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And I hope that everyone will take a minute to update their bookmarks, because I am finally making the inevitable move from Blogger to TypePad. I'm also rolling all three of my blogs (Dirt, Humboldt Hens, and Worms of Endearment) into one, and in addition to writing about the garden, the chickens, and the worms, I'll also be writing about the book tour and lots of other topics related to my new book, Flower Confidential. My new blog home is here:

http://blog.amystewart.com/

And last, but certainly not least, you'll find me over at GardenRant a few times a week. We're having a lot of fun, so come join us.

Summer heat is on and that makes me think!
You may have probably heard of Solar Air Conditioner. It can produce cooling effect by absorbing heat from Sunlight. Normally, these types of ACs are absorption type refrigeration systems using Ammonia cycle, salt and vapor pressure stuff.
But these are still limited to research labs and some commercial applications.

In this post I'm going to talk about using Electricity (Solar) to get some extra points of efficiency from your existing AC.

The inspiration for this idea came from ice factories, industrial cooling towers, our fridge and the thermodynamics chapter in my physics textbook.

Lets start with the basics i.e. physics (basics|physics, it rhymes!)

2nd Law of thermodynamics tells us that energy flows in one direction only, whenever there is a net increase in the disorderliness (entropy) of a thing, it flows from a less disordered state to more. For example, you put a drop of ink in a beaker full of water, ink spreads i.e. becomes more disordered. You can't expect the dissolved ink to converge and become a drop again. Similar things happen with our drawers and cupboards! Actually, it is the 2nd law of thermodynamics that gives direction to Time. Think about this!

Coming Back to our AC;
An AC or Fridge seems to break this law! Isn't it?
How it can pick out heat from a cold area and throw it in the hot one?
As cold air is more ordered, you can see, AC tries to decrease disorderliness on the in-side and increase it on the out-side. But the 2nd law says for anything to happen in this universe there should be a net increase in disorderliness.
So we can say that if an AC is working, then it throws more heat out-side than it absorbs from in-side. Now from where that 'extra' heat is coming? Of course from the electricity that it consumes.
Now you see why an AC works. Click here if you want to know how it works!

Efficiency?









Kc is the COP.


Clearly, efficiency of a fridge or AC depends on the temperature difference between inside and outside. More its COP better it is!
If TH and TL are both close to each other then the denominator is close to zero and COP jumps. See the graph:

It is clear from the graph that for lower outside temperatures, AC performs best. We generally set the thermostat around 24 to 26 degrees. In this temperature range you can see how dramatic is the effect of lower outside temperatures.
That's why an AC will perform best in Europe and worst in South Asia.
At our place, in India, temperature lies around 40 degrees, so the black curve in the above graph shows how it'll perform.

Whew! Now the Climax!

At the back of an AC you'll find a large copper coil with aluminum fins (called condenser), that coil is the "TH" region as shown in the diagram above. If we could somehow reduce the temperature of this coil, AC's performance will increase. There is a large fan along the coil for cooling and the aluminum fins act as heat sink, just like the cooling mechanism on your computer processor.

My idea is to use a small water pump and a container to continuously sprinkle water on the condenser coil thereby reducing its temperature considerably. Water is a good conductor of heat and it has really good capacity to hold heat. That's the reason why car engines are cooled by water.
Amazing thing about this concept is that the cooling fan will blow air on the wet fins, evaporating water, thereby cooling the coils even below the temp. of water itself!

Win-Win Situation

Using this concept of water cooling, we save energy, as efficiency of the AC increases its energy consumption will decrease.
Secondly, using this concept, we are producing more energy, how?
We saw earlier that water evaporates when sprinkled on condenser coil. Water vapor thus formed rise upwards to form clouds, producing rain, this rain water then travels down the rivers eventually ending up behind a Dam, producing power. Simple isn't it?
20 to 50 Watt pump will be sufficient. You can even use a small solar panel to do the job. More sunlight gives more pumping power!
So, get going and do something! Of course Don't forget to tell me!

Click on 'comments' to give feedback on this post.

If you're coming here to check out the blogs you read about in the San Francisco Chronicle, welcome. Settle in; have a look around.

I'm blogging regularly on a new group blog, GardenRant. You can find out more about the inspiration for this blog here.

And if you're interested in starting a garden blog of your own, you might want to read Don't Get Dirt in the Keyboard, and Other Blogging Tips for Gardeners.

Enjoy!

When I saw Sign of the Shovel's post about her husband's new book, I realized that it was about time for me to employ a little crass commercialism in support of my own spouse's venture.

Scott has been the half-owner and editor of Fine Books & Collections for four years now. He started the magazine for the same reason most people start a magazine: The magazine he wanted to read didn't exist, so he decided to create it himself. Believe it or not, FB&C is the only true, full-color, glossy magazine in the US devoted to the world of rare books. There's probably a dozen magazines out there about dogs, but if you're interested in old books, or just about anything unusual and interesting on paper, FB&C is it.

Having watched the running of a magazine, day in and day out, for four years now (Scott runs the entire editorial division out of our house, working with a network of freelancers and designers by e-mail and phone), I can tell you that it's a labor of love. I also know that most people don't realize how much one individual subscription (especially one that renews every year!) means to a small or medium-sized magazine. It's not just the money; it's also the thought that someone out there cares enough about the subject to want it delivered to their house every month or two. I remember FB&C's first direct mail campaign, and how excited I was to go to the post office and see that someone in Anchorage, Alaska or Petosky, Michigan had sent in a check just because we'd sent them a brochure bragging about a magazine that, at that point, didn't even exist yet.

