I know several people that depend about 80% on solar but its on a very scaled down version of a normal household.They are able to pump their own water,have limited lighting,radio,computer,and run some low HP tools thats about it.

Hi Caleb,
We are and have been for about 10 years on solar power. For the most part it is just my husband and me, but when times were rough for them we had our married son's family with us. Then we had to run the generator some. Our set up cost us roughly $10,000 at the time. Less than having electric brought in. We have a normal household. Run everything my friends in town do, except a freezer, dryer, air conditioning and we have a propane refridgerator.
I wouldn't go back on the grid for anything. There are times in the winter we have to be a little carefull, as in shut off the lights in a room when you leave etc.
I think it is a shame the way people waste natural resourses. We have done nothing to deserve to leave on the lights, TV, etc and it doesn't hurt anyone to hang out some cloths.
We could have more panels but have gotten along okey so far.
Good luck and hope it works out for you.

there are good articles in this magazine: www.homepower.com

-C

Aloha Caleb,

You can't figure out what kind of a system you need until you figure out what exactly you want it to do. Make a list of all the power (in watts) each of your appliances will be using each day, then that will let you know how big of a system to install. That's how many watts each item uses multiplied by how many hours it will run each day. Add them all up and that's your daily usage. Size your system to fit that.

We run primarily on solar power with a gas generator backup although we will be switching to a diesel generator in a couple weeks. We have four big solar panels feeding 24V to a battery bank of deep cycle 6V batteries in series (to get the voltage up) and parallel (to increase the amperage storage). The battery bank feeds an inverter (Trace DR2415) which feeds the whole house.

Set up your house to use less power so you won't have to make as much power. All our lights are compact flourescent with a paloma gas water heater and a gas stove. We live in Hawaii, so there's no house heating, so I have no knowledge of that, but if you are going to make heat or cold try to use anything but electricity to do it with. The refrigerator is an efficient electric one, the clothes dryer is gas, the washing machine is electric. There's computers on almost all day long, as well as a big screen TV on occasionally and assorted tools such as grinders, chop saws, sanders, drill presses, etc. During the summer, we hardly ever use the gas (diesel) generator, but during the winter, it gets used more often.

The best part about this system is I'm invested in the local electrical company and they pay me dividends instead of the other way around. Ha! ;)

Great info here.

Also mite want to take a look at the Renewable Energy Forum.

Pooh Bear

Here is a link that might be useful: Renewable Energy Forum at GardenWeb

I am in NY and looking into getting off the grid. I have been doing some research. I did find out that in NY there are grants that will pay half of what you need to invest to stay off the grid. I have been visiting local homes utilizing alternative energy and seems many of them, use windmills along with solar and the generator for back up. There is just so much info, I dont know where to begin.
Marie

hey caleb,
my family and I live off of solar. We chose our land based on the hope that the grid will never come out our way (at least in our lifetime). And we do run out of power sometimes in the winter. But we don't depend on a furnace for heat. Our house is passive solar. So if you are relying on a furnace I would suggest finding a wood stove, nothing fancy, anything that doesn't leak will do the job. A wind generator will only be of benefit to you if you have a good windy spot to put it in. If it has buildings, hills, or trees blocking its wind it will do you no good. Get rid of all of your appliances that take electricity to make heat (curling irons, toaster((you can buy camp toasters that go on your stove for $2.00)) irons, blow dryer) alot of people still use electric coffee makers they only have it on to brew the coffee and make sure it gets shut off right away. Alot of propane ovens still use an electric glow coil. You don't want that. Make sure yours has only pilot lights. Compact flourescent light bulbs are really important. And basically it comes down to conservation which everyone, on grid or not should be aware of. If you end up with an electric fridge and it's a cloudy winter day, you start running low on power, shut off your fridge (and everything else) for the evening so you can have a light or two on. But that was the mother in me speaking. Alternative Energy is a beautiful thing. It keeps your mind awake so you are not a slave to the industrialized world. You become more attuned to the world outside of your home. You noticed when the clouds first start rolling in and when the wind is blowing in a storm. or when the sun stays around your way longer. Solar is the right thing for everyone who wants electricity. People just have to think of whats more important. A clean future and a couple of dim nights, or a polluted world with the knowledge that we could have stopped it if only we stopped to think....
Best wishes to you

Alternate power is a great question. I have looked into it for the past 2 years. In both wind and solar power, some type of electrical generator is used to charge batteries. Thus you must have good quality batteries and a charging system, so they don't get over charged. No cheapie batteries can be used here.

One thing I have found is LEDs work well for dim lights, like path lighting or accent lighting in your kitchen. They are bright if you look right at them, but they don't light a very far distance. However, they use VERY tiny amounts of light. I converted 2 flashlights to red LEDs. It takes 12-18 months of nightly use to drain the batteries. Compare that to 10 hours of continuous use for a regular bulb. And LEDs now come in white.

White LEDs don't work well for reading if put in a typical light fixture, but I can read just fine using my 5 bulb LED light on my head.

Here in Michigan, solar panels would not work well as we don't get much light from Sept to April. We get more wind than sunlight so a wind generator would be the way to go.

FOr more info, go to the Candlepower forums, the source for alternative energy and lighting. The people are very helpful and they do a lot of home-built wind turbines. You have to register but it's free.

Here is a link that might be useful: Candlepowerforums.com

We've lived with photovoltaic electricity for 24 years, now. At first it was a couple of small panels I purchased from an "Energy Sciences" advertisement in an old "Mother Earth News"...and a couple of car batteries. Times changed, we changed our system...adding panels as we could, and switching to true deep cycle batteries. We now have a Solar Frost fridge, which replaced our old propane (actually, at first we just had our root cellar)...September of 2003 the grid came through our area, and we connected an intertie system...so we no longer listen to a generator in the winter. We break even with the grid, since in summer we have excess production from our panels. We are conservative in our energy use, but live a life of simple elegance in our estimation.

I highly recommend the folks at homepower.com as someone mentioned earlier.

Bruce and Cheryl (who is asleep)

Here is a link that might be useful: Bruce and Cheryl's Homestead

If you happen to have moving water, micro hydro may be a good solution. You have to have the right terrain, but when suitable, it is almost always the most cost effective alternative energy method. Solar and Wind are great options too if the location is suitable. If you need a generator, consider looking into a Lister diesel engine. They burn diesel, WVO, or biodiesel and run forever! You might find more information here Off Grid Alternative Energy

Good Luck!

Yes, this is an old forum, but there is a great form of off-grid living from a man named Charlie Steward. He was even on the Tonight Show, that's how good he is. Well, he did it all by himself, using golf cart batteries, and had so much left over energy that the companies offered to pay him for it. Go to his website to learn what he did.
alternativeenergyvideo.com
erskineonradio.com This one has 2 interviews with him, and he goes into good detail on what he did. GO to archives,and look for his name. Its was back in '07. Have fun looking....~Karen