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Can You Convert Your Home Into A Solar Home?

Owen Jones — Wed, 12 May 2010 13:51:33 +0000

When it comes to converting your home into a solar home, there are several alternatives, because not all homes have the same problems, the same requirements or the same potential sustainable power sources. Therefore, if you are going to try a total conversion or even get off the grid completely, you will either need to do some do research or call in an expert to make a survey for you.

If you call in an expert, try to get an independent one, so that you can work out the costs of satisfying your energy requirements yourself. You will have to pay for such a survey, naturally, but you could carry out a report yourself with a bit of work on your part. In order to create a solar home, you may find the rest of this piece interesting.

There are fundamentally two types of solar design: passive and active solar energy. Passive solar energy can be used to supply heating, cooling and natural light for your home. Active solar energy is used for powering home appliances, tools and lighting. It is the perfect blend of these two kinds of solar energy that you will attempt to accomplish, if you are attempting to convert your home into a solar home.

You can make use of passive solar energy methods in many ways, although they are more easily built in during the actual construction phase of a new home. The largest area of glass should face south or be within 30 degrees of due south. This will catch the maximum amount of heat. This heat can then be distributed around the house by stone floors and stone walls.

The central heating ducting and furnace fan can be utilized to assist, if necessary. If the house becomes too hot in the summer, awnings or even solar panels could be dropped down in order to put the windows in shade. When thinking of passive solar energy, you should try to think of ways of providing warmth and coolness without using electricity. For instance, a skylight at the top of the stairs will permit the warmest air in the house to escape, since hot air rises. This will result in cooler air to be sucked into the house at lower levels.

The other feature of a solar house is the generation of electricity by the deployment of solar panels grouped into solar arrays. Solar panels make use of photovoltaic cells to convert light into energy. This energy can then be used to power ordinary electrical appliances of all kinds or some or all of it can be stored in batteries for later use. Conversion from AC (alternating current) to DC (direct current) and back again, if necessary, is a simple matter.

Solar energy can also be used to warm up water for the pool or for the home. The most usual sort of system uses pipes filled with a kind of anti-freeze to collect the sun’s heat and pass it on to tanks of water by means of a heat exchanger.

A solar home uses energy efficiency to reduce the necessity for heating, cooling and electricity. The use of higher grade insulation, more energy efficient windows, kitchen appliances and lighting than those used in traditional homes, will save you a lot of money and energy. As you can see, some of these alterations, particularly the passive ones are structural, so hard to implement in many homes, but there is always something you can do to reduce your energy bills and gradually convert your home into a solar home.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with a favourite topic – alternative power sources. If you are interested in Sustainable Energy At Home, please click through to our site.

categories: energy,global warming,climate change,alternative,sustainable,solar power,wind power,home and family,health,technology,science,other,uncategorised,fuel

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Can You Convert Your Home Into A Solar Home? is an article from Alternative Fuel Choice to help you understand more about alternative fuel.

What You Should Know Before You Get Home Solar Panels

Owen Jones — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:04:57 +0000

The replacement of traditionally created electricity with electricity made from renewable or different resources is now a viable alternative for many people in the Western world. The main stumbling block is the preliminary expense, which is why solar electricity is still not a practical affair in most other, hotter, countries.

The truth is that installing solar panels to get your home off the grid is a lot less expensive than it was ten years ago, but it is still not inexpensive. Some countries have introduced encouragement schemes and these are okay, as far as they go, but often they are intended for the middle classes, which is not a segment of society as big as the working class and which can afford to pay for its own energy anyway. These schemes leave the majority of the members of society stuck with the grid. The new British proposal FITS is like this.

Other countries have so-called ‘Green Options’, which means that you can choose to pull energy from producers of electricity from users of renewable resources only, which is great as far as it goes, but the end user is still stuck in the system of being on the grid and being subject to price rises and power cuts.

If you truly want to get off the grid, do away with monthly bills and regain your freedom from the fat cat oil and electricity suppliers, you have to take a radical approach. The first step is to work out your electrical needs.

Calculate the coldest and the hottest month and use the dearest plus 10% as your goal. The fact is that it could take you years to get off the grid, and by then white goods will be using less electricity than they do now anyway. You can also sell your surplus electricity back to the grid for real happiness.

