Notes from Knut

Standing Originally uploaded by etunKo I just bought this solar charged (7 hrs charge = 5,5 hrs use) flashlight from IKEA. The first impression is an rather inelegant flashlight, but it is intended to stand on its metal support. The main body feels very rugged and is quite heavy. No squeaking parts. The metal support however snaps off its pivot hinges without any help. The on/off button have a surprisingly good feel to it. It is now standing in my window, side by side with the Sun Jar (Picture coming up). See all pictures tagged Jäppling

Some changes from today. I'll now maintain two blogs for the Diploma. The first: diplom.bareknut.no will be the behind the scenes documentation of my master thesis and the other one (unnamed until further notice) that will contain the evidencing and suggested near future of smart grid city. i'll be back. /update: The correct links are: behind.untappedenergy.org for documentation and untappedenergy.org .

Untapped Energy View more presentations from Knute .

  I'm really satisfied with the new home grid system i've had installed. Now with the new Smart Appliance base from Braun i can choose any parameter to indicate a time when it is permitted to boil water. At this time i've linked the total energy output of my PV cell to the kettle. The base lights up when enough energy is produced. It takes roughly four hours on overcast days. My tea is now green! This must be developed from Lennart Fahlén s work. /something in the video is broke, i'll get back to that /video fixed

First glimpse of the newly installed energy dashboard. I'll be back with a sharper version soon.

  Tinkering a bit more with my home grid I wrote about yesterday I found the mobile interface to the new PV node valuable. By either navigating to the device or just touching the socket in which it is plugged, my NFC phone opens the device GUI . It gives the current panel output as Watts in real time. I immediately found it necessary to adjust the angle of my panel to see if it captured any more energy, but it was obviously too cloudy to make any difference. I am, however, pleased to see that the panel is infact producing quite a bit, even when it is overcast. I'll be checking the prognosis more frequently with this tool in my hands.

I had the opportunity to install a solar panel at home this easter. The usual downside of doing that is that you need a battery or a big and costly inverter to send it to the grid. Fortunately I got enrolled in a small scale smart grid roll out with my local utility. This enables me to add any generator such as a PV panel, a wind trubine, a fuel cell, or a dynamo, directly to my electrical sockets at home. If I generate electricity the utility give credits per Wh generated that I can accumulate to consume in other devices. I haven't tested it all yet, but it feels really good already.

  I'm not so sure the best man was hired to make this connection, he seems to have been just a bit short on grout to cover it up properly.

  Random words on paper in a mess on a table. Other than that it was a nice talk with Gunnar og Marianne. Thanks!

Power to the People: 7 Ways to Fix the Grid, Now An easy to read article that gives a good overview over current situation, in the US atleast, and pointer to the road ahead. ... regulators in dozens of states began to implement decoupling, a policy that rewards utilities for coming in below generation targets. Suddenly, companies could profit by promoting efficiency. This quote from the article suggests the benefits of changing the behaviour of power generators from max production to max efficiency. Schemes like that would have a great impact if realised all over the world.