Right on -- I think about this from two sides: one, it is good to paya premium for emerging tech, IF you're not being swindled (some would argue that emerging tech is always a ripoff), and much or at least some of your money goes to R&D two, there are a lot of predatory business practices out there, and morally-bound consumers are easy targets
that being said, there's a plethora and more of great DIY tech on the web now... I've been envisioning something like MAKE's site and zine for a while, and the kitchen-recipe-style plans that are coming up everywhere in blog/wiki style now. What I really want is a 3D materials/environment simulation to accompany it, prolly 3D on the server and redered out to flash on the clients... that's been my world-domination plan for 5+ years now but I suspect that I'll see a few implementations before I can get my hands into it. So this and a few other tidbits might eventually account for my "prior art". A method of delivering interactive 3D content via network connected devices. Webapp for modeling procedures involving materials recycling and manufacturing processes in general.... THAT being said, watch out for black ABS as a solar collector, IIRC it is not UV-resistant and will break down, and in that exposure may offgas too. Surf around for burning man solar systems, there's a wide variety, mostly I see people put a stove-black steel drum up high, and sometimes use a makeshift parabolic reflector around it, then easy gravity feed. Filling is a chore though, esp without a powered pump :) sorry for all the OT stuff folks, I hope you find it in the spirit of DIY and open-sourced knowledge, ben On 2/23/07, dooger watts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
LinuxRocks! wrote: > I talked with someone last summer, and he has successfully converted his > house to solar, and it has paid well. but it took a lot of fanagleing to > make it pay off... stuff like tax incentives, grants, and returning > power to the grid (he gets paid for excess electricity). He still uss > electricity from the grid, so he isnt completely self sustained. He > worked it all out very well, and i think it took him less than 5 years > to figure it all out, and get it working and paid for. I think he siad > he ends up paying like $50/year to the electric company. In some places > solar works realy really well... but oregon isnt the best for solar, but > clearly, it can work. Hope he did it himself. Was outraged at the recent green home show, at the fairgrounds. The solar "developers" there were all over about how Oregon is perfect for solar--gets more sun than Germany, which is the number one solar-powered nation on earth. But when you got a load of what they charged, your jaw dropped. These dogs wanted more than thirty thousand bux to make your home electric. And they had all these gee-whiz graphs and charts to show you how the cost of investing in solar would pay for itself in--get this--"TWENTY TO THIRTY YEARS." New technologies are always expensive--but goddam, where do these sharks get off? Originally, solar technology was NOT so over-valued--and usually it was a do-it-yourself proposition. S'pose there's gotta be predators ready to exploit--and we Oregonians, with our hipper-than-thou smug, seem ripe for plunder. Got plans for a solar shower that's made of black ABS pipe. Total cost less than twenty bucks. Remember the ole hippy saw, "people's prices?" _______________________________________________ EUGLUG mailing list [email protected] http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug
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