He brought his Solar Shuttle to our class to teach us about how solar power works and gave us some tips about how solar may be used in our homes and businesses.
The solar shuttle is a working trailer that provides portable emergency power. The Trailer has an array of 10 solar panels, 5 on the roof and 5 on the side when the trailer is not operating. During operation, the side panels are aligned with the top panels and aimed at the sun. That's when the magic happens. The solar panels convert sunlight into electrical energy. The power is moved through regulators into batteries. The batteries on the Solar Shuttle store about 26 kilowatt hours of power. When needed, the electricity moves through inverters, which convert the electricity to AC power.
The Solar Shuttle was used in the relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans when getting power to the region was extremely difficult. FEMA provided generators, but they were bulky and difficult to move to where the power was needed. Also, it proved exceedingly difficult to provide enough fuel to to power the portable generators. The Solar Shuttle was able to used almost anywhere, and since it uses sunlight, could operate where fuels were scarce.
On a sunny day, the Solar Shuttle can operate about 2500 watts of power.
Dan also presented several steps for using solar energy:
1. For a new construction, maximize site energy potential.
2. Design efficiency into structure (for existing structures, make structure as energy efficient as possible)
3. Use efficient HVAC system
4. Protect and Conserve Water
5. Use "greener" and locally supplied materials
Only add solar to a structure that has been made as energy efficient as possible.
More information about the Solar Shuttle can be found here:
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| The regulators (small white box to the front-left) The Inverters (large black equipment made by EXELTECH) |
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| The White box above contains the shuttle's batteries |
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| Dan Lepinski |
