Archive for June, 2009

In 1979, the developer of a condominium village in New Hampshire decided to bring an environmentally responsive alternative to the market. He designed the building to use solar energy. The solar panels were made of glass, offering a beautify view of the scenery. Buyers responded very well, leading the developer to design several more similar buildings.

Construction began in 2007 in Boulder Colorado on a project called Solar Row. The project consists of thirteen homes using only solar power. This will be the first solar home development project in the Boulder area. The design of each home has been carefully set up to allow the home to use and creates its own energy.

Some states are pushing for solar powered housing. California officials are proposing half of all new homes build run on solar energy in within ten years. They are pushing for solar homes to prevent further issues with energy crisis. Three years ago utility customers had difficulty paying their electric bills because of the high cost. Officials plan to give rebates to home builders who agree to install solar panels on new homes. They may offer incentives for installing panels on existing homes as well. Environmental groups are backing California’s proposal as they fill it will encourage other states to follow. It is believed that if many states decide to implement such programs, then the cost of setting up solar power will greatly decrease.

However, many environmental groups aren’t willing to wait around to see what California decides to do. They have taken solar power issues to the legislation. A solar incentive bill has been approved by the Senate. It is still pending with the Assembly Committee. If approved, it would require fifteen percent of new homes being built are complete with solar panels beginning in 2010. The goal would be for the rate to increase each year by ten percent until it reaches fifty five percent.

The building industry opposes the promotion of solar homes. They are against the legislative bill. However, many in the building industry agree that solar homes could lead to economic and atmospheric improvements. The many concern of the building industry is the additional cost to them to meet the solar powered home requirements. If Congress is willing to give them monetary incentives to help reduce these costs, the issue could likely be resolved. It is estimated on average that addition solar power equipment to a home will cost $17,000 to $20,000.

Solar energy is a clean and efficient form of energy. The demand for it is greater than the supply.

The cost of supplying electricity to remote locations is expensive and time consuming. Solar power is an excellent alternative. Portable solar power has been referred to as packaging sunlight. The concept is using an adapter to allow you to use solar power that has been accumulated during times when you do not have enough solar energy, which is mainly used at night.

Battery chargers with solar power are very popular. They simply plug into your cigarette lighter and charge your car in minutes.

On a larger scale you can purchase portable generators that will allow you to use energy produced by sunlight when sunlight is not available. These power sources are used by corporations, small businesses, and individuals. They are used to supply power to entire networks or simply to operate your DVD player. The type and size of generator you want to purchase will depend on your individual needs. Within the next three years, it is believed solar panels will be made that can supply power to cell phones as well. However, the cost of such phones is anticipated to be high because it is expensive to design that type of solar panel.

The internet offers information to compare portable solar power products and their uses. This information will be very useful in deciding what products will give you the best deal for your money. If you still have questions, a great resource is the Advanced Energy Group. It is a respected supplier of solar power and portable power systems throughout the United States. They offer quality products and consulting information about solar power options. They also have an excellent rating for their technical support to customers.

While some remain skeptical about the use of solar power, it really does make sense. The portable solar power devices available at reasonable costs make it even more efficient, safe, and worth while to do for the environment. As the solar power industry continues to grow, expect to see new and better portable devices available on the market.

For some of you it may be instructional to start at a basic level in understanding how electricity works in everyday life.

Watts

You might have noticed that the power consumption of electrical devices is measured in watts. Most people are fairly familiar with the term watt, but most don’t know what it describes. A watt is the power produced by current (amps) flowing through a wire multiplied by the pressure (voltage) at which it flows.

Volts

Like water pressure in a pipe, voltage is the pressure of electricity flowing through the wire.

Amps

This is the amount of electricity flowing through the wire.

Power Rates

We are most familiar with the term KWH (or Kilowatt-Hour) as it appears on our monthly power bills. This is the rate of power flowing through a wire. As an example, if a 100 watt light bulb is turned on for ten hours the power rate would be 100 x 10 = 1,000 watt-hours or 1 Kilowatt hour (kilo means 1000)

Direct Current (DC)

We will be discussing both Direct Current (DC) power and Alternating Current (AC) in the planning of your renewable energy system. AC current is what you presently use in your home.

The most important difference between AC and DC power is that DC current can be stored in a battery while AC power cannot.

In the renewable energy system that you are designing to run your home, DC power produced by your wind generator or your solar panel will be converted to AC power by using an inverter. In this way you can still use many of the same AC appliances that you currently depend on.

Common DC voltages are 12, 24 and 48. The advantages of DC appliances are many, but most important is that DC motors are more efficient than AC motors. There are many applications for DC power and the benefit is that we can use this form of energy in our off grid home, while in your present tied-to-the-grid home you cannot.

AC Current

Alternating current is called this way because the current changes direction constantly. AC is the most common form of electricity usage today mostly because it is easier to work with than common DC current.

Energy is not something that is cheap like it was in years past. In fact, energy is very expensive, whether it’s in the form or fuel for our home or fuel in our gas tank.

Everywhere we go we’re hearing about ways to become more energy efficient so we can be saving money on fuel prices. The high cost of fuel for our homes and cars is almost driving some to bankruptcy.

Although there is no way to totally eliminate most of these expenses, saving money on fuel prices, which are at an all time high now, is possible in our home and car.

