I have a bunch of solar panels in my back yard which I have a few of my crunchers connected to. When the sun comes up, they start producing electricity. As the sun intensifies, the voltage across the battery bank increases to a point where it trips a relay, which is connected to the start switch on one of the computers, the compy turns on and starts crunching the CEP phase 2. I am running the DC through an inverter. As the day progresses and the sun gets stronger, the voltage rises again, which trips the relay which will turn on the second computer in my bank. (I do it this way so that on not too good days im only running one computer and not killing my battery bank too bad). As the sun starts to set, the voltage will drop to a point where the relay will trip again, and trigger a shut down on one of the computers and a little while later, trip the last one into shut down mode. Here they stay until the next day where it happens all over again.

So in essence, I am using clean energy to power my search for clean energy.

My question is, do I get a bronze 'dork' badge for this?

Aaron

Hi cleanenergy Team,

The second video seems to have been conceived before WCG techs implemented the expanded selector that allows for choosing how many CEP2 tasks are permitted to be on a device at any one time... the range is 1 (default), through 16.

cheers

edit: 1 through 16, AND "Unlimited" for those who cant have enough ;-)

Instructions which we could print out would be more useful to me than a you-tube video, though I thank whoever works to advance our cause.

dkt I dont know where you live, (country wise) but just to get a general idea of stuff avail there is altenergystore dot com and a ton of other places. A good place for a lot of alternative energy information would be homepower dot com. Its a magazine dedicated to alternative energy stuff and you can d/l a free issue to get an idea. The only thing I do not appreciate about the magazine is they get a bit political at times and are not afraid to voice their viewpoint. This is something I can do without in a supposedly 'professional' publication etc.

As for your question though, I believe this project is doing exactly that, trying to find materials to make solar panels that are much more efficient and cheaper. As for implementation, sadly even if we found something today, it'd be a good few years at bare minimum for implementation and seeing it on the market. Thats just that way that stuff works.

Aaron

Hi SekeRob,
The clip says that you can run more than one cpu, but I guess we could have been a bit more specific. Thanks for the comment.

Hi CandymanWCG,
These are really the most important settings - the problem is that if we go into too much detail, most people will stop listening.

Hi eh.griffith,
Good idea -€“ we'€™ll write up a quick checklist and post it shortly.

Hi dkt and Aaron,
We sure hope that we can help in the search for new plastic solar cell materials, but it is a longer term effort with many aspects to figure out. This type of solar cell really gets a lot of attention these days (from theoreticians like us, experimentalists, and industry) and we could imagine that in 5-10 years they may become a real competitor to common silicon-based photovoltaics. I think we have a good shot at contributing insight and having an impact on the design of new candidates with CEP2 - thanks to your support!

Best wishes from Blizzard-Boston,

Your Harvard CEP team

P.S. Aaron -“ your earlier story is quite awesome .