Peter’s Raw Materials

Tag: power

  • Solar Power update (part 8)

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    (continued from part 7) So here we are. February 2010. We had our solar array online for close to a year now.What are the first year impressions of our life with a 1.2kw solar array in our front yard? First, if you read the initial installment of my solar power posts you will notice that we built a post with a mount laid out to hold 12 panels. Because 200W panels aren’t cheap we only populated half of the array at first. These…

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  • Solar Power (part 4)

    (continued from part 3) As a we are waiting to go operational I have some time to ponder the pros and cons of my $15,000 investment, alternative energies in general and solar in particular. Despite my feeling of doing something good for the environment and (maybe) for our bottom line I know that this technology is young, even though it has been around for decades, and like my computer the equipment I am installing might be outdated in a few years. Our calculations…

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  • Solar Power (part 1)

    In the last year or so the term ‘alternative power’ has really come to the forefront again. High fuel prices, talk about peak oil and dirty coal. Good thing, too, because we need to talk about it. Especially during 2008 I kept getting emails from countless action groups and organizations such as the Sierra Club and the World Wildlife Fund mentioning it. The issue is actually on people’s minds…. For some reason it has been on my mind since I was a teenager.…

    Read more: Solar Power (part 1)