Renewable Energy Options in Thailand

[SailingHome]

Is there such a thing as a solar fridge and if so...are they efficient and viable ?

Define efficient. lol. If it works, it works and you have no gas or electric charges.Totally viable and used all over Africa by peace corps.

Of course, mesh fabric kept wet over a frame and air movement make a chill-box that will keep ice cream mostly solid too. It's all about evaporation no matter how you slice it unless someone invents a way to shove electrons closer to the nuclei in some other way.

[Showbags]

By efficient I mean work and be reliable and last a long time.

Thinking for a boat meself....not diesel.

[SailingHome]

By efficient I mean work and be reliable and last a long time.

Thinking for a boat meself....not diesel.

...and not have to invent it myself. You can have all 4 of those criteria by just adding solar and wind power then using oversized refigeration parts so they are durable. In the end, on a boat, it will need repairs often just because of the movement and other environmental factors. KISS and have as few systems as possible - was surprised what I can live without and end up happier.

[Showbags]

What size fridge could it realistically power....for how many people ?

And how about a chiller ?

[SailingHome]

Lots of boat books that explain all of that. All In The Same Boat is a good read, for instance. Several kW/day is not difficult to produce.

Size is not the real factor. How well insulated, the form, how often opened, etc. determine the power needed.

[Showbags]

1st review of this book on Amazon...still might give it a go

A tedious book. It promises to tell you how to live on a sailboat, and then gives you such helpful tips as "you should insure the boat because it might get into an accident--shop around." Or "there are criminals out there--be careful." Or "since you don't get to go ashore very often, you should store lots of food." I got this book from a used bookstore. I can understand why its previous owner was so anxious to get rid of it.

[Naam]

You know there is a cooling aspect of geothermal as well as the heating aspect.

In my opinion the cooling aspect is more relevant to thailand especially since it can be used anywhere.

The biggest problem in most thai homes is keeping it cool not keeping it warm.

This idea simply consists of burying pipes at least 2 meters underground and running the other end through the cement floors and walls that get heated by the sun shining on them. The hot water could be ran through a tank used for hot water in an open system or you could have a closed system that would cycle the hot and cold water by itself. This is a cheap way to cool the house reducing or eliminating the need for air conditioning.

and free condense water running from the walls which carry the pipes. that water could be bottled and sold to battery shops as distilled water

[JLCrab]

Solar and Wind Energy for Home, Boat, and RV

http://svhotwire.com

[SailingHome]

1st review of this book on Amazon...still might give it a go

A tedious book. It promises to tell you how to live on a sailboat, and then gives you such helpful tips as "you should insure the boat because it might get into an accident--shop around." Or "there are criminals out there--be careful." Or "since you don't get to go ashore very often, you should store lots of food." I got this book from a used bookstore. I can understand why its previous owner was so anxious to get rid of it.

Hahahaha. Sounds like that person wants a different lifestyle then the family in the book. There are LOTS of books. Hard core would be by Lynn and Larry Parday, Annie Hill especially, and the oldest classics like Slocum. Hal Roth has very practical advice.

All In The Same Boat is about westernized, comfort, and housing on the water and basically only touches on the crossover from house living to making a boat like a house. I like it for the story and what it is. Think of it like the so many here on TV that are trying to build the same Wetern lifestyle of big house, medical insurance, big car, etc. here in Thailand.

Also check for books on sailboat electrical, systems, etc., but Annie Hill and Parday, IMHO, are the best if you are looking for freedom.

[Showbags]

Pardey was number 1 on my list of books to buy......shall add Annie Hills 2 books also.

[wym]

and free condense water running from the walls which carry the pipes. that water could be bottled and sold to battery shops as distilled water

If energy sustainability is the primary design criteria, then this is just another issue to take care of.

Personally rather than trying to internally cool down massive walls, in Thailand I'd think it would be better to keep to light materials, and if using geothermal cooling, using it to directly cool the air fans and air ducts to replace A/C makes sense.

Using proper passive approaches - house siting design and appropriate landscape design to minimize solar heat gain is of course more fundamentally important.

