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Solar Energy, Windmills, and other stuff.

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05.09.2012 5:26am

kirbenvost
Give Life Back To Music

LB said:

Kirb, I guess what I mean is, if you had a bunch of money, what direction would you go with it? Invest it? Lock it up in a safe bank investment? Take a risk on something?

Mostly, I'm curious about what people would do if they were taking a risk. 10,000$ 100,000$ ?

With 10k, I'm not sure. Maybe finish school and spend the rest. 20,000 I'd probably try something like green energy. 100,000? Maybe build an apartment complex, or a solar farm? I don't like the stock Market. 200,000k? A little bit of everything? How much do you need to invest in a retirement fund to be safe in 30 years? Take the rest and go try to make the world a better place?

Build an apartment complex? Seems like you'd need a lot more money than that.

It depends on how much I had for sure.

10,000 would go completely towards paying off debt, minus maybe a few hundred to have a bit of fun.

20,000 would just get me out of debt and have a bit extra the have some fun or set up a rainy day fund. I've been living paycheck to paycheck ever since I left home, so it would be nice to get out of that habit. Or, getting a car would be nice.

100,000 doesn't even buy an apartment in this city so I'd probably just save a lot of it after paying debts and getting a car. Use it for a down payment on a house, maybe, start saving for retirement.

200,000... more of the same.

If it was million+, then I'd finally have some room to do something. Probably invest in rental property for a steady source of income. Then look into taking some time off for education in a field I actually enjoy. Travel a bit, buy things I always wanted, etc.

Multi-millions, then I would set up my parents and siblings real well and treat my girl to the wedding of her dreams. Well, that last part I could probably take care of with the 200,000. :D

I guess I'm kind of selfish... of course if I had constant cash flow I'd donate to some charities and such, but it's not my first priority. First is getting myself out of this mess of a life I've gotten myself into, next, helping the people I care about.

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05.09.2012 1:01pm

Thread Creator (Edited on 05.09.2012 at 1:29pm)

LB
Necromancer of Winning

Such conservative ideas. Go crazy a little bit. Your retirement is safe, you'll have a moderate pension check from your 401ks and mutual funds.

Green energy, it's the number one growth market since...electronics in the 90s. I dunno, made that up. Is it possible though, by buying/designing the best system whether it be geothermal or solar, but more importantly a balanced diverse system to eliminate all your expenses one at a time. Electriciy, check, heating, check, now for internet/cell phone. 45 dollars a month for phone/internet plan could possibly be paid by feeding the grid if your array was beefy enough. Property tax is approximately 1000-2000 a year. Use rental properties to pay for things like this and food. Perhaps get a part time job or hell, install green energy systems for spare cash.

Bank account would need enough funds to repair a lot of crap for two homes and all this energy stuff.

The bloombox video was interesting until I realzied it ran off of natural gas. More efficiently, but I believe it's worth trying to eliminate costs completely. I am interested to find out more on geothermal energy. There are so many avenues we could be going down to solve the energy crisis and we are leaving everything in the private sector. Obama should be going door to door to wall street moguls begging for donations to start up a switch the U.S. off the the grid/oil teet.

Can you tunnel a basement out under an existing basement? I wonder how hard that would really be.

Upon further investigation the bloom box needs energy to start making energy out of oxygen. This energy could be provided by solar or wind. There is no news on it in 2 years after a little looking though.

Upon further further investigation the bloom box...is still probably 5-10 years away. Is a suggested perfect couple system with solar as opposed to using the grid when there is no sunlight. Estimates at 3000$ per average home but have 10 year warranties. Solar panels are definitely edging it out. It just seems like a great idea blown out of proportion that the coporations are lying about in an effort to hype it up.

Also looking into hamsters and wheels...

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05.09.2012 4:02pm

kirbenvost
Give Life Back To Music

Investing in green energy sounds good, obviously it's the way we need to move for the future, but I think I just don't know enough about the topic to properly speculate on what I would do with it. Around here wind or tidal energy would be ideal, but they haven't really implemented it yet at all. I only know of 1 wind turbine in the area.

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05.09.2012 10:07pm

Thread Creator

LB
Necromancer of Winning

It's the only idea that sounds like any fun and is a win-win-win.

No house today, maybe Friday.

