I have been thinking on how to claim every energy that comes on my plot. Technology goes more and more into harvesting the smaller left over energy. Ive seen examples in the Netherlands where startups try to get energy from a chip (I have been thinking on how to claim every energy that comes on my plot. Technology goes more and more into harvesting the smaller left over energy. Ive seen examples in the Netherlands where startups try to get energy from a chip (http://www.nowi-energy.com, https://memsys.nl) and a transparent solar panel layer on windows etc. Here in Lithuania sometimes the whole day has an overcast sky and that is the solar energy that we are getting. I know that with heavy overcast days a standard solar panels output can be as low as 10%. So a 5kWp can generate instead of 3.75kW produce only a meager 370W. My question to you, arent there other solar technologies that are adjusted to this overcast circumstances? So to gain more efficiency from diffuse lighting or from frequencies that can pierce the clouds more (like infrared spectrum)?
Some sunday morning pondering…
When I was living on a sailboat, the logic of overcast days was this; that overcast days are often stormy days, so have a wind generator for the “bad weather”. But this may not work in your place - sometimes it is just a low-energy day; cloudy and calm.
Of course the other approach is storage; but it tends to be expensive.
Yes, that mixup of energy is what could be done. Unfortunately there is zero wind here. Ive looked into heating by composting (not enough organic matter), geoheat (expensive), and yes battery tech such as flow batteries are not diy enough for me. Ive looked into phase changing materials for thermal bstteries, but only looked you know.
If heat is your main requirement, it may be worth experimenting with sodium sulfate as a phase change material. On paper it works very well (cheap, safe, energy dense), but one of the main downsides for commercialisation is it’s a bit too DIY. The water tends to separate after a few dozen cycles and it needs to be re-mixed when molten.