# The grid, the bad & the ugly
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This is a post about energy and how we can all empower ourselves. This post will cover fuel cells, hydrogen production, solar energy, wind energy, a new battery design using salt and some surprising new game changers for energy independence!

The reality of alternative energy is more viable than most people imagine. We are told that we need mega-square miles of solar panels to just light up Los Angeles. Well, most of us are not trying to light up LA except maybe one vertically challenged North Korean dictator.

I am currently in the planning stages and am in the process of creating a business plan for an agriculture based community that will utilize 100% alternative energy in a very unique manner. I want to share with you all how this is going to work and also make a case for making energy production a much more localized norm. 

I am going to make the case for localized energy production throughout this post. Some points concerning the vast centralized electrical grid for the continental united States are:

- One good Electromagnetic burp from the sun and all of our transformers will be fried. Imagine no grid for a few years, on second thoughts lets not go there. 
- Lots of energy is wasted out during transmission of power from one place to another and these power lines are the very antenna that make us vulnerable to electromagnetic damage. 
- Mass amounts of computers and software and switching stations manage the power within the continental united States which makes the power grid extremely vulnerable to hacks, terrorist attacks and simply human error that could result into some bad juju happenings for us all.
- Have you noticed your bill lately? They have all shoved these “smart meters” onto our walls. Smart because they get an A+ in creative accounting. There have been way too many bad readings vs. the traditional meters for anyone to feel comfortable in accepting them. Let’s not forget the other controversy with the “Smart Meter” concerning frying our brains and last but not least the “You are being spied on”, in a major way factor. 

Well, I really don’t have to make a case for clean abundant energy created by the wind and sun. It is self-evident, but we all need to be reminded of the vulnerabilities of our “Grid” and it’s associated meters. The main point is energy independence. We are all much more difficult beings to control without any meters:) I ran across a website recently and want to pass this info on to whoever finds this interesting. If you want to learn a lot about law real fast and see how these legal tools are empowering the little guy & gals, check our this link |  [Website & Video Link](https://inpowermovement.com/)  |

*"The further you move power away from the individual, the more tyrannical government becomes. This is the basis behind federalism and is the reason anyone who cherishes individual freedom should resist globalism".- Unknown*


Food independence and energy independence means decentralization, it means localizing where and how we grow our food and where and how we produce our energy. We need to start paying attention now and start making the changes in our communites, township’s and at our own home’s levels. Most solar electric systems being installed for homeowners are “grid-tied” and do not offer anyone with a back-up emergency source of power and have nothing to do with localization of energy. All alternatives must focus on independent grids with localized services, otherwise these other efforts will collapse with any “grid down” scenario. 

Next, I’ll show you how I am addressing this concept with the “Our Farm” project. Stay with me here, this gets interesting. 

# “Our Farm’s” Energy System
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I want to stress that at this point, the information below has had no electrical load calculations performed and all figures have been estimated and all sizing is hypothetical. Don’t let me frighten you away here, don’t worry, this is not boring material!

If you have not yet read Part 1-4 of this series about “Our Farm”, see the links at the end to catch up.

“Our Farm’s”initial goal is to start off with a 500,000 watt solar array. Operating at an average of 4.35 peak hours of sun, we can produce 2.17 Megawatts per day with full sunlight in the wintertime sun. This amounts to around 1700 solar panels. As we grow, we add more. These solar panels will be accompanied by 50 kW of wind turbines and it’s size will be ultimately determined by the wind patterns of our final choice of location. 

Ok, so far we have pretty much standard run of the mill wind and solar production.

# What about batteries?

One significant difference about our system will be the utilization of a hybrid energy storage system using a new type of battery. Adding a new twist to the batteries will be  hydrogen production and fuel cell conversion. Our battery system will handle the demand up to about 35-40%. When the demand of electricity needed increases during cloudy weather or in the evenings, we will use the hydrogen fuel cells to handle the peak electrical demand. These new type of batteries are less expensive than lithium ion batteries and it’s design can be discharged up to 90% repeatedly, does not need to be equalized and uses salt water instead of lead or the lithium ion design! |  [Link](http://aquionenergy.com/technology/deep-cycle-battery/)  |

