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- Living Off the Grid: How to Generate Your Own Electricity | Today's Homeowner
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The truth is hard to swallow. Let me tell you the secrets. Metering… Find the Trimetric. The inventor lives off grid, so he knows. Half of the people selling batteries are way behind the times when it comes to this and it is a world wide problem.
Living Off the Grid: How to Generate Your Own Electricity | Today's Homeowner
How do I know? My wife and I have been unplugged since It was a long and frustrating journey to get where we are today, but we did it. And we do use modern appliances. We are not in the stone age. After years in an RV, we are building a home today and we have not run a generator here yet. I run every modern power tool you can name. Best of luck to all. Off the grid living is more than plugging in solar panels and watching TV… Have you thought about supplemental power?
Like HHO or a fresnel lens to operate a stirling motor operate a generator running off a car alternator? Your write up is well put together, and has give me some great information. May I ask what size of a inverter you are using. And what are the AMP hours your batterers are. Only wish I had the view that you have wow. So now that the is almost finished, I have a battery bank of 12 still waiting for the rest to arrive this week. The state and county have recently implemented them for revenue.
Anyway long story short, I purchased a shed and had it built to meet county code. I sold my sq foot home near Philadelphia after the kids moved out and after many years of working in the rat race I finally want to live as self sufficiently as possible. Always hung clothes to dry, used grey water from washing machine for plants, grew whatever vegetables I could, recycled and repurposed.
There were so many setbacks. Never buy property unless you have it perked. Several drain culverts had to be placed in low areas. Weather played a big role, it was so wet here this past year the ground was too soft to do any heavy hauling. I camped out all last summer while finding a place to rent. Also I plan on raising chickens and having a goat along with a huge garden in the spring. Any advice or encouragement would be much appreciated! There are a few methods for producing energy that I know from the net. They are moonshine alcohol, which is being used in Brazil to run cars, bio gas from manure and waste from the kitchen, which has been used to run an electric generator, nano tech solar panels which it is claimed will produce more power and cost less money, the old steam boiler to run a generator and also produce hot water after it has charged your batteries, use the solar panels for the batteries, and use the DC current to Break down the water to produce H2 O gas which can help to run your vehicle and possibly reduce your fuel bills it can be used in both petrol and diesel engines, then there is the wood gas which could run an electric generator, and a vehicle also, we are living in a very interesting time mainly due to the internet and the cell phone etc.
Your mode of explaining all in this post is genuinely good, every one be able to easily know it, Thanks a lot. What kind of power transformer will I need to supply a concrete two floor house. I have no central air conditioning system since where I live in Puerto Rico is pretty breezy. Your feedback will surely be appreciated. Have you ever considered creating an ebook or guest authoring on other sites?
I know my readers would value your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an e mail. With water stored at a height minimum of 30 ft falling to a turbine and being forced back up to the original source water should work to produce power indefinitely. The sheer force of the water pressure, greater with additional height, should push the water back up. Water can also be moved by the suction of air out of a water flow space. Does this sound like it would work? Hello in the alternative energy world. Allot of interesting point have been made but there seems to be a lack of conversation around some real game changers in the world of home produced power.
Anyone producing power on any scale has my respect. There are ways to produce energy at costs and overhead that make it much cheaper to produce than ongrid consumption, but the means to so seem to be taboo topics. When using a combustion engine generator noise is a big draw-back and when a site allows it it should be installed in a small bunker underground just large enough to house it, with a small quaint shed placed over it for other energy set-ups.
First and foremost is using the generator as a means to keep you in power. With a combustion engine running on three sources of fuel them being: Gas vapor produced by ultrasonic transducer, HHO generating cells to back-up the fuel vapor, and finally regular old fuel to back them up. When producing vapor you can run a gasoline engine on diesel vapor, and you can run a diesel engine on HHO. This takes an initiative and willing to work the kinks out, but it is a truly remarkable means to off grid living.
I am currently building my first methane gas producer harvesting off gasses from our septic tank. Any of us who have worked in this area know there is a violent history victimizing the pioneers of these systems. A sad but true reality. In saying that I would suggest you utilize and develop a system for personal use and not a commercially marketable product.
