Pictured above is our family's cabin in the Wrangell St. Elias National Park. Working with my father, we designed an efficient solar panel assembly for the log roof, which provides power to the cabin even in the winter when daylight is short. After shoveling off the snow load, our solar panels charge a battery cell composed of six 12 volt golf cart batteries, which deliver the charge to an inverter, providing 120 volt AC power to the cabin. This is essential for the cold, dark winter nights.
Two years after the solar panel install, we added a wind turbine to the roof for additional power, as shown in the video. Mounting this turbine was an engineering challenge, as we needed it to sit above the surrounding trees to pick up maximum wind. Using a thirty foot metal rod, and three stabilizing cables to the roof, our turbine proved to be a successful addition to the solar panels.
To source water for our cabin in the summer, we put in a solar driven water pump in a spring nearby, providing crystal clear drinking water to the cabin. The biggest challenge of this project was dealing with the local wildlife. After grizzly bears destroyed our hose multiple times, we buried it into the dirt so the animals could not chew on it. These projects taught me engineering skills in a rural environment and showed me the effectiveness of renewable power.