Living off the grid at Chena.

SORRY ABOUT THE DISORGANISED LOOK OF THE BLOG TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES DUE TO TOO MANY OTHER USERS ON OUR WIFI LINK HAVE PREVENTED ME UPLOADING ALL THE PICS.

NORMAL SERVICE WILL BE RESUMED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.


As I mentioned in the last post, Chena Hot Springs is "Off the Grid". A key to their survival in terms of energy economics is their geothermal power station.

Because they produce more electricity from their two, soon to be three, geothermal turbines than they can use onsite they will be opening the first commercial hydrogen production facility in Alaska.

Not that this little fellow needs electricity to keep warm. He or she was chattering angrily at us while we walked around the geothermal tap.



This is just a well drilled down to some 20 million year old water. They are returning the water to the source when it comes out of the generating plant. The hot springs water from the pool however just runs away as it has done for the last 100 years.








Also rather than ship in salad stuff they will heat and light the greenhouses to grow lettuce and tomatoes, hydroponically, all year round.














It is said that Bernie Karl never throws anything away.
The pump that is used to move water around the hot springs will not need to be thrown away for 100s of years. Based on an idea from an Englishman called John Whitehurst which was developed by a frenchman, Joseph Montgolfier in to a working model. Called a Ram Pump it is very simple has only two moving parts and provided the RAM is kept working, it will be unaffected by changes in temperature especially low temperatures which might cause a conventional system to 'freeze up' unless some form of heat is provided.
If he has the Made in England version from GREEN & CARTER Vulcan Works Ashbrittle it is guaranteed forever. Most of their RAMs, installed prior to 1800, are still working as well as the day they were installed, and they still maintain a stock of all parts on the shelf. Makes me proud to be British.






But not all of Bernie’s ideas have been so successful. He opened a six-room Aurora Ice Hotel opened in December 2005. Before spring was over, it was melting, along with his $20,000 investment. He somehow miscalculated the effect of 24-hour summer sun and 90-degree heat on the structure. The pic shows the custom made cooling system which runs off the geothermal tap.


"I had a frozen asset. It's now a liquid asset," said Bernie. He rebuilt it, this time with thicker insulation and here are Carol’s pics. of the interior.