Using solar energy, we will be making hydrogen and a hydrogen-oxygen blend called HHO or Brown’s Gas. Three separate storage types will be used in this facility. Pure hydrogen will be stored at low pressure less than 1000 psi for use in our fuel cells. (Large fuel cells require around 120 psi input pressure). The hydrogen used for our small golf cart type vehicles will be stored in DOT mobile cylinders at just under 5000 psi. Our Browns gas that will be used for our gas distribution system for water heating and cooking will be stored in large tanks at around 200 psi with the pressure stepping down at the tank and as it is distributed.
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To review this operation; the hydrogen for energy storage designed for our fuel cells will be pure hydrogen. This energy will be utilized for our peak night time or bad weather energy production.  Hydrogen is run through a “Fuel Cell” to produce electricity using the same technology as the hydrogen cars you are now starting to see. This will act the same as transferring power from a battery to an appliance.  

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Here is a link to a top fuel cell manufacturer in the size range we will be using. |  [Link to Ballard.com](http://ballard.com/fuel-cell-solutions/fuel-cell-power-products/motive-modules/)  |

For all of those who don’t know where hydrogen comes from, it is extracted or some would say “gassed out” of pure water using electricity. You can see how the solar electricity comes in handy. Instead of storing the excess solar electricity in a mountain of batteries, we can make hydrogen for our fuel cell generators for use when the sun doesn't shine; and as a bonus, we use the Brown’s gas mixture as our homemade “Propane”. If we boil some water with this gas, we are essentially using water to boil water!

It takes a tremendous amount of energy to extract hydrogen from water and to compress the gas to desired levels. That is why solar makes sense to utilize in its production. It takes 50 kW to make the equivalent of one gallon of gasoline which would be 1 kg of hydrogen. If you used your homes grid power to make 1 kg of hydrogen it would cost you around $6.00. A large amount of energy from our photovoltaic array will be dedicated to this process.

So in short, all excess electricity that is not utilized by normal demand during the peak sunlight production times during the day, will be stored in our battery system and go to make pure hydrogen for fuel cell conversion. 

For creating gaseous fuel we will utilize a hydrogen-oxygen mix called Brown’s Gas or as I like to call it “Homemade Propane”. Most importantly, this “Brown’s Gas” will be centrally stored and distributed with underground piping throughout the property for gas cooking and water heating. All hot water will be preheated using solar and finished off using Brown’s gas on demand water heaters or traditional tank heaters adapted for this fuel. All commercial and residential oven and stove-top cooking will all utilize Brown’s gas. To see one companies early production of a commercial cook-top, please see this short video to understand more on how this works.  |   [Link to hydrogen cook-top](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xapVXrC1gGs)   | 

I am a licensed propane contractor, mechanical contractor and have worked with industrial electrical switch-gear, production micro-turbines, solar arrays and generators over many years. One aspect that I have noticed lacking is “Brown’s Gas” testing. It’s the purple headed step child of the gases and has very unusual properties. Kind of a controversial gas! Imagine that. Others who have endeavored into this study appear to have failed to properly address setting a good professional standard for this gas. A professional set of standardized pressures and orifice sizes relating to pressure reducing devices and burners will need to be defined. One project that will be on our top priority will be a think tank and a test room to get these standards defined. We can only improve how this gas can be used and I look forward to getting this set forth. 

At this point, the farm can now provide all residents and businesses with uninterrupted power and gas fuel all 100% made on property using wind, hydrogen production and solar. Pretty impressive. Don’t forget about the bonus wine from our vineyard and the beer from our own hops and grains enjoyed in our solar air conditioned tap room come a hot August in the near future! 

# Symbiotic Integration

Reviewing some of “Our Farm’s” usage of energy, we start with our super insulated residential and commercial buildings. All buildings, including our 750 seat conference center will be earth covered, underground or built into a hillside. At least 2 feet of earth will cover the exterior. The waterproofing is state of the art and will last around 500 years. All skylights and windows will be triple pane with argon and krypton gas with a fleck coating, acting as “clear fiberglass” and giving the glass a significant “R” value. All glass will also have LowE3 which significantly reduces long wave radiation without effecting the visible light. So these structures perform quite well. I cover this topic on Part II if you want to learn more. 

