ON-LINE MONITORING OF A SMALL ALTERNATE ENERGY STATION IN VIRGINIA

Over the past 3 years, a 1.5 kilowatt alternate energy station (2 solar panel systems, 2 wind turbine systems) has been constructed by faculty and students at George Mason University. The station is located at a field station in central Virginia, and this year detectors were installed to measure weather changes on-site (sunshine intensity, wind velocity, wind gusts, temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, dew point) and to measure critical electrical data (solar panel and wind turbine electrical output, voltages of battery banks). Then the monitoring system was uplinked via a satellite dish to provide remote monitoring and an instructional tool. See http://mason.gmu.edu/~rehrlich/energy/wind-solar.html and https://www.hobolink.com/p/4ebfe7948bc21f894e23e38da8b78a17 . Coupled with a surveillance camera, which also connects to the internet, we have a superior teaching tool. Ongoing student projects for the coming spring include a geothermal air conditioner, a solar water heater and a water-turbine electrical generator. These projects and others have been supported by local environmentally oriented companies and GMU faculty. These projects, and community presentations by our field station staff, are developed as instructional tools ("hands-on" methodology) and as advertisement tools for installers of home-size alternate energy and "green" systems.