The cost of the professional installation of solar energy systems can be prohibitive and take twelve years or more to recoup, but if you assemble and install your own bank of solar panels, you can more than half that figure. In fact, it is possible to reduce the cost by as much as 75%, if you are willing to assemble and install the solar panels yourself. This is a job that most competent teenagers can do, given the right drawings or schemas.

The best way of going about it, is for you to read up as much as you can on the topic, because there are several routes you can go. The main ones, using solar panels or other means of renewable electricity, are: remain hooked up to the grid, using your own electricity first and selling back any surplus; remain linked up, but send surplus electricity to your own batteries, which could be an electric car; or you can get off the grid altogether.

The ultimate goal, in my eyes, is to provide my house with all the home-made electricity from solar panels that I require, to charge my hybrid car’s batteries from the same source and to resell any excess back to the energy grid.

What a dream!

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with a favourite subject, types of renewable energy. If you are interested in Sustainable Energy At Home, please click through to our site.

categories: energy,global warming,climate change,alternative,sustainable,solar power,wind power,home and family,health,technology,science,other,uncategorised,fuel

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Solar Panels For Home Or Business Energy

Owen Jones — Sun, 09 May 2010 14:45:51 +0000

It is almost high noon on the energy front. Oil, the substance that is used to create most of the world’s electricity is becoming too dear to use to produce electricity for home consumption. Even if you believe that there are lakes of oil left, which might be true, the main reason they have not been exploited yet is because it is too expensive to get out. The only thing that makes it a going concern is the high price of oil on the market.

Therefore, it stands to reason that oil prices cannot go down in the long term, which means that our electricity and petrol prices will stay high and will almost certainly keep rising. Add to that the fact that manufacturing is moving to the Far East and the fact that immigration is rising and the result is lower wages in the West. The probability is that the average national wage will not rise as rapidly as the cost of energy.

So what can you do about it? Well, while commodity prices are certain to keep increasing, one thing has always kept falling and that is the cost of new technology. Or to be more accurate, slightly old technology. Cutting edge technology is always expensive, but after a few years the price tumbles, as we saw with desktop computers and as we are seeing with laptop computers now.

The same phenomenon is at work with solar panels. They are far less expensive now than they were a few years ago and they are far more responsive too. And did you know that the bits and pieces that are used to make solar panels can be purchased from plastic bins at most DIY and hobbyist stores like Radio Shack? If you knew what to buy you could literally go out and bring back enough bits and pieces to make a few solar panels the next time you go out for a loaf of bread.

So why are we not doing it? We did not know that was feasible? Nobody told us? We are not technologically minded? We do not have the skill?

OK, all those reasons sound valid. Nobody has been telling us, but the fact is that it is easy to construct solar panels and not that dear any more. Professional installations are still dreadfully expensive – about $45,000 -, but you can do it yourself. There are two approaches you can take.

You can either get a schematic diagram, a plan, from a hobbyist shop or the Internet, purchase the parts and build your panel or you can buy a self-assembly kit. Sincerely, there are kits about that teenagers can assemble as easily as they do a plastic model airplane. ‘Locate and insert part number 44 into the main board number 3′ – that sort of simple.

If you are new to the world of solar energy, then you may be asking yourself how solar energy panels work? Solar energy panels are also known as photovoltaic panels; photovoltaic meaning electricity from light. Solar energy panels work by collecting protons from the sun, which displace neutrons, and thereby create a flow of electrons or electricity. This electricity can either be stored in batteries for later use or used immediately.

You can utilize solar panels to heat your pool, run your workshop tools, power the greenhouse lights and fans or if your system is large enough, replace grid electricity in your whole home or business. Most solar energy panels are designed to last upwards of 20 years but involve little to no upkeep.

There is a drop-off of the power supply after about 10 years of about 10%, but over the life-time of the solar panels, the energy savings made are enough to recover the original cost of the system and more. Furthermore, costs are tumbling while energy prices are increasing. It already makes financial sense to switch to solar energy power.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with a favourite topic, types of renewable energy. If you are interested in Sustainable Energy At Home, please click through to our site.

categories: energy,global warming,climate change,alternative,sustainable,solar power,wind power,home and family,health,technology,science,other,uncategorised,fuel

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Global Warming – Hot Issue

Anna Cross — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:09:42 +0000

Global warming is one of the “hottest” issues nowadays. The current climate alter is the worst yet to happen. Global warming is an overall boost in world temperature that is attributed towards the increasing number of greenhouse gases trapped within the ambiance. Searching an alternative energy source is regarded a way of reducing the toxic emissions.

