Alternative energy

[Hoosier]

Have sealed AGM batteries. Our battery bank gives us 6 days of storage. Rarely do we cycle our batteries below 15%. Installed a utility KW meter on the output of the 240AC inverters. Average 270-300KW's a month consumption. Also have meters on the output of the wind and solar.

Will be glad to answer any questions about this stuff.

Crappy picture of my Outback power panel.

Do you ever have to halt the turbines to prevent the system from being over-filled, say if it's been very sunny and windy and the temperatures were perfect so you didn't need to run AC or Heat for several days in a row? Do you have a generator backup just in case? I'd love to go this route in the future, and was thinking about using propane to heat the house and power a backup generator for emergencies. That's something I'd like to do regardless of being on/off grid.

H.

[ERNO]

It is imperative that the human population on our earth must harness the main process of the sun and stars,which is fusion power.
I know the process can be harnessed, because in 1976 I witnessed one in the night sky,over Virigina:A Ball of Fusion Plasma ie: "FOOFIGHTER",which I am sure was not of this earth.

[ronaldrwl]

It is imperative that the human population on our earth must harness the main process of the sun and stars,which is fusion power.
I know the process can be harnessed, because in 1976 I witnessed one in the night sky,over Virigina:A Ball of Fusion Plasma ie: "FOOFIGHTER",which I am sure was not of this earth.

What? Explain please

[Irving]

What? Explain please

He once saw a UFO.

[offgrid]

Do you ever have to halt the turbines to prevent the system from being over-filled, say if it's been very sunny and windy and the temperatures were perfect so you didn't need to run AC or Heat for several days in a row? Do you have a generator backup just in case? I'd love to go this route in the future, and was thinking about using propane to heat the house and power a backup generator for emergencies. That's something I'd like to do regardless of being on/off grid.

H.

The silver box on the right in the picture contains two wire wound resistors. When the batteries are full, reach a certain voltage, the two white box on the lower right divert the wind turbine only power into those resistors. Have two resistors/two diversion controllers for redundancy. The solar has it's own controller that tapers off the power from the solar.

Don't have AC, no need for it at our elevation, 10,000'.

Have 12KW propane generator. Used it to build our house before I installed the solar/wind system. We are over two miles from utility power. The generator is a back up in case of a unlikely inverter(s) failure.

If I lived on grid, would absolutely have a back up generator. Would also consider having a dedicated propane tank for the generator, maybe 300-500 gallons. Depending how our generators is loaded, it will burn 1-2 gallons per hour.

[mangyhyena]

I have to strongly disagree. My wife and I have been living offgrid for 5yrs. Powering our home with solar and wind. We have never been in the "no power for you" situation.

Didn't mean any offense, offgrid. I forgot all the members here live in CO, like me for now, where solar and windmills work well. I'm used to posting on forums where the members live in different states and countries. There are places where solar and wind are not as productive as CO. But I still haven't found a way to fuel a vehicle with solar and wind.
Out of curiosity, could you give us a ball park figure of how much we should expect to pay for a setup like you've got? It sounds like you're set up very well.

[mangyhyena]

How can you make such a long statement about bucking old methods, then suggest 100 year old wood gasification?

LOL. Because wood gas can run your vehicle and a generator, covering transportation and electricity if the power company fails and/or gasoline and diesel are not resupplied to the gas stations. Out of curiosity, why does an old technology like wood gas, and perhaps alcohol, sticking with your line of thought, fall short for the purpose of providing fuel? Both alcohol and wood gas can be produced at home and can run internal combustion engines.

If you've know about newer technology that can do what wood gas does and can be done at the home level, please share what you know. BTW, a wood gasification unit costs about 5K if you buy it new. Is there another way to ensure you can still run your vehicles and a generator for less money should our energy systems fail us all?

[Irving]

I was just commenting on the dichotomy of your statement. I don't think there is anything wrong with wood gas generators. I've heard of people putting one on a trailer and using it to power the vehicle pulling it during the Great Depression.

[mangyhyena]

You might consider a Stirling engine for creating power. DEKA has one but I don't know if it's available yet: http://www.dekaresearch.com/stirling.shtml They convert any heat into rotational energy using a closed-loop internal expansion system. They need a hot source and a cool source to work efficiently... if you had a wood powered fireplace for heat/light, the exhaust gas just up the chimney could power a Stirling engine. Kamens is designed to be used in the 3rd world, powered by cow paddies, and used to power the Slingshot, http://www.dekaresearch.com/water.shtml which will turn any water into pure drinking water efficiently.

You could also capture surplus power and convert it to hydrogen through the relatively simple process of electrolysis, and store it for later use either to be burned or fed into a fuel cell. The fuel cell is expensive, but has the benefit of producing pure H2O as a byproduct. Storing hydrogen requires a double walled tank with water in the outer layer, as it likes to sneak through even the smallest of cracks in a weld. Turbines, internal combustion, and even open (invisible) flame can also harness hydrogen.

H.

Hoosier, thanks for the info. I had never heard of DEKA before. That Stirling looks promising. Hope they wind up manufacturing it in the future. I'll keep an eye on them in case they do manage to pull it off.

I looked into hydrogen several years ago. There were a lot of warnings about storing home made hydrogen in pressurized tanks as the tanks would explode if the hydrogen was not pure enough. I hadn't heard of storing it in a double walled tank with water in the outer layer.

[mangyhyena]

I was just commenting on the dichotomy of your statement. I don't think there is anything wrong with wood gas generators. I've heard of people putting one on a trailer and using it to power the vehicle pulling it during the Great Depression.

Ah, I see where you're coming from. It does seem to contradict what I was talking about. I meant we should be looking for ways to keep our current technology up and running if things go South. Here in Colorado, solar and wind can accomplish much of that, when it comes to powering a home. I'm still interested in running my vehicle and a generator for high use appliances as well. A more hands on approach might be necessary to produce fuel for internal combustion engines. It would be great if solar and wind could be made to fuel an engine, but hydrogen is the only way I know of to accomplish that and at this point, pressurizing hydrogen in tanks to run vehicles seems too dangerous. But I heard they have tanks that use metal shavings to store the hydrogen and those tanks don't explode, so perhaps we'll have a way to produce and store hydrogen at the home level yet.