[TheForge] new shed design and other ramblings

[terry l. ridder]

hello;

On Tue, 14 Apr 2009, Keziah's Forge wrote:

> Terry, and everyone
>
> This is a laudable goal, but you have to decide:
>
> Do you want environmentally friendly or economically maximized?  There are
> precious few technologies that deliver both on a micro scale
>
> Sounds like Terry is  trying to shoot for both.  That's admirable, but not
> yet practical.
>

once again reality sucks. :-)

>
> Noting green about a marine diesel, unless you are feeding it all-bio:
> veggie, bio-diesel or wood gas.
>

this is very possible. i am surrounded by hundreds of acres of farmland.
i have been talking with the farmers who farm the land about growing
corn for me to produce corn oil to produce bio-diesel, corn for
producing alcohol to make basically e85. ethanol 85 percent and gasoline
15 percent. that would be for the new pickup truck i purchased.

i have a bid in on a used 6 ton cold oil press and waiting to hear on
that. there is also a 10 ton cold oil press but that one is several
years older and not as well maintained.

once the corn is relieved of its oil it is perfect feed cake for swine
and cattle. my neighbor vince raises swine so he would use the cake by
product for the swine.

some of the corn could even be used for corn stoves or corn furnaces. i
am talking with several non-profits in the area into converting over to
corn heat and i will provide them with corn during the heating season on
a donation basis.

>
> Solar/wind is good, but  Edison will squeeze all the economic gain out of
> you unless you are producing enough to be in a position negotiate away the
> charges.  F'rinstance:  if you are pumping power into the grid in a demand
> area, why should you pay any transmission costs?  You are delivering power
> where it is most valuable ( assuming you still have a neighbor or two) and
> should get ALL that value.
>

edison is being a thorn in my side. they are attempting to get the
county to mandate that i must have an electrical meter and connection
from them. they are attempting to cite public safety issues. i have so
far been successful in beating them off.

my neighbors are about 1/4 mile from me.

>
> Forget the wood/anything except a wood gas generator:  otherwise, unless
> your fuel is free, you can't produduce heat from wood as cheap as you can
> buy it including electric up to about 30 cents/kwh.  the best wood stove on
> the market acually delivers MAYBE 30 percent of the energy content of the
> wood.  Most fireplaces deliver NEGATIVE efficiency.  Hard coal,  you might
> break even against oil or gas if  you can get it for  the same price per ton
> that you would pay for 100 gals of oil.
>

the wood so far is free. several of the local tree services dump the
logs on my land and i cut them up and split them into firewood. i get
firewood, they save on landfill fees. i supply several local non-profits
which have wood fired boilers with enough wood for the heating season. i
get a donation deduction and they save on energy costs.

>
> For a ground water heat pump, if you can bury a ot of really cheap pipe in a
> closed system,  or sneak it into a body of water rather than the ground, you
> can avoid all those groundwater problems.
>

the current thinking is to purcahse several acres of land from the
farmer behind me and build a large pond. make it deep enough so that it
will not freeze solid and that if stocked with fish they would be able
to breed and multiply. use the pond with a sunken heat exchanger for the
home and shed. just costs time and money. ;-)

>
> BTW:  are you committed to the shore job?  What happened to the salvage
> vessels?
>

the ships are still being worked on. so far none can be flagged under a
united states flag for many reasons. they are currently still registered
under new zealand, canada, swedish flags. not being able to fly severely
hampers my being able to travel. the doctors and i are not in agreement
about my traveling just yet. they want to remove the one rod/pin that
may be impinging on a nerve in my left hip. my attitude is that i can
live this year on the morphine and lovenox just fine and remove the
rod/pin next year. i have been a pauper for 12+ yrs and now i have the
resources to get somethings done.  i would like to see first hand just
what it is i have purchased for so much usd. ;-)

>
> Keziah
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "terry l. ridder" <terrylr at blauedonau.com>
> To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 5:52 PM
> Subject: [TheForge] new shed design and other ramblings
>
>
>> hello;
>>
>> i am attempting to build an environmentally friendly shop. i would like
>> to keep the carbon footprint for the shop as small as possible. i am
>> trying to use recycled materials in building the shed to being with.
>>
>> i am looking at either producing all the 3-phase electrical power that i
>> would need for the shop using a marine diesel 3-phase 240 volt generator
>> or cut back on power requirements and produce the electricity using
>> solar panels on the shed roof and a wind turbine. i have the marine
>> diesel all ready i would have to purchase the solar panels and wind
>> turbine. i have not reached a final decision on the electrical system.
>>
>> i would like to have the new shed off grid if at all possible. that way
>> i am able to control the cost of producing the electricity for the shed.
>> i have looked at the commonwealth edison offer and it is just loaded
>> with fees and charges. there is the metering charge, distribution
>> facilities charge, transmission services charge, electricity supply
>> charge, purchased electricity adjustment charge, environmental cost
>> recovery adjustment, energy efficiency programs charge, etc. there is
>> even a charge is i do not use the 3-phase equipment often enough.
>>
>> if i include the cost of the equipment to produce the 3-phase electrical
>> power it is clear that i would not break even for many years.
>>
>> i am looking at putting radiant heat in the concrete portion of the new
>> shed floor. the heating system will be a wood/coal boiler/stove. i have
>> not decided on just how the new shed will be cooled or even if it will
>> be cooled. i may go with the new generation of spot coolers to cool the
>> location of the shed where creature comforts are required.
>>
>> i have looked at the ground water heating and cooling systems but the
>> requirement for using a double walled heat exchanger is a killer. i can
>> understand the need to protect the ground water from contamination put
>> there are other ways to do that other than using a double wall heat
>> exchanger. a double walled heat exchanger is twice as large as a single
>> wall heat exchanger.
>>
>>
>> --
>> terry l. ridder ><>
>>

-- 
terry l. ridder ><>