Renew News

This month’s Make magazine is all about remaking America, and there are a number of articles on DIY energy projects.  There is everything from a very nice homemade solar water heater, to a hybrid recumbent taxi, or using rainwater to flush your toilet.  If you’re at all handy and want to do some of this stuff your self, check it out.  It’s a great magazine in general if you like to make things.

I still really want to make an electric car.  The main argument against electric vehicles I’ve heard recently is that they deliver an environmental mess courtesy of the batteries.  From what I’ve read tonight, that just isn’t the case.  According to the Electric Auto Association:

The Battery Council International reports that 93% of all battery lead is recycled. A higher recycling rate than newspapers (55%) or aluminum cans (42%). Typical new lead-acid batteries contain 60-80% recycled lead and plastic. A true recycling success!

Also the consensus seems to be that batteries will last 3-4 years depending on usage.  Most of the articles I found tonight were a year or more old, so I’m hoping that there is new battery technology now, or coming in the near future.  When I am ready to start on my electric car I will do some more in-depth research.

The article that got me all excited about electric cars again can be found here on the website Treehugger.com Please let me know if you have any better information on new and improved batteries.

A nice article with a broad view of electric vehicle conversion from the good folks over at TreeHugger.com

Read the article: Converting Your Car to an Electric Vehicle

Yes it’s true! You can convert your VW into an electric car with the kits available at e-volks.com. It’s pretty amazing really. I read about this website in Make magazine, and it looks really cool. The guy in the article made his car not only electric, but solar as well, by putting a $350 solar panel on the roof. You won’t get the range that a factory-made solar would get (if they existed) but you can get enough range for most people’s daily needs.

Maybe it’s time to find that old VW and make it into an awesome car of the future! The site says that you can use the kits with other cars as well, it just takes a little more work.

It seems to me that with the new battery technology from this post you might even be able to make a car with better range than the one in the Make magazine article. By the way, the article is available online, but you have to have a subscription to read it. You might as well just join up if this kind of thing interests you; it’s an awesome magazine.

=============================================================

Gotta pay the bills:

The home security systems are used for the protection against any kind of burglary, fire losses, and accidental situation, caused by electric short cut. The most reputable and advanced security system is known as adt security devices which are used for the different safety measures. The brinks security systems and appliance are more reliable and affordable with the exclusive safety measures based on the advanced technology.

Read part one here if you haven’t already seen it.

I put the new larger motor that I got at American Science and Surplus into my solar fan. Unfortunately even though the guy tested it for me in the store, the juice that my solar panels were giving it just wasn’t enough to spin it as fast as I need. Oh well, it was only 60 cents. So I went back into my very small parts pile and got out another smaller motor from AS&S that is not quite as powerful as I want, but it is better than what I was using, and it will do until I can find the perfect motor. I just wanted to get my solar fan running since we are quickly running out of days hot enough to need it.

Alright, so I got the second-choice motor in there, tested it BEFORE I soldered it in place, things seemed to be good. So I soldered the wires, put the panels into the sun shining in through my window, reached for the on switch, and the sun went behind a cloud. That was 2 hours ago. It has been raining ever since. AAARRG! I only needed 10 more seconds of sun to test the wiring. Ten seconds! Stupid solar.

I’m pretty sure that it’s all set up properly, but I don’t want to assemble everything until I’m sure. Tomorrow may be our last hot, sunny day here in Indiana for the year, and I have a big day of being parked outside planned so I may just have to assemble the thing and see how it goes.

I still need to find a 1-2V 200mA motor with high rpms. If anyone has an angle for me I’d sure appreciate a heads up. Thanks.

I have been working on this project FOREVER! Well… at least it seems that way. I have always been the kind of person who REALLY hates being hot, and for years I have wished there was a better way than just a window shade to keep your car from getting so hot when it is parked out in the sun in the summer. BEHOLD THE SOLAR CAR FAN!

I actually did come up with this idea all by myself, but of course once I started talking about it my friends showed me an infomercial for a solar fan that already existed. For about a second I was disappointed that someone beat me to the punch, but then I remembered that I had already decided that I wasn’t going to pursue a patent on this idea anyway, so what did I care? Besides, mine was going to be better! (more…)

Nice instructions for the do-it-yourselfer. Join the Renewable Energy club!

http://www.velacreations.com/chispito.html