Watson Solar House

Frank Evans and Susanna Gross are utilizing both passive and active solar to heat and power their house in Colorado. They have graphs of the solar thermal ...

http://256.com/solar

HowStuffWorks "How many solar cells would I need in order to ...

If you were to power a house with solar electricity, you would certainly use gas appliances because solar electricity is so expensive. ... http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/energy-efficiency/question418.htm

Designs of solar homes in the south

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SolarHomes/91HomesBook/South/South.htm

Solar Energy Storage

Unfortunately, the technology to use alternative storage sources is not as abundant as the readily available as nickel cadmium and lead acid batteries. However, I did see some other types of batteries. Here are two web pages(http://poweredbysolarpanels.com/solar-energy-storage/ , http://www.mpoweruk.com/zebra.htm ) that go into more detail about the technologies. I like the one called the Zebra battery, the only down side to using them is that they cannot handle being undercharge. So, I don’t think that it would work at night time and the best bet would be nickel cadmium or lead acid.

Results of the Meeting

Team Meeting

1/28/10
6:00 PM
Gaston College
Meeting called by:
Paul Privett
Type of meeting:
Discussions of Ideas
Facilitator:
Gaston College
Note taker:
Paul Privett
Timekeeper:
Joshua Anstead


Attendees:
Sherry Carpenter; Joshua Anstead; Paul Privett
Not in attendance: Erica Williams
Agenda Items
Topic
Presenter
Time allotted

ü Picking a Captain and Recorder
Paul Privett
15 mins
ü Choosing a Idea for the Design Project
Paul Privett
45 mins
ü Planning a schedule for the next two weeks
Joshua Anstead
15 mins
ü Choosing a time for the next meeting
Sherry Carpenter
15 mins
ü


ü


ü


ü





Other Information


Outcomes:
Topic #1: This week’s Captain and Recorder were chosen. Paul Privett will be the Captain and Joshua Anstead will be the Recorder.
Topic #2: As a team, everyone decided that planning and budgeting to power an average size home with solar energy would make an interesting project. Some ideas were passed around about how in the future we can have a team member research a specific area of the project and report on it. We all decided to do some research in different areas and talk about what we find in the next meeting.
Topic #3: Also, we touched on what we want to have done by the end of the project. We concluded that we need to meet every week and also needed to create a schedule to serve as a guideline to go by.
Topic #4: We have agreed on meeting on Tuesday the 2nd of February at 5:30 PM
Tasks for next week:
Paul Privett will research the amount of energy our system needs.
Joshua Anstead will research the eco friendly batteries.
Sherry Carpenter will research the benefits of using a green house to save energy.


Special notes:
This week Paul Privett will create a Mission Statement for our team.
Sherry Carpenter will create a Goals chart.

I spoke with Nortey

I was able to talk with Nortey today and he did not have a problem with our group using this as a log. He only asked that we find a time to meet in person.

This is a video of Eco-Drive

I found this link on the citizen watches website: http://www.citizenwatch.com/COA/English/ecodrivemovie.asp
check it out, it is a great video about the technology that they use.

Gaston 2010 Design Project Group #5

Hello everyone,

I wanted to try and see how this would work for our project. I will ask Nortey if this will count for a log of the progress that we make in the design of the project. If so, I would like to share our ideas and work through this blog. So far, we know that the focus of the assignment is to build something that utilizes solar energy. I have had several ideas that I would like to share with everyone now.

* The first is to make a shell that can be adapted to any laptop that will be embedded with a solar panel. It will have three main parts. The first is a simple protective cover that is already on the market. It is made of a clear thin plastic that encases a laptop to help prevent scratches. Here is a website that offers one like the one I am talking about; http://www.macmall.com/p/5493285?dpno=7815644&source=ZWB12091&srccode=cii_10043468&cpncode=19-34937592-2 The second is a very thin solar panel that has the same dimensions of the back of the LCD screen. I would like it to be attractive looking like the type of solar panels used in Eco-Drive watches made by Citizen. The website for the watches is www.CITIZENWATCH.com. The last part will be the circuit board that converts the energy from the solar panel to the correct voltage and current needed to charge a computer battery. I would perfer that is embedded in the case itself.
This is just one of the ideas that I have. I would like to hear if anyone else has come up with something. If so, please included in the blog. So, good luck, I hope to hear from everyone soon.