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birgco
Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 253
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 Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:21 pm Post subject: |
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Chris, thanks for the web site, great info on solar and yes the project is underway, framing is almost complete. Solar equipment and design is still under consideration. Will update as final decisions are made.
| Quote: | | As great as solar and wind power are, they will not supply the continuous source of power that we require to run our society. It needs to have a backup system that can be brought on line very quickly when needed. |
modjohn, have to disagree with that assertion. We do not need to produce solar power continuously or at 100% of our electric power needs. My utility will install a reverse meter to buy back the power generated from my solar panels. Imagine every house and commercial building in the U.S. and around the world generating power in the same manner. The need to produce electricity from fossil fuels would be greatly reduced and maybe (although it wouldn't be my first choice) the balance could be generated by nuclear plants already in place. It would have a major impact on CO2 emmissions. Producing a cheap solar panel has a better chance of changing the world than any other technology currently out there. IMHO |
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modjohn
Joined: 07 Nov 2007
Posts: 20
Location: Kansas, USA
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| Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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I agree that reverse metering is a great idea. When the sun does not shine and the wind does not blow, we still need significant amounts of energy. We will still be very reliant on fossil fuels, but we should be moving away from the worst polluting sources. I am very hopeful that we can produce cheaper solar panels but our government needs to provide incentives to promote wide spread adaptation.
The question is what will it take for them to get to that level? Unless we very rapidly increase our efforts, the time line for these technologies to have a significant impact will be much too long. |
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csintexas
Joined: 06 Feb 2006
Posts: 1301
Location: USA
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| Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 6:50 am Post subject: |
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I agree we will have to keep conventional power plants to supply electricity when the sun is not available. I would think solar and other cleaner fuels could produce at least 50% of our needs -particularly if we could reduce our consumption by 75%.
I also agree the higher the cost of coal generated power the less people will tend to use to a point. Poor people will be affected much more than the upper middle class and are less able to modify their homes to consume less. Three dollars per gallon isn't enough to make the upper income people stop driving land barges. Four would make some impact but would be a severe burden to low income people.
As far as home design goes I have been advocating energy efficient design for the past year and have not had any significant interest. These are the houses that we are optimistically relying on to consume 75% less energy in 45 years according to the lead post. If anything I am seeing an increase in energy consumption.
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Chris Stewart
Modern Texas Home Project |
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SDR
Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Posts: 1534
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:10 pm Post subject: |
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It was more than thirty (30) years ago that I heard renowned biochemistry professor and science fiction author Isaac Asimov tell a radio audience that, if the government would purchase sufficient quantities of solar cells (for remote installations, etc), the price would become competitive and we'd all profit.
Thirty (30) years ago.
What have we been doing. . .?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov |
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csintexas
Joined: 06 Feb 2006
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WalkerARCHITECTS
Joined: 25 Sep 2007
Posts: 16
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| Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:19 pm Post subject: THE SOLAR IMPERATIVE (2) |
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THE SOLAR IMPERATIVE (2)
Walker Architects advocates the creation of rooftop solar power generation plant and other clean alternative sources of power, to lift the energy burden of our civilization from our current dependence on fossil fuel.
We have accepted the mission of facilitating the advent of the solar age, and we believe it is imperative to the survival of our way of life. We know what that vision of the future looks like and how to get there from here.
We have dedicated our resources, talents, knowledge, skill and abilities to the task of defining a living and achievable vision of a truly sustainable energy future. We seek to transform the body of civilization from the city as it is today into the city of tomorrow.
Currently we are writing, speaking, and drawing the vision of the rooftop power plant. We seek allies, new relationships and connections, to work with us and to assist us in defining and communicating the vision of a sustainable energy future, to create the action plan and plot the course of migration from our current state to the desired future state, and to work with us to build the future.
It is to that purpose that we, write and speak, we draw and paint, we make calculations and draw upon the collective wisdom of the past. We work and dwell in the present we participate in the debate and the design solutions from which the future will flow to expand and articulate our vision of the future. We are not alone. We share a common body of knowledge and objectives with a global community of designers, scientists, thinkers and dreamers. We know that the captains of our industry and the common man in the factory are seeking the common path to this future. There are many voices. We know there is great challenge but also great potential and opportunity. We want to share our vision with you and be enriched by yours, to work collectively to change the world.
