When the sun gets high enough and hot enough, it will provide cooling for the solar powered air conditioning unit I have just installed. I thought this was an extremely cool idea! As it turns out, there are a number of solar powered A/C systems on the market. There are also a number of home built solar and wind systems on the web.
Most solar powered A/C systems are what is known as an absorber system. Some campers use this system for propane powered fridges. I first came across absorber systems in a hospital power plant. They use steam and salt water to chill water (trust me, it works!). For those of you that are interested, here is a simplified schematic: (Click for a larger view)
In large institutes, they often use low pressure steam to provide heat. The steam heat can be replaced by hot water from solar collectors. The large machines also use a material called lithium bromide, which is a type of salt. These chillers also operate at a vacuum, which aids in the evaporation of water.
Recently, there have been a number of improvements to the adsorption chillers which make them more "solar friendly". Although they are not as efficient as the compression refrigeration, they can make use of heat from solar systems.
I have been searching the web and found a number of sites that you might like to look at. These range from "How Things Work" to "Do It Yourself" types of sites, as well as suppliers. The site addresses of some of the better sites (my opinion) are listed on this blog.
The most important part of this blog is you! If you have any ideas related to low cost renewable energy, or have found some interesting sites, please send them in. If you have an idea, butg are hung up on a detail, please send that. Some one out there will have an idea. I believe innovators are the best hope for the future. An innovator can be anyone with an idea and some imagination. We need to hear from all innovators
Web sites of interest:
http://www.builditsolar.com/
http://www.mdpub.com/Wind_Turbine/
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/09/how-to-make-diy-cheap-inexpensive-solar-panels-ebay.php
http://www.solarpowerkitsreviewed.com/solarpanels105.htm
http://www.solarpanelsplus.com/
The most important part of this blog is you! If you have any ideas related to low cost renewable energy, or have found some interesting sites, please send them in. If you have an idea, butg are hung up on a detail, please send that. Some one out there will have an idea. I believe innovators are the best hope for the future. An innovator can be anyone with an idea and some imagination. We need to hear from all innovators
Web sites of interest:
http://www.builditsolar.com/
http://www.mdpub.com/Wind_Turbine/
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/09/how-to-make-diy-cheap-inexpensive-solar-panels-ebay.php
http://www.solarpowerkitsreviewed.com/solarpanels105.htm
http://www.solarpanelsplus.com/
