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| First Post: Sun, 16 Jan 2011 12:33 pm | Weboggle - Solar Powered |
Last post: Thu, 20 Jan 2011 07:18 am |
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admin 28 Posts Regular |
In a major move to become more environmentally friendly, we have started to invest in a solar photovoltaic system to provide power for the Weboggle server during sunlight hours. The server requires about 300 watts of power to run.
At present, we have a 100-watt PV system which can provide us with just under 1/24th of the electrical needs of the server (assuming 5 hours per day of useful sunlight). Of course, 100 watts is far too little to power this server directly. So instead, a large battery bank has been installed, and the 100 watt solar panel are used to charge the batteries. At this wattage, the batteries take about five hours to charge. Once the batteries have been charged, they can provide enough power to the server for about one hour. So that equates to 30 hours less consumption of carbon-producing energy per month. The current goal is to expand our PV system to 500 watts, which should be enough to supply the server for approximately 8 hours a day (5 hours directly from sunlight and three from batteries). The other 16 hours will still be provided by mains electricity. We will eventually commission more upgrades, such as a larger battery bank and a total of 1.5kW of solar panels. This will be sufficient to run the server entirely from the sun's energy. The large battery bank will be able to hold enough energy to last the night, and they will be recharged the next day. On overcast days, there will still be a need to use mains power - a cloudy day can result in solar panels producing less then 1/4 of their rated power output. With a sudden increase in world energy prices, the move to renewable energy is required to ensure Weboggle remains a viable operation. So whilst you may not have seen any recent changes to the Boggle site itself, the maintenance of the server and its electricity supply still requires a considerable amount of effort and funding. At present, most of your recent donations have been invested in the renewable energy system. We hope you will feel comfortable when you support and spend time on Weboggle, knowing that green energy is being used here. I look forwards to the day when Weboggle becomes carbon-neutral. |
Sun, 16 Jan 2011 12:33 pm Report Post | Anchor Reply |
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Marla 16 Posts Lurker |
WTG, Admin!! Admin, I commend you on your efforts to go green and reduce Weboggle's carbon footprint. Keep up the great work!! |
Thu, 20 Jan 2011 07:18 am Report Post | Anchor Reply |
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