HISTORY
The history of solar energy is the history of life. The model for the fusion power plant, the sun, is a source of practically unlimited energy, most of which is wasted but nevertheless provides us with millions of kilowatts of power, it keeps us warm, it is the energy that feeds the fish in the oceans, all the life on this planet and drives the storm.
Solar energy is safe, pollution-free energy that has empowered living things since they first appeared on earth. Solar energy is the key component in the circle of life, the energy that drives every organism.
Every day the sun inundates the Earth with several thousand times as much energy as we currently use. Even the small amount that strikes the average rooftop is many times as much as all the energy that comes in through electric wires to service the building. With the sun straight overhead, a single acre of land receives some four thousand horsepower, about equivalent to a large railroad locomotive. In less than three days just the solar energy reaching Earth more than matches the estimated total of all the fossil fuels on Earth!
Walker Architects advocates making appropriate use of this incredible bonanza by converting solar energy into electrical power. We advocate collecting and using the suns thermal energy actively and passively. Solar energy has been used to heat homes from the advent of civilization.
Walker Architects advocates the use of all sustainable energy strategies.
Virtually all of our energy except geothermal & nuclear- comes originally from the sun and there are arguments that can be sustained that even those sources are solar derivatives. A solar-powered radio draws on the sun directly, but a petroleum fueled vehicle is powered by burning fossilized solar energy that has been “stored”, deep with-in the earth as crude oil or natural gas until reclaimed by oil & gas drilling. Burning fossil fuel products produces emissions that are harmful to our living world.
The challenge is to make efficient economical use of solar energy directly and in a non-polluting fashion.
Since the dawn of the industrial age we have dismissed the importance and potential of the sun, lacking the technology to harness solar energy to the machine. What we have accomplished has been done on the back of fossil fuel. Ironically it is fossil fuel that has bought us time to develop the technologies we need to build a sustainable and robust technological civilization. As the drill reaches to the bottom of the energy stockpile that the sun has given to us from the geologic past, the technological capacity is now in hand to harness the energy of the sun. We are at the dawn of a solar age.
As the age of fossil fuel fades, now is the time to invest our resources in the bright future of the solar age, to make realistic goals, strategies and plans to boldly harness the power of the sun to our industry.
The harnessing of solar energy is not beyond our reach, it is in our hands. It is no longer a new potential source of energy but an active source of power. The development of solar energy power plants actually dates back more than 100 years, to the middle of the industrial revolution. Several pioneering solar power plants were constructed to produce steam from the heat of the sun, which was used to drive the machinery of the time. Henri Becquerel discovered the photo-voltaic effect in that same era. He discovered that it was possible to generate the production of electricity directly from the sun. Becquerel's research has been investigated and expanded by many others since that time. Photo-voltaic power remained a curiosity of minimal potential for many years, and in the beginning it was very inefficient at turning sunlight into electricity, improvements in material technology has consistently led to gradual improvements of the photo-voltaic cell. This technology has grown up during the industrial age to the extent that it is ready to be put to work.
Early photo-voltaic applications were geared more towards sensing and measuring light (such as a camera's light meter) than towards producing power. With the advent of semiconductor technology, however, the efficiency of photo-voltaic power has increased dramatically. Photo-voltaic power generation is now a practical alternative to fossil fuel.
Solar power is still collected and used in the same two primary forms: thermal solar, where the heat of the sun is used to heat water or another working fluid, which can be harnessed to drive turbines or other machinery to create electricity; and photo-voltaic energy, where electricity is produced directly from the sun with no moving parts. Today, commercially available photo-voltaic panels are 12% efficient, which is four times greater than only a few years ago and they are rapidly improving.
Photo-voltaic Technology Today
Photo-voltaic power can be produced in many ways, with widely varying efficiency and costs. They can be divided into two basic groupings: discrete cell technology and integrated thin film technology.
Discrete Cell Technology
Single-crystal silicon
Sliced from single-crystal “boules” of grown silicon, these wafers/cells are now cut as thin as 200 microns. Research cells have reached 27 -percent efficiency, with commercial modules of single-crystal cells exceeding 15-percent.
Multicrystalline silicon
Sliced from blocks of cast silicon, these wafers/cells are significantly less expensive to manufacture but less efficient than single-crystal silicon cells. Research cells approach 18-percent efficiency, and commercial modules approach 14-percent efficiency.