It is a well known fact that these technologies have existed for decades and have been suppressed because of there effectiveness. It is also well known that those who control the machine we live in are not going to help us produce our own power. Explore areas in other nations that do not have a power grid as we know it and see how they make electricity, really quite amazing and inspiring. I hope someone finds this useful. We have what it takes to make a difference a little at a time.
Good luck, be safe, and have fun. Barry I am working on a project which my combustion engine will run on HHO. The generator is one from 30kw wind generator which uses less torque and horsepower PMA than a conventional rpm generator. The wind generator only needs rpms to produce the full 30kw. The HHO generator will have titanium plates verses ss. I will keep everyone updated on the progress. Trying to lay low a bit. The only way that you can protect them is have them enclosed in a faraday cage. Moderate usage is the key. I have been powering my brothers 3 bedroom trailer with 4 watt panels connected to 5 amp hour batteries all winter.
He watches his 32 inch TV for a few hours everynight. Life in upstate NY. I will keep everyone updated on this. And if you have running water you can make a turbine to run an high output alternator. You could even have 45 gallon drum for water to recirulate and run the alternator. Has anybody thought of using high output alternater off a roof top spinning air circulator and putting it in to a transformer for all your power.
The highest load in a kitchen is the refrigerator. To cut back on that load many have opted for the Amish made Propane Refrigerators. Here is a good site that explains how they work. It is a GE poster and says: Any help is appreciated. Really cool posters, framed and owned by a former GE employee that recently passed. I own them now and would just love to find info on them! Living on a very limited income. Fact is, the dc motors nowadays are actually ac motors with built in square wave inverters.
Since square wave inversion is very energy efficient and these motors are custom built for the current they are getting,the full house inverter however advanced can not compare with these brushless dc motors,besides a full house inverter holds you at its mercy. These inverters are meant to be used to simulate grid supply in times of power failure and not for off grid living.
Similar to motors cfl too comes with built in inverter. LED is intinsically low volt dc operable. I used to feel that for just preserving half a litre of milk i have to keep running litre fridge but then i switched to milk powder made by nestle,its better than the milk i used to get,so i dumped the fridge. Similarly with my 30 dollar 1. Its a sorry state of affairs for a third world country. Coming back to off grid, i think we are on the threshold of a sea change,dirt cheap panels are a game changer,some appliances like fan and desert cooler which consumes watts can be run directly without battery for its the heat of the day that has to be countered.
It is a very apt example of beating the enemy with his own weapon. I started off with two panels and smaller batteries and gradually moved to four panels and got bigger batteries. It sounds incredibly efficient. I tried various small electric fridges before finally buying a full size propane fridge. In my experience, the electric fridges even the thermal electric ones used too much power. I will have to look into the one you mention- 60 watts is extremely low for a fridge. Hi all, here in india we have lots of sun and solar panels work fine.
Two panels one ah battery and one inverter sum up to dollars. For lighting 20 watt cfl fulfils the purpose. For refrigeration a peltier based fridge consumes 60 watt and being without compresser i switch it on when needed which is never for more than 2 hrs. TV is 7 inch chinese lcd with dvd player and consumes neglegible power,no other electrical appliance is needed.
I have all the basic modern conveniences and get by just fine with four panels and four batteries in my 24 volt system. Here in Oklahoma, we sell electricity back to the power company. A stream adds water turbine for electricity which is non stop too.
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If you have a hurricane,you may loose it all The stream is the only guarantee and not in a real populated area as someone may complain. This system is actually very good! Its the power consumption that is the problem. We have 10 full time residents on 20 acres, most of which is farm. Sorry to ramble, but the point of living like this IS to use less.. Not to keep the exact lifestyle. Otherwise thank you VERY much for the info! It WAS a very accurate price and ability summary of a great system! Just an overloaded one!
Living Off the Grid: How to Generate Your Own Electricity
I really enjoyed this article and all the accompying comments. I am a single mom in S. We have been looking into different off grid living methods and are at this time, searching for a couple of acres to try our hand at building our own home, really considering cob , to be as energy efficient and as self sustaining as possible. I am very interested in learning more about building our own solar panels, biodiesel generators, and alot of other ideas and solutions presented here. I would imagine that solar panels would probably work better here in S. TX than in Montana, considering that winters here are basically summer, with a cool front thrown in every once in awhile.
