/sci/ - Science & Math

I can't really think of anything beyond a hand crank dynamo, or maybe a small solar cell, but don't expect much.

>>3501444
Oops, added a d at the end of source. My bad.

Hydro, if you've got running water on your land.

I've heard people mention methane/bio gas generators. Is there anything to worry about with these, and do they put out much power?

>>3501444
>Looking for sourced of electricity other than wind and solar

Why?

>>3501466
>Working on making land self sufficient.
It's right there, dude.

>>3501463
You have to farm the methane/whatever, and then you burn it in your engine/generator of choice.

>>3501466
It's not very windy out here, and I want to see other options before investing in solar.

>>3501475
Farming is just another kind of solar power.

What do you want to get out of this project?

RAIN POWERED GENERATOR:

BUILD A VERY TALL FUNNEL-LIKE STRUCTURE.
PUT A GENERATOR AT ITS BASE.
DIG A GUTTER TO AVOID FLOODING YOURSELF.

>>3501474
Farm it? As in let it compost for a while in a container?

>>3501485
The methane has to come from somewhere. Growing algae is another idea.

>>3501478
I want to be able to have electricity without needing a power company. Hence me saying that I want to be self sufficient.

>>3501463
They can put out a lot of energy. They are more complicated and higher maintenance than wind or solar though. You also have to filter out the hydrogen sulfide they produce.

Alternatively you could use geothermal or hyrdo

>>3501502
its like 8 cents a kilowatt hour for energy suck it up pussy faggot wind/sunlight suck as energy sources right now

If you have a couple hundred thousand dollars, build a geothermal generator. It'll keep working your whole life.

>>3501491
What about donkey shit? I've got two donkeys that make ~40lbs of shit a day, would that work?

>>3501499
I've never heard of geothermal. Mind telling me a bit about how it works?

>>3501518
you're so fucking dumb you need to egt the fuck out of here bud

>>3501518
Well, you dig a really deep hole until you get to the warm part of the earth's crust. Then, you have an input pipe which you drop water into. The heat turns it into steam which spins a generator.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_energy

sage because you are a dumb fuck who doesn't know how to google

something like this but not so shitty

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/green-living/eco-nightclub-launches-dancers-generate-electricit
y/1307

>>3501511
Pussy faggot? Seriously, what's with the online rage?

And to be slightly more specific: I plan on building a house far away from civilization. I'd like electricity at my house, and not have to be reliant on anyone for it. It's not the cost of electricity that has me looking into self sufficiency.

>>3501511
OP has an admirable, challenging goal that he wants to accomplish. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. If he wants to figure out how to power shit with masturbation, who are you to dissuade him?

OP, if you haven't got running water on your land, but have a well, perhaps consider steam power. If you have a wood burning stove anyway, you could just integrate a steam generator in with it. It likely wouldn't give you all the energy you need, but it will help.

>>3501519
Oh fuck off, you can barely spell and it was a civil question.

>>3501518
Geothermal makes use of a temperature gradient between the surface of the earth and deep within it. It gets used a lot in places with high volcanic activity like Iceland, but i remember seeing a design where you could cover a field in water pipes about 1m down and do it that way. I can't remember where i saw the article though.

I'd say Hydro would be your best option, even if what you've got is only a small stream. The best lower power design i've seen was essentially using an archimedes screw to get mechanical power from a drop of about 2m. They were powering a farm off it down in Devon.

>>3501534
Thanks for the input, I'll definitely look into steam power.

trees

>>3501561
>but i remember seeing a design where you could cover a field in water pipes about 1m down and do it that way

That's probably a geoexchange system. It's not 'true' geothermal, as the energy comes from the sun and not the earth's core, and the systems are used for heating instead of electricity generation. Still, they're an extraordinarily efficient means of heating, especially with a radiant heat system. OP might want to look into it.

ive been looking into this for a while
basically your going to need to reduce your power needs as much as possible , led lighting, small laptop <40watt , small refrigerator. etc..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLnZLypphgk&feature=related

Bust water into hydrogen and oxygen, then burn the result to power the machine that busts the water into hydrogen and oxygen. Use the excess energy not used to maintain the process to power other things.

Via this method, you can have energy you need as long as you have access to water. Even rain collectors would do if you don't have access to a lake or river.

You can use this to power your house, your car, anything.

fire.
We have these things called trees. And they have this strange habit of growing everywhere.
Luckily they burn really well which makes them very useful

>>3501832

second this, clean burning fire is best energy source.

>>3501832

A wood-burning generator would be very inefficient, very polluting, a pain in the ass to keep fed, and require a large swathe of woodlands to be sustainable even on a very small scale.

>>3501838
>clean burning fire

>>3501838
CLEAN?
WHAT ARE YOU, SOME KIND OF COMMIE?
FUCK OFF BACK TO RUSSIA, RED-IVAN

>>3501850
>>3501850
rocket stoves burn wood cleaner than anything ive ever come across
almost no ash, just exhausted co2 and water vaper

If your not worried about the expense, look into hydrogen cells.

solar and wind will do you just fine. the problem is storing the energy. look into building a pumped reservoir for hydroelectric.

methane generators are only applicable in massive cow, usually dairy, operations. your own waste (including food scraps) will not make any usable quantity of methane. even if you have a huge family, no, you don't shit as much as an entire ranch full of cows.

>>3501849
>>3501850
hey look! autism!

None of the suggestions above are practical.

Get a propane generator for around $2,000. You will have to truck in propane from the nearest gas station every now and then.

A windmill sufficient for an average household's energy needs would run you >$30,000. Solar panels will be a little cheaper than that, but the output is dreadful. To the anon who mentioned hydrogen fuel cells, that is irrelevant since he does not have an electricity source for electrolysis. As for burning biomass, it would require a steam generator and is really impractical.

I'm sure you can find creative ways of finding energy, but none will be as cost efficient as a propane/natural gas generator.

Got a stream? A small waterwheel, a couple of automotive alternators, some reduction gears, and a transformer should do for small items.

Or buy an old army surplus generator and rig it up to be spun by the waterwheel via some reduction gears if you need lots of power.

Did someone say propane?

Wood gas furnace. Throw literally anything in there and you'll get some nice wood gas.

buy a fucking diesel generator and then use processed oils, some hippy near where i used to work did it; he'd come in and take away the oil from the deep fat frier.
You can get this oil from all sorts of sources it just needs to processed (i forget how) and left to ferment a bit.

>>3502784
im not even sure you need it processed at all. I heard that you could run diesel semi trucks off vegetable oil straight from the bottle.

correct me if im wrong.

>>3502811
im pretty sure you need to do something with it, im sure there's a few ways.
But i watched a programme about the tribes in bougainville running diesel generators from vegetable fat that they mixed and fermented.

Get four rage-powered jetpacks.
Attach them in a wheel-formation to a generator.
Browse 4chan.
Infinite energy!

But seriously, if you live somewhere where there isn't much ambient energy to tap into(wind, solar, flowing water), you might be screwed.

On the part of solar, a possible emerging alternative:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nantenna

electormagnetic flux capacitors. THEYRE REAL THEYRE OUT THERE!

>>3501482

Wouldn't a tarp be better?

OP,

I suggest you combine at-least 3 of these for maximum power.