Vashon
Energy Project
of
LifeSense Institute
Alternative
energy for life
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The Vashon
Energy Project of LifeSense Institute will demonstrate new solar
heating technologies and service innovations for affordable earth-friendly
habitation, non-polluting energy sources, and improvements in organic food
production (e.g., solar heated, year-round greenhouses) that are suitable
for Vashon-Maury Island and other locations that experience seasonal limitations
to solar exposure. Project
Solar Harvest is our initial installation and education project.
Robert
Bornn, President
Laura
Worth, Vice President
Advisory Board
PROJECT SOLAR
HARVEST
November, 2006
Solar
Energy Charts
(courtesy of BuildingCircles
Organization and Jon D. McWhirter, Ph.D.,
P.E.).
Chart 1: Average Annual Available
Solar Energy by Month
Chart 2: Thermal Storage and
Use for Annual Solar Heat Storage System
August, 2006
Project
Solar Harvest
Photos
and Report from Earthfair 2006
Vashon Island, Washington
(courtesy of BuildingCircles
Organization, Robert Bornn, and Jon
D. McWhirter, Ph.D., P.E.).
Nature-integrated Solar
Energy System: Collection, Storage, and Retrieval of Passive Annual
Solar Energy
This invention
by Robert Bornn and Jon
D. McWhirter, Ph.D., P.E. is the basis for Project
Solar Harvest, our first educational demonstration project that
collected and stored solar energy for heat on Vashon-Maury Island.
The invention utilizes a unique “front end” which collects and transmits
solar radiation into a thermal storage mass. When retrieved this
heat can be used directly for heating water and interior spaces.
The invention's goal is to make solar power more affordable. It's
physical configuration could achieve more affordable and nature-integrated
aesthetics than conventional solar technology.
This invention
is inspired by successful practical advances in Europe, Japan, and Canada
in neighborhood and large-scale storage of summer solar heat in the ground
for winter use.
If you have
engineering, technical, scientific, or architectural expertise in related
areas we would like to explore collaborating with you on this pilot project.
We can send you a library of related background links. Please contact
us. |
Moonlight on
Quartermaster Harbor
Vashon Island,
Washington
Photo by R.
Bornn
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Background Links
Successful,
High-Temperature, Underground,
Thermal
Energy Storage (HT-UTES) at High Latitudes
1 International
Energy Agency- Energy Conservation through Energy Storage (IEA-ECES)
2 Drake's
Landing Solar Community
3 Alternative
Energy Information
4 Index
to Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage Newsletters (Archive 1978-1993)
5 ASME:
Journal of Solar Energy Engineering
6 Trends
in Japan: Novel Energy Storage Systems
7 Solar
Engineering Savings Calculations
8 University
of Wisconsin, Madison, College of Engineering, Information re Concentrating
Solar Collector
9 University
of Ontario, Engineering and Applied Sciences, "Thermal Energy Background"
10 Solar
District Heating with a Combined Pit and Duct Storage in the Underground
Year-round
Solar Greenhouses
Imagine fresh
produce grown locally on Vashon-Maury Island in solar greenhouses
that can collect,
store, and use solar-heating year-round.
11 Solar
Greenhouse Horticulture Resources
(Vashon
Energy Project is a project of LifeSense Institute, a nonprofit corporation)
YOUR SUPPORT
We are actively
seeking participants and donors for the Vashon
Energy Project. In-kind-donations (services, materials, and
equipment) are welcome. We anticipate collaboration with a network
of local and worldwide professionals with expertise in relevant fields.
We are forming a dynanmic advisory board to optimize our projects. If
you have interest, please
contact us to join our
mailing list, learn of sponsored informational events, and programs and
activitites.