Greetings everyone!
I thought I'd say hello, and introduce myself, being a new member and all
. So here are a few bits of information about me, and my "motivation" for being here.
I live in Hungary (that's in Central Europe), and by profession I'm an electrical engineer. I work at the Research Institute for Technical Physics and Material Sciences, of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. My work mostly involves plasma physics, semiconductor research and mid to high vacuum systems. Though my interests do span beyond my degree, I like to tinker, and to search for all sorts of interesting and maybe promising things in various fields of sciences. Since energy is a major concern for all of us, I always like to explore possibilities in regards of power generation at home. A couple years ago I bought some land, just outside the city, about 0.7 acres, and I have a small house on it (well it's a "work in progress"). I keep horses (so do my neighbors), and that means that I have access to plenty of manure, which means I can produce bio-gas. My idea is actually to mix bio-gas with bio-diesel (preferably from processing WVO), and introduce this mixture into a relatively efficient, and reliable, low maintenance (or easily maintained) engine and produce electricity. Also the waste heat (by running the coolant through a heat exchanger) would be used to produce hot water for the household. The Lister, having a relatively low RPM, simple construction,and water cooling, seems like a good candidate for such a project.
I'm on a very tight budget so this would be a "bit by bit" type of project, slowly building the required infrastructure. I also have a tendency to be very careful, and I try to take as much parameters into consideration before committing to anything, as possible.
By the way my house will have two A/C s to cool and heat it, both inverter types, with a COP>3.5 . Of course if temperatures drop below -15 degrees C outside, their efficiency will also drop. I also have a vertical axis wind turbine, not yet erected tho', but practically just waiting to be placed (I don't want to place it until I move into my new home).
Well that's about it for now. I have been reading posts in the forum for a week now, and I'll keep on digging for info, but eventually I'm sure I'll ask some silly questions
. I have noticed that there are some people here who are from Europe! They could probably (having experience here in the EU) help me with logistics problems (shipment of these engines), if it would come to that.
I appreciate any input or advice of course!
Thank you!
Cheers,
Eq