Greenhouse gases can be produced both by natural and industrial processes. Carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide, methane, ozone, and CFC’s (chlorofluorocarbons) are the most abundant greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere.
You will find a number of sources of greenhouse gases. Burning of fossil fuels and deforestation lead to higher concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Without the trees and plants to take in the carbon dioxide emitted by burning fossil fuels, natural gasoline and petroleum goods, all the CO2 emitted stays within the ambiance.

Also the use of CFCs or chlorofluorocarbons in refrigeration systems and in fire suppression techniques and other manufacturing processes also increase the greenhouse content of our ambiance. While the use of non-organic fertilizers in agriculture also lead to higher nitrous oxide concentrations, one more greenhouse gasoline.

Inside the United States, greenhouse gas emissions mainly arrive from your use of fossil fuels as power source. Approximately 82 percent with the greenhouse gasoline emission in the United States in 2006 came through the combustion of coal, normal gas and petroleum (United States Energy Info Administration). Meanwhile in Asia, Chine is expected to improve its emission of greenhouse gas because of the construction of old-fashioned power plants in its internal provinces. Currently, the carbon dioxide concentrations inside the atmosphere are the highest in 150,000 many years. The 1990s was most likely the warmest decade in history, whilst 1998 was the warmest year (Greenpeace).

Not controlling the greenhouse gas being emitted by human activity can boost climate transform the subsequent hundred years that may be much quicker than anything identified and recorded in history. You will find necessary steps being undertaken to control the toxic emission that will soon be killing us.

To minimize the consumption of oil, petroleum plus other fossil fuel, we ought to use power efficiently. Energy that we use ought to be generated from green energy resource, which would mean harnessing the organic vitality from the sun, winds, crops, tides and waves.

Green power is one more term used to describe sources of power that are regarded to become environmentally friendly, which can be also similar towards the green sources of power.

You will find numerous methods of generating electrical power plus power from green plus natural sources that create clean plus safe power. Wind, sun, plus heat can generate electrical power for much less price and less carbon emission than those of coal plus even gas.

Shifting the world’s attention to alternative fuel resource other than relying on fossil fuel is among the solutions in resolving the drastic climate transform. Greenpeace cited that with renewable energy plus making use of it smartly, can deliver half from the world’s energy needs by 2050. Greenpeace also cited that it can be feasible to reduce carbon dioxide emission to nearly 50 percent within the subsequent 43 many years.

Governments are taking steps to use and tap alternative energy sources as primary source of energy. The European Union leaders created an agreement in March 2007 to ensure that 20 percent of their nation’s energy must arrive from green fuels by 2020. This is part of their effort to cut carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gas. You will find even governments offering incentives to their residents who are utilizing green vitality.

Alternative energy source may not be the only way to reduce the greenhouse emission that human activity create. There are easy ways in which we can do to contribute in decreasing toxic gas emission and mitigate global warming.

Want to find out more about Global Warming, then visit Anna Cross’s site on how to choose the best Articles on Global Warming for your needs.

categories: global warming, greenhouse gases, alternative fuels, environment

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Strike Energy in Exploration Oil

Gil Glenn — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:51:42 +0000

Do you know what Strike Energy is? Strike Energy is an Australian exploration oil plus coal methane gas exploration and moreover development company. You will find them listed on the Australian Securities exchange (ASX). Strike Energy also has a two fields in the US. The fields are located in Texas; & they are able to have these fields because of the long time partnership that they have.

They have continuing projects in Texas. Strike Energy had their 3rd successful discovery out of wells in February 2010. Because they were once again successful they now have a 60% success rate. This is something that Strike Energy is proud of. The final analysis of this well is still pending, but Strike Energy hopes to be able to double their entire holdings with this discovery.

Production continues through collaborative efforts from ten wells total in Texas. Other than that, the company recently started another gulf shore operation located in Louisiana. This new farming, called the Bateman Lake Joint Venture, is accomplished through a partnership with Texana Resources, from Houston (Texas).

It is easy to understand why the coal, gas and oil business is growing so large. Without coal and oil our country could not function at all. We travel a boatload in the US and moreover we could not advance in technology without it either. Our day to day life is sustained by the companies that excel in this field.

