I am so sick of paying for electricity. My power company is the biggest monopoly around and they keep jacking up the prices. Im tired of paying so much money every month, just to live like a modern person.
Now, Im a bona-fide GLUTTON for electricity. I leave lights on, I am all electric heating, electric on-demand water heater, electric dryer, electric stove, massive dual cpu computer (xeons with a 475w power supply), dual 21" CRT monitors etc etc etc. I can use me some juice. I mean, Im pulling 40 watts, per minute, minimum, most of the time. So, just going to a battery and a tiny panel arent going to cut it. I also do not have $10-20,000 to buy a full on kit.
I have to attack this problem, from every angle I can. That means, reducing my energy consumption, slowly gathering components for alternative power, and implementing some more energy efficient housing methods. I thought I might share with you what Im doing here, and how Im going about it.
My Plan
- Reduce the amount of energy I consume.
- Implement better energy efficiency in my home.
- Gather components for alternative energy.
- Build and install energy gathering devices.
- Laugh gleefully, when the electric company sends ME a check, every month (Mwah-Ha-Ha!)
ok, so, first things first, reducing energy I consume. This means getting serious about turning lights off. Cleaning the coils on my fridge. Taking Hot Showers instead of those nice baths with a martini and some jazz and a good book (
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It mans when I buy a new computer in a few years, to get a good laptop, with the features I need, instead of the massive workstation I have now. It means shelling out for $150 LCD panels, instead of $20 crts. It means getting a smaller stereo instead of my Kenwood tower speakers... (bye-bye polyphonic range... sniffle)
ok.. so maybe some of tese things I might keep around on some level... Im not moving to the far side of the mountain just yet... (might do that one of these days.. city ordinances and noise pollution are pushing me that way) so, Im still going to be grid-tied, Ill still have electric service for whenI want to use high energy items, like firing up the big computer to render animation, or blare my speakers or run my air compressor or power tools.. Im not getting rid of modern life, just making efforts to make it more reasonable and manageable. So, turning off those lights when Im not in the room. Thats a start.
Next up, making my house more energy efficient. I can put the reflective coating on the windows, I dont care much for open windows anyway. That will cut my cooling bill. Zone cooling, only running A/C when Im in the room, for the room Im using. Same with heating. Checking the weather striping around all my doors and windows. Fixing leaks and drafts. Building a solar heater for the winter. Possibly getting or building a solar hot water heater... Ok, these should help a lot. Im doing construction, so building the addition on my house, I can make sure to use high efficiency materials and insulation. Will certainly help.
Now, Im sure you have all heard these before, but next up is the real fun.. building alternative energy gathering devices!!!
My options, living in the City. Solar Panels, Windmills and Geothermal Systems.
Geo, is likely to be a basic horizontal ground loop for heating and cooling, so my base temperature is closer to 55 degrees, instead of whatever the air is. Since heating and cooling are a huge percentage of my bill each month, I am definitely looking into it. In general, its somewhat costly, because you need a heat pump and in-ground tubes of air or water to move heat around. A good estimate for an initial setup, is 8-10K$$. You can get by with less, but $5K is pretty much the minimum for a typical system. This is in contrast to solar and wind, where you can start at around $500-1000 to get started and add to it little by little.
Solar and Wind. Ah, the staples of alternative energy. Sunshine, everywhere, for hours a day and wind, glorious wind, to harness its force to do my bidding!!!
Ok, so, 2 problems, the sun doesnt always shine, and the wind doesnt always blow.
I have determined, by looking at my monthly usage history, that I use 600-2400 Kwh per month. I average, around 1500.
That's me, pretty much alone, by myself.
My plan, is to get a small inverter and either build or buy a small windmill, ideally a VAWT, somewhere around 600w, bigger if I can and add panels and extra windmills until I have gotten to Zero Energy Cost each month, and then add a little more and reach the last step...
Get Filthy Rich Off the Checks the Electric Company Pays Me!!! Bwahahahaha haaaaa
I thought Id chronicle the efforts here, for your benefit and open the table to discussion of these efforts.
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