Solar Can Heater

After seeing a video on YouTube about solar can heaters I thought it was fun to build one myself and test it. I had plenty of wood laying around from building my greenhouse so I used the "leftovers," that's why there are different planks on the backside. I deliberately made the container 100 centimeters tall and 50 centimeters wide because plastic plates that go on the front are also sold in those dimensions.

Once I had the box ready it was preparing the aluminum cans that go inside. I drilled extra holes in the top and bottom of the cans for the airflow that must occur inside. I used an extra sturdy can to house the aluminum cans because they crunch and break very easily without support. For the solar heater I used 35 aluminum cans in rows of 7 wide, 5 high. 

Next came the paint job. I also screwed 2 additional pieces of wood in place that give some airspace on the top and bottom. Drilled holes in them for the air to move. The cans are also firmly in place and can't go anywhere. I used dull black spray paint. Wanting to be thorough I had to get one more, so the paint cost just under €10. Spraying paint is fairly easy. The paint does has to settle for 24 hours so doing everything takes a couple of days. 

Finally, I screwed a plastic plate (2 millimeters thick) on the front. I keep this heater indoors but I suspect for outdoor usage you need a thicker sheet or glass. I drilled a hole through the back to where the upper vacant area is and ran a hose through it.

Results so far are encouraging. I have a simple thermometer on the back that measures the box itself near the exit hose and even after 10-15 minutes sunshine it shoots up to 24-25 Celsius. A few weeks ago on a really good day it got up to 33 Celsius. Maybe inside it's even warmer but I don't have a fancy gizmo at this time for measuring. When you put your hand over the exit hose you can feel the warm air rushing through your fingers. At the very least I can say that it definitely works.

Solar Boat Ra

I'm very impressed with this effort to run a boat on solar power. Couple of folks just started experimenting by themselves with solar energy and thought they could sail cheaper this way then buying fuel all the time and it actually works. The boat RA has 15 solar panels and half of those are used for propulsion directing energy towards 2 electric motors. The other half goes to appliances inside the boat. Just outstanding! The boat is restricted mostly to the inland waterways and not choppy seas but that shouldn't spoil the fun. It's great to see people following their passion this way and making renewable energy system work by taking matters into their own hands. I take my hat off.

The Desertec Vision

Solar Energy In Germany

Solar Energy Boat

Read this article late last night and was very impressed with the solar energy application on boats. The 'Turanor' runs strictly on solar power and stores the excess energy in batteries which is used at night when the sun is down. The boat itself weighs 85 tones but still manages an average speed of 7.5 knots. It's an experimental craft of course and it is no speedboat, still the solar panels have tremendous value. As of now solar energy doesn't match up with the power of a combustion engine but I think in the near future we are going to see 'hybrid boats' that run partially on diesel and on an electric engine powered by solar panels. It would cut down the cost of fuel, plus generally speaking, when boats are in the middle of the ocean they have plenty of room. If you could install solar panels on areas of the boat which are idle or if you can design a mechanism that transports the panels to the side of the boat and retract it when you're in port, you could make this work without too much effort. Cargo boats consume a huge amount of fuel when they traverse the oceans, so solar panels would be a wise economical asset.