Were it not for their exploration of such place as those in Louisiana, Texas, and the Bowen Basin, among others, our reserves would be depleted and we would run out of this much needed commodity. What would we do today if we could not hop in our car to go up the street, or a plane to go see our family? Can you even imagine what life would be like?

To further your knowledge on this subject here are some terms; that will help you know more about the front running companies that make all this possible for us everyday.

Exploration oil is when you explore the ground for oil reserves that will be drilled later.

Unconventional gas – those types of natural gas resources which take a greater amount of time and resources to harvest, such as gas shales, tight sand, and coalbed methane (CBM)

Coal Methane is a natural gas that is from coalbeds.

Underground Coal Gasification- the process of turning underground coal into a gas product.

Strike Energy is one of the leading companies in this industry, plus is showing signs of rapid growth potential. While some might argue that the ongoing drilling and mining of new lands is scarring our planet, no one can deny that this is an important resource without which the world as we know it would disappear.

Strike Energy is a global leader in the coal methane business. To learn more visit StrikeEnergy.com.

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Harvesting The Power Of The Sun To Create Solar Electricity

Owen Jones — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 20:35:14 +0000

Free energy … What a dream, eh? One of the biggest household burdens is the cost of energy. The cost of energy is frequently 40% of total household bills. So, free energy would assist every family that is not rich a great deal. However, free energy is a pipe dream, is it not? There is alternative energy, that is non fossil fuel based energy, like nuclear energy, but that is not cheap either.

Other alternative sources of energy include wind-driven turbines and solar power. In this piece, I want to talk about harnessing the power of the sun to create solar electricity. Creating solar power is nothing new and most people are acquainted with the general theory of how the scheme works. In deed, most of us have owned a solar powered pocket calculator or solar powered clock at one time or another.

Solar electricity is just as good and just as powerful as traditionally generated electricity and they can be utilized for exactly the same purposes. However, solar energy has one huge benefit, it is not ‘dirty’.

Electricity produced from the sun’s energy has not been made creating any greenhouse gases whatsoever. Furthermore, because there are no moving parts in a solar panel, there is no wear and tear and so less repairs.

Solar panel systems are more flexible too. For instance, if you have a small home with couple of appliances, you still have to have the same method of delivering grid electricity as a huge house and you still have to have a metering system and a means of paying for the electricity used.

However, if you take the same small house as an example, you might find that ten solar panels will power it. Therefore, for a one-off expense, you are free of electricity pylons and their cables, the meter box and the monthly bills. A huge house would just have to fit more panels, say one hundred, to achieve the same freedom.

This freedom from the means of supplying electricity is a very real advantage if you live in a far-flung place, where you are expected to pay for the electricity pylons and their cables all on your own. The down side of using solar power is the cost of setting it up. A professionally fitted solar energy system can cost about $30,000.

If you save $200 per month on electricity, then you will recoup your expenditure in about 300 months, which is 12.5 years. However, if you could get the system fitted more economically, you would recoup your costs more rapidly.

This is possible, by assembling the solar panels yourself and installing them yourself. No matter what sort of a klutz you think you are, you can assemble and install the average solar panel kit. In fact, most teenagers can do the job. If you decide to buy solar panel kits to assemble yourself, you can save about half of the above costs, but if you were to make the panels from parts that are easily available in DIY shops, you could be harnessing the power of the sun to make solar energy for up to 75% of the cost of a professional installation.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with a favourite topic, types of renewable energy. If you are interested in Sustainable Energy At Home, please click through to our site.

categories: energy,global warming,climate change,alternative,sustainable,solar power,wind power,home and family,health,technology,science,other,uncategorised,fuel

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Now Is The Time To Use Sustainable Solar Energy

Owen Jones — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:30:33 +0000

The very life of every living thing on Earth is dependent on the Sun. Without the Sun, we would not have animal or plant life, which provides us with food and companionship. Without the Sun, we would have died out in earlier days, without the Sun these days, we may last a while, but it would not be much of a life.

The Sun offers us much more too. What we now refer to as ‘alternative, sustainable energy’ was the only form of energy available to the world for thousands of years. Really, nuclear and even oil generated energy should be called alternative, but we have forgotten a lot. Especially in the West.

