I keep finding cool kit that I could incorporate into Pickers. This solar grill is just the sort of thing you might need if you were trekking around a harsh wilderness. No fuel, no smoke (unless you overcook your meal), light, and portable, my characters would probably have one stored away somewhere.
Source: The GoSun Grill Is a Portable Solar Cooker | Digital Trends
Not bad, considering I just walked up to the next landing and took a photo through a very grimy window. As some folk had suggested, cloud cover did a good job of shielding the glare.
A Nepali teenager has come up with a way to use hair to replace silicon in solar cells. The melanin in the hair is photo sensitive and a conductor, and can be bought for pennies a kilo. Panels could be made for £23, or less when production is scaled up.
There’s no real explanation of what Milan Karki has done to the hair to take advantage of melanin’s attributes. If I find them I’ll investigate further.
4) Most eco-renovation take decades to pay back the cost
Every time we decide to make an investment in an eco-project, the subject of payback comes up. It is possible to do the sums, and before we spend any hard earned cash I like to make sure that it’s a good investment. For example, loft insulation can pay for itself in two winters, and with the 2010 feed-in tariff I would expect solar PV to pay for itself in about seven or eight years, and a DIY solar thermal system to heat your hot water should have paid for itself in four or five years. But surely this is missing the point: when it comes to environmentally friendly projects we seem unable to accept the fact that it can be an investment and will add to the value of the house. What is the payback time for a new bathroom or kitchen? If you install solar photovoltaic panels you can reasonably expect them to easily last 25 to 30 years. Everyone knows a new kitchen makes a house more saleable, but in the current economic climate, how much more saleable is a house that will cost the new owners very little to run or may even generate an income?
Technorati tag: EcoHouse
An English student has designed a solar fridge for use in Africa and elsewhere where power supplies are unreliable or nonexistent. It uses evaporation to keep its inner chamber at around 6 celsius and can be fashioned from scavenged materials.
Technorati tag: EcoHouse
