This repo contains our plans for renewable energy technologies and co-location possibilities to increase the expansion of renewable energy and speed up our energy transition.
If the following work is of value to you, please consider supporting our work or joining as a Core Contributor through Open Collective.
Our goal is for our Core Contributors to each earn an equal share of 50% of the proceeds we receive from OpenEnergy products that get to market to get emissions reduced. Sustainability is not just for the planet, it has to be for people too.
There is a massive amount of waste every year from decommissioned wind turbine blades, and a massive amount of energy and financial expenditure just manufacturing, transporting, and putting up towers made of steel for various purposes.
Vertical Power Towers made of solar panels mounted on 10-20 foot sections of wind turbine blades ballasted with carbon-storing recycled concrete inside: these can create a solar forest that saves space while providing power with less waste, less emissions, and more profitability.
Say that we have 10 OpenEnergy Core Contributors and together we get 10 Power Towers made from decommissioned wind turbine blades and old solar panels. Say the City of Denver purchases each for $5,000, maybe for a city park somewhere to power outdoor charging stations for e-scooters and e-bikes.
The cost savings of not purchasing new solar panels and steel supports, and not having to recycle the wind turbine blades which involves much in the way of chemicals and energy, means we can help get renewable energy out to service communities that could never afford solar before.
The cost per watt for solar installation would go way down if these vertical Power Towers, already designed to resist high winds and snow loads, were a product that were on the market. Wind turbine blade sections and solar panels are lightweight to transport, and the carbon-storing recycled concrete can be added on site to save on transportation emissions and to enable the local community to help with installation as desired.
We'd like to explore building batteries...for use in buildings, of course.
It appears there might be some useful opportunities with both calcium and iron, two ingredients that are widely available and already within every concrete building. At least according to this journal article, which has been viewed over 40,000 times since 2018. It clears up many misconceptions about battery chemistry that might still be impeding battery engineering efforts today in various places. Worth a read, we'll look into this further as we get time.
Through PACE programs (available in 39 states), non-residential properties with at least one significant building can raise their net operating income over up to 25 years with the bulk of it coming in the first year, just by implementing energy upgrades resulting in savings for their utilities. Many property owners can even double their net operating income in the first year.
If the first year's return were re-invested by a cluster of property owners, a co-op business structure formed by these owners could be used to do a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the utility to earn even more money selling power over the long term.
Stable income to be divided for the benefit of all the owners. Any reason to not do this?