Dendritic web
A film of single-crystal silicon pulled from a crucible of molten silicon, like a soap bubble, between two crystal dendrites. Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) A III-V semiconductor material from which high-efficiency photovoltaic cells are made, often used in concentrator systems and space power systems. Research cell efficiencies greater than 25 percent have been achieved under “1-sun” conditions, and nearly 28 percent under concentrated sunlight. Multi-junction cells based on GaAs and related III-V alloys have exceeded 30-percent efficiency.
Integrated Thin Film Technology
Copper Indium Diselenide (CuInSe2), or CIS
A thin-film polycrystalline material, which has reached a research efficiency of 17.7 percent, delivers the highest completed module efficiency for full sized power modules, reaching over 12 percent. Amorphous Silicon (a-Si) Used mostly in consumer products for solar watches and calculators, a-Si technology is also used in building-integrated systems, replacing tinted glass with semi-transparent modules. The primary issue with a-Si technology remains the low efficiency and associated greater requirement for space and higher array installed cost and weight.
Cadmium Telluride (CdTe)
A thin-film polycrystalline material, deposited by electrodeposition, spraying, and high-rate evaporation. Small laboratory devices approach 16-percent efficiency, with commercial-sized modules (7200-cm2) measured at 8.34-percent (NREL-measured total-area) efficiency and production modules at approximately 7 percent.
Advantages of Photo-voltaic Power
Photo-voltaic solar power is the most promising renewable energy source in the world. Compared to nonrenewable sources such as coal, gas, oil, and nuclear, the advantages are clear: it's totally non-polluting, has no moving parts to break down, and does not require much maintenance. A very important characteristic of photo-voltaic power generation is that it does not require a large scale installation to operate, it is differentiated from conventional power generation stations by it’s scale and it’s delivery efficiency.
Conventional power plants suffer a line loss between the point of generation and delivery to the user of about 50 percent. Photo-voltaic power generators can be installed in a DISTRIBUTED fashion, on each house or each business or school, using collection surface that is already developed, and allowing individual users or a new privately owned power company to generate their own clean sustainable power, economically, quietly and safely, reverse meter the power generated and then sell the surplus energy at a profit.
Such rooftop power can be added to existing homes and as more homes or businesses are added to a community. This parallel development capacity thereby allows power generation to stay ahead of growing needs.
We need fossil fuel power generation capacity to remain a healthy part of the infrastructure of our cities, to mitigate the peaks and valleys created by energy demand. We need to develop and implement all feasible alternative sources of sustainable power, such as small scale geothermal and wind turbines. We need a reliable power system with integrated and redundant components that work together to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel power generation. It is the ultimate objective to replace fossil fuel as the primary work horse of the power generation industry with photo-voltaic power, but to leave the existing large scale fossil fuel and hydroelectric power plant in place and fully operational. Like a space capsule our towns and cites need redundant systems to protect the public welfare and secure the prosperity of our industry.
We embrace the diversity of robust energy alternatives. But even when photo-voltaic power is compared to other renewable energy sources such as wind power, water power, and even solar thermal power, there are some obvious advantages. First, wind and water power rely on turbines to turn generators to produce electricity. Turbines and generators have moving parts that can break down, that require maintenance, and are noisy. Even solar thermal energy needs a turbine or other mechanical device to change the heat energy of the sun into mechanical energy for a generator to produce electric power. Photo-voltaic power, by contrast, is generated directly from the sun. PV systems have no moving parts, require virtually no maintenance, and have cells that last for decades.
Uses of Solar
How practical is photovoltaic solar power for home and mobile home/marine use?
These days, it's pretty practical, in the suburbs as well as for remote home sites. An average home has more than enough roof area to produce enough solar electricity to supply all or more of its power needs. Not long ago, people who wanted to live in remote areas had to pay large fees to have a power cable run to their house. Now, a remote home can be self-sufficient with solar power. Even in areas where power lines are nearby, solar is a viable alternative.
Because an average home has more than enough roof area to produce the solar electricity to supply all of its power needs it is possible to “over” design the system to generate a surplus. With an inverter, which converts direct current (DC) power from the solar cells to alternating current (AC), which is what most home appliances run on, and battery storage, a solar home energy system could be disconnected from the grid yet look and operate very much like any typical ordinary home. Energy independence is a good outcome.
