Land

Burbank Resident Robert Beher on the roof with his 2 kW solar PV system

Here on our off-grid homestead, we use PV panels as part of our energy solution. PV takes the energy in the sun’s light, and converts it directly to DC electricity for battery charging. A inverter then takes the low voltage DC, and converts it to 120vac house current. In other countries, it may be converted to 220vac. The number of PV panels you need is determined by your electrical usage, and the part of the world you live in. We get 2.5 full sun hours a day, another area might get 6, so they would need fewer panels than we do for the same load. A good beginner’s tutorial can be found here . It’s a PDF, and requires Adobe Acrobat.…

In pristine northern Vermont, tucked in the woods, David and Mary Lahar have lived off the electricity grid since moving to their new home in Strafford in 1984. As David reports, concern for the environment and interest in alternative energy technologies were the underlying forces behind their home-building decision. The Lahars obtain between 75 and 80 percent of their electricity from wind, with the rest coming from solar panels.

A Farm near Strafford VT

They use wood for heating and use propane for instantaneous hot water, as a back-up heating source, and for cooking. The Lahars keep their electric needs modest, but recently David has considered putting up a larger wind turbine to provide for his family’s growing needs.

When choosing a lot for the 1,700-foot timber-constructed home, wind was a primary consideration. The Lahars conducted wind tests for a month before they made a final decision. An average of 8 mile per hour (mph) winds are enough to get the turbine paddles moving, and the site they finally chose for their wind turbine on Mount Mansfield has regular 10 mph winds. They constructed a 100-foot platform to raise the windmill above the tree line in an attempt to further capture the wind and installed a Sencenbaugh 1.2 kilowatt wind turbine with 13-foot blades.…

Here are a few technical toys for getting and using power in an off-grid home.

Power Toys need power

Starting with the NiMH battery Charger, it holds 4 AA or AAA NiMH batteries, and charges from 120vac housepower or 12vdc car power as input. About $20 from Walmart, and came with 4 AA NiMH batteries.

That gives me power for all those battery sucking devices like flashlights, remote control vehicles my boy’s like, clocks, and caller ID phones.

Next up in the Power toolbox is my Kill-A-Watt. …

Being off-grid means something different to everyone. To me it simply means not being tethered to the services one normally expects of society.

Steve Spence and his Veggie Gen

No power grid, no water or sewer grid, and in some cases, no communications grid. Some are permanently off-grid (like ourselves), others only temporarily off-grid, in the form of RV’s, boats, vehicles, etc. When one is off-grid, one has to provide some of those services (the ones deemed necessary) for oneself.

As a new addition to the Off-Grid team, I will explain ways to obtain power, water, communications and other self provided services, and show some of the neat appropriate technologies available to you in this area. I will be presenting solutions like Rain Water Harvesting, Composting Toilets, Solar, BioThermal and Wind power, Cellular and Satellite voice/data communications, and environmental controls (Heating/Cooling) in stationary and mobile environments.

I currently use a combination of wind, pv, and Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) fueled diesel co-generation on our off-grid farmstead.

Welcome to the journey.…