pricey power

ron17571
ron17571 Registered Users Posts: 19 ✭✭
in General Solar Power Topics #1
I can see why solar really hasnt taken off,if you want to power a home like most people live in it would cost a fortune.im trying to power a small place,i can see powering up a small tv and laptop,mabe some LED lights but cooling my place in the summer months seems tough.ive been thinking about some sort of fan with evap cooler pads.also thinking about a home built wind gen. for catching night time breezes.im sitting in my tractor trailer now running my tv and laptop off a 150 watt inverter,i can do this for hours.truck has four large batterys,the inverter has an auto shut down but i start my truck once in awhile to avoid problems.just some thoughts.
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,613 admin
    #2
    Re: pricey power

    It depends on where you live and what your life style is like...

    We home school and work at home--so the four of us are here 24x7 (pretty boring life)... And we get along on ~250 kWhrs or less a month (natural gas for heating and cooking). No heavy loads (i.e., no A/C).

    Besides a choice not to use much power--we did all of the conservation stuff first (70 year old home that had no wall insulation and drafty doors and windows).

    We are currently have way more electricity that we need with our 3 kW GT system. A big reason we have more electricity than we can use is because of the 1 year net metering with Time of Use billing... If this changes (which is in the plans for "Smart Meter" billing in the next few years)--I am not sure what will happen.

    Am I making money--no (pay an average of $0.12 per kWhr, costs ~$0.14-$0.17 per kWhr post rebate/tax credit Solar GT)--but if those hybrid plug-in vehicles ever come to pass, or that $300,000,000,000 Carbon Tax--I am ready. ;)

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • landyacht.318
    landyacht.318 Solar Expert Posts: 82 ✭✭✭✭
    #3
    Re: pricey power
    ron17571 wrote: »
    cooling my place in the summer months seems tough.ive been thinking about some sort of fan with evap cooler pads.also thinking about a home built wind gen. for catching night time breezes.s.


    If your thinking along the lines of more ventilation instead of powering an A/C unit, I've been using 4.75 inch 12 volt computer fans in my small RV with good success. They, along with reflective window insulation keep the white RV cooler or equal to ambient temperature until late afternoon.

    Google 'silverstone fm 121'. Newegg should come up. This particular fan has a variable speed rheostat. It claims 110 CFM on high. It draws just over .4 amps on high, and well under .1 amp on low. They are only an inch thick so can easily be placed in a window without blocking anything else. I use one on the roof as exhaust and one in a side window as intake. I've tried many different brands of muffin fans. This one is by far the best. The most air moved for the least amount of electricity and noise.
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