It is not essential to go back to the habits of our farming ancestors and get up and go to bed with the Sun, although it is still the way of life of the majority of the world’s population. No, we have technology and we should use it. At the moment, we use sophisticated technology to find more lakes of oil and dig ever deeper in more and more unreachable places to remove it from the Earth. Or worse still, we go to war to steal or guarantee supplies resulting in the death of thousands of young soldiers and the desolation of millions of ordinary, innocent citizens.

We have to use our fantastic advances in technology to produce electricity out of thin air. Literally. We already have the technology to produce solar panels and wind turbines in order to create millions of kilowatts of electricity from the Sun and the wind. There is other technology that can make use of the movement of the seas and the natural high temperature of the Earth itself, although some of these are only accessible in some areas. For example, wave power can only be taken advantage of, if you live on the shoreline.

However, solar and wind power can be utilized in any part of the world with differing levels of success. A permutation of the two varieties of power generators is perhaps best for most regions. These technologies have been developed more or less chaotically. What if we had spent our war chests of billions of dollars on advancing these technologies, instead of using them to level cities and kill people?

However, the technology is there to produce enough electricity to power a household. It is clear that we cannot wait for our governments to do much more for us. Their viewpoint is different, they do not want to harm big business. And the big electrical providers would be damaged if a significant number of people generated their own electricity and came off the grid.

The rich guys in government are stuck between a rock and a very hard place. They recognize that oil is running out; they know that much more electricity will have to be generated from the wind and the Sun, but they do not want to harm the share value of big industry.

Imagine, what a hard time the energy producers would have explaining why the cost of electricity had to go up because he Sun or the wind had increased its charges. Whereas it is easy to defend when they say that OPEC has increased the price of oil. But, we are in OPEC, aren’t we?

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with a favourite subject – alternative power sources. If you are interested in Sustainable Energy At Home, please click through to our site.

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Why Go For Renewable Wind Power?

Owen Jones — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:05:39 +0000

Electricity created from wind powered turbines is one of the most prevalent forms of energy from alternative sources and it is the fastest-growing variety too. Wind turbines are turned by the natural strength of the wind, so make electricity without ‘burning up’ any fossil fuels in the procedure. The faster (harder) the wind gusts, the more electricity is produced.

Therefore, wind turbines are best placed where there are prolonged periods of high wind. The coast line is often a good place to site wind turbines. In fact many coastal towns and cities are supplementing their existing conventional electricity supply with electricity created from wind turbines.

You can still produce energy from wind, even if the wind does not blow very hard where you live, but the return will be less. It may still be adequate, but maybe you should check out solar panels too. For example, it may suit your location to have a wind turbine for the winter and a couple of solar panels for the summer and winter back up.

Making a wind turbine is not rocket science, most people who are good with their hands can assemble a wind turbine with the aid of a good set of DIY plans. The real trick is to get all the components that the plans say you will need before you start. That way, you can focus on following the plans without having to nip off every now and again to get a part.

One valid point is that you should not be worried about creating too much electricity, because many the energy companies in many countries are required to buy your surplus electricity back off you nowadays. This is not a difficult process, you just have to stay plugged into the grid and your surplus electricity will flow back into the grid changing the numbers on the meter automatically.

In this instance your meter is read monthly or quarterly as usual, but you will be given a refund rather that a bill. The more wind turbines and solar panels you set up, the bigger a reimbursement you are likely to receive. In some cases, the units of electricity that you sell back are worth up to twice the units you use from the same electricity company.

Apart from the fact that you will not be receiving an electricity bill every month or that your bill will be hugely reduced, a very important point is that you will be one of the very, very few people who is not badly affecting our planet. You will not be so accountable for the greenhouse gases that are created by making standard electricity.

You have nothing to lose by learning more about creating your own electricity, coming off the grid and doing your bit for the natural world. The very least that can take place is that you read the information and become wiser on the subject and you may not implement you knowledge that you have learned. This would be a real pity, but not a big financial loss.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with a favourite topic – alternative power sources. If you are interested in Sustainable Energy At Home, please click through to our site.

categories: energy,global warming,climate change,alternative,sustainable,solar power,wind power,home,health,technology,science,other,uncategorised,fuel

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Learn How To Make Solar Panels For Your Home

Owen Jones — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:08:14 +0000

Many people are sick to death of the rising cost of electricity, but they do not know what they can do about it. They have switched lights off; they have not turned lights on; they have unplugged devices on stand-by and they have turned the central heating down and the air con up and it has only saved them coppers. Yet still the electricity bills go up on a regular basis. It is very exasperating.

