Oasis Montana Inc.
Renewable Energy Supply and Design
406-777-4321or 4309
e-mail: info@oasismontana.com
Home Page: www.oasismontana.com

Visit us on the web for product and project information!
For grid-tied power systems, www.grid-tie.com
Solar water pumping:  www.PVsolarpumps.com
Non-electric gas appliances, www.LPappliances.com
Efficient and DC appliances, www.eco-fridge.com
And our main page at www.oasismontana.com


 
It’s been a very cold and wintery spring in many parts of the country, and certainly in Montana! But we are hoping for sunnier and warmer times – just not too warm. Supply chain issues are continuing to dog the solar industry; the 25% tariff instituted (in 2018) on imported steel and 10% tariffs on aluminum that hurt many manufacturers are finally being lifted, but it will take a while for that to translate into more product availability. In the meanwhile, we continue to help our customers rely on green power and back-up for critical loads as necessary, and many of the needed components are still available.

 

WE CAN SUPPLY BIG BATTERIES.

  • The battery supply chain has been greatly affected; most L16 type and golf cart batteries (commonly used in our residential power systems) have significant lead times. We still have a good source for LFP (lithium ferro phosphate) batteries and also have access to some of the best FLA (flooded lead acid) batteries – and here is one offering: industrial 2V cells by IBE.

    Standard Battery Features:
     

  • Flag type terminals on positive and negative posts for easy installation. A .375 in. diameter hole in each flag for bolting inter-cell connectors.

  • The cell are high capacity Industrial Type for deep cycle operation and high recovery characteristics.

  • Heat Sealed cell cover to eliminate the major source of electrolyte leakage and thereby reducing corrosion build-up.

  • Powder Coat Paint is standard. It is highly acid resistant and tough.

  • Lifting handles are provided for easy handling and transporting (hah, these are still very heavy!)

  • Batteries can be discharged to 80% of rated capacity without plate damage. Charging will return battery specific gravity level to approximately 1.275-1.285 measured by hydrometer.

IBE Batteries

 


IBE batteries are heavy duty, deep cycle, high recovery, industrial type cells. Cover welding is standard on all cells. Flag terminals are standard, and built-in pigtails are available at a cost of $40 per pigtail. The least costly shipping deal is if these could ship to a business on the beaten path with a forklift. These offer a 5 year manufacturer’s warranty – call or e-mail for more information.  Click here to view MSRP pricing, sizes and amphour capacities. These have a 4-6 week lead time; with proper care and charging, these batteries will last you 20-25 years. Call for your pricing and shipping costs.

 


 


We also offer the Solar One HuP batteries; with one of the best warranties in the industry, these heavy duty batteries will give you years of reliable service. Visit http://www.oasismontana.com/Solar-one-battery.html for specifications and pricing. Also, these will ship freight free if they can go to a commercial drop point ‘on the beaten path’ that has a forklift.

Solar One Batteries for solar electic power systems

http://www.oasismontana.com/batteries.html for additional basic battery information.
 


kitchen stove, sink, fridge combo

If you have a small cabin, or are perhaps adding on to a small apartment, you’ve probably found that some kitchens have needs not met by traditional appliances. Do you need a sink with no plumbing? A stove or cooktop with no electricity? We’ve got suppliers with a variety of appliance options.

Here’s one, the #ACK54GASW, $2495 plus shipping. It’s 54”W x 23.75”D x 42”H, and contains:

  • a small refrigerator

  • 4 burner gas stove with oven

  • sink with faucet.

  • It's an ALL-IN-ONE KITCHENETTE!

This does require 120VAC power, so if you’re off-grid, you will need to be running this off your inverter.

This is one model of several available; let us know what you’d prefer and we’ll see what may best meet your needs.

 

Or how about a battery ignition, preset for propane, 4 burner gas cooktop?
 

