tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094272124646129169.post4510473069157310746..comments2023-03-31T04:36:35.611-07:00Comments on thorick's world: The Solar Power Hobbyistthorickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589849694983148851noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094272124646129169.post-57295366313760386692015-05-20T12:58:58.137-07:002015-05-20T12:58:58.137-07:00Hi Thorick, I've been running a solar heating ...Hi Thorick, I've been running a solar heating project here in NY for almost a decade. I have self-fabricating panels which consist mostly of oak and maple leaves situated between 30 and 50 ft. above ground on giant wooden posts ranging from 2-3 ft. in diameter, which for lack of a more technical name, I refer to as trees. There are about 60 of them in various stages of growth on a 1-acre plot of land. Once a year, I fell one of them, revealing around 60 growth rings. I split, stack and dry the rounds (interspersed with visits to the physical therapist to address back issues) and then burn these widgets over the winter in a modern EPA approved Jotul wood stove supplement heating costs. After figuring in cost of aforementioned medical attention, I just about break even on oil savings. In any case, the bigger message is the rate of growth here was suprising and these solar collectors are quite beautiful. A colleague who previously did a lot of solar cell development at Philips compared data with me and we came up with a very very rough efficiency estimate of 6:1 for single crystal Si based cells to trees. Curious if anyone has better data? Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00754294700768874292noreply@blogger.com