Perhaps a better strategy exists where instead of a large battery storage system on site, the system is designed to reverse meter surplus energy to the utility company. Net metering laws make it possible for systems that put in more energy than they use in a given year to operate at a profit.
For recreational vehicles, solar power provides the freedom to go to more remote locations, without relying on a plug-in power source or a noisy electric generator. Systems for RVs can be small for charging batteries only or large enough to power the entire vehicle for a period of time. Similarly, boats can use solar power for many of their power needs, rather than a generator or engine.
Solar PV Power in Industry
Many of the most important applications of photovoltaic power are nearly invisible.
Telecommunications, oil companies, and highway safety equipment all rely on solar power for dependable, constant power, far from any power lines.
Call Boxes: look at a Washington State roadside call box, and you'll see a solar panel. Many states have standardized on the use of solar power and cellular phones to eliminate the need for any buried cable connections to these phones. Given the sometimes literally life-saving nature of these call boxes, dependability is a must.
Roadside signs: solar power is used for many different kinds of lighted highway signs, eliminating the need for diesel generators.
Telecommunications installations: when you need a microwave repeater on a remote mountaintop, the last thing you want to do is run a power line up to it. For reliable power, many communications repeaters in remote areas use photo-voltaic power.
It is clear that solar power generation is now imperative to sustainable economic growth. For that reason solar power will be a much larger part of our lives in 2010 than it is today.
Walker Architects advocates solar energy strategies both passive and active as the key strategy to confront the growing cost of fossil fuel and the potential threats of global warming. We promote solar power for both the retro-fit application to existing buildings and new buildings. An analysis by Walker architects clearly indicates that existing homes provide the rooftop area necessary to change out existing fossil fuel power with photo-voltaic power. New homes could incorporate solar power at the time that they are built, using both passive and active components to dramatically reduce both the cost of installing active solar systems and the aggregate energy demand and associated utility bills.
New communications technology will make living in remote areas a practical reality where solar power can be effectively installed. Industrial applications will continue to expand and enjoy the versatility and opportunities to reduce the level of fossil fuel embodied in the products they manufacture by both direct applications of solar power and by partnering with green energy companies generating photo-voltaic power.
We need to start building the rooftop power plant in this nation now.
There is a Solar Imperative. |
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SDR
Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Posts: 1534
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:54 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you for sharing that forceful and important essay. I agree with the arguments made. I wish you, and all of us, well as we make a major adjustment in our means of living.
SDR |
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csintexas
Joined: 06 Feb 2006
Posts: 1301
Location: USA
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| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:02 am Post subject: |
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I do get clients in these days that express some interest in "green" building but what they are willing to do is insignificant. For example an empty nester couple who want to build over 5000 sq. ft. of covered space. High pitched roof, no regards to orientation, complicated hard to insulate envelope, etc.
All set in a rural sub. creating urban sprawl and surrounded by trees which make it impossible to get enough sunlight to supply 1/2 of it's energy needs even if it does by chance have any south facing roof.
Perhaps we need more green design competitions, Why don't you do that Terry?
Architecture 2030 is only giving us campaign add competitions:
http://www.architecture2030.org/faceit/reverberate.php
Your company could sponsor an annual Walker Architects New American Home Green Design Competition that would focus on simple and affordable solutions.
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Chris Stewart
Modern Texas Home Project |
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lekizz
Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 954
Location: UK
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| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:18 am Post subject: |
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csintexas has nailed the argument really. The question for architects and home designers is not how to retrofit PV panels on the roof, but how to use site, orientation, glazing, shading, ventilation, thermal mass and other passive (free) techniques to exploit the elements - sun, wind, rain - and reduce non-renewable energy use.
To go back to the humble termites, they don't bolt expensive technology on their mounds, instead they distribute warm/cool air around their tunnels to stabilise the temperature.
It is very interesting and useful to read all the arguments and statistics about solar panels. And they are certainly becoming gradually more efficient. But, for a qualified architect to put so much priority into this technology seems to be missing the fundamental point of how and why we can design buildings. |
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WalkerARCHITECTS
Joined: 25 Sep 2007
Posts: 16
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| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:22 am Post subject: What to do Now |
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I think that Solar Design Competitions is a good idea. I will give some thought to that. I am kind of hoping some other will do it though since I want to enter also. New buildings must be appropriately designed & site specific buildings are an essential step in solving the problems we currently face and a key component of our desired future. No new building should be built that does not heal the built environment.
