Comments on: In Antarctic base, solar energy and 10 cm commute

By: Alister Doyle

Alister Doyle — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 06:38:47 +0000

Good luck, Robert in tracking those down — McMurdo was on the other side of Antarctica from where I visited…hope they survived!

By: Robert Bean

Robert Bean — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:37:56 +0000

Back in the late 80’s/early 90’s we were involved in a Joint US/Canada Antarctica project where we supplied evacuated tube solar systems for portable research trailers….we never did hear how they survived. The Trailers were built by ATCO Trailers of Calgary, Alberta – the high performance windows were supplied by Vision Wall and Solshine Energy/Radiant Design and Supply of Edmonton, Alberta designed and supplied the Thermomax Solar System. This was almost 20 years ago…I am trying to find photo’s and history of this installation…I have located through a contact working in McMurdo Station, an individual who worked on the trailers in 1994 so we know the trailers still exist…if you have any information I would greatly appreciate it.

By: Ben Hermann

Ben Hermann — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 23:33:46 +0000

Follow the Belgian example!Install wind turbines in numbers sufficient to run the whole station and don’t spoil that pristine piece of land! In a place like Antarctica I don’t think solar panels would be a great thing for supplying “base load” considering the 6 month period of darkness in winter, but then again, in summer there’s more staff present and it wouldn’t do harm to test the gear in harsh conditions.Apparently the Belgian system works, so why not use it?! Just thinking of the relief from the necessity to replenish otherwise used fossil fuels and the associates storage that usually comes with spills and so forth.Cheers,Ben