it is hand wound on two pieces of ABS plastic cut to 4” by 8” to fit into a 10” long 4” schedule 40 of PVC pipe (I slit them and made a comb by sliding them into each other and drilling 15 holes in each of the 4 “blades” I need to take pics of this one) next I wound two separate coils threw the holes as close as possible together without touching this unit costs closer to $20 and does work on tap water but to get it really revved up and not have it over heat you have got to use an adjustable PWM (pulse width modulator , also know as a DC speed controller ) and I find that distiled water still works better ....do you have a PWM ? And what year car are you mounting to ?

My “test car” is a 1993 with fuel injection (so I don't have to use a spark arrestor) so all I really had to do is modify the reading on my 02 sensor for this I used the simplest method possible , I bought a pair of spark plug anti fouler (those things you use when a car is burning oil to keep the electrode clean) and I punched a 5/8 hole all the way threw it and placed it between the sensor and the exhaust manifold...I am working on my other car now so I am building a “mode box” for the MAP sensor and an active voltage dump for the 02 sensor....more “results” soon ! .

...I get you Meb but the crap is real real bad ! LOL I forget how spoiled I have become lately if I don't have at least 100 channels I just wait till I get home and watch some of my Tivo ..So you don't have a DTV or a box yet ? Boy are you in for a treat PBS has a bunch of other channels to chose from off the air in DTV ...and be sure to look for the Brevard college channels as well they have a lot of neat stuff !

I am a bit of a glutton for news/information ...I watch Foxnews (the national one ) and surf the net at the same time all hours of the night and day ...you are going to have to get a digital TV before next year or you will get the “black screen”

Home Depot and Lowes should start selling solar water heater systems and parts! It's ridiculous that when I want parts or repair kits for people I still have to go to a solar company!

For new homes, a solar panel with integrated tank and an inline gas or electric inline water heater are a super winning combination of simplicity, reliability, and economy!

This system has no moving parts, lowers your bills, and you get hot water day or night.