We recently completed a 4 kW ground mount solar installation in upstate NY. The homeowners came back to groSolar after a successful roof mount PV installation 2 years ago.

Creating a clean energy future will require a lot of innovation and people taking responsibility. All summer I’ve been working toward three goals: clearing trees to enable a PV system on my roof’; putting in a large garden; and building an experimental hot-water system by collecting heat from composting wood-chips.

The “Brown Mound” is a densely packed mound of wood chips, with 400 feet of water line coiled throughout. As the chips decompose, the anaerobic bacterial process puts out heat. Anyone with a compost pile will tell you that if you stir it up, even in the winter, you’ll see a lot of steam.

So with that in mind, and some research I did on a frenchman named Jean Pain, we created our own version of a compost-powered-water-heater.

And, it’s working! We’re getting 1-gallon per minute of 95-degree water from the system, only 2 weeks after it was built.  The temp should increase to 120+ as the composting process kicks into high gear. This should mean we burn very little propane to heat our domestic hot water, and we might even be able to heat the house a little by cycling the water from the mound through a radiant-floor loop.

The video below is a “making of” that shows how we build the mound, with the help of lots of friends and people involved in the Carbon Shredder organization. (Carbon Shredders are also co-sponsoring the KickGas Festival with groSolar in San Diego which includes a solar-power sweepstakes/drawing on Oct 24).

Cheers!

GB, otherwise known as, An Energy Optimist

We’re really excited about a new solar module brand that we are offering. We searched high and low and met with module manufacturers all over the world in order to find a PV module that offers the performance, quality and price that you expect from groSolar. We’re happy to announce that we are bringing you modules from Canadian Solar. We’re able to offer you more watts per dollar, high quality and ease of installation at a great price.

A few of the reasons why we chose Canadian Solar:

• Well established supplier with over 600 MW of module manufacturing capacity and has a well established track record for the commercial and residential PPA market
• World-renowned technical expertise
• Modules have uncompromising quality, durability, performance and value
• Commitment to product innovations with high quality standards and sustainable business practices
• Fully complying to IEC, TUV, UL international quality standards
• Lowest power tolerance of any imported module: +/-2.1% – CSI stands behind their power ratings
• Industry leading 6 years product warranty and 25 years performance warranty
• Strong framed module, passing the mechanical load test of 113 PSF versus 50.2 PSF for most other manufacturers.(113 PSF is equivalent to withstanding over 212 mph wind speeds.)

We’re currently offering the CS5P (230 watt module) and the CS6P (200 watt module).