We have all heard of alternative and sustainable sources of energy, but the question is: how can average people instigate these technologies into their own homes? One phone call to a professional solar power installation company will persuade anyone that solar power is only for the well-off.

Similarly with wind power generation. A single device, which may or may not satisfy the electrical requirements of one average family will cost in the region of $45,000 and it is thought that, if it meets aspirations, that it will pay for itself after ten years time. $45,000 is too much money for most individuals, but having to wait ten years to realize that investment is too long for most people too.

So, at first glance, it looks like the average person is at the mercy of the oil companies and the electricity generators. However, it does not have to be like that. There are other ways of tackling the problem and extricating yourself from the control of energy providers. The first method would be to buy the solar power units and install them yourself. That would save you a lot, perhaps up to 50%. But you could go a step further and make the solar panels yourself as well, which would save you a great deal more money.

The fact is that the more of your own labour that you can put into the scheme, the more you will save, because the labour constituent in any task usually amounts to about 50% of the costs. We all know how costly it is to call a plumber in to fix a leaking pipe or a roofer to replace a slate. $100 for a slate? $100 for a dribble of solder? No, it is the tradesman’s time and the same is true of solar panel fitters.

The way out is to learn how to make the solar power units and install them yourself. It is not difficult. Any teenager can learn how to do it and so can you. Take it from me, learning how to assemble and install solar panels is not difficult. Just try it and see for yourself. You will amaze yourself and your friends. You may even turn it into a business!

The thing to do is get a reliable kit or a plan from a trusted source. This could be a neighborhood hardware or hobbyist store or from a specialist website on the Internet. Once you have your plan, you can buy the components. They are commonplace and on hand in most DIY shops. Then it will take you about a day to construct a solar panel that will supply about 100 watts.

This may not seem like much, but it will power many types of small machines or two average light bulbs. The trick is to keep adding to your stock of solar panels until you are entirely free of the electricity grid or even selling electricity back into it.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with a favourite topic, renewable energy advantages. If you are interested in Sustainable Energy At Home, please click through to our site.

categories: energy,global warming,climate change,alternative,sustainable,solar power,wind power,home and family,health,technology,science,other,uncategorised,fuel

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How Do You Get Off The Grid?

Owen Jones — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:16:13 +0000

I do not know whether it has ever occurred to you, but you can get off the grid. The electricity grid that is. Is it anything that you are interested in? For some people, getting off the grid is the Holy Grail of modern life. We all feel that we are being squeezed dry by the energy firms and our soldiers are being killed on a daily basis to safeguard the West’s supply of fossil fuels.

If the same amount of money was invested in developing alternative technology, we would not need to import so much oil, but that would mean less profits for the energy bosses as well. So the average guy on the street loses out to the rich oil tycoons and people are milked for money and people die on both sides.

You cannot rely on these people to help you use less energy, it is not in their interest. The only thing you can do is take the bull by the horns and sort yourself out. Get yourself off the grid, save yourself money in the long term and help save the planet and our soldiers too.

It is often assumed that self-sufficiency in energy is only for nerds, but this is not true, it is now within the reach of every family or household. If you have plenty of money, a solar or wind powered system will cost you about $45,000 and it will take about ten years to recover your investment by getting off the grid. However, you can have the same apparatus for much less than half that sum.

The fact is that technology has progressed rapidly in the realm of solar power, as it has in every other technological sphere. Scorching sunshine is no longer necessary to create a steady flow of electricity and prices have dropped. However, labour prices have risen and over-compensated for this fall. Herein lies your opportunity.

It is not hard to make your own solar panels and the components are readily obtainable in even small towns. The same holds true for systems that will create electricity from wind or water. The trick is to get a detailed diagram from which to build your solar panels or other equipment.

These plans are readily available online from specialist web sites and the components are available from DIY or hobbyist stores. Once you have crafted your sustainable energy resources, they are virtually maintenance free, although you may have to top up the batteries with sulphuric acid or distilled water.

Living off the grid is a wonderful feeling. Knowing that you are out of the clutches of the oil barons brings more freedom and the next time there is a power cut or a price hike, you can just give a smile and forget about it, because you will be living off the grid.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with a favourite subject, renewable energy advantages. If you are interested in Sustainable Energy At Home, please click through to our site.

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