Sometimes the answer is nothing
An important distinction: Permaculture is not the same kind of gardening as organic gardening.
Mediterranean climate hugel trenches, fabuluous clay soil high in nutrients, self-watering containers with hugel layers, keyhole composting with low hugel raised beds, thick Back to Eden Wood chips mulch (distinguished from Bark chips), using as many native plants as possible....all drought tolerant.
An important distinction: Permaculture is not the same kind of gardening as organic gardening.
Mediterranean climate hugel trenches, fabuluous clay soil high in nutrients, self-watering containers with hugel layers, keyhole composting with low hugel raised beds, thick Back to Eden Wood chips mulch (distinguished from Bark chips), using as many native plants as possible....all drought tolerant.
An important distinction: Permaculture is not the same kind of gardening as organic gardening.
Mediterranean climate hugel trenches, fabuluous clay soil high in nutrients, self-watering containers with hugel layers, keyhole composting with low hugel raised beds, thick Back to Eden Wood chips mulch (distinguished from Bark chips), using as many native plants as possible....all drought tolerant.
An important distinction: Permaculture is not the same kind of gardening as organic gardening.
Mediterranean climate hugel trenches, fabuluous clay soil high in nutrients, self-watering containers with hugel layers, keyhole composting with low hugel raised beds, thick Back to Eden Wood chips mulch (distinguished from Bark chips), using as many native plants as possible....all drought tolerant.
An important distinction: Permaculture is not the same kind of gardening as organic gardening.
Mediterranean climate hugel trenches, fabuluous clay soil high in nutrients, self-watering containers with hugel layers, keyhole composting with low hugel raised beds, thick Back to Eden Wood chips mulch (distinguished from Bark chips), using as many native plants as possible....all drought tolerant.
Cristo Balete wrote:I've been wondering, after reading forums where people make claims about solar things in general, is the notion that if there's light outside, if one could take a book outside and read a page, that that kind of light level is what some folks think can be used by a solar panel?
If we had a 300 Watt solar panel in direct sun,that relies on photons to hit the solar cells in it, when the most photons are hitting it, it can send 300 Watts to a battery in an HOUR. Not in a moment. The time during a day when the most photons are likely to be on the panel is between 10:00 AM and maybe 3:00 or 4:00 PM in the summer. Lower light levels in the winter would narrow those hours down. Shade narrows those hours down.
So if a computer screen or a TV screen uses 300 Watts an hour, yet we have them turned on for many hours, that's where the solar cannot keep up with our draining the system by using appliances. Most kitchen appliances use 1000-1500 Watts an hour, coffee pots, microwaves, blenders, a one-burner electric cooktop, an electric water heater -- anything that makes heat or has a small motor. We may not have them on that long, but together they add up and drain the system faster, especially in the winter.
Luckily we have LED lights, and those make it possible to have lights that don't drain the system so much.
I have enough panels to give me 1,000 Watts in an hour. It's not a big system. However, if it's foggy or cloudy they can generate 25 Watts an hour, all of them put together. Doesn't matter if it's noon, if the photons from the sun are being blocked by clouds or fog.
So that ought to help us appreciate how efficient the human eye is, and how it can use the photons in miraculous ways, much better than a solar panel can.
Gardens in my mind never need water
Castles in the air never have a wet basement
Well made buildings are fractal -- equally intelligent design at every level of detail.
Bright sparks remind others that they too can dance
What I am looking for is looking for me too!
Pearl Sutton wrote:Raven: if you are still thinking on this, look up "camping solar power." I think I have possibly seen what you are thinking of (possible) and there's a lot of interesting options showing up when I added the word "camping" to the search term. This place Earth Tech Camping Solar Power looked like a good start.
frank li wrote:
Pearl Sutton wrote:Raven: if you are still thinking on this, look up "camping solar power." I think I have possibly seen what you are thinking of (possible) and there's a lot of interesting options showing up when I added the word "camping" to the search term. This place Earth Tech Camping Solar Power looked like a good start.
Pricey$$!
Gardens in my mind never need water
Castles in the air never have a wet basement
Well made buildings are fractal -- equally intelligent design at every level of detail.
Bright sparks remind others that they too can dance
What I am looking for is looking for me too!
Jane
I can't renounce my name. It's on all my stationery! And hinted in this tiny ad:
List of Rocket Mass Heater Builders
https://permies.com/wiki/122347/List-Rocket-Mass-Heater-Builders
|