green energy

In Minnesota ice fishing is a very popular winter sport. People go to great lengths when building their ice shacks to provide comfort and convenience. In fact, a friend of mine decided to make electricity for his ice shack so he could brew coffee and run a space heater while he was fishing. To some of you this may seem absurd, but to the ice-fishing enthusiast it is very ingenious idea.

At first, he brought along a gas-powered generator, but with the gas prices spiking the way they were it no longer seemed feasible. So he decided to do a little research on solar energy and found a manual on how to build and install a photovoltaic system (solar panel technology) that would generate enough power to accommodate his needs. He was able to construct and set up a PV system inexpensively with materials available at a local home improvement store, and did it in the course of a weekend.

Solar energy was a very practical solution for this particular application. Reason being, solar panels are most effective in remote locations (areas where direct sunlight is most amply available). A lake is the perfect layout for reception as the only obstruction may be cloudy conditions. However, the system can be backed up by a simple battery, and when electricity is being generated it will be cycled back into the battery to recharge it.

Also, a PV system designed at a smaller scale such as this can be accomplished relatively easy for very little expense. Moreover, you can even tote this along when you go camping, because it's highly portable. So how would this fare on a much larger scale? The principal is the same, only expanded. There are no limitations to the size or amount of power you want to produce.