Solarpunk Urbanism

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A community to discuss solarpunk and other new and alternative urbanisms that seek to break away from our currently ecologically destructive urbanisms.

Henri Lefebvre, The Right to the City — In brief, the right to the city is the right to the production of a city. The labor of a worker is the source of most of the value of a commodity that is expropriated by the owner. The worker, therefore, has a right to benefit from that value denied to them. In the same way, the urban citizen produces and reproduces the city through their own daily actions. However, the the city is expropriated from the urbanite by the rich and the state. The right to the city is therefore the right to appropriate the city by and for those who make and remake it.

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Solar-Water Heaters ☀️🌊 (slrpnk.net)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Prior to when electricity became common place, people were looking for other ways to make life easier. One of these inventions, the solar water heater, came in 1760, and boomed with popularity in the 1900’s for warm areas.

“In 1891, Clarence Kemp released the first ‘Climax’ solar water heater in Baltimore. He placed several water-filled iron elliptical tubes inside the box in series with cold water entering one side and warm water exiting from the other end. Multiple tubes avoided warm and cold-water being in close proximity, thus avoiding adverse heat exchanges.” PassiveHousePlus

These early models did have faults (such as heat lost, and poor resistance to frost, but continued to improve and build with popularity over time.

Eventually, for a complex number of reasons, solar water heaters disappeared and gas and electric took the show.

Today, this tech is making a comeback, though with modern touches.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

There's also a motherearthnews article showing a simple DIY setup complete with infloor heating!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Woah! I have never heard of it being used like that! Thanks for sharing

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

These kind of thermosiphon systems are still very common in southern Europe and many developing countries around the world.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

We had a solar water heater when I was growing up. It worked great in the summer in NM, for a very short period of time. Mostly we boiled water for dishes and baths (we did not have an indoor bathroom, so a bath was a Wild West style metal tub). But the solar heater was the only way to heat the shower (which too was outside).