Why aquaponics

[urbanfarmer]

For me, it was a fun hobby that also produces something of value too.

Ah, the innocent stages of aquaponics... just before the onset of ADDICTION! mwahahaha

[Bioritize]

I started this for a few reasons. I am all about sustainability and local food. I am in the process of closing my solar/small wind business and I am looking for new business ventures. Fresh fish and veggies all year sounds like a good idea.

I also think that we are about to face major difficulties in many different aspects of our lives; peaking of natural resources, dollar devaluation and the like. This is a way for me to eat local food that is fresh and organic and requires very few fossil fuels, therefore will be a resilient market in the future.

I think to fix this shit, we must localize everything and provide our food, energy, shelter, water as close to home as possible. Thus, eliminating the need for these large corrupt systems, i.e government, large corporations, banks...

Aquaponics is a great idea for the future.


Oliver, Have you considered a couple solar panels to keep your batteries happy?

[Oliver]

Funny you should ask about the solar panels. We've been waiting for the price to drop enough to give us only a few years payback.

The good/bad news is we are usually in tier 5 on our electric usage. That translates to over 30 cents per KWH. If I could generate about 285 KWH per month of solar electricity that would drop us back to tier 4 as the highest tier and save us about $46 per month.

We live in a very sunny area of high desert. The question is this, how much solar panel wattage would I need to average that amount of energy? We are at 34 degrees North Latitude.

Prices are now down around $1.34 per watt. I have room for about 2.4 KW of panels maximum, in a fully sun lit area.

What would be the average daily sping-summer/fall-winter output of such an array if aligned to my local latitude?

Oliver

[urbanfarmer]

That should roughly be 720 kWh a month given 30 days of 10 hours of sunlight a day. It's extremely variable, but with 2.4 kW of panels you should easily get the 285 kWh you desire! Even at half the sunlight you would still get 360 kWh per month.

[Oliver]

I believe that 10 hours a day is high. I am no solar voltaic's expert. I've heard numbers like 5 hours a day year round. The sun is only at the optimum (East-West) angle for just a few hours at best. Rising and setting sun angles are the worst (except for night, of course). Everything else is somewhere in-between. I was looking for some hard numbers for the average amount of sunshine (based on the solar index and a fixed panel position) so I could get an idea of payback time.

Edited: I just looked it up and for my area the average Solar Insolation is closer to six sun hours per day.

Oliver

[rfeiller]

Oliver be sure and factor the permit fees. Here in the SF bay area permits can run in the thousands. I pay three times the standard rate for most of the power I use, but solar doesn' t pencil for me.

[Bioritize]

I am a PV designer or have been for the past 4 years.

It looks like you have an average of about 6.7 peak sun hours per day in your area.

Working backwards from your goal of 285 per month or 9.4 kWh's per day. 9.4 / 6.7 =- 1.39 / .77(derate for losses) = 1.81 kW of solar needed.

If you want to fill the entire space you can get about 4095 kWh's per year with a 2.4 kW array.

In CA with your rebates and power rates, this stuff makes sense out of the box.

Permit fees are not that bad in most area's especially if you mount them on the ground.

[urbanfarmer]

I am a PV designer or have been for the past 4 years.

It looks like you have an average of about 6.7 peak sun hours per day in your area.

Working backwards from your goal of 285 per month or 9.4 kWh's per day. 9.4 / 6.7 =- 1.39 / .77(derate for losses) = 1.81 kW of solar needed.

If you want to fill the entire space you can get about 4095 kWh's per year with a 2.4 kW array.

In CA with your rebates and power rates, this stuff makes sense out of the box.

Permit fees are not that bad in most area's especially if you mount them on the ground.

NICE RESPONSE! GREAT TO HAVE YOU HERE BIORITIZE!

[Oliver]

Really don't want to carry this thread down this road much further but I am wondering about permits, something I hadn't considered. The house is already covered with a solar water heater for our pool, an above ground 15,000 gallon unit with a deck. Looks like it is in-ground pool due to the slope of the land. But I do digress.

All of the solar V. panels will be on there own structure or structures, depending on how my measurements of fully sun lite back yard space turns out tomorrow when I pull out the big measuring tape. I want to see if my trig is right in calculating where the sun created shadow from a storage shed will dictate the location of the southern edge of the panels on December 22nd at the sun's lowest point in the sky. Don't want the shed's shadow hitting the lowest panels.

I will also need to determine if the top of the solar structure will shadow any of the greenhouse, which will be to the north. Hopefully, I will be able to install about 3200 watts of panels on a single structure starting about three feet above ground level.

Oliver

[wh33t]

I find the "why" becomes more and more important the older I get (28 now).

Why Aquaponics, for me it's about personal integrity. A year or so ago I watched a film called Collapse which showcases quite bluntly just how dependent the world is on oil. I was blown away at just how much oil plays a crucial role on our global economy and on all life itself on the planet. After watching Collapse I was switched on to learning new information and I shed much of my old ideals and ego which invariably led me to become part of the Zeitgeist Movement.

Aquaponics for me simply is about sustainability. In this great David vs Goliath (civilians versus mega corporations) conundrum the only thing I find each individual can truly do is sustain their own life to the best of their abilities. Aquaponics is a huge step in the right direction for that. Not only is Aquaponics healthier than most store purchased veggies, it's also cheaper and easier beyond the initial investment. Every time a family purchases local grown food or produces their own food another brick in the support structure of the powers that be is eliminated.

We all want world peace, a sustainable life and the security of knowing that our children and their children will inherit a better life and a better planet than we ourselves inherited (at least I hope that's what we all want). I personally can't believe that this is possible with out Aquaponics anymore. Aquaponics plays such a significant role in combating so many of the globalized problems we face today. Not only is it more productive and natural and kinder on the environment it's also A HELL OF A LOT easier than traditional gardening which just has to be the best icing on an already deliciously nutritious cake.

Furthermore, I'm a huge computer geek, I program databases and back end management systems for my day job. I'm learning more and more about automation through the Arduino platform. I personally feel with minimal knowledge and experience in both gardening, aquaculture and robotics any individual capable of reading on the world wide web can 90% automate their own home food production... Now that would be a step in right direction...

Just my two cents. Great thread.