Solar Trackers.
Wind Turbines.
OzInverters.
New Modern version of the PLANTE battery.
PV, Photovoltaic Static Installations.
Off Grid & Your Own Mini Grid.
PV panels, Photovoltaic, testing broken ones.
What is AC Coupling.
R.E. Energy, the Basics.
SUSTAINABILTY Project, over 22 years now.
Here at “Le Vivray”, in rural Normandy, France we started a long term project in 2001 of treading as lightly as possible on this fragile Planet, but at the same time using the latest tech, and the latest products that would help us achieve a sustainability lifestyle for us, the children and for future generations to come.
Over the years we have learned a great deal with renewable energy and sustainability, and we share our knowledge with others, and hope that in the near future we will offer courses and accommodation here at “Le Vivray”.
In the last 20 years and with careful spending plans, we have our traditional old brick and Oak framed buildings to ‘Passive House’ insulation standards. We have our own sewage system, (approved by the local authority), and our Grey water system with reed beds and holding ponds, so we can always water the vegetable garden. And importantly we have our own Energy creation systems.
We set three main conditions for our projects: -
Robustness. …..
What we do or make must be robust that it works well, stands the rigor of the weather and a good life time expectancy, and needs little maintenance in the future.
Simplicity. ….
What we make or do must be as simple as possible, be compatible with our environment, comply with local authority specifications, and not require specialist equipment to install or operate. That means that embedded energy/materials used must be absolutely minimal and not harm the land.
Cost Effectiveness. ….
We do not have a big pot of money, so we endeavour to use materials and equipment that is locally sourced from sustainable sources, ie, building materials. And to re-use materials and equipment from discarded or scrapped sources, ie, electric cable offcuts etc from fleebay, second hand GTI’s etc.
Our Electrical energy Creation for suppling 7 buildings.
Firstly, Insulate, Insulate and more Insulation. Little point in heating a building if your insulation is minimal. We aim for Passive House standards.
Our aim is to be as cost effective as possible, as there is little point in spending on building and installation costs, and then find that the energy creation savings are outweighed by the original embedded cost. A classic example is a underground heat source pump that is commercially installed, the true cost and savingfigures just do not add up..
We do not use a standby generator powered by fossil fuels.
All our electrical generation equipment MUST BE as cost effective as possible.
Our own Renewable Energy creation is not connected and feed back to the Utilities main supply and is independent of the Utilities.
Our own electrical installations comply with all the local and international safety compliance codes.
The Books we publish and are publishing in regards our 'LE VIVRAY' PROJECT.
Firstly and I will say it again, we are NOT A COMMERCIAL BUISNESS. There is
absolutely NO Financial gain in selling our books, so I just stick them on our
Web sites with some write up and Paypal widgets. So my web site is not all glossy and full of
marketing and sales hype, and I don’t keep messing with it and making it look
slick, as I say my time is precious.
After 21 years of working on our Renewable Energy creation stuff, people across the World want further information on our projects. So I write up and small scale print stuff with loads of diagrams and colour photos. Printing is expensive so we ask for our printing and postage costs.
I am just a ‘boring’ Mechanical Engineer and most of my projects are already out there on several RE open-source forums across the World and can be extremely technical in nature. The books explain and show HOW TO MAKE, and NOT about buying PLUG & PLAY systems.
Our Books. In Print and available :- (the Wind turbine book needs me to add a page and paypal widget on our Web Sites).
1. Making a low cost, simple and Robust 6KW -16KW, 50HZ pure sine wave, 48vdc to 230vac OZINVERTER’. Now on second edition. I can also supply the 3 required specially designed by us and produced printed circuit boards. A4, 92 pages loads of photos etc.
2. Double Axis PV Solar Tracker, How to make a low cost simple and robust 2Kw or 3.2KW solar tracker. Now on second edition. A4, 40 pages, loads of colour photos and tech drawings.
3. Making Wind Turbines, 3.7m diameter, Chapter 18 . All about our making everything here to Hugh Piggott designs. Fiberglass blades and Wood Cedar blades etc. A4, 28 pages, 123 colour photos.
Now writing and finishing: -
4. Making your Own lead acid Large modern design PLANTE battery. 2v cells, 440ah, about 60kg each. Especially designed for very long life 20 to 25 years, battery is repairable and materials readily available. Batteries are designed for static RE systems. A4, about 40 pages, again technical in nature, loads of colour photos and diagrams and tech drawings. Production on these batteries start next week.
. 5. THE BIG BOOK……. Renewable Energy & Sustainability, 21 years of the ‘LE VIVRAY’ Project. ‘Saving the Planet’ on a budget. This Book is on our Project here at LE VIVRAY and is an EMPERICAL EVEDINCE publication. Has 25 Chapters, A4 size about 400 pages, and yes a very weighty tone. Very expensive to have published, so hence me publishing some chapters individually.
6.. What’s required for a normal Domestic House or Dwelling, Renewable Energy. Chapter 14. All from our empirical evidence and information from my good friends from across this Planet. A4 size, about 28 pages and loads of diagrams and colour photos.