Adam Fulford, BuyandSellLand.com

A solar home is one which uses sunlight for heating and generating energy. A solar house is partially or fully powered by the sun’s energy. An ideal solar home will gain more energy than it will lose. A solar house may cost more initially, but will actually save you money in long run, apart from its obvious environmental benefits.

Solar Cells For Solar Homes

Larger solar panels are used to provide electricity to homes. A house with roof sections that are in full sun or nearby sunny areas can be utilized to provide a sizable amount of its electricity needs though the use of solar cells. Sometimes a transpired collector is used for heating buildings, though usually. A transpired collector is a thin, black metal panel mounted a wall and absorbs heat from the sun. The advent of 3d solar cells that even capture energy from invisible ultraviolet light will eventually make it possible to generate solar energy in areas that are not in full sunlight!

Solar Power Home Heating Systems

Solar heating systems are typically designed to provide volumes of hot water to heat up buildings. They are made up of solar collectors with a pump, a heat exchanger, and sizable storage tanks.

Insulation for Solar Homes

A solar home needs adequate insulation. Heat storage vaults and heat transport tubing should also be well insulated

Design of Solar Powered Homes

Solar homes often use the same kinds of materials with which other kinds of homes are constructed, but are set up and positioned in ways to harvest maximum amounts of sunlight and allow for a good natural distribution of heat and air flow.

The Emotional Benefit of Solar Homes

Research has revealed that in naturally lit living or work environments that let it lots of sunlight, people are happier, and become more productive.

Rammed earth homes are edifices with the walls that are built from a mixture of sand and clay. A mixture of sand and clay is poured into “forms” (molds) to build the walls. A building made with rammed earth is typically constructed on-site, using locally available sand, earth, water, clay, and a little cement. The walls allow for a range of versatility in design of the homes, require only minimum amounts of energy to sustain warmth in the cold season or to keep a home cool in the summer.

Often, rammed earth homes are built to utilize solar energy. Prospective owners seeking a comfortable home that can save on energy demands and expenditure in the long run, and offering an environmentally sustainable solution to home ownership, will likely find the concept of rammed earth homes to be very attractive and viable.

The Process of Building House With Rammed Earth

Rammed earth walls are are a minimum of 12 inches thick and formed with a process of packing a mixture oaround 15% clay, 50% sand, and 35% silt into the forms with the use of pneumatic tampers. Components in the mix for the walls may be included in the mix for improved water repelency and load bearing properties.

The walls of a newly built rammed earth home requires some time to fully dry out. This method of construction utilizes local resources and is a very strong model of environmentally friendly sustainability since it primarily if not completely utilizes a local resources.

The resulting house is highly efficient, requires almost no maintenance, and very comfortable.

The Design of Rammed Homes

The appearance of edifices constructed out of rammed earth is quite beautiful, along with true sturdiness. Rammed earth homes offer unparalled insulation from the elements, in both cold weather and on hot day, since rammed earth walls have rammed earth have a high thermal mass.

Landfills and sewage plants presently just add pollution to the environment, despite brave attempts to contain the damage they render. They are also an almost completely untapped source of “Biogas ” that could help society meet it’s energy needs.

What Is Biogas?

Biogas is primarily contains methane and carbon dioxide. With the use of anaerobic bacteria, , biogas with produce through the fermentation of organic matter in an air-tight environment.

What is Biogas Good For?

Biogas could certainly be utilized for producing electricity, heating homes, heating water, and a myriad of other uses. It is produced from organic waste such as human sewage, animal dung, discarded vegetables, and other organic waste products. The images that come to mind definitely aren’t pretty. Often, such waste is just hidden away in landfills. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

Shit, Sewage, and Garbage: A Beautiful Thing?

It may be hard to imagine that this is a precious resource. After all, it isn’t gold or diamonds. But, it could be a valuable source of energy, and it is not being utilized. But, it is a renewable energy source and a viable alternative to natural gas, propane or other fossil fuels.

Poop Power — Is it Possible?

A wastewater treatment plant can produce enough biogas to create 1 megawatt of electricity for each 30 million gallons of wastewater input.

South Plant in Renton, Washington, USA), a regional size sewage treatment plant receives 100 million gallons per day of influent sewage. In a pioneering effort to use sewage to produce energy, set up a system to produce biogas used with stationary fuel cells, enough to supports 1 megawatt of electricity, enough for 400 residential homes.

The Potential for Application of Fuel Cells For Stationary Power Plants Within Cities

A scale-up of the utilization of sewage plants certain poses many challenges, but of a constructive and positive nature vs the challenges of ever growing landfills and sewage.

The largest commercially available fuel cell power plant on the market today is the 1 megawatt South Plant unit tested in Renton, Washington. Multiple fuel cell plants could be linked together, though there have not been applications at a scale larger than several megawatts.

Where Can Enough Biogas be Found To Help Meet The Power Needs of Cities?

Finding a supply of biogas large enough to produce electricity on the scale required in cities is a problem. Where can they be found? Answer: Landfills

Some landfills contain enough gas to produce 20 or more megawatts of electricity. The total power demand of an urban area are immense. Commercial and industrial land uses require large amounts of electricity.

Fuel Cell Power Plants

Fuel cell power plants, operating on biogas or natural gas, are being looked upon as a way to supplement other forms of power generation.

Localized Energy Supplies

This is absolutely a concept that should be implemented for future land development projects, as well as applied that already-developed areas.

The practice of distributed power generation suggests that power production should be located close to the power consumer. This is one reason hotels are beginning to embrace fuel cell power plants for their individual buildings. They can use not only the electricity produced but also the heat for space heating, laundry, etc.

Power plants can be scaled up to provide the electricity needed in smaller communities; even isolating the community from the grid with energy needs perhaps primarily supplied by natural gas and supplemented with biogas, solar power, wind power, and other energy sources.