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A Farm of My Own:  Alternative Energy  |
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Debs
True Blue Farmgirl
100 Posts
Debs
Wellington
New Zealand
100 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 09 2005 : 12:39:11 PM
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I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has solar or wind power or any other alternative, off the grid energy source on their farm, or if anyone has had any experience of using them anywhere else. I would like to use solar panels at some stage but need to think about what sort of electrical equipment can be used with solar/wind electric systems. Also if anyone has built their own solar power system, I would really like to hear how it worked!
Thanks
Debs |
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ByHzGrace
True Blue Farmgirl
348 Posts
348 Posts |
Posted - Oct 22 2005 : 08:31:36 AM
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We are not off grid.Do got a windmill + homemade solar and backup generator and the minimum fPL bill. We don't have a furnace or have to heat. If I did I'd say dig for water source heat pump!
You got to figure what you want to power up, to know how and what system you will need to run them.How many hours of sun and wind do you get? Your square footage in house,barns, and out buildings? |
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Annab
True Blue Farmgirl
2900 Posts
Anna
Seagrove
NC
USA
2900 Posts |
Posted - Nov 11 2005 : 08:33:09 AM
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| We use something called a water stove. Do a google search and look up Wood Master, Taylor Water Stove or just water stove in general. It's basically an outside wood stove that connects to the domestic water source. In theory it works something like a car's radiator. Water is heated by way of burning wood, and a fan blows across pipes that house the hot water. You can use this to heat water for your whole house and can also use it to provide central forced air heating. There's a bit more to it than this, but if you have an excellent source for wood, it can't be beat. So the longer you run water in your house, the hotter it gets......unlike a water heater where after the 4th person has showered, and it's cold again. You CAN literally cook yourself to death, so in homes with small kids, one of those scald protectors is a good idea. Some of these systems do use the solar pannels. We have access to woods all over, but get most ours from a pallate shop and scrap lumber yard. Places like these have scraps heaped up all over! If you live in a more rural area, you can burn all your paper products and cardboard as fire starter.(Think junk mail pile-up.....no more!) It really cuts down on trash. Also too, some homesteads use these not only for home heating, but for green houses and barns . |
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Debs
True Blue Farmgirl
100 Posts
Debs
Wellington
New Zealand
100 Posts |
Posted - Nov 12 2005 : 10:25:22 AM
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Ellen - wow, you have homemade solar? I would love to learn how to build my own solar panel set-up for electricity! I already know a bit about the components from reading books and websites, but have no practical experience! I am not looking at off-the-grid power for my current home (an apartment in the city!) but for a home I will eventually have - I am thinking wind power for lighting, solar hot-water heating, and solar electric power for appliances. But I want to limit my appliances so I don't have to buy too many solar panels since they are rather pricey. I can probably do without most appliances except for a fridge/freezer, and radio/CD player and a laptop! (Gotta listen to my music and keep in touch with people!)
Anna - thanks for the info - those stoves look fantastic - what a great idea! I was thinking about getting a coal range for cooking, back-up heating of water and for heating. I looked up the water stoves and the fanned hot air sounds like it would make the whole house nice and cosy in the winter! Also hoping to get one of those log-makers for turning newspapers into logs!  |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Nov 13 2005 : 06:41:08 AM
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Hi Debs, My husband is exploring a device to use winds ( we live in Kansas, central US, and the name means "people of the south wind") and a VERY windy area. It attaches to our meter and whatever the wind generator supplies for power, our utility pays back to us in money. I will keep you updated on this.
If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come. |
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ByHzGrace
True Blue Farmgirl
348 Posts
348 Posts |
Posted - Nov 14 2005 : 8:46:23 PM
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hi Debs!
When are you movin?
I don't know aboot the UK,  here we get tax credit incentives for doin alt energy =  solar hot water + photovoltaic = 30% of expenditures. tax credits get taken from our total tax $$$liability makin it 3x better then a deduction! making costs here more affordable.
I saw this today UK wind research blows away myths http://www.physorg.com/news8165.html
talk aboot synchronicity. Windmill got hit 2x with 2004 hurricanes and guy wires snapped again this year.
panels are mostly just glass, we got that most from dumps and my hubby made the frames.He has a friend that be certified electician the utility co has hoops to jump though for safety loop going back to them. It be called islandin so we aren't giving them power when the like hurricanes knocked em out and a man is working on the line.The plans were in MotherEarthnews.I don't have the issue we had lots of water damage loss....it was an old magazine article, maybe from early 80?. But lookie here wow
Links to products forSustainablLivinghttp://www.theenergyguy.com/Links_Sustain_Living_Prod.html
We be not totally off grid,like Meadowlark sez, we can sell back out overage to the utility co and use them ifn we have to.The utility co is the storage system=battery backup.The storage is a big cost.
We figged cost for the worst monthx12, to get electricity all year. Our bills here give us how much energy we be using/month. That is what we used to figger how many PV modules. And how many modes wired in series gives us the voltage.We don't have AC or heat, that would double our usage.We have a small efficient frig, mostly florescents, prolly the pumps for the well use the most,the only light running in room be my laptop.
The Florida Solar Cracker House http://www.phys.ufl.edu/~liz/home.html
Florida Solar Energy Center http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/
Welcome to the NCSU Solar Househttp://www.ncsc.ncsu.edu/solar_house/NCSU_solar_house.cfm |
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Debs
True Blue Farmgirl
100 Posts
Debs
Wellington
New Zealand
100 Posts |
Posted - Nov 19 2005 : 02:00:28 AM
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Ellen, thanks for the links! There are definitely some very windy parts of the UK, and the government and energy companies should be making more use of it! The government gives grants to solar companies which reduce the price of the solar panels but it is still expensive with the discounts!
Not sure when we're moving but it will be back to my home country, New Zealand! Where there certainly is more SUN for solar power than in the UK! I am originally from a place known as Windy Wellington, and there are quite a few wind farms around the place. So we will be looking into tapping into these resources.
Meadowlark, can't wait to hear about the wind device! It would be great if there were so many people using wind or solar power that the utility companies would have to rely on us rather than gas/coal supplies, and eventually they will probably have to! |
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Kay in Kentucky
Farmgirl in Training
35 Posts
Kay
Dunnville
Kentucky
USA
35 Posts |
Posted - Nov 22 2005 : 5:35:06 PM
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I guess I qualify as having alternative source of power. Not electrical power, My farm is an old Amish place, I use kerosene lamps and woodstoves to heat and cook. I will be looking into a photovoltic system with generator back up in the future so I can run my laptop and some tools. I want to live without the amenities for a year or so before adding anything. It is so peaceful there without the high tech stuff.
Kay
My blog;
http://oakspringfarm.blogspot.com |
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A Farm of My Own: Alternative Energy |
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Alternative Energy
