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when they’ll only give you 8 cents a kilowatt hour for it? Before you get mesmerized into watching your meter run backward, do the math.
The motivation to go offgrid has to do with making a commitment to a cleaner environment and independence from power companies who want to justify stringing power lines all over the place.
No. 3
Start by reducing your electrical needs. I was amazed when I discovered how much energy I was wasting. Some modern appliances use a considerable amount of power even when they’re turned off
Alternative energy cannot power electric water heaters, heat pumps, electric cook stoves, toaster ovens, large air conditioners or AC refrigerators, for example. Why? Because buying the solar panels and batteries to power these appliances is far more expensive than replacing the appliances themselves. Your total energy use is still going to be the same, so getting off the grid may mean shifting some of your energy use from electric to propane or natural gas.
Now that you’ve reduced your electrical use, look at your monthly electrical bill. That’s how many kilowatt hours you’ll need to generate.
No. 4
Research, research, research. Right now, there are only three main types of commonly available, tried-and-true, off-the-shelf home electric generating systems available: Wind, micro-hydro, and solar electric (Photovoltaic or PV), and each one is extremely site specific. In other words, what works for your neighbor might not work for you and vice-versa.
It takes a lot of wind, water and sun to generate a little elec
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