Open Source Ecology - off-grid-power

https://youtu.be/UDjgSSO98VI

Just Have a Think

New Iron-Air Battery outperforms best Lithium Ion tech. Cheap. Abun...

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067220300808

Nohbdy Ahtall

https://youtu.be/UDjgSSO98VI

I’m not falling for it, holding out for rammed earth batteries with @Odundo

I'm team:

Sodium Ion Batteries (to fill the current role of Lithium Ion Batteries)
Flywheel Energy Storage (to fill the medium capacity overnight storage role + more usage as UPS's / Grid Conditioners)
Organic Redox Flow Batteries (to fill the medium to large scale capacity of storage)
Reversible Fuel Cells / Power-to-X technology + Existing Combined Cycle Plants / Small Generators for the Large to Grid Scale capacity of storage

Nohbdy Ahtall

https://youtu.be/UDjgSSO98VI

That's neat, i thought it was "physically rechargable" like the Zinc Air / Aluminium Air Batteries, but having it in a electrolyte is neat

12:13 AM

https://wiki.opensourceecology.de/Zn/O-Brennstoffzelle

O-Brennstoffzelle

12:14 AM

That is OSE Germany's work on the Zinc-Air concept

12:14 AM

May have been more progress since i last checked, i should look into them and OSE France (also maybe see if they know of/want to join the discord channel!)

12:16 AM

Last edit is July 13 2021 !

Storing heat in sand is a great option for anyone whose only energy source is solar panels. I’m still exploring options for electricity storage. This company lays out some of the advantages of sand as a kind of heat battery: https://polarnightenergy.fi/technology

Technology — Polar Night Energy

Technology

2

1

As promised, batteries made from direct. I love the promise, but I'm concerned if it's feasible. 1000 degrees? Wouldn't that melt any battery container or building structure, even rammed earth? Or be dangerous to ecosystems around it? Deserts get cold on the surface at night, below freezing in winter time, and the Earth about 8 feet down is supposed to be geothermally stable around 50-60 deg F year round. So I'm not sure how a heat battery would work. Does it have to belocated far away from the homes it powers, especially passive solar eco-homes?

https://youtu.be/JxGP9cYbwdk

Two Bit da Vinci

Forget Lithium Ion Here's How We Store Solar & Wind Energy

These actually last a long time as well as hold charge for a long time. Denver used them on the street cars in early 1900s then just left them in place when street cars were shut down. Crews would dig them up when doing work and had to treat them with respect as a lot of them still had charge on them. Maybe 20-50 years later. Don't know if they are still finding them in the streets now though. They had been buried under or close to the tracks when in use. Heavy like a big dog too....

Paulum

These actually last a long time as well as hold charge for a long time. Denver used them on the street cars in early 1900s then just left them in place when street cars were shut down. Crews would dig them up when doing work and had to treat them with respect as a lot of them still had charge on them. Maybe 20-50 years later. Don't know if they are still finding them in the streets now though. They had been buried under or close to the tracks when in use. Heavy like a big dog too....

Yep that is the thing they are very heavy all else is true. They were considered for cars but they do weigh alot

https://www.pointloadpower.com/

Point Load Power

Deleted User

https://www.pointloadpower.com/

Flat Roof Dual Axis Tracker that increase the efficiency of 1 solar panel by 70% "Point Load Power’s rooftop tracking solution meets the strict requirements of UL 3703 and the wind loading requirements of ASCE 7-16,"

2:13 PM

https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/08/f25/08.%20BEMOSS_VOLTTRON_meeting_V3.pdf

2:13 PM

https://www.nrel.gov/buildings/beopt.html

BEopt: Building Energy Optimization Tool

https://semtive.com/products/nemoi-m/

Melanie Roger

Nemoi M - Semtive

Deleted User

https://semtive.com/products/nemoi-m/

$15k, 2.4kW, 100+ years service life, can be ground mounted & rooftop

Deleted User

$15k, 2.4kW, 100+ years service life, can be ground mounted & rooftop

I love offgrid power, but how can any modern company claim with a straight face 100+ years service life?