All in all, thanks for all the info. These will all serve as instructional research projects for my kids, as well as having some of the items incorporated into our plans for our, hopefully, near in the future home. Just want to say lots of valuable information here, and I think that a person should give much thought to living off the grid. Costs are going up more everyday and the systems we have are not dependable and we are destroying our planet.
We need to change our way of living. Thanks for the info. Keep up the good work! I have noticed the recent comments seem to be based on the premise that off-grid living has to be based on low energy usage, doing things manually, and cheaply. While that is certainly one end of the spectrum of off-grid living, I want to point out that there is the other end too. It may take more money to get the renewable energy capacity to run a house off-grid as if it were connected, but that does not disqualify it as part of the off-grid experience.
Need to heat the house and want to do it cheaply by using the wood on your land? Well, who says you have to split the wood by hand? Get a gasoline powered hydraulic log splitter or hire someone. Or better yet, install a radiant floor heating system that uses solar collectors for primary heating with wood or propane backup, and vastly reduce your wood burning.
Frugal, simple, do-it-all-yourself living is a fine way to be if that is your goal. But it is hardly a requirement for living off-grid. Thanks, and good luck. The only way to live off grid is to drastically reduce your consumption,go purely off grid and use manually powered appliances as far as possible.
With pure off grid i mean like a cellphone with its in built solar panel or a led solar lantern running on 5 volts with no energy loss on interface and other low voltage machines like 12 volt fan,some of the panels may be used directly in day time to save cost of battery. Clock work mechanism can also supplement in emergency or otherwise. At the end of the day one has to sit back and say………do I want to move forward with a progressive attitude or do I want to move back to a more caveman type lifestyle.?
I prefer to go back to my ancestors ways………. Hi all my off grid buddys, I have read with great interest your views and hot tips to use for living off grid. I have been off grid not by choice for the last 11 years and at first found it quite worrying, but now by using my trusted diesel generaters, one 18k and one 6k for backup also woodburner and oil aga for cooking and heating not forgetting our gas fridge freezer I think we have cracked it, and would not have it any other way.
Hi Wally, Thanks for your feedback, valid points! I read these blogs with a great deal of reserve. Can you build your own wind generator? What are your welding and fabrication skills? What knowledge do you have about self contained direct current electrical systems? How old and healthy are you, can you chop 40 cords of wood? Where is your fresh water source? Try a two week camping or hunting trip to remote cabin in Alaska for a test run.
You may be surprised to learn how really unprepared you are mentally and physically for this life style choice. Most give up at the butcher phase. Just my 23 cents worth, adjusted for inflation. This is a great article, but not just for the article itself, but for all the comments relating to it. We have acreage but are offered pretty much everything to us grid-wise, except for sewers. Our goal is to save money, not cost us more.
It cost us double over the normal gas company. We changed to an all electric home with heat pump…that atleast saved us money and got us away from the gas company. Thoughts… PVC pipe is not good for wind turban blades and it becomes brittle and losing a blade in high wind is dangerous!!!!
How to save energy wear warm clothes in winter no clothes in summer become a vegetarian live in a small house learn to read its better than watching tv go to bed when the sun goes down that can be fun. Be sure to wrap your entire house in aluminum foil, and cardboard in case of solar surges on the 21st, or you will be screwed!!
Perhaps more than the rest of us! I posted a year ago, when we were just starting to build our 1, sqft off-grid home with attached barn sqft in western Maine, USA. Below is a summary of what we installed in , with costs, to meet the needs of a 2 person year-round household with propane supplement. Barn is bermed into hillside and insulated to remain above freezing year round. Battery Bank and Inverter: Energy Use and Appliances: Wall Heater propane and wood cookstove Microwave: Samsung Oven and Range: Premier propane and wood cookstove Computers: Many appliances are switched like TV and computers so power to area can be totally killed when not in use.
So far, the system we installed generally meets our needs, but requires us to be judicious with power consumption. I know first hand how tough it is to get reliable specifics on off-grid systems, so I appreciate some of the posts in this site. Thanks to everyone else who participates. My wife and I have been off grid for almost ten years now…in Florida and our second home in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. I can say that living off the grid can certainly vary with your local environment.
