Solar web server and site, 2024

In July 2024 I attended the Hemlock Micro Residency, a project by Germaine Koh, on Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada.

The residency gets participants closer to living “light on the land”—learning about sustainable ways to live by actually living them. I filled a water reservoir to get my drinking water and I conserved solar battery power while working out of “the barn”, a studio space on the property.

For my project I made a solar powered web server using a Raspberry Pi Zero W, a solar controller, a battery, and a solar panel. The website minimizes the data it sends back on user requests to conserve power, and so I made a custom dithering function that minimizes image sizes by alternating and overlapping colour layers— sort of like a digital half-tone.

The server turns off when it runs out of solar power so you might find an error page if you visit the site late, after dark—but you can always try again!

https://hemlockmicrostudio.ca