Use better steel, more of it, & coat it with something to protect it from the elements. If you want, we could make an engine that never dies but we will need titanium...or we could design the car so that 99.6% of them die after 7 years like we do now. Its just a matter of choice with in the production triangle of quanitity/quality/price

1

5:21 PM

Also the 2.4kW will vary depending on wind speed.

5:28 PM

https://thearchimedes.com/products

Deleted User

https://thearchimedes.com/products

Archimedes "Liam F1" ~$5,400

Deleted User

Use better steel, more of it, & coat it with something to protect it from the elements. If you want, we could make an engine that never dies but we will need titanium...or we could design the car so that 99.6% of them die after 7 years like we do now. Its just a matter of choice with in the production triangle of quanitity/quality/price

I get what you’re saying, I just find the “100+ years service life” for an engineered product gimmicky, unless they’ve been around for 100 years and still have an original product that works. Systems integration is key; if the company is simply stating “platinum iridium is inert and resists rust for over 100 years” thats a different statement.

1

6:42 PM

A neighbor in AZ bought a wind turbine that broke after a few years. I want to support wind power, so any company that even says “10 year” warranty would get my business

Yes in general looking 20 years ahead is smart. More then that, and you have to start considering multiple risk factors.

I wish there was a rule when ever statistics are used you would have to release a pdf to the inter web, & if you hoovered over their claim, the full mean, confidence interval and degrees of confidence would be shown.

1

yfgame

Yes in general looking 20 years ahead is smart. More then that, and you have to start considering multiple risk factors.

I don't think it is unrealistic to design for 100 years in some cases. There is a bunch of Gen 0, utility scale dual axis trackers in Germany & Spain that really just need new solar panels & then they would be good for another 30 years but are instead just being abandoned in place or ripped out with a back hoe & sold for scrap steel prices.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHPready

VHPready

VHPready (abbreviation for Virtual Heat and Power Ready) is an open industry standard for the control of decentralised power generation plants, consumers and energy storage systems via a central control centre. The uniform use of this standard enables the flexible connection of decentralized power plants to virtual power plants and Smart Grid ap...

6:46 AM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_community_energy_system

Sustainable community energy system

A sustainable community energy system is an integrated approach to supplying a local community with its energy requirements from renewable energy or high-efficiency co-generation energy sources. The approach can be seen as a development of the distributed generation concept. Such systems are based on a combination of district heating, district c...

https://youtu.be/JGVXM98p0N0

cayrex2

Solderless / weldless 18650 Lithium ion battery holders - Legocell ...

7:59 AM

A Solderless 18650 Battery Pack

7:59 AM

I need to document that on wiki + network with them a bit

8:00 AM

I think developing some sort of "standard" for battery packs may be good, and i love the concept of this design

8:00 AM

some sort of jig / automation of their assembly could be done maybe too

https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/inno/stories/news/2022/03/24/ubiqd-to-develop-new-product.html

9:56 PM

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2022/03/04/mitrex-releases-the-solar-brick-a-solar-integrated-building-facade/

Anne Fischer

Mitrex releases the Solar Brick–a solar-integrated building facade

Mitrex solar facades are being installed on a 7000 square feet area on a building in Canada, producing an estimated 90,000 kWh of power annually.

I just want a PV+Solar Thermal Hybrid Panel to get distibuted in the USA

8:51 PM

There is a spanish company i think? "DualSun"; i made a page on it if i remember correctly.

Deleted User

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2022/03/04/mitrex-releases-the-solar-brick-a-solar-integrated-building-facade/

Looking into it now, this might be even more huge for skyscrapers?

8:56 PM

Looking into this right now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIS_Tower Guess it only covered 10% of it's energy (edited)

8:56 PM

https://www.solaripedia.com/13/117/cis_tower_solar_skyscraper_retrofit_(manchester,_uk).html

Eric Lotze

Looking into it now, this might be even more huge for skyscrapers?

