We’re planning on moving out to the boondocks in the next year or so. I’ve already researched rainwater collection, sanitation and storage, as there seems to be a lot of info about it. Heck, the State of Texas has an official publication on how to do it. What I can’t seem to find is a good source of information on what’s needed to get off the power grid.
Actually, I don’t really want to get off the grid completely; I’m hoping to use solar and wind with deep-cycle batteries and power inverters for my primary power sources, but still remain attached to the grid for supplementary power. I’ve Googled, but can’t seem to come up with decent search queries for what I’m looking for, which is a “how-to” or somesuch that would educate me on my options.
Has anyone done this, or know where I can find this info?
kpm,
Thanks for the info - I’ll look into it. As far as the weblink, I’ve found LOTS of places willing to sell me stuff, what I need is info on what I need BEFORE I go out and try and buy it…
As additional info, I’m hoping to produce about 5kw…
Of course, if they ever approve a depleted uranium thermopile in the US…(there was some experimentation with this back in the early-to-mid 80’s that looked promising, but I think it was only approved in Canada for remote areas…the thing was supposed to be about the size of a kitchen wastebasket and produced 5kw)…
Staying on the grid is a great idea if you are into renewable energy. In my part of the world, this is still an area in its infancy, but many of those who are doing it actually feed power INTO the grid for a fee - this usually offsets against their power bill in such a way that they still wind up paying - just not much. Is this possible in Texas?
The power you get from the grid is almost always going to be less expensive than power you collect/generate yourself, when you take into account the expense of buying and maintaining the generation equipment (and possibly fuel.) “Fuel” because the least expensive and easiest generators are driven by internal combustion engines – these are costly in terms of fuel, but are great as backup.
If you have a good source of waterpower this can be cheap in operation and only moderately costly to set up – but it’s hard to find such a spot.
You might want to call the manufacturer of the products you hope to use, such as solar cells. They probably have some “example sites” that they could point you to. If they don’t you might ask them if they would like to work with you to get one. If they don’t have one and don’t particularly want one, you might want to reconsider how practical this is.
Try this site for lots of info on living “The country life” http://www.countrylife.net/servlets/sfs?i=953568555281
They even have a off the grid forum.
sometimes its a little slow getting answers but lots of good people who actually live the life.
Dunno if this will be much help, but about 10 years ago I received a pamphlet from the local power consortium in Wisconsin saying that there was a federal program that made it possible for residential customers to get a $20,000 solar installation free. There were a number of requirements: your house had to have a southern roof exposure, a new, big and solid enough roof (so they wouldn’t have to remove the panels to re-shingle soon) and a few other items I forget. And you could sell the excess power back to the company.
Sounded good; I have a broad southern roof exposure, and had planned to investigate further when I next put a new roof on. But when I asked how long the program had been available in my state and how many installations had been made so far, they said, “Five years, and two installations.”
So maybe the offer was just for show – to show that the power company was doing its part for ecology, but had no intention of a major push. I hope this isn’t your experience.
So I guess the real questions are (a) why do you want to get off the grid and (b) how much are you willing to pay for it?
If you’re in the situation where it would be tremendously expensive to run a power line in (i.e., a mile or more from the nearest line), then go with renewable energy. If it’s just the cool/paranoid factor of not being beholden to power outages or the whim of The Man (and believe me, I do understand this desire), then you need to seriously think about two things: (1) how much you’re willing to pay (2) how much you’re willing to do without.
The smartest, cheapest way to get off-grid is to build a small, well-insulated, well-sited, passive-solar home that has incredibly small power demands (possibly with most of your appliances, lights, etc., running on 12-48V DC rather than 120V AC), and then adopting a lifestyle whereby you use very little power (i.e., turn on few lights, use a tiny TV/radio, not a monster home entertainment room, no A/C, gas range, possibly a propane refrigerator, line-dry your clothes, wood stove for supplemental heat, wear sweaters instead of turning on the heat, quick 5-minutes-or-less showers, etc.). If you really want a 5 kW system, expect to pay big, big bucks.
Some friends of mine, who had to move to Bakersfield from New Mexico, built one of these (in NM). They also had solar water heating and wind power. They had two elec, systems in the house, 12vdc (windmill, mostly lighting) and 120vac (grid). They loved it. This was quite a long time ago, and they got assistance from the govt. They also had a pellet stove which they used for heating and for cooking.
These people were kinda wierd, though. Ex-hippies and all.
I would suggest staying on the grid and use the grid as a giant battery, saving you the headache and expense of maintaining a huge bank of batteries, plus if you are totally off the grid, I think you would want a backup generator, which makes you again dependant on ‘The Man’ to deliver you fuel.
Solar and wind are not dependable but seem to be complementry. May I suggest, if available, to get some land with a small stream, nothing too big that you would be accused of interfering w/ a navitable waterway and use water power to turn a generator.
Why do you want to get off the grid? Generating your own power will almost always cost more than the price of grid power. Especially if you’re using PV arrays.
Yes, as others have noted, alt-energy is still expensive, so it’s mostly for us fanatical hobbyists and other ‘early adopter’ types. It’s hard to have it pay for itself unless you’re an electronics/machinist type who can build the whole system from junk and surplus parts
I was ‘gung ho’ to set up an energy efficient home several years ago, bought several books through ‘real goods’ and began to study.
I learned that there was greater expense involved than imagined.
AC current isn’t as efficient as DC, so to go off the grid, you’ll need a new fridge. Stove too, if it’s electric. Washer and dryer? Same thing. Not only will you have the initial costs, you’ll have to be extremely miserly with power usage.
TV’s, Stereos, hairdryers, blenders, coffee makers, etc You won’t be using ‘conventional’ appliances like that anymore. You’ll need appliances specially manufactured to run on DC.
I saw suggestion that you should stay on the grid and mantain battery banks. Take a look at the batteries in ‘real goods’ and you’ll see they’re uber expensive. Also, the manufacturer strongly recommends not discharging the battery(ies) down below 50% capacity - this dramatically reduces battery life.
It’s recommended that you maintain 70%+ to get maximum life of the cells.
Another thing you should know about battery banks before considering is that it takes at least 10% or so, additional power to charge batteries over what the storage capacity is. You lose at least 10% to charge them.
