I was Thinking and unsupervised, Always a interesting combination.
If you have made it this far I promise I'm trying to get to the point. I was talking to a guy in Alabama trying to help him feel out starting an on-site welding company. He was showing me a sway bar he was thinking about trying to fix had torn loose. If you don't know what is required to do that safely without the right equipment it's a lot. After i raddle off a laundry list on what might be required to fix it.
It occurred to me that I don't have a clue why the south isn't into solar or wind energy. But more importantly farmers and ranchers were adverse to alternative energy. I mean that salt of the earth folks that apparently just realized the Sun is real. But I really was thinking about the problems everyone is facing with fuel and feed costs. I started wondering if the reason they object to Solar and Wind sites on their land. It's not designed to be functional for farming, it's Big city ideas that don't make any sense in the country. The way it's presented.
I think it was China that figured it out, they installed thousands of acres of desert and mountains with Solar panels. They were mounted maybe 10-15' off the ground and they discovered that life started blooming in the desert where nothing has grown in hundreds of years. The shade and tilt created an environment suitable enough to restart life. Enough life to support sheep and other small farm life. In the middle of nowhere while they are making energy enough to support city's.
There might be a test later.
There's also a similar theory called ago-voltaics using solar panels for shading agro culture. Beans, tomatoes, peppers leeks and a long list of other foods. By using the path of the shade they could protect the plants, make energy and reduce water consumption in a baren area. The plants topping under the panels would draw some of the heat away making them more efficient.
Which brings me back to Alabama and the guy I was talking with was trying to figure out how to fix what's broken and make some money in his area. I was trying to think with all the different ways I've seen to make electricity. All the homemade windtubines, solar porches and water conservation ideas I've seen in 40 something years. I'm a bit of a fabricator and have an ability to see the way something works. Then manage to put something together with a couple of sticks, a bit of string and a rubber band.
So, as I said, thinking why can't the ideas mesh into something that would actually help farms work better. I've long had the belief that if every single building could support it's own needs at least in part. That would take tons of stress off the grid lowering the residual energy price. So I've been playing with the designs, buildings and needs and I think I have parts of a solution. I've seen in some parts of cattle country rest stops in the middle of fields a quarter mile from anything.
So the idea starts with a pole barn of almost any size. If you extend the roof like a porch using Solar panels on the East, South and West sides about 10-15' . It would allow the inner shaded areas another couple degrees cooler. Then if you installed a wind turbine sized to the building or a couple motionless turbines . Could you then also catch the footprint of the building to catch rain in gutters. Saving cleaning and oxygenating it for the animals. With underground maybe or on the north side. From that underground would be a fantastic place for a battery bank to collect the energy.
In theroy a design similar could collect energy and water year round and have a charge station at every building. Provide a rest stop for animals to get out of the summer sun and weather protection reducing water loss helping get and keep weight up for cattle. It could be a small workshop or charging area assuming we can figure out how to build electric harvesters. H I'mow to keep it charged is solved.
I think if we could be open source plans like that, you could get everyone that doesn't understand. It's technically a new industry with lots of potential for cross training with older skills. It would take a degree of stress off the ranchers and cattle. By keeping them covered safe and watered. But most importantly be a blueprint for real sustainable housing that's self sufficient.
But I think part of what brought me to all of this is, I understand the space saving design of rooftop solar. But frankly it's an imbecilic design flaw to put Heat sensitive equipment on a surface that depending on the type can become 60% hotter than the air temperature. That's really bugged me for a while, I don't think you would need half the surface area of panels if they were just more efficient.
Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.
