"sand battery" #energy storage for district heating in Finland, built by #Polar-Night Energy at Vatajankoski power plant
#video #toread about a Japanese #vanlife couple living in a tiny minivan, like the Morris Mini of minivans, on a rainy day. They’ve lived in it for four years; they parked near a public restroom. The faucet is powered by an electric pump; they toast breakfast with a butane torch. An inverter powers hair curlers. Gas stations provide trash disposal. Laundry is done in a laundromat once a week. Bathing is done in public baths. A steering-wheel-mounted desk holds a laptop at face height, using a wireless keyboard in the lap. A top-loading refrigerator is under part of the bed, which occupies all of the space behind the front seats. Elaborate cooking: panko-battered skewers of many kinds with okonomiyaki sauce, mixing up the batter in a plastic cup, fried in a pot on what looks like an induction stove.
#video demonstrating a small-scale hydropower #energy system from a mountain stream: “Glenburnie Hydro. Turbine: Powerspout GE 400. Head: 56m. Flow: up to 3 ℓ/s. Electrical output to grid: up to 750 w. Year installed: 2013. Danger: 400 volts.” Nearby stands an ornamental 120-year-old Pelton wheel. At 3.5ℓ/s it’s producing 3.2 amps at 320 volts. He also shows off his 3200Wp solar system, 120 meters up the hill through the forest at the house, where he charges his Nissan Leaf at 3.3kW, and his 10.2kWh LiFePO₄ battery storage system, about the size of a refrigerator; batteries made by BYD, controls by Sunny Boy. Then he shows his web interface.