Some items in our home that may use some type of fuel are our furnace, cook stove, washing machine and hot water heater. Next to our furnace, the appliance that consumes the most fuel and energy usage is the hot water heater. The hot water heater is used for washing dishes, taking showers and doing laundry. If you are part of a large family, specially with growing children, you know the hot showers and dirty laundry seem to go on with no end.

Attempting a plan where saving money on fuel prices is a possibility is the only choice for many families.

Your hot water heater may be the first place to start this plan. If you’re purchasing a hot water heater, don’t grab the first hot water heater you see just because it’s the cheapest. Although most new hot water heaters are energy efficient and will help with saving money on fuel prices, some are more efficient than others.

Don’t put yourself in a position where you’re paying hundreds of dollars more each year than you need to be paying just because your hot water heater is inefficient. If you’re really serious about saving money on fuel prices, make sure you buy an efficient hot water heater.

Here are some tips on the most important things to look for when buying a hot water heater:

To size a wind power renewable energy system, you first have to determine your energy budget.

In order to complete an energy budget you will need to know how much power typical appliances use. What follows is a chart to help you.

AC Appliances Typical Energy Usage in Watts

Toaster Oven 1500
VCR 35
Well Pump 800
Sewing Machine 87
Satellite TV 50
Refrigerator/freezer 460
Vacuum 1125
Circular Saw 1500
Hair Dryer 1500
Jigsaw 300
Computer 100
Laptop 60
Monitor 60
27” TV 200
DVD 14
Drill 800
Microwave oven 1245
Compact fluorescent 13
Battery Charger 25
Blender/mixer 350
Belt Sander 800
DC Appliance Energy Usage
Appliance Watts
Cell Phone 4
Motor (small) 65
Sunfrost refrigerator 13
Radio 15
Stereo 30
Water Pump 50
VCR 15
14” Color TV 75
Battery Charger 7
Inverter Standby 5
Halogen Light 20

Now that you know how much energy your appliances use you can figure out your total energy usage per week, and per month.

In order to do this, simply figure out how many hours each device is used each day. Multiply this number by the number of watts that device uses and you will come up with the watt-hours of usage. Add all of the totals together to come up with your total watt-hours of usage for the week, and for the month.

Keep these numbers with your notes; you will use them to design your charging capacity, battery bank and inverter sizing.

Figuring out your own energy usage

Take the numbers you got from your own appliances or use the numbers we provided and work out your own energy budget.

Example:

Add as many items as it takes to complete your inventory. It should be noted that most households use approximately 20 Kilowatt hours per day on average.

Your new wind-powered renewable energy system would have to be very large to compensate for this high level of usage. A typical home made wind generator is only going to produce about 1 Kilowatt (1000 watts) of power. This is a wind turbine with blades 4 feet long, making a blade outside diameter of 8 feet.

Through conservation and buying newer more energy efficient appliances you can achieve the goal of living off the grid. It just takes some time and effort on your part. You can live on a total family usage of about 2 or 3 Kilowatt-hour per day and live a relatively normal life, with satellite TV, satellite internet, DVD’s, lights etc. It can be done.

Some questions answered

Once I know how much power I will need to run my home, how will I figure out how much power production I need?

Answer: You figured out how much power you use in the earlier exercise. You should be aiming for around 10 kilowatt hours per day. You could actually run your entire home on just under 3 kilowatt hours per day with energy conservation measures

The power formula goes like this:

System Power = (Wind Speed ^3) (Blade Diameter ^2) x .00478

Wind Speed is measured in miles per hour.

Blade Diameter is measured in feet.

Power is measured in Watts

It is easy to figure out your blade diameter. A widely used 8 foot blade diameter has been proved with great success.

To find your wind speed you will have to find a wind speed chart, or monitor your own wind speed for a while to obtain your own readings.

Here is a source of wind speed data.

World Wind Speed Data Maps

Let’s say your average wind speed is about 12 mph, which is pretty good. Plug that into your formula too. It would look something like this:

System Power = (12^3) (8^2) x .00478 = (1728) (64 ) x .00478
= 110592 x .00478 = 528 watts

Multiply this by 24 hours and you will have 12672 watt-hours, or about 1.2 kilowatt hours per day.

Wind speed has the greatest impact on power output since it is cubed in the previous formula. You can’t change wind speed though. You either have it or you don’t.

This brings up our next question.

Should I build one large wind generator, or several small ones?

Answer: Obviously blade diameter can have a huge impact on the amount of power that your homemade wind generator produces. There are a few concerns though. Yes, you could put up a homemade wind generator with a 20 foot blade diameter, but the forces of the wind at storm levels would demand a very substantial tower. Also, if you live in a populated area your neighbor might not appreciate a huge wind generator in your backyard. Ask first.

Some areas even have bylaws about this stuff, do some research first and find out what you can and cannot do.

Usually it is much easier to find towers for several smaller wind generators and parts to build them too. If you have areas on your property that are clear in different directions, put up several homemade wind generators to capture the wind more effectively from different directions with much smaller towers.

One final thing, when you have several homemade wind generators you can shut one down for cleaning or maintenance (or if a storm does this for you) and your other ones are still providing power.

A lot less work in the long run, and less headaches with a smaller system.

Get the full scoop on How to Build Your Own Home Made Wind Generator