If you are a book lover, or if you know a book lover, or if you just want to buy a subscription for your local library, FB&C will happily take your 25 bucks. (I can almost guarantee you that your online subscription will soon be followed by a cry of, "Hey, Amy! One of your blog readers just subscribed!")

And if FB&C isn't for you, I hope that you'll stop and think about the great little or not-so-little magazines that you pick up from time to time but don't subscribe to. I bet their subscriptions cost less than a pizza and are much better for you.

There's something wonderful about magazines: the feel of the paper, the photographs, the great writing, the ease with which you can read them in the bathtub or on the bus...not to mention the heart and soul behind them.

No matter how much time I spend online, I'll always be a magazine junkie. I long ago stopped counting the number of magazines coming into this house every month. A stack of yet-to-be-read magazines on the nightstand is a little luxury that I couldn't live without. What about you?

Here’s a cool article about a city going solar. > http://www.courier-journal.com

A few months ago, I started talking with Susan Harris of Takoma Gardener and Michele Owens of Sign of the Shovel about a modest little idea we had to stage a horticultural revolt. We were tired of what the mainstream gardening media has to offer--warmed-over garden tips, repurposed press releases about the ten thousandth new coleus on the market, dull little essays about the wonders of spring--and we were convinced that bloggers could overthrow the gardening establishment in the way that they are transforming coverage of politics and current affairs. (Witness the success of the YearlyKos convention. Not that I want to be the DailyKos of gardening. I'd much rather be the Gawker of gardening. But one thing at a time.)

Like all good revolutionaries, we began by writing a manifesto. You can read the whole thing on our site, but I'll touch on a few of my favorite points here:

--We are convinced that gardening MATTERS. Get us out of the Lifestyle section and as far away from home decorating as possible. We're talking about how we interact with the plant kingdom, not how to choose a throw pillow. This shit is important!

--We are flabbergasted at the idea of "no maintenance" gardens. If I have to read one more magazine article about Easy Container Gardens in 10 Minutes or Less, I may actually go bury MYSELF in the perennial border. Gardening is something you DO. It's not something you buy and arrange around the exterior of your home in between fluffing the aforementioned throw pillows.

--We are delighted by people with a passion for plants. Show some excitement! Have an opinion! Fall in love! Get mad! If you're bored, put your pen down and go outside. Just don't bore us, too.

Are you with me? All right, then. Follow me over to Garden Rant, where I'll be blogging a couple times a week. We've uploaded some of our previous posts from our own blogs to help set the tone, but it's all new stuff from here on. Some of my favorite new features include:

• Ask Dr. Bleedingheart--horticultural advice for the lovelorn. Send in your melodramas today.
• I Don't Have a Garden, But I Watch One On TV--reviews of garden television and Internet garden videos. (We'll cover podcasts and radio too, so if it's good, send it our way.)
• Taking Your Gardening Dollar--product reviews, rip-offs, and vicarious horticultural shopping experiences.
• You! We're looking for guest bloggers, so if you have something brilliant to say, we hope you'll consider saying it on Garden Rant first. Come rant with us!

Well folks, this is it. This is as good as it gets. The garden is at its absolute peak right now. There are some late summer salvias that are not in bloom yet, but apart from that, everything is out of control, including--in the background, against the fence--a yellow 'Lady Hillingdon' rose that has gone completely mad. She's normally a well-behaved, reserved old lady, but this year she just went wild. I attribute it to the bat guano pellets I fed her a few weeks ago.

I'm not much of a rose person, but 'Lady Hillingdon' was here when I moved in, and I'm learning how to get along with her. The canes are a beautiful burgundy, quite dramatic next to the creamy yellow blooms. Not much scent and they don't last long as a cut flower, but this is one of those lovely sprawly, shrubby roses that doesn't like to be cut back too much. Fortunately, that works out pretty well with my approach to pruning. 

Anne Raver, writing about Heronswood in the New York Times, has a bit more to say about the future of the gardens themselves.

"Mr. Ball said Heronswood's gardens-- 5 1/2 acres of the garden, as distinct from the business Burpee is moving, will not be depleted even as the best specimens are taken for propagation and testing. 'I would like to find some kind of buyer who would keep it open to the public,' Mr. Ball said. He pictures a 'high-end retirement community, with nice condos' built around the gardens on the 15-acre Heronswood property.

Mr. Hinkley agreed that the gardens should be preserved, but only if they have a purpose beyond nostalgia, such as serving as an educational resource. Otherwise, he said, 'I would much rather see the garden euthanized immediately than to see it decline over several years.' "

Agreed, Dan. High-end retirement community? Nice condos? I shudder to think what the landscaping contractor hired by the homeowners association would do to those gardens. If it must be sold and developed into condos, at least let the local plant geeks come and dig up the good stuff first.

Abruptly, an End Comes for a Garden Shangri-La - New York Times

Thanks to the Houston Chronicle for choosing Dirt as its favorite opinionated garden blog, and to the Sacramento Bee for...uh...choosing Dirt as its favorite opinionated garden blog.

Green Space: Best Gardening Blogs (and what I've learned from them)

The SacBee says: "A fascinating and informative blog from Amy Stewart, a popular speaker and writer who lives in Eureka. You may have read or heard about her books, which include, "The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms" and "From the Ground Up: The Story of My First Garden." Both are exceptional books about gardening and nature.

Her blog is unabashedly opinionated and often on current events. Stewart, the consummate multitasker, also has posted links to her chicken blog and her worm blog."