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  • From: Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Solar and wind
  • Date: Thu, 08 Feb 2007 12:00:25 -0800

Wendy wrote:

Yep! That's him, Tom Gray.
I haven't seen Tom's stuff but I did go to the Piggott website. It seems all these folks are blinded by the light, so to speak. Nothing offensive intended; it would just be nice to see a plurality of ideas instead of an electric monopoly. It's frustrating to see compressed air pumps being sold in black boxes, indicating that they obviously work (as if there were any doubt; you can just blow in it and see), but no hobbyists talking about it anywhere.

There was a show on one of the university channels that was purported to be about refrigeration technology. We tuned in to see a couple of episodes, and the guy never stopped talking about electric motors. I guess that's because if you, the would-be technician, were called out to fix a fridge, it would be most likely the motor that's gone (which precisely proves my point). What's the necessary connection between electricity and refrigeration? A refrigerator just has a compressor that need to turn. Any mechanical power source will do it.

The main reason there will never be a generator atop a windmill mast at my place is that there just isn't enough power there to justify planning an entire modern electric lifestyle around it. I could get maybe 0.2 KWh per day from a reasonably-priced windmill with generator. Wow! That's a penny's worth! And wind blows most dependably here during the season when there's no need for electric lights, at our latitude. Refrigeration that works directly off of solar heat is far more efficient than any electric "Rube Goldberg machine" ever could be. Modern lighting is so efficient that even a tiny solar panel would cover it. So it's hard to justify falling too much in love with everything electric, on our homestead.

Bill
S. Oregon coast




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