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Solar Panels for Myanmar
I am in the middle of developing a project for Myanmar (Burma). My friend, a Burmese national, went home right after Cyclone Nargis hit and was devastated by the damage. She is hell bent on bringing electricity to every villager and fisherman in her home country.
Neither she nor I know the first thing about solar panels, but this is what she needs. There has to be a way to easily install these panels (and easily remove them for portability) and a way to utilize the standard batteries found in Myanmar (I'm not sure what that is).
We saw fisherman using solar panels on their boats in the Sunderbans just outside Calcutta but there was a language barrier that could not be overcome. She has funding and internal infrastructure, but she needs the technical skills and knowledge required not only to move these panels, but find skilled installers willing to train people in Myanmar on how to install these, increasing their opportunity for skilled labor as well. She has a vendor in Kolkata who sells panels, but we're not sure whether they're right for this particular application. She also has shipping contacts to get the panels into the country.
If anyone can shed some light (pardon the pun), provide advice or point us in the right direction, we would be very grateful and so would the people of Myanmar.
Names, phone numbers, web sites... anything will help. Thank you.
-- Jeanne Heydecker
Neither she nor I know the first thing about solar panels, but this is what she needs. There has to be a way to easily install these panels (and easily remove them for portability) and a way to utilize the standard batteries found in Myanmar (I'm not sure what that is).
We saw fisherman using solar panels on their boats in the Sunderbans just outside Calcutta but there was a language barrier that could not be overcome. She has funding and internal infrastructure, but she needs the technical skills and knowledge required not only to move these panels, but find skilled installers willing to train people in Myanmar on how to install these, increasing their opportunity for skilled labor as well. She has a vendor in Kolkata who sells panels, but we're not sure whether they're right for this particular application. She also has shipping contacts to get the panels into the country.
If anyone can shed some light (pardon the pun), provide advice or point us in the right direction, we would be very grateful and so would the people of Myanmar.
Names, phone numbers, web sites... anything will help. Thank you.
-- Jeanne Heydecker
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by oz on -
Heat Loss is somewhat unusual in the building sciences because the math appears simple. In fact, we choose simple math because it gives accurate estimates with minimal work. A house experiences heat loss in three ways: conduction, radiation, and infiltration. We do three separate calculations and sum them to arrive at the overall heat loss for the house. Today, I will discuss only the formula for conduction. For the other two, I highly recommend taking the class.
Perhaps the easiest form of heat loss to define and control is conduction. Conduction is minimized by insulation, or high R-value walls. R is for Resistance to heat loss. The simple formula for heat loss due to conduction is:
Hmax= (1/R-value) x A x ΔT
where Hmax is the maximum possible flow of heat in BTU/hr for the house
1/R-value is conductance expressed in BTU/Hour*s.f.*°F
A is the surface area of the house in square feet
and ΔT is the change in temperature across the wall in °F
Don't get scared off by the math! This is easy and it actually sheds light on how to build the house. One BTU (British Thermal Unit) is the amount of heat energy that raises the temperature of one pound of water by one degree farenheit. The first problem we solve in class is: how many BTU's are required to make a cup of tea? (hint: a pint is a pound the world around)
The beauty of the conductive heat loss formula is that it tells us immediately that heat loss depends on 3 factors: 1/R-value is the amount of insulation, A is the surface area of the structure, and ΔT is the change in temperature across the building envelope. More insulation (higher R-value) means less heat loss. Bigger houses (with bigger surface Areas) will require more energy to heat. And, of course, it makes sense that the colder it is outside (the greater the ΔT), the more heat we will need inside to keep warm. The formula allows us to put numbers to our intuitive grasp of heat loss and begin to make decisions about our house.
It only takes about 15 minutes to calculate the conductive heat loss for a house by choosing an R-value from the insulation label, adding up the square footages of walls and roof, and looking up the 30-year minimum average daily temperature for the coldest day of the year. What makes this class fun, and what we spend time on in class, is building an intuitive knowledge of heat loss that enables us to design truly energy efficient, comfortable homes.
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