- The main benefit here is a huge reduction in heating and air conditioning demand. We won’t be needing that 3.5 ton heat pump for this 1800 sq ft. home, just a 1 ton for cooling and a 1.5 ton for heating will suffice. We will also be using inverter type variable speed compressor heat pumps that have SEER ratings up to 26.0 SEER. Compare this to our standard 14.0 SEER systems and with a little research you will see just how significant this difference is when it comes to energy usage and the overall power requirement factor for the community. 

- Solar hot water systems using evacuated glass tube systems will pre-heat the hot water. The Brown’s gas will finish off the heating with “on demand” or conventional hot water heating systems.

So, we have substantially reduced the energy load using natural lighting and LED’s. We have reduced the typical AC and heat load by the nature of the design of our buildings, utilize ultra high efficiency compressors for comfort systems & refrigeration and we have provided for a hybrid solar-hydrogen fuel hot water heating. 

See how this farm works? We will manufacture, grow, produce and raise most all that we need in energy and food and what we don’t have we can barter, trade or purchase. 

In the coming times, people will have to start demanding more functional communities from developers. They will build what is in demand, and right now they just can’t produce enough of the typical suburbia home and cookie cutter communities. We can at least start with like minded groups of people who want to live in a certain area contacting solar companies for quotes for off grid whole community systems and then presenting this to the developers. Tell them that you want your own energy production for the community using a hybrid solar and natural gas fuel cell system. This type of system works well. You still need some battery buffering. The community could form their own co-op for the initial loan and then meter usage to each member. This works, it is affordable with acceptable paybacks to acquire the loan and provides the localization that we desire. 

# Personal Power

The most realistic and achievable manner in which we can all do something now is to invest in a good design for ourselves using solar electric and the salt water battery discussed earlier. One simply will design the size of their batteries and solar to fit the goals. The limitations are usually roof space with the necessary sunlight and money, so you will have to deal with your limitations accordingly. You have to ask yourself what is most important in the event of an extended electrical outage. Some popular items are well pump, refrigeration, chest freezer, computer, TV, lighting and the washing machine. The more efficient these items are the more of them you will be able to use. Another handy item is a portable generator with a natural gas-propane conversion kit. I prefer the YAMAHA portable generators because they are made to withstand the higher temperatures of propane fuel. These kits will allow your generator to run on gasoline, natural gas or propane. Even a 2 kW generator will assist in maintaining your power goals and no matter what size system you have, it’s a good idea. Good for camping too. 

For those who have well pumps, Grundfos pumps makes a nice submersible inverter pump that fits the bill perfectly. It does not need a capacitor to start. It starts very slow and rapidly ramps up to pumping speed. It also load matches the demand per the lift in linear feet. If you are a city dweller, I suggest that you locate a versatile AC inverter pump or a DC pump that can pressurize a make shift water distribution system in the event that this would be necessary. Think rain barrels, a pump and some piping. 

Concerning refrigeration, the old fashion refrigerators with no electric defrost are the most efficient and yes you can still buy these with the new efficient compressors. The modern day refrigerator freezers as they come are still efficient enough to deal with in your pursuit. A good choice if you have natural gas or propane would be a gas refrigerator. Yes, there is such a thing and it operates using a lithium bromide solution and a flame about the size of a large match. Do a search for propane refrigerators and you will find a wide choice available. This style of refrigeration is also being researched for use with Brown’s Gas within the “Our Farm” model. 

The other items such as LED lighting and TV are simple to perform a load on. You will need to get quite acquainted with solar design or get a pro in to help. Most of the solar sales web sites can assist in answering most of your questions. Four to six panels and a couple of deep cycle batteries can be at least  some source of power. Run you pump for 5 minutes, watch a couple of hours on your DVD player and power a few lights in the bathroom when you need to go and this system would work out just fine as long as you know your limitations and how to read your meters. It really is not all that complicated. I hope this information was informing. Don’t forget to make sure you read Parts 1 thru 4 to get a bigger picture of what “Our Farm” is all about. 

[Part I](https://steemit.com/life/@aj33/part-i-new-definitions-for-living-trending-towards-shangri-la)
[Part II](https://steemit.com/life/@aj33/part-ii-new-definitions-for-living-trending-towards-shangri-la)
[Part III](https://steemit.com/life/@aj33/part-3-new-definitions-for-living-trending-towards-shangri-la)
[Part IV](https://steemit.com/life/@aj33/part-4-new-definitions-for-living-trending-towards-shangri-la)

Cheers,
Evan
OurFarm@protonmail.com