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Of the three main types of micro/diy renewable energy solar is the least dependent on geographic features as you say. Wind requires high ground in a preferably
by marktangotango 6y ago
Of the three main types of micro/diy renewable energy solar is the least dependent on geographic features as you say. Wind requires high ground in a preferably high wind corridor (try using google maps drive around dodge city Kansas). Micro hydro requires a stream or spring with high head and a lot of flow.
I spent a lot of time researching land in my area to find either of these and they just don’t come available very often. Certain areas are well suited for one or the other obviously, Kansa for wind, Appalachia for micro hydro. But with solar you can put it any damn place.
A fourth way is burning agricultural waste or wood (net zero carbon emissions) to run a steam turbine to generate electricity. I don’t know if anyone really does this in practice. It takes quite a lot of fuel (and storing the fuel) to generate meaning full power continuously. Plus high pressure steam is dangerous.
- toast0 6y ago> A fourth way is burning agricultural waste or wood (net zero carbon emissions) to run a steam turbine to generate electricity. I don’t know if anyone really does this in practice. It takes quite a lot of fuel (and storing the fuel) to generate meaning full power continuously. Plus high pressure steam is dangerous. I've seen links to wood gas generators, which seems a lot more tractable than a homemade steam plant, although this is more micro and less diy; you could diy the wood gas part, but then you'd most likely put it into a commercially sourced generator. There are some commercially available all in one setups too (wood bits in, AC out). I haven't done this, be careful with carbon monoxide and icky condensed liquids. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas_generator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas_generator
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]