Living Off Grid
I recently viewed some videos regarding "earthship" homes on youtube:
https://youtu.be/efI77fzBgvg
https://youtu.be/Ix11VQ8f7uY
There are certain problems that often crop up for people living off grid:
1. Water
2. Fuel for Cooking
3. Refrigeration
Here are some ideas that may help make these earth ships more reliable:
1. Dig a Well to tap into the vast flows of groundwater, with electric pump powered by solar and/or a manual pump like in the old days.
https://youtu.be/0-KLWEnwiaY
more reliable water supply.
and/or
2. Use an atmospheric water generator, powered by solar, to extract water from the atmosphere.
https://youtu.be/HMe7m56jMIg
more reliable water supply
3. Use a parabolic solar griller to grill foods:
https://youtu.be/7UUW3xL0FVA
Reduced need for non-solar energy sources
4. Use a solar oven to bake:
https://youtu.be/yPRkwnpv-C8
Yet another way to reach even higher temperatures is to make the walls of the solar oven like a dewar flask:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_flask
And then use insulated glass windows to allow the radiant energy from the sun into the oven:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulated_glazing
The radiant energy is allowed into the oven and due to the vacuum insulation and insulated glass then heat produced in the oven will not be able to leak into the surrounding environment in any great amounts. It might be possible to keep most of the heat in the oven allowing for even greater temperatures to be reached.
Reduced need for non-solar energy sources
5. Construct a solar powered Absorption Refrigerator
http://www.solaripedia.com/files/1113.pdf
(It may be easier to use a parabolic mirror with the refrigerant at the focus than a Fresnel Lens as stated in the paper. Large lenses are expensive, possibly heavy, may sag due to their own weight, and may break easily. It may be more practical to use a parabolic mirror system.)
It is often cited by people living "off grid" that the refrigerator is the one appliance that uses the most energy throughout the day. Often they buy specially constructed refrigerators with additional insulation to reduce energy consumption. There is another possibility and that is to use a solar powered Absorption Refrigerator.
There are two main methods of refrigeration used today:
https://youtu.be/kBorxPr_iNc?t=541
The form of energy required for a compression type system must be in the form of electricity. This implies that solar energy must first be converted into electrical current, possibility stored in a battery system and then transferred to the refrigerator. Each step, sunlight -> electricity -> battery -> refrigerator, reduces efficiency and power is lost in conversion and transfer.
But, if you instead use an absorption refrigerator, then sunlight can be used to heat the refrigerant directly, making the entire process more efficient and reducing the load on the solar electrical system, at least during the day. At night one could use electric heating elements to heat the refrigerant. This would still be more efficient than a compression system because it has no moving parts. It may be necessary to thermally insulate the refrigerant heating unit.
It might even be possible to construct a refrigerator that uses vacuum insulated walls, like in a dewar flask:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_flask
(Though I foresee significant engineering issues) If this is possible then, in principle, one would only need to cool down food very few times during the day, when the food is first placed into the refrigerator and when the refrigerator door is opened. Otherwise very little, if any, refrigeration would be needed.
https://youtu.be/efI77fzBgvg
https://youtu.be/Ix11VQ8f7uY
There are certain problems that often crop up for people living off grid:
1. Water
2. Fuel for Cooking
3. Refrigeration
Here are some ideas that may help make these earth ships more reliable:
1. Dig a Well to tap into the vast flows of groundwater, with electric pump powered by solar and/or a manual pump like in the old days.
https://youtu.be/0-KLWEnwiaY
more reliable water supply.
and/or
2. Use an atmospheric water generator, powered by solar, to extract water from the atmosphere.
https://youtu.be/HMe7m56jMIg
more reliable water supply
3. Use a parabolic solar griller to grill foods:
https://youtu.be/7UUW3xL0FVA
Reduced need for non-solar energy sources
4. Use a solar oven to bake:
https://youtu.be/yPRkwnpv-C8
Yet another way to reach even higher temperatures is to make the walls of the solar oven like a dewar flask:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_flask
And then use insulated glass windows to allow the radiant energy from the sun into the oven:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulated_glazing
The radiant energy is allowed into the oven and due to the vacuum insulation and insulated glass then heat produced in the oven will not be able to leak into the surrounding environment in any great amounts. It might be possible to keep most of the heat in the oven allowing for even greater temperatures to be reached.
Reduced need for non-solar energy sources
5. Construct a solar powered Absorption Refrigerator
http://www.solaripedia.com/files/1113.pdf
(It may be easier to use a parabolic mirror with the refrigerant at the focus than a Fresnel Lens as stated in the paper. Large lenses are expensive, possibly heavy, may sag due to their own weight, and may break easily. It may be more practical to use a parabolic mirror system.)
It is often cited by people living "off grid" that the refrigerator is the one appliance that uses the most energy throughout the day. Often they buy specially constructed refrigerators with additional insulation to reduce energy consumption. There is another possibility and that is to use a solar powered Absorption Refrigerator.
There are two main methods of refrigeration used today:
https://youtu.be/kBorxPr_iNc?t=541
The form of energy required for a compression type system must be in the form of electricity. This implies that solar energy must first be converted into electrical current, possibility stored in a battery system and then transferred to the refrigerator. Each step, sunlight -> electricity -> battery -> refrigerator, reduces efficiency and power is lost in conversion and transfer.
But, if you instead use an absorption refrigerator, then sunlight can be used to heat the refrigerant directly, making the entire process more efficient and reducing the load on the solar electrical system, at least during the day. At night one could use electric heating elements to heat the refrigerant. This would still be more efficient than a compression system because it has no moving parts. It may be necessary to thermally insulate the refrigerant heating unit.
It might even be possible to construct a refrigerator that uses vacuum insulated walls, like in a dewar flask:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_flask
(Though I foresee significant engineering issues) If this is possible then, in principle, one would only need to cool down food very few times during the day, when the food is first placed into the refrigerator and when the refrigerator door is opened. Otherwise very little, if any, refrigeration would be needed.
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