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Solar Power Source
City Mission gets big solar power boost
Alternative Energy Questions:
Does living "off the grid" just refer to solar power or wind mills?
I'm looking for a piece of property in northern Fla./southern Ga. I want to make it as self sufficient as possible. Growing my own vegetables, raising my own protein sources and such. I've looked into solar power and wind mills as power sources. Both seem feasible but which is best? Also is there anything else I can/should do? I plan on living there the rest of my life and any suggestions are welcome.
I looked over some of your other questions. At first I figured you to be a teenager, wanting to live the perfect "green lifestyle."
Read your health problems. Now I see why the earthship answers probably received thumbs down. Earthships are the best type of home to build. However I do not think you would be physically up to pounding all that dirt, and it's extremely hard to hire having an earthship built.
To answer you question, you really need to have a mix of power sources. There will be days the sun does not shine enough to charge the batteries...but the wind is probably blowing.
If you are going to be off grid entirely, you need a mix of 2-5 different sources for your household power.
We will be building entirely off grid. We live in the Pacific Northwest, about 20 miles from the Canadian border. So we can have some pretty cold and snowy winters.
We will have wind, active solar, passive solar, a Central Boiler (brand name), hydro if we can legally, wood stoves (heat), wood cook stove, solar gain from the proper positioning of our home, wind cooling of our home from proper possitioning. We debate installing gas appliances run on propane. That however makes us dependent on companies and we don't really want that. Natural Gas is not an option where we are.
Active solar...charges batteries and provides electric for your use.
Passive solar...only heats up water, and provides hot water that way.
Wind turbines produce electricity
Wind mills grind grain, or pump water
Skystream 3.7 makes a very good wind turbine product for homeowners. Here's a link:
http://www.skystreamenergy.com/
For a protien source, you really need to check out goats. Both the meat, and the milk from goats. Do some research, you may be suprised at how good they are for you, and how gentle both are for the human body to digest.
If you are building your own house, build it to take maximum advantage of solar gain for winter, and prevailing winds for cooling. You can make 50 degree differences in your home just by doing that.
Only build/buy in an area where it is legal for you to have a rainwater catch system. Install a metal roof on your home, and catch your own rainwater.
Start to make lists of what is extremely important to you (cannot live without) and what you are willing to be flexible on. Start doing lots of research. Check books out from your local library and read up on your topics of interest.
Think outside the box (or maybe in the box!). Those places you mentioned are very termite prone. Concider using Conex boxes to build your home. They are made of metal, and easy to use to build homes. You can insulate the outside of them, and get rid of the industrial box look. Best of all, termites cannot eat them!
~Garnet
Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years
Raising meat goats since 1999