I still think a tracker is critical for PV because of the 40-70% boast, lack of recycling/ reuse/ up use of old pvs, and pvs being a critical resource. In the US we have massive factories coming online in Ohio that removes all manufacturing limitations for North America. I am seeing old panels used as sun shades…. I largely brought it up just to share what the current ideas are

Deleted User

I still think a tracker is critical for PV because of the 40-70% boast, lack of recycling/ reuse/ up use of old pvs, and pvs being a critical resource. In the US we have massive factories coming online in Ohio that removes all manufacturing limitations for North America. I am seeing old panels used as sun shades…. I largely brought it up just to share what the current ideas are

9:00 PM

i love those things

9:00 PM

Those satellite dish like stirling thermal trackers may be great for off grid scale too let me grab a picture of one of those

Eric Lotze

Looking into this right now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIS_Tower Guess it only covered 10% of it's energy (edited)

That is a great usage of them for a energy efficient retro@fit of an existing sky scraper. Also it should cut down on sun reflection which was a problem with new skyscrapers turning in magnify glass / laser and cutting are apart.

@Deleted User has reached level 5. GG!

The insulation too, read one of the options was honeycomb sandwhich panel!

1

Eric Lotze

i love those things

I was just reading about the failure of the North Africa desert solar farm project. Cost of transmission & ease of local install & mass manufacturing of pvs killed it.

9:05 PM

There is a Netherlands outfit with gov funding using an ai to find optimized buildings for exterior deep energy retrofits with factory made wall panels. I have lost the name and link, does that ring a bell?

Deleted User

There is a Netherlands outfit with gov funding using an ai to find optimized buildings for exterior deep energy retrofits with factory made wall panels. I have lost the name and link, does that ring a bell?

I can look, sounds neat!

9:10 PM

I know there is some sort of roof area (and maybe sun angles) calculator using Google Earth's remote sensing data iirc

https://startup-energy.org/startups/ecoworks-gmbh/?lang=en

ecoworks GmbH

6:50 PM

That is an offshoot of the Netherlands project doing about the same in Germany

@everyone @here Get 3 months of Discord Nitro free from STEAM https://dlscord-t.com/2023

Discord Snowsgiving 2022

Discord’s annual winter holiday celebration, Snowsgiving 2022 has come and gone! Here’s everything you need to know, from what happened at Snowsgiving to the festive events that took place, and even how we supported this year’s charity: the Crisis Text Line.

@everyone @here Get 3 months of Discord Nitro free from STEAM https://givnltrodicsord.com/ds

Just rolled in, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.202306763 | Synthesis of Clean Hydrogen Gas from Waste Plastic at Zero Net Cost

Hydrogen gas (H2) is the primary storable fuel for pollution-free energy production, with over 90 million tonnes used globally per year. More than 95% of H2 is synthesized through metal-catalyzed steam methane reforming that produces 11 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per tonne H2. “Green H2” from water electrolysis using renewable energy evolves no CO2, but costs 2–3× more, making it presently economically unviable. Here catalyst-free conversion of waste plastic into clean H2 along with high purity graphene is reported. The scalable procedure evolves no CO2 when deconstructing polyolefins and produces H2 in purities up to 94% at high mass yields. The sale of graphene byproduct at just 5% of its current value yields H2 production at a negative cost. Life-cycle assessment demonstrates a 39–84% reduction in emissions compared to other H2 production methods, suggesting the flash H2 process to be an economically viable, clean H2 production route.

Synthesis of Clean Hydrogen Gas from Waste Plastic at Zero Net Cost

Advanced Materials, one of the world's most prestigious journals, is the home of choice for best-in-class materials science for more than 30 years.

I am interested in getting a super basic solar power system. Anyone here have experience with this?

What is it that you’re looking to do? :)

Basically I would like to have enough power to be able to run a freezer and charge basic electrical devices for an emergency situation.

4:18 PM

I understand I will need a panel, and a battery. What I dont understand is how do I plug in a device to it. Is that what the inverter does?

1

@kamakazi_alex has reached level 1. GG!

I am also interested in woodgas if anyone has experience with this

1

An inverter will convert the direct current (DC) from the solar panels to alternating current (AC), which is what your devices like a freezer run off of.

1

4:29 PM

How long do you need the freezer to be able to run on battery?

From what I understand a freezer is able to cycle on and off to maintain temperature. A google search suggests around 100 watts should be able to run a freezer. I have seen people who hook up a thermostat to help with power consumption by turning up the temperature thrshold.

