http://teamphoenicia.blogspot.com/2011/11/team-phoeniciatechshop-nanosat-launcher_6631.html

Earl spinning.

The halves.

The picnic needed electrical power but was not near a source. Since it was in a park, I wanted to limit the environmental impact. This is also a shared goal of the school. As you can see, the weather was not the best for a solar solution, but it worked out great.

First off, most people did not even know that such a thing existed. They where resigned to the fact that we would have a noisy generator.
Second, when they saw the unit, they where surprised by its size. The comparable gas generator is a little larger than a large ice cooler and you can deliver it in an SUV or pickup. This unit needed a large truck F250 class or a bit larger to deliver.
Third, even though it cost 2x, many did not see that as an issue. The benefit of solar was worth the extra cost.
Fourth, like what the title says, we talk a lot about doing this. And this is the right thing to do. So lets do it. It was really just a short web search to find this unit.
Lastly, Pure Power pointed me to Cresco, and they where very good to work with.

The base stats for the unit are:

• 18kW Continuous
• 150A
• 1020Ah
• 2400W supply from the solar panels
• GVWR 10000 lbs
• 22′L x 8′W x 12’2″H
• full stats

Advantages:

• Quiet. Oh so quiet that people wondered if it was working. When away from home, people are so used to hearing the droning sound that they did not know if it was working. I was asked several times if this thing was working.
• Outside of the size, the unit disappeared from the picnic.

Disadvantages:

• Size. It is big. It is heavy. (Batteries)
• Cost about 2X more, not including delivery.
• If the weather is overcast for multiple days or very heavy use, this can put the unit at a power deficit, that is why they have a hybrid model.

Overall, everyone really liked the solution. It really was a real world object lesson about what should be done and the trade-offs that had to be done.

———————-

Also on a related note. What is the tradeoff for a compost-able bag?

Frito-Lay has learned that sound rules. Their eco-friendly bags make too much noise thus people do not like them. This means that instead of decomposable bags they are moving back to ones that last much longer.

Sun Chips

Before you comment, yes I do think they can improve the bags to make it quieter, but which is better, using a noisy bag until a quieter one is developed or going back to the old landfill bag and waiting until a quieter one is developed? Which supports the cause better?

Nanosat Launch Seminar

And yes, they are building the phase 1 rocket for me.  Programming and logistics is a different matter.  Also they are not building everything that is required, thus there is still fabrication opportunities.

Nanosat Animation