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Following the Sun
17/12/2008 11:53 pmNormally at this time of year, the Izzie is curled up inside trying to keep cool. Got the fans on and constantly jumping in and out of the shower tub. The cheapskate serpent version of evaporative airconditioning.
The bright blob in the sky becomes the evil enemy and is to be avoided at all costs. But this time it's different. Not just because the weather has been absolutely glorious and breezy for most of this month and the last except for the recent sizzling Sunday.
But now the inner goblin is most interested indeed in the antics of a certain star since not only is it making the garden grow but also turning the dial on the little electricity meter
Nothing like a bit of self interest to increase enthusiasm
Aside from following the shadows and light from the shortest to the longest day of the year, which is most important indeed for planning a proper vegie patch, there's new ways and means to monitor the yellow monster
Will soon be approaching the upper limit for length of daylight. Today's score has been the highest ever since going 'online' at the end of February. Got 5.85 kilowatts of sunshine for the day and a total just over 900 kilowatts. Will not make it to the magic megawatt before the end of the year. Will be about 40 kw short based on present guesstimates. But it's not bad considering we've got to make do with a west facing roof on the second storey. Would have been much bigger and juicier numbers facing north with only one storey. Most likely it would be winter that would make the biggest difference
A typical June day would be somewhere between 2 and 3 and even less than 1 if it rains all day.
It's interesting to note the variation in hours between a low of 10 and the present 14 hours of useable light as well as the slow and steady rise to more than 5 kilowatts per day and the equally steady fall back down to winter levels.
But the prettiest and most useful - and definitely cheapest solar panels are not the ones on top of the tiles but the gorgeous green and infinitely more ancient versions that come in portable tiny little packets and need little more than water, soil and lots of tender loving care to get them going. They convert sunshine into all sorts of useful things much tastier than electricity
The old pumpkin leaf panels certainly take the prize for being the most prolific.
They even provide protection for the more sensitive sorts whose cells get all sizzled by too much power.
The long term grand project is to have every possible wall, corner and available bit of roof space and ground space covered with a variety of pretty green panels in all shapes and sizes so that not an itsie bitsie watt escapes the Lair without being snatched by this energy hungry serpent
The bright blob in the sky becomes the evil enemy and is to be avoided at all costs. But this time it's different. Not just because the weather has been absolutely glorious and breezy for most of this month and the last except for the recent sizzling Sunday.
But now the inner goblin is most interested indeed in the antics of a certain star since not only is it making the garden grow but also turning the dial on the little electricity meter
Nothing like a bit of self interest to increase enthusiasm
Aside from following the shadows and light from the shortest to the longest day of the year, which is most important indeed for planning a proper vegie patch, there's new ways and means to monitor the yellow monster
Will soon be approaching the upper limit for length of daylight. Today's score has been the highest ever since going 'online' at the end of February. Got 5.85 kilowatts of sunshine for the day and a total just over 900 kilowatts. Will not make it to the magic megawatt before the end of the year. Will be about 40 kw short based on present guesstimates. But it's not bad considering we've got to make do with a west facing roof on the second storey. Would have been much bigger and juicier numbers facing north with only one storey. Most likely it would be winter that would make the biggest difference
A typical June day would be somewhere between 2 and 3 and even less than 1 if it rains all day.
It's interesting to note the variation in hours between a low of 10 and the present 14 hours of useable light as well as the slow and steady rise to more than 5 kilowatts per day and the equally steady fall back down to winter levels.
But the prettiest and most useful - and definitely cheapest solar panels are not the ones on top of the tiles but the gorgeous green and infinitely more ancient versions that come in portable tiny little packets and need little more than water, soil and lots of tender loving care to get them going. They convert sunshine into all sorts of useful things much tastier than electricity
The old pumpkin leaf panels certainly take the prize for being the most prolific.
They even provide protection for the more sensitive sorts whose cells get all sizzled by too much power.
The long term grand project is to have every possible wall, corner and available bit of roof space and ground space covered with a variety of pretty green panels in all shapes and sizes so that not an itsie bitsie watt escapes the Lair without being snatched by this energy hungry serpent
