Posted on Oct 04, 2008 under Aquaponics, Fish, Fish farming, Off-Grid, Self Sufficiency, Uncategorized, construction |
Yes, I know, we wanted to live off-grid, but the property we bought is a little too far off. Now we have finally found an internet provider that can supply us with a decent internet connection, so we’re back online!
These past 2 months have been very eventful, but we are about settled now. The first 4000 liter fish tank has been set up inside the greenhouse. For now it houses goldfish. We’ll have to see how temperatures develop in the greenhouse throughout the winter. I will probably build a shed around the fish tank and connected grow bed and equip it with a grow light to be able to grow some veggies this winter.
Sorry, no pictures at the moment, as the USB cable for the camera is still in one of the unpacked moving boxes…
Posted on Dec 04, 2007 under Electricity, Heating, Off-Grid, Self Sufficiency, Solar power |
In Europe, Canada and the US, the power companies are required to buy back any excess energy you create. The rates, at which they buy back the energy, depends on a few things and the rules are different in each country and state. You can get detailed information on this subject from your utility company.
Solar energy, for instance, will be paid at a higher rate than power generated with a diesel generator because it is obviously much cleaner energy. In Europe you will also get a better rate if you burn vegetable oil instead of diesel, but you will have to show proof of the origin of your oil, so waste vegetable oil collected from restaurants will not get you the higher rate, although the collected oil will be cheaper than buying new vegetable oil, possibly still making it an interesting alternative on the bottom line.
The amount of energy you can sell back also differs from each power company to the next. While some will buy back as much as you can generate, others will only buy back as much power as you buy from them, effectively leaving your power meter at the zero mark.
Since we are currently looking for a new house, I don’t know which power company we will be dealing with. Assuming, for now, that I can only sell back the amount of electricity that I use, generating our own power will not bring in any money. After working out the fuel usage for the generator and assuming that I have to buy vegetable oil to run the generator, plus the generators initial purchase price and ongoing maintenance, the bottom line is that the power from the utility company will cost about the same or maybe even a little less.
However, the electricity is not the only thing I will be generating. A big part of the energy will be lost as heat. Lost if you don’t catch it, that is! Running the engines cooling water through a heat exchanger in the central heating system will have a positive effect on the total fuel consumption of the central heating.
The whole thing can also be turned around: so, instead of running an engine to cover your power needs and use the excess heat to complement your central heating system, you could also have the engine running to generate the heat to warm your water and house, while running a generator head along side to create electricity while you are heating. Sure, ultimately we are talking about the same system, that generates heat and power, but the sizing of each system would be different.
How our system will be sizes isn’t decided yet. We will first have to find a suitable house. Depending on the age and condition of the central heating system, we will then go one way or the other.
Posted on Nov 20, 2007 under Electricity, Off-Grid, Water |
Being self-sufficient typically refers to being able to provide your own food. When looking at utilities, like water and electricity, being your own provider is called living off-grid. While growing crops and keeping animals for food takes a lot of time and work, being able to cover all or part of your electricity and water usage is far easier. After the initial planning and installation an independent power or water system will only require a bit of maintenance every now and again.
People live off-grid for a number of reasons, some choose to, to save money, while others are forced to because of their location. What ever the reason, good planning beforehand can save a lot of trouble and grief down the road. The most important things to think about when planning your off-grid system are location, requirements and cost:
Location
Your location could narrow down the choices you have, running a diesel generator in a one bedroom, downtown apartment is something that I would not recommend. Local building regulations could come into play when you want to build a wind generator.
Requirements
How much power do you really need? Starting point should be your current power usage. The less power you need, the cheaper your system will be, so have a serious look at what uses all that electric power. Maybe there are some things you can do without or different. Things like a dryer take a lot of power to run, you could just hang your clothes on the line to dry and save some power. Electric stoves also need quite some power, a good alternative would be a gas stove. How about that big screen TV, do you really need that?
Make a list of all the electric devices you have and check how much power each of them consumes, they should all have a power rating on them somewhere. If you multiply the wattage of each device with the number of hours you have it switched on each month and divide that by 1000 you will have the total power consumption of your electrical device a month in kWh, which is the same unit of power that you can read on your electricity meter and electricity bills. For each device you should have a good think about whether you really need it or could live without. The devices you do need could have an alternative that uses far less power.
Costs
For most people the limiting factor is costs. You can have all the power you want from solar cells or a fancy big windmill, but these devices cost a lot of money. In the long run they will save you money or even make you a healthy profit, but the high up-front cost is more then most of us can handle.
A lot of people have build their own windmills from scrap with great success and share their experience on the internet for free. Find all the information you can and learn from the mistakes that others have made, so you don’t have to make them. I am still figuring out how much power our family would need to live off-grid. After that has been done, the search for our perfect off-grid system can start.
(note: the windmill picture was shamelessly ripped from The Back Shed)
