#solarpunk #hackerspace #writing question: what would be the most Solarpunk / realistic / interesting way to heat a hackerspace in a city in colder climate? Something to make a story interesting & visual?
The usual answer "servers" isn't that eco
@alxd okay, so, you start with passive solar heating and some really big heat sinks. (Stone is prettier, concrete is easier). Big southern windows and really good insulating blinds for winter.
If we're going realistic and punk, fill the top of the building (roof) with barrels of water painted black. Get some sort of way to circulate the water, maybe a small solar-powered pump. That'll limit the freezing risk.
@alxd You can do a lot between solar heating and really good insulation (and body heat) But if it's a cold area, it might (like my area) also be grey a lot of the time, so.
Let's see. Urm, can you put your hackerspace in the subbasement? Then you have a consistent temp.
Servers isn't eco, but I mean, computers start with radiators, can you do something cool with that and rgb and have the space basic-heated by the computer waste heat?
@alxd I used to work for a software company (in NYS!) and we didn't notice our furnace was broken until a sub-zero (F) day in mid-winter, between the interns we had stacked on each other, the servers, and the workstations.
@alxd (not sure your location from your profile, so mid-NY has a last frost day of may and a first frost day of October and we're generally sub freezing from November through early March at least.
@aldersprig Thank you :) The story is in Central Europe, so yeah, we can get similar times.
We used to heat the 'Space with servers as well, but what used to happen is someone would often start mining BTC or Ethereum to get warmer. I just wonder if there are other good solutions that can be Solarpunk symbols :)
@alxd I grew up in a house that was heated with wood and passive solar heating. Lots of stone/cement is the first thing, for sure.
@alxd @aldersprig a kitchen or a gym could be sources of heat.
solarthermal panels on the roof don't work very well when there is little sun 🤷♀️
@aldersprig @alxd windmills are awesome!
@aldersprig @alxd another thing that produces heat, and generates gas that can produce heat is a biogas-chamber. though, it needs to be kept warm itself to function ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@alxd maybe the "servers" answer could get a little enhancement, if society became more seasonal, and was like "it's winter, the computational season of the year!", and everybody would start running their simulations etc. when the leaves start falling, saving the most computationally intensive tasks for the even colder days?
@alxd Geothermic. Regular geyser eruptions would be mandatory, as would steaming natural spa spots, with the colour staining that could result from the rich mineral deposits.
@alxd generating heat isn't always a problem in industrial spaces, sometimes it's what to do with all the heat you have. i can imagine a place where heat-generating gear is equipped with liquid-cooled heat sinks that carry the coolant through an ad-hoc network of tubes run across walls to carry the heat where it's more desired. combine w/ other ideas of building underground, geotherm exchangers, solar tank heating, etc. Crazy tube-lined radiator walls and heatsinks on everything = a visual.
@alxd a DIY gaz stove system with a methanizer using food waste, woodchips from project leftover and feces of members ;)
#solarpunk
@alxd air-to-air or air-to-water heat pump?