Desert workshop

July 8, 2009

Thanks to Michael Janzen I found John Wells and The Southwest Texas Alternative Energy and Sustainable Living Field Laboratory (aka The Field Lab). As you can see it’s pretty remote so anything needed has to be transported in or used from the environment. Water is collected from the rain and solar panels and wind turbines provide power.

The purpose of the lab is to adopt a 21st century pioneer’s lifestyle, live off grid, experiment with alternative energy and any other project John and friends feel like doing.

John’s got slightly more serious cooling issues than I have in the workshopshed as the temperatures in the Texan desert regularly go over 100°F. So he has successfully built a “Pepino Swamp Cooler” which uses rain water and solar panels to cool his workshop.

You can follow the exploits of the field lab on the Field Lab Blog.

I hope to have some kind of active ventilation in the workshopshed. I’ll be looking at the swamp cooler in more detail and also Forest Cook’s Solar Circuits. Forest’s given me some ideas about ensuring my fans have enough current and don’t burn out.

By Andy from Workshopshed Add Comment

  Posted in: Uncategorised Tags: Cooler, Solar Power, Workshop