Off-Grid Stuff

Solar water heating is a small part of the entire solar heating subject. In british climate large amount of energy you use annually goes to make domestic hot water. In sunny days this water might be prepared using solar energy with a help of solar water heater.

The solar water heater in most cases is not one device, but a system consisting of at least three components:

1. solar thermal panel, the device that makes the hot water using solar radiation,
2. storage tank, well insulated, that holds the hot water from time it’s prepared to the time you open the tap,
3. pump and controller that turns the pump on only when the sun is shining (except for the thermosiphon systems).

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Solar lights are used mostly in off-grid cases, on small or large scale. The cheapest and smallest solar light consists of three elements:

• small solar panel,
• small LED diode,
• rechargeable battery, in most cases AAA size,

with a bit of additional electronics. Such lights are used, for example, to light up your garden paths at night, if you don’t want to install electric cables there. (more…)

Wind generator is a device that uses wind energy to produce electrical power. In most cases it’s commonly referred to as wind turbine. There are of course some wind generators that are not wind turbines, for example so called windbelts, that have almost no practical use.

Wind generators are used to produce energy on off-grid sites, but are also very commonly used as renewable energy source for national energy grid. If installed off-grid, as energy source for autonomous systems, need to be connected to battery bank that stores the energy. (more…)