However, the priority must be placed on built environment in an even handed way. The retro fit problem is a burden the future currently must continue to carry. We must have redundant solutions to this global problem and it simply does not make sense, to focus only on new buildings.
Clearly just by the mass of it alone the existing residential infrastructure is the largest component of the energy problem and as I point out whenever I get the chance it is also part of the rooftop solar power plant solution.
The current infrastructure uses very old technology. The energy burden placed on our generation capacity is much greater than most people know because of the nearly 50% line loss associated with AC high voltage transmission. It is much better to generate power directly where it is used and use 12 volt DC output directly with voltage regulators. Inverters will still be required to step up the 120 Volt Ac and to reverse meter the power.
We use reverse metering to balance the summer surplus energy collected against the reduced amount of winter energy we can collect. Because our capacity to store electrical power is limited reverse metering empowers us to store energy using the existing power generation infrastructure like a giant battery. Energy is stored as water that does not need to be spilled through the turbines and as fossil fuel that does not have to be burned to make electricity.
Reverse metering is essential and the existing power generation system is as well. We plan build on what we have now but with an eye on future technology to get better.
We desire most a new technology to store electrical power for longer periods of time. What we need ultimately is local efficient seasonal battery storage or the equivalent. We could then harvest sun energy in the summer when we have a surplus and store it for use in the winter when we need it the most. This technology is at hand in the next decade; batteries are getting better.
I want green clients as well. We all do I think. To acquire new clients willing to build green is difficult. We need to keep the buzz alive. I wish I had more clients and better sites to build upon myself. Developers do not lay out plats with solar access in mind and they do not build sub-division housing one site specific home at a time. So the shift required is from mass production affordable housing, an enduring problem and an economic imperative, to site specific design response on every lot. That is a difficult problem and a difficult transition.
Walker Architects is speaking to these issues all the time. Architecture 2030 has engendered huge momentum nation wide. I do wish Architecture 2030 would address the land planning component embedded in the problem of mass produced home construction. We can all do better. The economic system of constraints is a hurdle from land deal to occupancy by the owner; it all has to pencil in the black before we can bring the most desired future to form. |
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csintexas
Joined: 06 Feb 2006
Posts: 1301
Location: USA
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| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:20 pm Post subject: |
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I would like to participate in a competition as well. Maybe we can have an informal one here at DC or at my site. Kevin has lot's of green related forums so I think it would fit well here.
Anyone else interested? -Nothing too fancy, we can just make up a site plan and a typical family of four. Let it run for a month or so. No prize, maybe a poll/vote to determine the winner.
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Chris Stewart
Modern Texas Home Project |
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SDR
Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Posts: 1534
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:45 pm Post subject: |
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Rather than 'either/or' it must be 'both/and' -- no ?
I wonder why more properties aren't fitted -- or retrofitted -- with the geothermal sub-surface air intake that has been so well demonstrated already ? I wonder what a cost/benefit comparison with solar strategies would look like ? I realize it's a 'bit apples/oranges' -- and I just got through saying we have to do it all -- but the underground tube is a 24/7 winner, isn't it ?
We've just got to get people thinking and aware of all the possibilities, now. And I think the present 'climate' has people prepared to do that as never before. . .
Terry, you could enter someone else's competition, and they could enter yours. Good idea. Shall we do one here, too ?
What would it take to interest one or more of the shelter mags in the idea ? They're always looking for attractive and 'trendy' content, aren't they ?
Dwell, Sunset. . .the more, the merrier. A competition of contests !
SDR |
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csintexas
Joined: 06 Feb 2006
Posts: 1301
Location: USA
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| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:12 pm Post subject: |
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What are you talking about SDR Earth tubes? I know those where experimented with in the 70's but haven't seen much about them since.
Do you know of anyone running such a competition?
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Chris Stewart
Modern Texas Home Project |
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SDR
Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Posts: 1534
Location: San Francisco
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csintexas
Joined: 06 Feb 2006
Posts: 1301
Location: USA
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| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 5:04 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah I think the last article on a actually installed system is interesting. I wish they would update the info and do an analysis of the system. Mostly I have read pretty unfavorable reports as to cost vs. benefit besides other problems associated with them.
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Chris Stewart
Modern Texas Home Project |
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