Of course, we have no air conditioning… but all the other comforts of a regular home, including a electric fridge, tv, and washing machine. In FL, I use solar primarily, with a diesel generator backup. Since we had become more reliant on the generator over the years, I just upgraded from a 1.
But it means substantially less use of the generator and therefore lower day to day costs even though we burn used vegetable oil in it instead of diesel. Our biggest energy hog in FL is air conditioning…but it feels soooo good. Interesting article- but it does leave the wrong impression, IMO. I do use propane for the fridge and partial hot water solsr during the day. To those who speak to the return on investment idea, I ask: You used it, you drove it. I take the same view of solar. Once paid for up front, it is like a cancelled check, like yesterdays news but from a cash flow basis — a great improvement.
I know the stuff will be better. Is there a way to go off the grid, and have water, even though there is not a well? Any idea of the cost? Will you please ball-park the cost for solar equipment not land or building using technology and dollars? Enough rough guesses will let me know if I am having a pipe dream or if my project is doable with my budget.
I have decided take some time to pursue going off the grid, here in the phoenix area, which many will understand is on the edge of the Sonoran desert, sunshine is everywhere and constant It stays above for months at a time. I am doing it for the fun of it, and, because it seems modern. I have had or lived in largish homes for long stretches of time, and lived in dumps for longer stretches than that. My needs are now quite few and downsized. My goal now, is to have a simple place to hang my hat, take a bath, watch tv and sleep in air conditioned comfort, surf the net, work on car and motorcycle oh, and I am building an ark with a sail for when the rapture comes but..
I can rent a 1 beroom condo with a garage for way cheaper and get all the above. But I am a twist. Being totally ignorant at this moment I optomistically hope that I can buy enough roof panels and solar arrays and batteries or what ever to power a very small insulated concrete block type place. One bedroom, a kitchen, a living room.
The biggest unanswered concern I have, and something not discovered by me on this thread, is of course getting WATER in the middle of the desert. And, the humidity here is low, to state it mildly.
There is no rush here, but, the possibility must exist to eventually get water. Say for the first couple years I get a cistern and a purifyer and truck water in…. But meanwhile, I am working and making money so I can provide the capital for water production. And would it be reliable enough so that only minor inconveniences might be encounted sporadically in a typical year?
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This seems the highest hurdle. It is a showstopper. Let us not forget: This thread was started in Montana, right, 4 years ago this November. I have been reading with a sustained interest the various opinions and very good advices advanced by many of you.
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I am really thankful to you guys for your contribution. After 42 years in New York I decided to go back to Haiti and build a house in the mountain. I have to live off the grid for the simple reason that there is no grid. THE infrastructure is inexistant where the house is located. The house has a breathtaking view of the sea and surrounding mountains nearby. My biggest problem is electricity. The idea advanced by Mr. Burkley about running a hydrogenerator is fantastic and very appealing to me.
I have a huge concrete bassin filled with about gallons of water and I have two gallon containers on top of my two story-house. Petersen it will make more sense to buying a hydrogenerator and avoid the battery leakage problem. However,I cannot find out where can I buy such a generator for home use and also how much power do I need.
I am all over the internet looking for answer. I read every single e-mail on this site and no one seems to take Mr. Can you help me Mr. As a medical doctor and a science teacher I intend to treat free of charge the local peasants and I will need a dependable source of power. Gentlemen, I really need help. Thank you and sorry for writing such a long e-mai. You could turn your generator into a wood gas generator instead of petroleum fuels you burn wood and can use the heat from the wood to also heat your house.
I would also build an axial flux generator to add more while you have wind and you can gather the parts and build one instead of purchasing them.
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You had trouble with most fuel non liquid in cold temperatures. Russian truck drivers use normal 20W light bulb in gas tank to warm up the fuel. Arizona2ride — I mainly chimed in to alert you to a new to me type of hand crank washing machine. My friend just purchased one, and he loves it. I have no idea how much it was, but they are out there. Sounds like you have things pretty much planned. I would probably add geothermal to the mix in your design plans, and also an outdoor wood burning furnace to help heat your home and water, and also keep your indoor air clean.
Good luck with your endeavor! Sounds exciting and extremely challenging. I have friends in Montana on both sides of the Rockies, and they are truly hearty souls! This is an awesome little website for comments. We live in Alabama on 11 acres in the south in a very rural area. We are conservative already as it is. I use the sun and wind for drying the laundry outside. Nothing is on during the day except the frig and ac unit. I cook once a day and want a wood burning stove and root cellar.
