Green Coffee Roaster

[4thJohn]

Green Coffee Roaster.Now that's Green!

[milowebailey]

Way cool

Completed 2006-7 5 LB Capacity 180 glass mirrors Folding array built onto a trailer for easy transport and set-up at events. Enclosed in plastic dome for the year of 2007. Weighs one ton.



even cooler

    Helios 4 Roaster Plant

Completed 2008 30 LB Capacity 720 glass mirrors Prefabricated in Oregon, shipped to Colorado and assembled from parts. System weighs 11 tons, including mobile steel building. Collects roughly 20kW solar-thermal power. System is a 'solar hybrid' and can use propane as heat source when weather is cloudy or ambient temperature is too cold to reach roasting temperature with solar alone.

[mp]

Hmm ... quite a setup there.

 

[milowebailey]

A receiver at the focal point heats air to roughly 900 degrees Fahrenheit.

[Tex]

I'm still unconvinced about solar powers ecological impact. Is it really zero-sum gain? Is the energy captured by the mirrors used in an earth-friendly way? What about the loss of thermal production that would normally be hitting the earth and warming it?

Nope: To my simple mind, this is not a good use of free energy!

[milowebailey]

I'm still unconvinced about solar powers ecological impact. Is it really zero-sum gain? Is the energy captured by the mirrors used in an earth-friendly way? What about the loss of thermal production that would normally be hitting the earth and warming it?

Nope: To my simple mind, this is not a good use of free energy!

for argument sake.... the solar energy doesn't go away because you collect the heat does it?

[Tex]

I'm still unconvinced about solar powers ecological impact. Is it really zero-sum gain? Is the energy captured by the mirrors used in an earth-friendly way? What about the loss of thermal production that would normally be hitting the earth and warming it?

Nope: To my simple mind, this is not a good use of free energy!

for argument sake.... the solar energy doesn't go away because you collect the heat does it?

The solar energy is being partly redirected into the air & atmosphere. The total energy that's absorbed by the earth is much less than if it was allowed to reach the earth unmolested. It's not a zero-sum gain situation.

Or, to put it in layman's language, "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch!" Or, you can refer to it as the butterfly effect or even the law of unintended consequences. It's what one does all the time in algebra - remove something from one side of an equation and you must make allowance for it on the other side.

[milowebailey]

. It's what one does all the time in algebra - remove something from one side of an equation and you must make allowance for it on the other side.

my point exactly... the total energy is still there in the "system" ( our environment).  No longer stored as light, but the light converted to heat and some of that heat transferred to the coffee in other forms of energy, but the energy in the sunlight didn't just go away... that energy is still in the system...and at some point(maybe when you drink and bodily process it... turned back into heat)...... per Mr. Joule and the 2nd law... right?  It's no longer light, but does that matter it's still the same energy?

[Tex]

. It's what one does all the time in algebra - remove something from one side of an equation and you must make allowance for it on the other side.

my point exactly... the total energy is still there in the "system" ( our environment).  No longer stored as light, but the light converted to heat and some of that heat transferred to the coffee in other forms of energy, but the energy in the sunlight didn't just go away... that energy is still in the system...and at some point(maybe when you drink and bodily process it... turned back into heat)...... per Mr. Joule and the 2nd law... right?  It's no longer light, but does that matter it's still the same energy?

But your point doesn't take into consideration the heat lost to the atmosphere and into the cosmos. Air is much less thermally efficient than the earth as a storage medium. I've always equated our atmosphere to a large heat sink - it gives our heat away more slowly than if there was no atmosphere; but it still lets it seep away.

Put enough mirrors in the path of the sunlight and redirect the energy into the atmosphere and you'd have a reduction in the earth's surface temperature. The 2nd law just says it's not destroyed, not that it can't be redirected.

[milowebailey]

Ok, so is all the energy from the sun absorbed by the earth?  where does the excess heat go from roasting the beans?  Is it absorbed by the earth?  Too many variable for my brain... but fun to discuss.

I honestly don't know ether way, and your point is a good question?

Another question: Is this solar roasting really carbon neutral?  How much energy is spent building the solar panels, the mirrors and other goodies for this roaster and over the life of each part do they save more fossil fuel than was used to create the "green system"?

Either way it's still a cool roaster!!

[Tex]

Ok, so is all the energy from the sun absorbed by the earth?  where does the excess heat go from roasting the beans?  Is it absorbed by the earth?  Too many variable for my brain... but fun to discuss.

I honestly don't know ether way, and your point is a good question?

Another question: Is this solar roasting really carbon neutral?  How much energy is spent building the solar panels, the mirrors and other goodies for this roaster and over the life of each part do they save more fossil fuel than was used to create the "green system"?

Either way it's still a cool roaster!!

It's a wrench-heads dream machine!