Alright where would one start ... if they want OFF the grid???
I have looked at most of the things out ther now ... You name it , I have looked into it.
I would 'love' to get get off the power grid .. Maybe I'm not looking at the right things ... (help me out)
Wind - not in my area
,solar... well right now out of my price range, the river looked good till they made it a statepark...:gaah:
So... I'm someone wanting to start out small and work their way out, what would you advise???
LAND.
Off the grid should start with a down hill slope,
Preferably facing south.
Gravity will do a lot of work for you if you let it, and 'Down Hill' is ALWAYS a good thing!
South facing slope will let you take advantage of 'Passive Solar' for heating and cooling.
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TERRAIN.
Hillside is ALWAYS a good place to have an earth sheltered home...
We aren't talking about the old 'Basement' houses of the past,
We are talking about something with solid interior walls,
(Called 'Thermal Mass') which regulate the heat/cool in the living space,
Wide open floor plans so you don't get claustrophobic,
Lots of south facing windows to absorb sunlight in the early morning all day long with low winter sun,
But a porch roof that shades the interior while still letting a lot of light in and keeping the hot summer sun from directly shinning in.
With slope on the hill,
Building into a hill side lets you have drainage both outside the foundation (French Drains) and drainage inside the house (Sanitation)...
That stops the Wet House' thing many of the older basement houses had going on....
Without using a sump pump to keep the water table lower than your floor!
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INSULATION!
We are talking about 'Super' insulation in the home.
Nothing like keeping your hard earned money for heat/cool IN THE HOUSE where it belongs...
We are talking about taking advantage of solar thermal for heating the house, hot water for the house, ect.
You will save more money over the long run by proper insulation-- below, sides, roof, than you can shell out money for in panels for MORE heat/cool...
Insulation is your friend!
Earth sheltered homes are super efficient,
Warm in winter, cool in summer simply by using earth as insulation.
Adding extra insulation is money in the bank!
It will just lessen your need for expenditure for heating/cooling, and you can take that to the bank!.
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FIRST, FOOD!.
A man can't work well on poor feed!
The first thing I put in was a large garden, compost pile so I didn't have to buy fertilizers as much,
And a 'Root Cellar'.
Nothing as good for you as working in the garden, canning instead of watching TV, and the food is MUCH BETTER FOR YOU than the pre-processed junk you get at the store.
Root cellars/storm cellars were pretty standard in the days before processed, big business food came along,
And they are CHEAP to build,
Anything from an old metal shipping container to old tires or concrete blocks for building material...
Since it's going to buried, it doesn't matter what it looks like!
Earth sheltered so the temperature stays pretty much constant and you are off to the races!
We have about two years worth of food stored in REUSABLE canning jars, dehydrated in reusable vacuum bags, ect.
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SECOND, WATER.
The second thing I did was drill a deep well.
Although I have a small lake, I wanted clean 'Deep Rock' water that couldn't be contaminated by anything airborne or run off.
Shallow buried storage tanks means the deep well pump doesn't have to run very much, and the shallow pump doesn't take much current at all...
And that way you can time the 240 volt deep well pump for daytime operation so solar power runs the pump and you sill have plenty of battery to power the home in the evenings.
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THIRD, POWER...
Energy Management.
You have to run tools, have lights, power the well pump, ect.
We are talking about solar electric, wind and maybe water (micro Hydro) for your electric service needs.
Take assessment of what you have on the property.
If you have UNSHADED property where you can use the sun DO IT!
If you have a running stream that doesn't freeze over, USE IT!
If the wind will NOT stop blowing, USE IT!
Planning should continue to low consumption appliances.
About 40% of the average home consumption is from lighting.
That means low consumption lights in 'Dark' areas, like compact florescence light bulbs or LED light bulbs.
That means a high efficiency rating on appliances like Fridge, Freezer, Microwave, washer & dryer.
Gas cooking stoves and gas cloths dryers are the most practical when living off grid...
Same with house furnace, but a back up heat source, like wood burning stove is always a good thing to have in case the propane isn't available when you need it...