We are putting in a root cellar in the spring. We are wanting to go off grid. What a better place than montana, wide open and not a ton of people. Things arent going to get any cheaper any time soon, why be in the southeast and surrounded by folks who will steal and kill you for what you have? If folks can survive for all these years with out power of any kind then we can too. Lights, oil lamps, heat- stove or fire place, water dig a well and use a hand pump, dig the garden with livestock, meat- hunt or chickens.
Bout the only thing I would have to have would be a washing machine and frig but woudl use a root cellar I think we would build a self sufficient home with out all solar or wind powered items. The floor plan would have to be laid out so heat would travel properly throughout the home. You see, aside from the environmental aspect, I just want to get away from ridiculous COMED and their horrible service they are the only company I know that is able to survive while treating customers so horribly!! Almost everything is run on gas right now but I still need lights and my referigerator.
Hi Victor, Thanks for the feedback. We built a log cabin in rural Alabama and lived in it without power for several years with no problem, but I never applied for building permits. I enjoyed this site immensely. I have recently purchased 10 acres in AZ. There were a couple of things I did not see mentioned in here. First, if you plan on feeding power back to the grid, they do not tell you that in order to do that, you have to use store bought equipment and have it installed by a certified professional that they approve of.
Increases the cost substantially. And will probably not ever pay off. The warranty will expire just as it pays off so only benefit is gained only if all equipment continues past warranty yeah right. This seems to be the case in most areas. So, if you plan on feeding the grid do not count on DIY equipment. Unless extremely far from property. Also, if on disability or retirement benefits same problem sometimes worse. Fortunately my neighbors have hooked up to the grid already so I just paid the utility to put a pole at the street and I am responsible for the feet back to my property.
They wanted rights to easement and run more line and transformer but I researched and found that with largest possible cable I could run ft without transformer or lines — so I gave them no rights — HaHa. Now the plan is to get initial permits and SSD approval for home while hooked to grid then disconnect and only use in emergency I will be building a large home that will be utilizing geothermic for majority of heating and cooling.
Solar for water heater and clothes drying. This will all be backed with a matched battery array and a self made generator already built. This should be sufficient for my house, barn, greenhouse automated climate and shop income. Most of this will be DIY. I have already done it once on a slightly smaller scale since I only had 4 acres at the time. I believe that we have the ability to use modern technology and ancient methods together for a very minimal impact living.
I am not a tree hugger or environmentalist and I do not believe in the validity of global warming. All the same this method of living is beneficial for health, independence from government and financially. Thank you again for this site and all of the responses except for the misguided liberal ramblings. Keep up the good work.
You can live very comfortably off the grid at a fraction of the costs you outlined and maintain a negative carbon footprint if youre not lazy. I am designing a small underground city for the future. Live, work, play, all underground producing our own energy and food. I do not care who has my e-mail, any energy info is helpfull. There is already allot interest and some places to do this around the United States. Hi Sheree, Thanks for the kind words! Erickson, as well for this treasure trove of information! First, I wish to thank Mr. Ritzman for this forum and all who have contributed the very useful information here.
I too, will soon be living in a very rural area and absolutely refuse to pay any more money to utility companies. Everything else is already in the works. Thanks a million to all! Since it is made of self replicating nanobots that get their power to replicate from the ground; the solar panel will never break or get worn out and zero money will be needed to sustain it permenantly. To folks that are getting excited about installing a PV system, remember it is not always the best use of money.
Have you considered using water and gravity to store your power. Even large scale power plants are starting to use this. Basically you have two places to store water. One at a higher elevation then the other. Then when that power is needed it is released to the other tank turning the hydro-generator to be turned into energy. It is also a good way to supply a constant steady rate of power without regulating because you control the flow of water. I did some calculations for off-grid systems, and with the fees, taxes, and misc.
If this continues, regardless of the cost of energy, the fee-part of the bill will double in less than 3 years. With the US utility infra fracture requiring more and more debt to maintain, I suspect the math will just favor off-grid systems more and more in the future. Of course, grid-connected system would still be stuck with these costs, but that could be off-set by selling energy back, thus creating a monetary net effect.
