It has been a busy day. First thing out of the gate, I got my swamper out. The forecast was for 90 degrees or higher, so that is hot enough for the swamper. Tomorrow will be hot too, by the way. The swamper needed some cleaning up. So that took up some time.
Meanwhile, I have my power tote project nearly finished. I wanted to add a couple finishing touches, and so I have. I haven't added up the costs of this project, but it is much more than I bargained for.
The full charge/discharge cycle test determined the capacity. It was a bit disappointing. More than a bit, actually. It won't be able to run the swamper for a full day without some recharging, drat it.
But not to worry. If I were to add a solar panel of sufficient capacity, it will keep this thing charged up. But that wasn't the plan before. It may be the plan now, and for now. The thing is, if this stuff is going to cost so much and deliver so little, I may have to reconsider what's next.
It would help to have shade. This location is murder during the late afternoon. It faces west. Yikes. The idea was to put up some shade, and use that as a mounting place for the panels as well. This would make running the a/c a thing of the past. As well as the swamper works, the a/c still needs to cool down the bedroom. It gets mighty hot in there. That where a shade would help a lot, I would think.
Out on the property, the plan is to dig a basement. This would help for all seasons. Cooler in the summer, and warmer in the winter. Some passive solar could help in the winter. The idea there is to heat up some water, and store the water for warmth in the cooler evenings. Some warm water delivered to the basement could make it nice and cozy. But that is another project for another day.
The big idea overall is to minimize the amount of energy needed, and make use of advantages there are to be had. By digging a basement, you escape the extremes of temperature without having to use a lot of energy to make it comfortable. That in turn, requires less energy to run the household. Which means a lot less equipment needs to be brought to bear in order to do the job.
The bigger goal still is to be able to step outside of the grid, which is being abused in order to oppress people. Too bad there are so many today who seem to be okay with that.
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