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05.11.2012 11:17pm

Thread Creator (Edited on 05.12.2012 at 12:18am)

LB
Necromancer of Winning

I have been reading about stirling motors. It appears that you can really generate some juice with these puppies but North American sale is prohibited. I have found some web sites where I "may" be able to purchase one but those websites make me nervous. Lack of detail and bad grammar when buying expensive mechanical equipment is a bit of a turn off for me.

Am I reading this right though? They have blocked us from another clean energy source by making the motors illegal to sell.

Woodburning combined with geothermal techniques looks like the most likely candidate for what we have been calling the "Climate Control" aspect. 20 kw a day is our rough estimate target for solar panels. Heat + A/C would require 2 additional panels if not 3 and would still not be a safe way to always have Climate Control energy. A wood powered stirling motor would be Ideal but I just can't figure out how to buy one. I have an engineer friend I can pay on the cheap to build one perhaps...but even with a kit that makes me uncomfortable.

Considering straight wood burning stoves for heat and more info on geothermal might handle cooling.

As of right now, the solar system we've perspectively put together is (using estimates that were rounded up and given a 30% inefficiancy based on a 20kw day) going to run about 8000$. We are going to start by purchasing one 250 watt panel and 2 batteries (theoretically it could fill 3 in a day). The inverter is probably going to be the most expensive single part. A good one is a smart device and has several automatic shutoff alarms and more good stuff. We will run some bench tests before buying that 700$ inverter.

5th house in a row today that we went to put a bid on that was under contract already. Frustrating.

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05.12.2012 2:45am

kirbenvost
Give Life Back To Music

Huh? Why is it prohibited?

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05.12.2012 10:50pm

Thread Creator

LB
Necromancer of Winning

I'm not exactly sure, I haven't put a lot of time into researching it. From the bits and pieces I've gathered, there was something like one manufacturer of Stirling products in the U.S. 35 years ago. In the early 80's gas prices began to go down. Nobody was interested in fuel efficiency when we could drive our muscle cars. That company left the U.S. and went to New Zealand...I think WhisperGen. I might be mixing up articles I read though.

Since then, there have been quite a few companies pop up all over the world, but not here. There are a couple different regulations to export them to here. There's nothing stopping me from importing them, except them not being allowed to export without jumping through these hoops.

WhisperGen is still producing what look like great products. This is what their website says:
"Areas like the US and Canada will take some time due to compliance issues as well as suitability. Also we do not have commercially available a 60 Hz 110/220v version of the on-grid WhisperGen�?� microCHP system."

I've pretty much ditched the idea for a few years. I'm hoping to have some luck with geothermal research and may just buy as many solar panels as possible.

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05.15.2012 8:00pm

Enkidoh
Time Travelling White Mage

Eh? I have no idea why Stirling engine technology would be classed as prohibited, given the fact the design is almost as old as the Industrial Revolution itself, according to Wikipedia anyway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine

However, reading that article, it seems, that like the conventional steam engine which the design was derived from, depending on the gas used a cylinder explosion is a very real danger evidentally, so perhaps it's for safety reasons that the US has slapped prohibitions on their sale.

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05.16.2012 4:54am

Thread Creator

LB
Necromancer of Winning

I'm guessing that the Oil industry has a lot to do with it. The barriers of entry into the the energy business are vast. I'm betting that big business isn't ready to swap out all its old inventory for new tech just yet.

How hard would it be to convert power to 110/220? Efficient?

Safety is probably the reasoning for imports, but not the American based operations. WhisperGen should be able to get certified and not have a delay though. I don't really know though.

We went under contract for our house today. The roof faces north-south so is perfect to catch the most rays. It is very small, but it does have an attached garage, and it's ours. Long move, but it is closer to some family.

Can't wait to close so I can order my first experiment. Now just have to figure out what to order exactly.

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05.16.2012 5:32am

Crux
A mental Dentist's office

It's come to my attention that some of the businesses in Soulard (St. Louis' Historic French neighborhood) have been trying to get solar panels on their roofs, but are being blocked due to the roof facing the streets and Soulard building codes. The proponents argue that the window AC units are more so offensive to one's sight, not to mention satellite dishes on roofs in the neighborhood.

So what are your thoughts on Functionality vs Historic Appeal?

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05.16.2012 9:14pm

Thread Creator

LB
Necromancer of Winning

My opinion is cash is king. The environment is important. Historical sites are nice but serve little purpose to me. I think however there is an alternative for them.

They could go to the peak, and cantilever the panels off the back side. Making them invisible to the road and probably more efficient if used with a servo-timer. I have also seen, basically, solar panels on a stick.

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