From: Skeeter Murphy (smurphy_at_armory.com)
Date: 10/14/02
Date: Mon, 14 Oct 2002 12:14:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Skeeter Murphy <smurphy_at_armory.com> Subject: Re: Solar Cookers Message-ID: <Pine.SCO.3.96.1021014120605.8888A-100000@deepthought.armory.com>
On Sun, 13 Oct 2002, Patrick Salsbury wrote:
> And for folks on the clean-water list, here's another idea we should kick
> around: Using solar-collectors and concentrators to provide the heat for
> ammonia-absorption or propane-based (or other) refrigeration systems. Then
> we could run condensers to pull water out of the air using solar powered
> devices as well. I know I mentioned the solar-powered ice making machine
> available through Real Goods at some point in the past. This is the same
> sort of idea, but tweaked to just generate condensing (below dewpoint)
> cold, not freezing cold.
You reminded me of how they make ice in places like Iran and I thought I'd
share it. Since it's so simple. The sad part is old ways like this are
going away because people want to be 'modern' like in the West. That of
course means messing up the planet like we do.
Here's what they do/did:
First, you must understand the importance of the
wall. In places that are so hot during the summer, cummunities build
walls, usualy out of mud, that might be 20 feet tall. These walls bring
people together. In the morning, they gather on the shady side, then move
to the other side in the afternoon. In contrast, when we Westerners think
of walls, we think of segregating ourselves from each other.
Ok, back to the topic, Ice. So in the winter, they would have this big
hole dug. Then, next to the wall they would have a very shallow pool that
would be in the shade most of the day. Ice would form and they would
scrape the ice off into the big hole in the ground. After doing this all
winter, they had a large amount of cold energy stored that could be used
all summer long. It's also possible to run air through the ice chamber and
cool off buildings.
If you want to read more about it, there is some talk about it in Nader
Khalili's book, Racing Alone.
Now, this doesn't help if there's no water, so I'll leave that to Patrick
to get the condensers working. ;o)
Skeeter
-- http://www.castlemurphy.com