View Single Post
Old 11-04-15, 03:20 PM   #16
Bicycle Bob
Suncatcher
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Spiritwood, Northern Saskatchewan
Posts: 42
Thanks: 0
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by meescha View Post
Hi jeff5may,

Thank you that wind speed graph is very usefull, do you have any other suggestions for electricity, i thought about solar but in the winter, well the lowest average daylight it sais is 4 hours, but considering you drive a little bit more north and theres 0 daylight in the winter, how much of that 4 hours can be harvested using solar panels? plus wouldnt solar panels be a bad idea, cause theyd get snow covered?

other then solar and wind are there any other options?
At those latitudes, you can set your solar panels vertical, but the snow is usually dry enough to blow off anyway. Reflection from the snow will help make up for the angle, but you can't produce any vitamin D when the sun cutting that much air, and panels perform poorly too.
Most of your neighbors will probably be storing summer solar in biomass for winter use.
Historically, heavy equipment has not been necessary to home construction. Even large masses can be moved by hand. I recommend camping on your land for at least a year to study it and other local habitations before building a foundation. By June you have to learn to sleep before it gets dark.
One caveat on wind towers: Don't attach them to your habitation unless you love noise. If I was going with wind, I'd find a hill where I could have a pond both top and bottom. I'd use micro-hydro to produce power on demand from under the ice, and replenish the upper pond with tanks of water drawn up a railway by kite power.
Bicycle Bob is offline   Reply With Quote