Gas Cook top kitchen stoves

Made in the USA, The WLL03P is a 24" wide LP gas cooktop designed to fit common 22 5/8" wide x 18 5/8" deep cutouts. It utilizes battery start ignition with a standard 9V battery (included), ideal for rural areas or other homes not using electricity to power appliances. This item is preset for propane/LP gas connections. For the same item designed for use with natural gas, see the WNL03P. This offers white, scratch-resistant porcelain, and is a great deal at $409 plus shipping. More information about natural gas or propane models at www.LPappliances.com


FFBF246SS $1599 + shipping

Remember those tall, slender, Euro refrigerators with the bottom mount freezers? Those kinds of Energy Star models are still available, frost-free, in white or with stainless finishes. Visit http://www.eco-fridge.com for more information.


FFBF241W    $1499 + shipping

 

RE NEWS BITES

Lies about climate change summarized: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/18/the-forgotten-oil-ads-that-told-us-climate-change-was-nothing?utm_term=6196555c6a2252f5724dce6ade7153bf&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUS&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUS_email

Microgrids on the rise! https://cleantechnica.com/2021/11/17/microgrids-powered-by-renewable-energy-will-generate-half-a-million-jobs-72-billion-in-gdp-growth-by-2030/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202021-11-18%20Utility%20Dive%20Renewable%20Energy%20%5Bissue:38126%5D&utm_term=Utility%20Dive:%20Renewable%20Energy

How does your state stack up in the clean energy economy? https://www.cebn.org/state-of-clean-energy-2021/

Solar powered aquatic robots offer the promise of cleaner oceans. https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2021/12/02/light-powered-soft-robots-could-suck-oil-spills?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email This is amazingly cool and much needed.

Perhaps people shouldn’t be enamored (with a word like ‘Tesla’): https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2021/12/06/sec-investigating-tesla-over-alleged-solar-system-fire-negligence/

Can one prepare for a solar flare event? https://lifehacker.com/how-to-prepare-for-a-solar-flare-hitting-earth-because-1848076402

OH NO…Climate change is apt to affect beer production. https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/trouble-brewing-climate-change-threatens-beer-production-taste-prices/ar-AARJE3a?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) information: https://www.rd.usda.gov/sites/default/files/fact-sheet/508_RD_FS_RBS_REAP_RE.pdf

Syrupy manganese battery may provide cheaper alternative: https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2021/12/molasses-like-material-promises-cheap-large-scale-battery-storage-for-wind-and-solar/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=molasses-like-material-promises-cheap-large-scale-battery-storage-for-wind-and-solar

Power Plants Get More Expensive but Renewables Are Still the Cheapest: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/power-plants-get-more-expensive-but-renewables-still-cheapest-1.1698886  According to a new report from BloombergNEF, rising costs for materials and shipping made power plants more expensive in the second half of 2021, and while renewables saw the largest gains, wind and solar remain the cheapest sources of electricity in most of the world.

World’s largest floating array in Vietnam: https://new.abb.com/news/detail/73043/abb-supports-the-largest-floating-solar-power-complex-in-southeast-asia

Ten Weather Disasters Caused $170 Billion in Damage This Year: https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/587374-10-weather-disasters-caused-170b-in-damage-this-year-report
The world’s 10 costliest weather disasters of 2021 caused more than $170 billion worth of damage, according to a new report from Christian Aid, a U.K.-based aid group. The 10 disasters highlighted for 2021 were together $20 billion costlier than the 10 disasters the group highlighted in 2020. The most expensive event identified in the report was Hurricane Ida, which made landfall in Louisiana in August, and later made its way to the Northeast. That this event cost $65 billion. July floods in Europe were the second costliest disaster identified, causing $43 billion in damage. This was followed by February’s winter storm in Texas, which cost $23 billion. The estimated costs are based only on insured losses, meaning the actual costs of these events may be higher.

Mercedes-Benz EV – 1000 kilometers on a single charge: https://www.daimler.com/innovation/product-innovation/technology/vision-eqxx.html

Free course in agrivoltaics: https://www.heatspring.com/courses/introduction-to-agrivoltaics

Vintage footage of how a solar cell is made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rFirNU0N-U (it’s the Green Acres guy!)

