The Best Thing I Saw at the Floyd Fourth of July Celebration
The putt putt golf was cute and I was happy to see that the Floyd Democratic Party was passing out Flaccaventto bumper stickers and buttons, but this solar-run generator created by Rick Brown of Floyd’s SolShine Energy Alternatives really piqued my excitement. After a full week and still counting of being without power and running our loud and smelly gas-powered generator everyday, I was really impressed with the utter quiet the lack of pollution that Rick’s generator powered the fan (to the left) with.
The fireworks weren’t bad either.
July 6th, 2012 12:02 pm
The problem with solar is that is still has to come a long way to be useful in the real world. Same as windpower. Everytime I see a windpower site most of the windmills are not working and even some are broken. We are a ways from being able to rely on this in an industrial nation.
July 6th, 2012 10:05 pm
I think the longest we’ve gone without electricity here is maybe 6 hours.
Bet you’re making lots of memories. how are you cooking? Or are you?
I’ll be back!
xo
July 6th, 2012 10:11 pm
I bought a grille just because it has a propane burner because I didn’t want to ever be deprived of my morning tea. Been cooking on that. The power came back today!
July 6th, 2012 11:56 pm
So glad to hear you FINALLY have power today, my dear Colleen…..The solar looks intertesting….And the Fireworks look good, too!
Thank you for your wonderfully sensitive comment on my blog today….I agree with everything you said. Messages come to us from many unexpected places.
July 7th, 2012 11:37 am
@Tabor. Can you elaborate on your assertion? Some data would be useful. Germany, which has considerably lower solar resources than the U.S., is doing quite well with PV. Closer to home, there are at least a couple dozen households in Floyd alone that would beg to differ with your assessment of solar. Speaking personally, our 2kW system covers all of our needs. It didn’t break the bank and we’ve got all the creature comforts that one could ask for. AND, for the record, we’re not independently wealthy.
Regarding wind power. It’s unlikely that what you observed were broken turbines. Chances are that there simply wasn’t adequate wind at the moment. A lot of research goes into siting a wind farm. If the wind resources aren’t there, they won’t get put up.
July 7th, 2012 11:53 am
[…] forgotten to take a pic of the setup, it was a pleasant surprise to see this blog post by local blogger, photographer and writer, Colleen Redmond. Thanks, Colleen! This entry […]
July 7th, 2012 3:27 pm
Very interested in purchasing one SolShine’s power supply. As soon as production is completed please contact.
July 9th, 2012 5:11 am
@rick – there are folks in WA and CA who would fully support your statements.
colleen, i saw the title of the post and then the photo and thought at once that you meant JOE! just call me a romantic! ;D
July 9th, 2012 10:19 am
Funny! That too (Joe).
July 13th, 2012 11:41 am
I have 18 solar panels on my house. On a sunny day I could run the non heating and ac items in my house. I couldn’t do that and store enough to do them all night long. What is do find works great is solar hot water. I can store the hot water easier than the electricity.