Model Forum / General / Railroads / November 2007

Solar panels and/or wind power will charge batteries. That covers
lights, train power and computer.
(you can buy whatsits so that you can operate computers in cars)
Heating from 12 volt batteries isn't really practical, but you could
insulate and double glaze without breaking the bank. Emergency heat
would have to come from other old-fashioned means.
Assuming you're like normal people and only spend a few hours per day in
your shed quite a modest solar panel or car generator wind generator
with a couple of adequate car batteries will be sufficient.

Greg.P.
NZ

Well if you get a narrowboat with a windmill it would save building  a
shed.

G.harman

You might want to discuss it with neighbours first? Some take extreme
exception to having a wind turbine within sight and earshot of their homes.
As for being "green", I suspect more energy is used in the manufacture of a
wind turbine than will ever be used by a model railway over its lifetime.

(kim)

Have a read of this article from Toms Hardware, it covers the principles and
test bed for a solar powered PC, the methods etc should be transferrable.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/solar-livetest,review-29627.html

One should make sure both the shed and 'turbine' are securely anchored. I
have just been reading a story in a magazine about a chap who wind-powered
his shed without making sure it was securely anchored. I'll leave the group
to imagine what happened in some very high winds !!!

I do have neighbours but not very many - I live in the countryside.   One of
my sillier thoughts had been to approach them all with a suggestion for a
co-operative power scheme.   In the immediate vicinty there are 7 other
households.   We're on the side of a hill so if I put the windmill/panels
uphill from my house I don't believe any of those 7 would see it (some
hedgerow trees help in one case).   That's not to say noone would see it -
there is one house uphill (but about a quarter of a mile away) and two more
down the lane who might be able to see it from upstairs windows.

The idea of a flying shed is amusing.   I had already recognised that
attaching a windmill might not be appropriate - I have heard it suggested
that some houses may not be appropriate either.   On the other hand, there
are windmills and windmills.   I tend to think of something like an old wind
driven corn mill (think Windy Miller!) but I have seen pictures of wind
driven turbines (maybe a better term than windmill) that one could almost
wrap around a chimney.   Oh - I'm going into dreamland again.

Tom's hardware is interesting.   They comment that driving a laptop was
deemed simple so they went to build a desktop and found they had to build
something specialised.