Like in a blizzard or natural disaster!
The cloths might have to dry on lines, and you may have to heat with wood, but you will have CLEAN CLOTHS, ELECTRICITY & HEAT no matter what happens!
Drying cloths on lines indoors in the winter is actually beneficial to you...
Puts much needed moisture in the air, and saves on the gas bill to dry them!
Most of us 'Wood Burners' have a pan of water on top to keep humidity in the air in the winter anyway!
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SHELTER, LIVING SPACE.
Remember, most states the banks WILL NOT give you a lone for solar power, wind generators, drilling wells, ect.,
However, they WILL lend you money on the ground and to build a house.
Your cash money is better invested in upgrading the land value (IE: Well, Solar, Wind, Root Cellar, ect.)
The stuff they WON'T lend you money on,
But WILL increase your properly value when you apply for the home building loan if it's already there...
(Then they wind up financing the entire thing anyway!)
When you build the home,
Think low sun in the winter, high sun in the summer and plain your porch roofs accordingly.
Radiant floor heat is a WONDERFULLY EFFICIENT THING TO HAVE, and it saves a TON on duct work maintinance throughout the lifetime of the home.
Some boilers are even wood pellet or corn fired, so you can GROW your own fuel for the boiler...
Attaching the solar thermal panels to thermal mass via tubes or radiant floor heat will reduce bills also, and on sunny days, you will have virtually nothing for heating bills.
Earth sheltered homes are naturally resistant to any kind of disaster when built strong enough.
Solid poured concrete for inside walls means the building will be structurally impervious to tornadoes, hurricanes, termites, ect.
Building on a hill side makes you impervious to floods,
Rear rooms will NEVER drop below freezing since they are earth sheltered no matter what goes on.
Look into things like 'Light Pipes',
They are a sort of sky light that brightens up the back rooms without electricity in the daytime,
My significant other REALLY LIKES her light pipes in the kitchen, bathroom, hobby room, and they weren't too expensive at all.
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OTHER STUFF...
IF you go fully 'Off Grid',
Then consider some economy in your buildings around the place.
I set up my first solar array on a old house trailer frame.
that allows me to turn the entire array to track the sun for more energy (about 40% increase!) as the sun moves across the sky...
That keeps me from having to buy more solar panels to keep up with demand!
I'm running on 12, but have space for 48!
I'll increase later I'm sure, but for right now, being able to track the sun CHEAPLY kept me from having to buy more panels at $500 a piece!
The 'Power House' puts a roof over the well head,
Contains the batteries and their support stuff,
Contains the inverters, charge controllers, ect.
And keeps the noise out of the house.
It's nothing more than an old yard barn, but it works REALLY WELL.
I'll upgrade to something more solid when money/time allows...
Keeping the 'Power House' close to the DC production source (panels, wind generator) keeps my expensive wiring to a minimum,
And the AC wiring to the house is much less expensive than trying to push DC to the house.
My 'Emergency' batteries are doing work instead of just sitting there wasting energy through heating up & chemical losses.
I use a golf cart and old converted S-10 pickup around the place to haul, move about, ect.
The golf cart fits in the 'Power House' shed, and the S-10 parks right beside it, so I can plug both into the system easily.
And the batteries in both are 'Emergency' power for the inverters in the event of several days without sun or wind,
(Which I haven't had to use in 5 years...)
BE CREATIVE!
Most 'Rural' places have little or no building codes, so you can do much of the work by yourself.
You WILL make mistakes, but if you hire a contractor to do the work, then you have paid for them TWICE!
AC wiring is easy, and keeps you from having to buy all DC or special order appliances,
And AC pushes through wires with a lot less losses, so you get to use more of your production instead of having the energy wasted.
Buy some books on wiring,
Ask some questions, and pretty soon you will be able to do most of the wiring yourself!
Your panels, inverters, charge controllers, ect will all be DC wiring, which can be a little harder to pick up,
So stick with recommended instructions or hire a professional to do that part of it,
But any knot-head can wire a light switch or outlet in AC, and that's the time consuming (expensive) part...