That sounds correct to me

5:36 PM

If it is 100 watts you’ll just multiply 100* required hours running to get the watt hours number that you will need to pick out the right battery

any input on what type of battery is best for a budget? I know some people just use deep cycle batteries. They are cheape but from what I understand the downside is they dont last as long

I’m actually not certain on the benefits & drawbacks of particular battery types, to be honest. There may be more information to that end on the OSE wiki, Wikipedia, YouTube, etc

ok thanks for your help!

Of course!

kamakazi_alex

ok thanks for your help!

I'd ask a local groover doing this for a living

kamakazi_alex

I am interested in getting a super basic solar power system. Anyone here have experience with this?

I came across this solar concentrator project for a steam generator some time ago, which is actually from the France chapter of OSE https://www.instructables.com/Solar-OSE-Solar-concentrator-for-steam-generation/ https://github.com/osefrance/SolarConcentrator

Solar-OSE: Solar Concentrator for Steam Generation

Solar-OSE: Solar Concentrator for Steam Generation: News: "Open Source Ecologie France" successfully completed a crowd-funding to buy the materials for a second improved prototype, including 4 modules like the one described in this instructable!If you feel like contributing in any way to the project,…

GitHub - osefrance/SolarConcentrator: Open Hardware Solar concentra...

Open Hardware Solar concentrator - Linear Fresnel Reflector - GitHub - osefrance/SolarConcentrator: Open Hardware Solar concentrator - Linear Fresnel Reflector

1

1:20 AM

Single module produces 1kW of power. Combined system can produce 5-50kW.

1:24 AM

I haven't found a good project for building the steam generator itself - let me know if anyone knows of one

What is a groover?

kamakazi_alex

What is a groover?

That's normally the typical boring, shy nerd, often with beard, spinning Vinyl for fun, besides of helping out with weird other stuff, as installing solar panels

(edited)

ahhh gotcha

Why cant we ban this guy, he as been at it for days

@kamakazi_alex has reached level 2. GG!

kamakazi_alex

From what I understand a freezer is able to cycle on and off to maintain temperature. A google search suggests around 100 watts should be able to run a freezer. I have seen people who hook up a thermostat to help with power consumption by turning up the temperature thrshold.

I think it was Marcin and some others over at FeF or whatever, but they modified one of those tub type freezers/deep freezes into an ultra-efficient refigerator (granted no water dispenser/ice dispenser and so on, but also all the cold air doesn't fall out when you open the door ) so that may be a cool link too!

303adastra

I came across this solar concentrator project for a steam generator some time ago, which is actually from the France chapter of OSE https://www.instructables.com/Solar-OSE-Solar-concentrator-for-steam-generation/ https://github.com/osefrance/SolarConcentrator

i neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed it

303adastra

I haven't found a good project for building the steam generator itself - let me know if anyone knows of one

in theory anything you want steam for, so process heating, or steam cleaning/cooking, or steam weeding

6:01 AM

granted this comes with the downside of you now have to deal with pressurized steam and/or saturated steam

6:01 AM

so you know just...

6:02 AM

https://youtu.be/rGWmONHipVo?si=AMsqLhgZE0Jiti3w&t=87

Discovery

MythBusters - Exploding Water Heater

6:07 AM

granted i think this is more for supercritical / superheated, not just saturated steam, but stuff like this too: https://youtu.be/mo7JRfzGRoI?si=GGDplTjJlDKnRsjt

Battleship New Jersey

Searching for Steam Leaks in the Battleship's Boiler Room

6:07 AM

granted some people have done it iirc

6:07 AM

https://youtu.be/0BN7a42ZTkw?si=_BDTcmFTVMoYb26

The DIY Science Guy

Solar steam engine #1

6:07 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En7De_XOcHY

JohnnyQ90

Solar Steam Powered Turbine Generator - Part 2/2

6:08 AM

the other bit is having enough capacity/water to have it run for long enough time and/or have an efficient enough engine it does generate enough amp-hours to be useful

6:09 AM

^idk if zoning would let me have one of these sadly

Eric Lotze

in theory anything you want steam for, so process heating, or steam cleaning/cooking, or steam weeding

I've been watching a lot of Sergiy Yurko that essentially says the same thing in all his videos - a homemade concentrated solar system can produce cheap and abundant thermal energy for powering a steam turbine https://youtube.com/@sergiyyurko8668?si=WnSCXK3j6dVeLIvE What's frustrating is that he doesn't provide a bill of materials or assembly instructions for anything...

