I'm an Electrical Engineer, so I get a Lot of questions on energy harvesting, usually referring to Tesla's work from a century ago. I refuse to list any of their advertisements, because I won't promote their Obfuscation; even if they are little white lies.
Most say you harvest either electromagnetic (EM) energy, electrostatic energy, or cosmic energy. Technically, you can collect energy from these sources, but the amount of power you are able to collect is minuscule! The only useful application of ambient energy I'm aware of, is a crystal radio.
The energy harvested if done carefully, is in the fractional wattage range. I have done this myself as a curiosity, and managed to light a single high efficiency red LED...with not very much light; for a lot of hardware!
This is what you should think of, when you see these advertisements:
)
This makes about as much power as these 'secret' power harvesting equipment designs!
The EM energy is most available, and is tapped by using an antenna. Most antennas are 50 ohms, and you will see about 0.01 volts on a good day. Using ohm's law (E=I*R) we know that 0.01 volts, divided by 50 ohms equals 0.0002 amps. If we use P=I*E to calculate power collected, we have 0.0002 amps times 0.01 volts equals 0.000002 watts! It is hard to charge a power system using 2 microwatts of power! If you built over a hundred thousand antennas, and rectifier / storage circuits, you could harvest one watt!
Static electricity is even worse, in spite of it's high voltage levels; the current is extremely low amperage! Power here would be even less, unless you could harness lightning; which is not possible to do safely.
Cosmic energy is most commonly referred to as radiation, and is a very low level also; with the added benefit of being a deadly poison.
Here is a good article on cosmic energy:
https://www.nuenergy.org/nikola-tesla-radiant-energy-system/
Interesting to note that the atmosphere protects us from radiation exposure from cosmic rays, by absorbing them! If there was any truth to this 'technology', NASA would be using it to power spacecraft!
Even if you include 'resonance' from the above article, we need to Factor in the fact that no circuit is 100% efficient. So a resonant circuit can't harvest more power than is applied to it!
So next time you see one of these ads, delete it and save yourself some time!
I have not heard of these ads! I normally only see stuff for solar energy and wind energy. Solar is quite popular in Saskatchewan and I am getting my own system installed this Spring. Despite the fact that we have constant wind here, wind energy has not panned out. Believe it or not, the wind here is too ferocious. We also have the issue of our distance from the equator. The days are long in Summer and short in Winter. That means that we need to bank credits during the Summer to apply to our Winter usage. I wanted to circumvent this by supplementing with wind, but it's a no go.
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Use a savonius rotor on the wind generator, and the high speed wind can't hurt it!
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/savonius-wind-turbine
Both together work better than either by itself!
Picked up batteries for my solar system today.
💗🤠💙🤕
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See, I agree with you on that. I wanted to have wind back up for our system, but they keep insisting that it is a disaster in the making. The engineer installing our system wrote her Master's thesis on wind vs solar and used her own off grid wind solar combination rig as a case study. She insists that the wind was unable to keep up with the solar and showed me a bunch of charts to prove it.
The bottom line is that we do not get any extra rebate for producing surplus energy that we do not use, so it is not in our interests to pay more for wind.
I suppose we can buy a small wind kit later if we need it.
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Neither system is inexpensive, and their efficiencies do very. However, they operate differently, and one compliments the other. When solar is cloud bound, the wind picks up; and when the wind drops, the solar gains output!
Paired, they operate more effectively than either by itself. Most people avoid wind power because it's more complex to control, but that can be home made on the expensive part. If you decide to add one, let me know; and I'll be happy to help you! Give me the system voltage and the wind generator ratings, and I'll design your dump load.
I plan to begin with the solar myself! If you want, I'll look at the wind generator for you, if you decide to buy one. Sometimes, the EE degree is useful, ROFLOL.
💗🤠💙👍😂🥳
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Thanks! Too bad you didn't live closer! haha.
We are getting a 16kw system, which involves 40 400W panels. It will be tied into the grid and we are selling power back at the rate of 0.075 but they charge us 0.1554 . This is because the provincial government are crooks and have disincentivized conversion. They would much rather burn coal I guess. When my neighbours installed theirs, they got a better deal from the power company and sell back for the same rate they are charged.
Hopefully this is all the power we will ever need. Hahaha said everybody in 1975 after upgrading their knob and tube system.
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So you are grid tied? No batteries is less money, but no backup power when power is down. 40,000 watts of panels is aassive system. I will be running a tenth of that with wind generator support for a total of about 6kw, charging about 13,500 watts of 24 volt batteries. These batteries should run my house for about 2 days with no input. Most of the house functions will be provided from the input devices most of the time, as they charge the batteries with the excess.
The system will make about 40 kilowatt hours from solar, and about 20 kilowatt hours from the wind source.
So right now, I need more battery capacity to absorb the 60,000 watt hours generated each day!
💗🤠💙👍😃🔋🔋🔋🔋
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Yes, we are grid tied. I think our best bet is to upgrade later to off grid batteries. Potentially we will need more power if we get an electric car.
Can you sell back to the grid where you are? Some jurisdictions allow that. Ontario, for example, encouraged people to use wind and allowed them to sell back for a profit.
Our system is massive, but it is based on our usage, which I find fishy. We seem to be using a lot more electricity than other homes in the area and we are not sure why. We also have the problem of short days in Winter.
Whatever. If I end up with surplus power I will mine ETH or something. Haha.
I am as far away from being an electrical engineer as possible. Once you fill these batteries, how long can the battery be stored before it must be used?
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Adding batteries is a good idea, and that is a large system.
My bill almost doubled when they added that damn 'smart' power meter! I told them in writing not to put one here, but they did while I was out. Then they started stealing with it!
That is the main reason I went off grid at the homestead.
When a battery is charged, you use that charge whenever you need power. It will sit for a year with only a small reduction in that stored power.
We can sell power to the power company here, but only if I allow them to connect.
💗🤠🤠👍🙏🥳💩
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