Sustainable Technologies
Utilities
Our land is far enough from the main road (about a mile) that we are gratefully not serviced by any local utilities, which means we catch our own water from the rain (we average about 75 inches per year) and generate our own electricity using solar and wind sources.

We also do not land phone lines, so we use a cellular phones. We use ATT/Cingular and has good reception.

There is satellite television available through the Dish Network, but I do not care to invest my time in life in watching the tube. We do receive five TV channels, CBS, FOX, ABC, WB, and PBS, but we have to use a rabbit-ears antenna with a powered signal amplifier to get a clear picture. We turn on PBS about once a month and periodically rent DVD's from the public library.


 
 We have 22 solar panels and a 1500 watt Whisper wind generator. During the day these power all of our appliances and charge our battery bank for our night time power needs (if our needs exceed what is being generated by the windmill). 

The battery bank consists of these 12 Trojan L-16 deep cycle batteries. These batteries are connected to a 4024 watt true sine wave inverter that converts direct current (DC) from batteries, windmill, and solar panels into alternating current (AC) which can be used by our standard household appliances and electronics.

The electrical sine wave is "cleaner" than municipal electrical output and can handle powering any fine electrical instrument within the wattage limits of the unit.

Perhaps 10 days out of the year there is not enough sun or wind to provide very much electricity, so on these days we give our refrigerators priority over everything else, including our night time lighting needs. 

 
 
All of the water we use here has been caught from the rain. All of the gutters and down spouts on my house drain into this 3000 gallon ferro cement tank, which I built by hand. Our drinking water is caught on the top surface of this tank and is drained into the three 100 gallon barrel shaped tanks through the white PVC pipe. It takes only a couple of inches of rain to completely fill these tanks, which would serve our needs for almost a month during a dry period. We have not ever run out of water but have gotten low during el nino weather patterns when Hawaii experiences drought.

 
 
This is our 60,000 gallon reservoir, which again, I constructed using cement. It is filled with brown and green algae that feeds the thousands of golden tilapia (similar to goldfish) which call it home. We use the reservoir for recreation, exercise, and cooling off,

 
 
Here are a few examples of the "solar cooking" projects I have been experimenting with. The item on the far left is a solar oven. I have since replaced the reflective foil pictured here with highly polished mirrors. This angled reflective surface is designed to catch the rays of the sun in such a way that directs the heat into an insulated box found at the bottom of the cooker, heating it to over 350 degrees! 

The two items on the left are parabolic cookers. They work by reflecting sunlight off of the highly polished metal (this will also be replaced by mirrors) on the sides and reflect it into the middle. Where as the solar ovens are designed more for  simple cooking and low temperature baking, these are intended for high heat applications like boiling water. 

As of now all of these cookers are "works in progress," but I should have them operational very soon.

About Us
Where are we?
The Land
The Animals
The Buildings
Sustainable Technologies
Caretaking/
Internship
Opportunities
 Other Links
Contact Us
Popai Main Page