I am looking at building a house in Scotland and the nearest utilty connection is over a mile away. It appears the cost of the utilty connection will be higher than the cost of 4kW solar photovoltaic panels, a 6kW wind turbine and mast and a relatively large bank of batteries. Also our government actually pays people to generate renewable electricity and hot water so I think I will be staying off grid, at least initially.
I recently purchased plans for DIY do it yourself solar and wind energy and to be frank you can build your own equipment very easily and save thousands of dollars like i did. Ebay is a great source for equipment at great prices. The best part is that these plans are so thorough anyone can do it and I mean anyone.
Great article, I think it addresses off-grid living in the 21st century pretty well; i.
I currently have two off-grid homes in Florida and North Carolina, and have enjoyed having no power bills for the past 8 years. Of course, I have paid for the electricity anyway by buying and maintaining the batteries, inverters, solar panels and hydro-turbine. I also have a blog of sorts about my Florida home in case anyone is interested in the systems I use, including a vegetable oil burning diesel generator.
You can find it at solarfloridahome. I wonder, does the wind generator ever get iced over? And do you have to spend much time clearing snow or ice off the solar panels? We are considering augmenting with wind-how much power does your wind turbine generate relative to the solar panels? We are midway through building. Any building tips appreciated. Greg, You pretty much rapped things up for everyone. I too am doing my best-turning off lights, replacing light bulbs with the new energy sufficient ones- The type of off grid energy you choose to use should depend on the area you live in,mother nature provides free energy for everyone be it sun,wind or water.
But I should warn you that these too depend on where you live. I may not live in the states but I too get very upset when I watch on the news natural disasters that put people out of their homes. If you live in an area that suffers from cyclons, homes of a more sturdy structure are needed and not of light materials,such structures are deep cement foundations, no aluminium orientated foundations and well fitted windows and doors.
If you live in an area that suffers from earthquakes again you need anti earthquake structures with lighter materials-aluminium. If you live in a very hot climate,lighter homes with lighter but well insulated materials as goes for very cold climates. If you live in areas in a low geographical position according to horizon you need to uplift your home to avoid flooding. If you want to build on a slope check the type of ground and build deep foundations to avoid a mud slide. If you live by the beach avoid metals and wood-rust and corrosion. Proper insulation is a must for all cause it really does make a difference and life easier.
I live in Alaska and discovered that you do not want to vent your dryer into the house as in a well sealed and insulated house you will have a very bad humidity problem. The water from your clothes will be effectivly wrung out and poured down your windows. If you do not have a well sealed insulated house, go back to step one, as you should not use energy to make up for energy loss that can be prevented. It is just not cost effective. If you count the costs, insulation is worth its weight in gold literally.
So the first step for energy independance is not wasting energy, followed by not using energy in the first place. For example, all compact florescent bulbs, no electrical Heat generators toaster, oven, water heater, dryer means you need one quarter then electrical generation. For a whopping tens of thousands of dollars in generation systems cost.
If you want to run a dryer because you just did not understand the concept of living with less energy, and wanted to save the heat, use a double walled stove pipe for an exhaust pipe and a small fan blowing air down the outer pipe. This will transfer the heat without the humidity. Last suggestion, as I have to run, is if you have a air tight nicely insulated house, dig a foot 7 foot deep ditch and bury a 6 inch pipe in it to your basement.
Use hat for makeup air to your house, with a small vent fan drawing air out of the top of the house. That makeup air will be between 45 alaska to 65 Arizona year around. Lot easier heating your makeup air from 55 degrees to 70 than from zero to For the cost of a small fan, and a lot of weather stripping and insulation you can heat and cool your house for 50w watts using geothermal. Most important part of any Off Grid system is a very insulated house. The BEST is poly foam concrete construction. You can R24 your wood walls, but 6 inch walls have R4.
Your R24 walls work out to being about R 18 with that style construction. Power you do not need, you do not need to generate. Second most important part of Off Grid living is relearning to live as our ancestors from the ancient days of say, or earlier. We have become totally spoiled with free power. Often there is a better solution that is not energy intensive. Power you do not need, you do not have to generate. Third most important thing to do in my opinion is see what is available and does not have to be imported. If you live in the woods, wood. The sea, wave power or tidal, creek?