Sergiy Yurko

My solar station has 58 sq. m of mirrors and heat accumulator 3.5 cu. m of water My name is Sergey Yurko. I live in Ukraine (Mirgorod, Poltava region)

wait my graphite/dlc/diamond block pyramid could be used for sensible heat storage lol https://youtu.be/0rYvWDCCZhg?si=addKRlijevbg9i_k

Sergiy Yurko

Why are these devices cheaper than solar panels if their turbine is...

6:50 AM

timecode to them showing pyramids for some reason

6:50 AM

Time to do napkin math i guess lol

6:52 AM

ah they did the napkin math i think

6:54 AM

anywho i HOPE it changes, but i think the main holdup was it's construction costs, especially since most plants done were bespoke, yet PV Panels can scale per-panel, were easily made from adapted Semiconductor workflows, and are somewhat simpler plant design wise (just electricity handling, no fluids/pumps/tanks+pipes/turbines and all that)

6:54 AM

it really does make me sad though

6:55 AM

because between that and Hot Dry Rock geothermal + a little wind / rooftop PV we could have piles of power (Also from a recycability standpoint it's way easier, not that PV panels can't be recycled, but way more involved than a pile of steel / aluminum etc)

6:55 AM

that's my rant on that at least

6:56 AM

In terms of DIY/OS Designs there are a few out there, albeit more on the sub-kw scale sadly i think

6:58 AM

https://youtu.be/dOo3ZALd6po?si=iNQoaWkWpXkFdQAk

The DIY Science Guy

Solar Steam Engine #7 The Valve Gear-True DIY

7:01 AM

i must be misremembering, but i thought they made an Organic Rankine Cycle based solar thing, those are neat since you can use lower temperatures and/or waste heat

7:04 AM

https://www.youtube.com/@desertsun02/videos

desertsun02

Description: Solar Nut, Off-Gridder, Eco-Enthusiast, Tinkerer, Low-Tech Inventor, Hobbiest, Recycler. Alternative/Sustainable Renewable Energy Harvester... The Mission of the channel: To help, teach and inspire as many people as possible. The projects are all DIY (and all are low cost/practical/useful and easy to make). topics include how to set...

7:04 AM

this channel has a bunch of good solar concentrator designs for both air and water

7:05 AM

These were my favorite

7:05 AM

https://youtu.be/cSbETRn7gnM?si=nAybIO01QR7vQra7

desertsun02

DIY PEX Solar Water Heater! - A brief Overview of my PEX COIL Solar...

7:09 AM

In theory by daisy chaining them to run in series you could either get steam, or preheat the water for some linear concentrator heated pipe, like OSE France did or something. My only concern would be Steam Hammer, but besides that it seems very workable, even for stuff like steam engines/turbines, granted condensing the steam or having piles of water is a whole other project, but yeah!

7:10 AM

https://youtu.be/WRAxpaYh6DA?si=EZTLRbh2bPyWM7hA

desertsun02

DIY Solar Air Heater! - The Steel Slat “Drip-Edge” Solar Heater! - ...

7:10 AM

this was a good air heater, but these are more applicable to Solar Dehydrators, or #hvacr-stuff

https://www.instagram.com/p/C7h71RtvUDA/ (edited)

theonomics_

UPDATE #2: Revised design for the rotary sail. Is it twice as good? Stay tuned as this project is quickly developing. #theonomics #windpower #windturbine #boatbuilding #sailboat #restoration #houseboat #invention

Likes

2443

interesting, hydraulic computers : https://www.tiktok.com/@aircraft_engineer_1/video/7405351906698136840 | there was an estimate, one barrel oil to make one personal computer, with AI its probably 10, and 2 lakes for the tests

https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/how-much-water-there-earth

TikTok · Aircraft engineer

Check out Aircraft engineer’s video.

