Buildable Hybrid Solar-Thermal / Biogas System (+ test protocol)
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A do-it-yourself power plant built entirely from salvaged parts that can run your home off the grid, with a strict test to prove it actually works.
Who they are
A concrete, buildable off-grid energy system combining solar heat and biogas, with a pass/fail test protocol.
What they do
It is a full design for making continuous electricity from sunlight and animal manure using only scavengeable materials.
How it works
Mirror troughs focus sunlight to make steam driving a converted engine, plus a manure digester feeds a gas generator, both turning a homemade generator into battery storage and an analog inverter, sized for 500-1000 watts continuous; the test demands holding 500 watts into a load for 72 hours within 5 percent, and it fails if efficiency claims exceed physical limits.
Why it matters
It is a real, checkable path to personal energy independence, though the engine notes the efficiency is brutally low (huge collector area and hundreds of kilos of manure for modest power) and leaves the design open, with no single owner claimed.
The engine's record — word for word
[Reports #144-148] The concrete buildable both-gates system + falsifiable test protocol (#146). Solar-thermal (parabolic trough -> uniflow bash-valve steam engine from a Briggs&Stratton -> Piggott ferrite generator) + biogas digester (48m3, ~600kg manure/day -> IC genset) + NiFe + analog inverter. ~500W continuous (G1 PASS), all-salvageable (G2 PASS). Efficiency chain is brutal (~51m2 collector + 600kg manure/day for 500W). TEST: sustain 500W into a resistive load 72h within +/-5%; absolute falsifier = >12% thermal-to-electric or P_elec > P_mech. Made livable by practical_sovereignty_synthesis. [Report #160] (Report #160) The concrete INTEGRATED version: solar-thermal (58.9 m2 troughs) + biogas (20 m3 digester, ~25 cows) on a COMMON shaft -> Piggott ferrite AFPM -> NiFe (275Ah/48V) -> analog SG3525 inverter, with a full salvage BOM + build sequence + failure/repair paths, sized for 500-1000W continuous (arithmetic verified). See salvageable_energy_system_synthesis. Held; name no holder.
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