Micro hydro, sunny area? The way Off grid fails, is trying to live as if you are on the grid, with an off grid system. Better have a gold mine. The path to success is living off grid as if you did not know what a grid was. That works very well. And if you live in the woods, wood powered hydronics and generators with a syngas system is Super Cool. But, if you live as if you are on grid, just think of splitting the 50 cords you will need…vs the 5 if you just are heating the house and running your laptop. I think some of the folks were a little hard on the author who started this sight.
Never forget, when the grid goes down, that were all so reliant on, and it will, and stay down for longer than human patience can endure, and it will. That off grid stuff is going to feel mighty fine. Mother Nature is coming our way in a furry seldom seen and in Biblical Proportions. I am very sorry for the masses of humanity that are going to be totally taken by surprise. God rest there souls. Get vigilant in your watch! No time left to waste. One source of electricity might be sustainable if you are by running water, especially a fast moving pool a waterfall.
You could direct the water through a hose to a generator and produce all the electricity you need. You could also save more battery power through this method. Just a thought, hope you are close to fast moving water or this gives you another idea. The author makes troubling conclusions that the average person may take to heart.
First, you must determine how much electricity your household uses then build a generating system to match your use. The author claims that his system cannot be relied upon when needed. This is only because the math and planning for consumption was not done ahead of time. ANY off grid system has a battery bank and it should supply you will enough back up power for several days not one! My off grid home was designed for my needs and it works like a charm.
If my need for electricity increases, then I must add more PV panels or another turbine. Usually though, I have plenty and actually have more power coming in than I can use. Only around the winter solstice with cloudy stretches, do I need to start the generator for a bit. Planning, conserving and knowing HOW to maximize your use of energy makes all the difference between successful off grid living and failing. Unfortunately it is the failures that people like to use as reasons for why living off grid does not work. Last item which comes up regularly is the pay off time.
When was the last time anyone calculated a pay off on their dryer, TV or dishwasher? If people figured out the pay off time on a dryer versus a clothes line and clothes pins, they would never by the dryer. This as a back up ellimates the batteries and portable generators. To reduce the need as I always known is to use the juice wisely.
Not a how to book but a book that will make you think about everything you do concerning you and your family. I use to be on a forum that made windturbines, pretty nice and big ones. One of the old timers there told me never get a windturbine to save money! I would check into geothermo, your heat will be stored under ground until needed in the colder months. Summer months, the cold air building up in storage from the winter months will cool your home.
Dan Martin
No fancy pumps are necessary, warm air and cold air have a way of chasing each other around all by themselves. We all know its warmer underground in the winter and cooler underground in the summer, its just a matter or transfering the air from one place to another naturally. I liked the idea about charging battery banks with a generator, have to brush up on some math to figure that one out.
Cool site though, sorta funny people are mostly willing to do their part and save some bucks but the same complaint keeps coming up…Not enough money, something is wrong here. I dont want to sell myself short. How small of a bank could one use? It is not a good idea to try to reclaim the heat from your clothes dryer by simply unhooking the vent hose.
The lint is NOT the only problem you need to be concerned with. The moisture that comes out of the clothes with the air will stay in your house for awhile, until it is eventually vented. I design and build alcohol stoves. You can see many of my designs there. Now to talk about this book instead of toot my own horn. What's wrong with that? The stove in this book would be great for boiling water to rehydrate dehydrated and freeze dried meals or heating up soup.
However if you like pasta or rice: I am in favor of carrying two alcohol stoves. I have my MAHALO stove that can coil two cups of water in minutes and use 17 ml of methanol Then for simmering or baking I have my chimney stove where 30 ml 1fl OZ will burn for 43 minutes. Also MiniBull Design, Batchstovez, Smokeester, and other stove builders sell wick stoves that would serve well for simmering and dry baking.
I have built several thousand alcohol stoves; and have a better understanding of the capabilities, and problems with alcohol stoves. There is a narrow field of adjustable alcohol stoves. Batchstovez sella an adjustable stove. Smokeeater made the Ring of Fire; and the mini ring of fire. Lastly Brasslite makes several adjustable alcohol stoves. I don't like the Trangia because it is so heavy, and needs a pot stands. Some of the pot stands does not have room to set the simmer ring on the stove. Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers.
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