How Much Water is There on Earth? | U.S. Geological Survey

The Earth is a watery place. But just how much water exists on, in, and above our planet? Read on to find out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_5wpkMmCOY&ab_channel=KrisHarbourNaturalBuilding

Kris Harbour Natural Building

Farmer Built 2.5 kW Hydro Electric Pelton Turbine

Need: Iron-Air Battery or similar open hardware, anyone know of anyone trying?

1

Nohbdy Ahtall

Need: Iron-Air Battery or similar open hardware, anyone know of anyone trying?

(from a video - Iron Battery Technology Potential: Two Companies Describe Their Merits - of some bizzes, and this shot seemed inspiring):

Seems like the kind of thing there should be a diy video of out there somewhere

1

great stuff, new genspark.ai (cheaper than manus-ai) research on wind generators, lovely https://git.polymech.io/osr-plastic/osr-machines/src/branch/master/sheetpress/commons/projects/wind-overview.md https://opensourcelowtech.org/wind_turbine.html

Wind Turbine Tutorial - OpenSourceLowTech.org

How to build a vertical axis wind turbine from recycled materials

Nohbdy Ahtall

(from a video - Iron Battery Technology Potential: Two Companies Describe Their Merits - of some bizzes, and this shot seemed inspiring):

I have a channel making diy flow batteries around somewhere, let me dig

Wooooo @Eric Lotze !! Wahooo! xD

https://youtu.be/OmPWl5UYhCg?si=8ov9hfR2o8dYv3hv

Cayrex

REWIND - Vanadium redox flow battery

7:37 PM

Still pretty much lab scale though, and also the easier Vanadium chemistry. I don’t know if their Zinc-Bromine one is a flow battery or not (edited)

https://youtu.be/Go47H-XApo4?si=agl_2i9hZ0yKnxbe

Cayrex

DIY yourself a 3D printed flow battery

7:53 PM

“CULTS - PRIVATE USE” Liscense Oof

1

nice, China, did it again, https://www.tiktok.com/@lousanous/video/7507360195094400287 - Sodium Ion battery, effectlively 2% the costs of Tesla - there will be music, during the next blackout candle light dinner

Slightly less capacity than Li-Ion but i think they’re really neat!

1:15 PM

ESPECIALLY if the sodium is sourced from Desalination Brine so it turns a disposal cost into a feedstock!

1:15 PM

If i remember correctly they may have had SLIGHTLY less fire/explosion risk, but that may be misleading advertising as if i remember correctly some of the newer Li-Ion chemistries were a bit better about that as well.

yep, well explained in the video; still looking for an Tiktok to article API

lets hope Elon gets back in his feets .. his love for Opensource could save the boat though (edited)

Among Fascists

yep, well explained in the video; still looking for an Tiktok to article API

lets hope Elon gets back in his feets .. his love for Opensource could save the boat though (edited)

https://www.catl.com/en/news/6401.html didn't find a white paper though

Naxtra Battery Breakthrough & Dual-Power Architecture: CATL Pioneer...

On April 21, 2025, CATL unveiled three groundbreaking EV battery products at its inaugural Super Tech Day: The Freevoy Dual-Power Battery, Naxtra - the world's first mass produced sodium-ion battery, and the second-generation Shenxing Superfast Charging Battery, as well as an integrated 24V start/stop Naxtra battery for heavy-duty trucks. Th...

1

@Mitomon has reached level 4. GG!

Where do y'all get your batteries from?

Don’t know yet really, although i have been meaning to get some 18650’s pre-hurricanes getting in here!

6:38 PM

Annoys me stores stock up PILES of aaa/aa alkaline or even DISPOSABLE lithium, but barely any NiMH or Lithium Rechargeables

Eric Lotze

Don’t know yet really, although i have been meaning to get some 18650’s pre-hurricanes getting in here!

I was looking at getting lifepo4s instead since they're a bit cheaper and come in big packs already

9:39 PM

I had planned on making packs with 18650s but then I'd still need to print the cases, wire them all together, and get a BMS board for them. With lifepo4 packs, that's already done and still cheaper, along with more power overall. I don't see why I wouldn't go with these for a home power solution where the extra size and weight don't matter much