Alternative Energy on the Farm. Waste to energy, alternative energy Biogas, biochar, humanure, solar heat, solar PV

Transcription

1 Alternative Energy on the Farm Waste to energy, alternative energy Biogas, biochar, humanure, solar heat, solar PV

2 Biodigestor system

3 Layout: 3 m deep, 3m diameter

4 excavation

5 Floor Pour 1.2 m3

6 Belly complete. 2.4 m 3 concrete

7 Forms neck pour 1.2 m3

8 Disassembly

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10 I found Jimmy Hoffa

11 Completed greenhouse Start Up Inoculate with 4 buckets of fresh cow manure Feed with green grass clippings Bleed off first gas to vent oxygen.

12 expense total floor 1.2 m $ Tank concrete tank 2.4 m $ neck 1.2 m $ $1, footings $ Greenhouse concrete 6"pipe for sewer $ greenhouse foundation $1, $2, greenhouse windows $ Reject windows greenhouse windows $ $1,064.00

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15 Sewage Handling Most of the data is on big systems: 50 cows can produce about 25kW, 100 kw seems to be the smallest feasible industrial size so you would need ~200 dairy cows indoor to make the poo collection efficient. This needs to be engineered like any sewage system. However most lagoons do not require septic tanks, so this tank is neither required nor prohibited. To use a septic field I built a secondary chamber in the digester; but a second settling/septic tank downstream would probably be cheaper & faster.

16 Biogas questions?

17 Humanure

18 The lowest tech toilet

19 collect compost apply

20 Solar Power Most people think of Photovoltaic when they hear solar panels. This is the production of electrons directly from sunlight. There is also solar thermal, or hot water panels o Evacuated tube: works in below freezing weather o Flat panel: better in above freezing climates

21 Solar thermal = hot water

22 Solar Photovoltaic Panels Your biggest priority is keeping shade off the panels. The panels produce at the lowest voltage, so few leaf shadows on a corner of the panel will cut production of the entire array. The shadow on one cell will reduce the output from all 18 cells down to 6 volts.

23 Light angle: It is best to have the panels perpendicular to the sun, but 20% of the power can come from reflected light (off snow or water) 20% can come from scattered light (eg on thin overcast days) Cold weather can boost output by over 20%

24 Optimum Tilt Calculator

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27 A steep panel sheds snow better. Make sure they are high enough for the snow to fall onto the snowpack + avalanche snow without having to shovel.

28 Simple application = less than 27 kw production on a 200 amp service

29 PV questions?

30 Biochar Terra Preta = black earth. Found in the Amazon, near sites of ancient human habitation. After up to 500 years of abandonment these areas still have black, fertile soil. The carbon does not break down, making this one of the few methods of carbon sequestration that is likely to actually work.

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34 Quench with water at the hot coal stage

35 Best fertilizer effects seem to be from adding biochar to compost for a year before field application. Biochar should not be seen as an industrial scale product, more of a way to handle small (eg-farm-scale) woodwaste and deadfall. Most biochar research is less than 10 years old, and application is essentially irreversible So experiment with caution.

36 Payback Generally, paying for fuel is the cheapest short term option and most expensive long term. Wind, solar & farm biomass are free while fuel slowly increases. Payback times are typically over 10 years, but (for example) TD was loaning money for these sorts of projects because they do, eventually, pay back. In town we can just pay to flush your problem away. We need to realize that you cannot ignore issues we can deal with them now, or later.

37 Sometimes the payback is the day you are sitting in front of the fire freshly showered with a hot drink - while your neighbour is in his crawl space with a torch trying to thaw pipes in the dark. (and now you can go help, if you want)

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39 Resources