This is wrt heating more than cooling, but same principles:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/solar-at-home/2011/04/18/is-a-geothermal-heat-pump-right-for-you/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomkonrad/2014/01/15/are-air-source-heat-pumps-a-threat-to-geothermal-heat-pump-suppliers/

[SailingHome]

Pardey was number 1 on my list of books to buy......shall add Annie Hills 2 books also.

The second book is mostly a travelogue. The first is a how-to. Travelogues are nice as thay get us dreaming about going, but alsk gend to turn us in to 'armchair sailors.' Better to focus on fundamentals and get going.

[Showbags]

The first one being 'care and feeding of the sailing crew' ??

Dreaming is good, it can get you fine tuned for what you want to do.

Get going can take some time for some people....me included at the moment.

[SailingHome]

Yuop, it sure is good to dream in order to prepare, but when in doubt, make the leap sooner not later.

Annie Hill has 2 books. Voyaging on a Small Income is the first. The second is more travelogue. I recommend picking a Hal Roth title (find one where he covers systems - After 50,000 Miles might be it) and Hill's first book as starters. Herb Payson books are hillarius! Have read Beuhler's Guide To Backyard Boatbuilding?

[liddelljohn]

Actually the thai energy ministry has a well thought out scheme for household to install solar and sell excess power to the grid like UK but in a bureaucratic fumble the industry minister has halted the plan as they consider solar panels as an industrial facility and currently require all installations to have a factory permit so until a new government is in control its all on hold ....... DOH !!!! TIT as usual

Edited February 10, 2014 by liddelljohn

[wolfmanjack]

You know there is a cooling aspect of geothermal as well as the heating aspect.

In my opinion the cooling aspect is more relevant to thailand especially since it can be used anywhere.

The biggest problem in most thai homes is keeping it cool not keeping it warm.

This idea simply consists of burying pipes at least 2 meters underground and running the other end through the cement floors and walls that get heated by the sun shining on them. The hot water could be ran through a tank used for hot water in an open system or you could have a closed system that would cycle the hot and cold water by itself. This is a cheap way to cool the house reducing or eliminating the need for air conditioning.

and free condense water running from the walls which carry the pipes. that water could be bottled and sold to battery shops as distilled water

I do not know for sure but I don't think the cement walls would get cold enough from ground water to create condensation but running that water through a radiator probably would. Then you could get your distilled water for the battery shops.

[SailingHome]

You know there is a cooling aspect of geothermal as well as the heating aspect.

In my opinion the cooling aspect is more relevant to thailand especially since it can be used anywhere.

The biggest problem in most thai homes is keeping it cool not keeping it warm.

This idea simply consists of burying pipes at least 2 meters underground and running the other end through the cement floors and walls that get heated by the sun shining on them. The hot water could be ran through a tank used for hot water in an open system or you could have a closed system that would cycle the hot and cold water by itself. This is a cheap way to cool the house reducing or eliminating the need for air conditioning.

and free condense water running from the walls which carry the pipes. that water could be bottled and sold to battery shops as distilled water

I do not know for sure but I don't think the cement walls would get cold enough from ground water to create condensation but running that water through a radiator probably would. Then you could get your distilled water for the battery shops.

LOL. Battery shops don't make their own? There is a business opportunity!

[RPCVguy]

The comments here have been great to see and consider. Thank you for the info shared.

Looking at the Thai reporting of Energy issues I've now come across one incredibly rich document of the energy sector of Thailand – in print ready format
http://www.eppo.go.th/info/cd-2013/Energy%20Statistics%20of%20Thailand%202013.pdf

ESPECIALLY USEFUL are the summary infographics on pages 10, 88, 120, 162!

That PDF is part of a larger source of raw data at

http://www.eppo.go.th/info/index-statistics.html => source historical energy data for Thailand as
cited in the above document, but in individual functional spreadsheets.

Then I kept looking further and found

http://www.dede.go.th/dede/images/stories/dede_aedp_2012_2021.pdf
which is the Thailand ministry's projection for 25% Alternatives by 2021. It is an interesting read, but has a typo in transposing the number for its Hydro electric total... and I also wonder how the use of hydro storage was powered... is there double counting going on. Those two issues make me cautious as to accepting that document at face value.