Pollution free fertilizer from solar power: https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2022/01/18/pulling-fertilizer-out-of-thin-air-with-solar-power/?utm_source=USA+|+Newsletter&utm_campaign=e00a8148b5-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_80e0d17bb8-e00a8148b5-155454613

Recycling: the end of life of a PV system. https://blog.heatspring.com/recycling-pv-equipment-why-we-all-should-be-talking-about-the-end-of-life-of-solar-pv-systems-a-conversation-with-kate-collardson-of-solarrecycle-org/

Free course: introduction to tiny homes. https://www.heatspring.com/courses/introduction-to-tiny-homes

We are children of the ice and snow: https://psyche.co/ideas/were-children-of-ice-and-snow-can-we-survive-the-coming-heat?utm_source=Aeon Newsletter&utm_campaign=9369f0f461-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_04_05_03_47&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-9369f0f461-69580973&stream=science

Study Finds U.S. Corn-Based Ethanol Worse for the Climate Than Gasoline: https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/us-corn-based-ethanol-worse-climate-than-gasoline-study-finds-2022-02-14
and https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/baseload/ethanol-isnt-as-green-as-you-might-think-researchers-say
Well, duh.

Renewables account for 21% of U.S. electrical generation in 2021: https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2022/02/28/renewable-energy-accounted-for-21-of-us-electrical-generation-in-2021/

Organic batteries on the horizon: https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2022/03/02/organic-battery-progress-brings-adelaide-researchers-tantalisingly-close-to-full-biodegradability/?utm_source=USA+%7C+Newsletter&utm_campaign=7fb53e61de-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_80e0d17bb8-7fb53e61de-155454613 Sure hope this pans out!

Not everyone likes solar power – or facts. https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2022/04/12/you-know-solar-has-made-it-when-fossils-fund-misinformation-campaigns/

How much do you know about renewables? Take the solar quiz: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdNWeLkQ_TypphTzOtw-axr0Y3h6NqrbOk4R65Lf8hxnMNY2A/viewform?fbzx=-9113640570191201062
 

Quotable Quotes:

  • There is just one hope of repulsing the tyrannical ambition of civilization to conquer every niche on the whole earth. That hope is the organization of spirited people who will fight for the freedom of the wilderness. –Bob Marshall
     
  • 30 of the best Einstein quotes: https://www.yourtango.com/2021346293/inspirational-albert-einstein-quotes
     
  • God’s dream is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness, for goodness, and for compassion.
     – Desmond Tutu
     
  • You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. – Abraham Lincoln
     
  • There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge
     – Isaac Asimov
     
  • One of the great attractions of patriotism ― it fulfills our worst wishes. In the person of our nation, we are able, vicariously, to bully and cheat. Bully and cheat, what’s more, with a feeling that we are profoundly virtuous. --Aldous Huxley
     
  • A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives. -- Jackie Robinson
     
  • I keep thinking the earth is a living being and something is gonna scrape us off its back. –Tom Waits
     
  • If each individual does not live by the lies, the lies will collapse. – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
     
  • There was one of two things I had a right to, liberty, or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other. -- Harriet Tubman
     
  • In the woods, we return to reason and faith. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
     
  • Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome. – Isaac Asimov
     
  • I'm not concened with your liking or disliking me. All I ask is that you respect me as a human being. -- Jackie Robinson
     
  • Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. –Napoleon Bonaparte
     
  • If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools. --Plato
     
  • Out of 6 billion humans, the troublemakers are just a handful. -- Dalai Lama
     
  • For, so long as there are interesting books to read, it seems to me that neither I nor anyone else, for that matter, need be unhappy. -- Selma Lagerlöf
     
  • What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin. –Mark Twain
     
  • Find the good. It’s all around you. Find it, showcase it, and you’ll start believing in it. –Jesse Owens
     
  • The important thing is not to stop questioning. -- Albert Einstein
     
  • The distance of a century reveals only flickering, spectral forms. How do we tell the stories of people that history forgets and the present avoids?
    -- Jori Lewis

Please feel free to share this newsletter – knowledge is power!

Visit us on the web for product and project information!
For grid-tied power systems, www.grid-tie.com
Solar water pumping:  www.PVsolarpumps.com
Non-electric gas appliances, www.LPappliances.com
Efficient and DC appliances, www.eco-fridge.com
Composting toilets, www.eco-potty.com
And our main page at www.oasismontana.com