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Unfolding Nature Shop: Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order

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Off the Grid Electricity Living
    #3992779 -

Does anybody have any knowledge of this topic? I was looking into it and I haven't been terribly satisfied with what I have found. When I say "Off the Grid Living", I don't mean having a paltry amount of electricity only a few hours a day or some shit. I am talking about having electricity 24/7 for a normal sized house with modern appliances (maybe being able to support 10 kilowatts max or something like that).

Here is a breakdown of some of the various things I was looking at:

Generators (Diesel and Gas):
----------------------------
Pros:
-They actually can produce that much power (10 kilowatts continuously)

Cons:
-Loudness. (who wants to listen to a motor going all day and night?)
-They would require constant refueling. It would be so annoying to have to go into town and buy a huge tank of diesel every day.
-They seem to have limited lives. I see constantly on the ads that so and so model only lasts about 2,000 hours or so. What is the point of buying some expensive generator if it wears every three months?

Solar and Wind:
---------------
Pros:
-Environmentally friendly.

Cons:
-They are dependent upon certain weather.
-They can't produce enough power for a modern house with 24/7 electricity.

Does anybody have any ideas for a super reliable, easy to maintain, non-labor intensive, worry free, and very high producing off the grid energy source? Price isn't a consideration. Even if it is expensive as hell, go ahead and tell me about it.

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Re: Off the Grid Electricity Living [Re: RandalFlagg]
    #3992834 -

hydro could power one house pretty cost effieciently too if you had the skills to get all the parts and put it all together, given you live on a stream, having it on a slope would help since you wouldnt need as much volume

heres a page with some basic nfo
http://www.solareco.com/articles/article.cfm/id/34

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Re: Off the Grid Electricity Living [Re: RandalFlagg]
    #3995449 -

"Today, our handheld devices are powered by batteries, which are heavy and inconvenient. Fuel cells are just arriving on the market as a replacement. But there is a new contender: micro gas turbine engines under development at the MIT. Engineers there shrunk jet engines to the size of a coat button. And their blades which span an area smaller than a dime can spin a million times per minute and produce enough electricity to power your PDA or your cell phone. While there are still a few hurdles to overcome, these micro turbine engines should be operational in two or three years, with commercial products available four years from now. These micro jet engines also have the potential to free soldiers or travelers from carrying heavy batteries. The engineers even think their engines on a chip could be used in poor countries to bring electricity there. This summary gives you the essential details about a technology which promises to free us to carry extra fuel instead of batteries."

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/19/1820247

these are what i'm waiting on. i think they were saying that they would put out something like 100 watts, so all you'd need is a small cluster of them to power a house or just about anything else you want.

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Re: Off the Grid Electricity Living [Re: kaleras]
    #3995793 -

General Electric has a badass turbine power generator.
GE Energy's most advanced gas turbine combined-cycle technology, the H System?, has surpassed 8,000 hours of commercial service at the Baglan Bay Power Station in South Wales. This is the equivalent of one full year of operation.
GE's H System product is the first gas turbine combined-cycle platform designed with the capability to reach 60% thermal efficiency. An innovative, closed-loop steam cooling system and advanced coating materials are key factors in the technology's ability to achieve the higher firing temperatures required for its increased efficiency. Higher efficiency also translates into improved environmental performance. For every unit of electricity produced, the H System uses less fuel and produces fewer greenhouse gases and other emissions when compared to other large gas turbine combined-cycle systems.

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Re: Off the Grid Electricity Living [Re: RandalFlagg]
    #3996211 -

You can make wind and water generators out of car alternators fairly easily. Then store the power in battery cells.

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Re: Off the Grid Electricity Living [Re: RandalFlagg]
    #3998913 -

If you live on a rise with a stream, I would take a look at a small turbine for the stream. You can get 5-10 kW out of a good turbine with 50-100 feet of rise on the stream.


--------------------
Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free.
But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.

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Re: Off the Grid Electricity Living [Re: trendal]
    #3998923 -

solar power would be the way to go...cost a little bit for initial set up but will save you tons in the end.There's also a way to use the magnetic frequencies generated from substations to generate currents through induction(kinda like how a transformer works.Its like free energy no ones using that's bleeding off these things all the time.If you try to utilize it however and TECO(or your local power station finds out you've attempted this,they will press charges,lol).Solar or wind power will be your best ways to go.Soon as i get the chance,I want to build a small grid.I ve bypassed meters before too(you can jump around em if ya know how) to save on power costs.
I'm not encouraging you to work on building your own power grid though.Electricity is no joke.When powering a house your working with something that can seriously fuck you up and/or kill or fry your ass.Electrical cooking at high amperage/low voltage I ve heard is a painful process.I'm an electrician,so i kinda know what I'm doing=)Make sure your hire a qualified electrician(union if possible=) I used to belong to local 915)

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Re: Off the Grid Electricity Living [Re: Electric305]
    #3999052 -

To add to my last post,solar and wind aren't really that dependent on the weather because at the wind is all ways blowing and the sun is all ways putting out light even with cloud cover(unless its totally dark).At the altitudes you would place a electrical generating windmill at,the wind is pretty much all ways blowing.Sure its not as much power as a diesel engine generator turns out,but its not cost effective enough to run a large diesel generator without selling power back to your local power company(which can also be done).If you generate too much power,there obliged to "buy"it back from you by law.Propane or methane is cheaper than diesel and will power a house.I doubt you would wanna pay the bills for the cost of building this machine(which is gonna be massive) or the bills to support its fueling costs...I'm telling ya,wind,solar,geothermal or nuclear(if you have the capabilities) is the way to go.If you want to ask anything else,PM me or just hit me up here,as I'm pretty knowledgeable on the subject having worked on many power plants and sub stations

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Re: Off the Grid Electricity Living [Re: Electric305]
    #3999404 -

If you are serious about solar panels, dont get the old kind that break. Those are old tech. Get the flexible solar panels. Use them as shingling.

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Re: Off the Grid Electricity Living [Re: RandalFlagg]
    #4001534 -

Google:

"Solar trough"
solar "stirling engine"
Thermal mass


What do you need electricity for anyway?

You can heat and cool your house without electricity, as well as light your house, cook your food, all kinds of stuff.

All youreally need electricity for is TV, computer, and stereo.

You lose alot of energy any time you turn one form of energy into a higher order of energy. Heat is the lowest order, potential is one of the higher ones, so is electricity. It seems silly to use heat to generate electricity just so you can later convert it back into heat.

We waste literally tons of energy by using higher order energy to do things than the task really requires.


--------------------
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-renee-goods-wife-and-son

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Re: Off the Grid Electricity Living [Re: RandalFlagg]
    #4005408 -

Lil off topic but why in hell do you have a smackhead bootin up in your sig? :thumbdown:

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Re: Off the Grid Electricity Living [Re: kronnyQ]
    #4007194 -

kronnyQ said:
Lil off topic but why in hell do you have a smackhead bootin up in your sig? :thumbdown:


I thought it would be funny.

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Re: Off the Grid Electricity Living [Re: RandalFlagg]
    #4015695 -

funny indeed. this guy just doesn't know how to take a good joke.


--------------------
:feelsgoodman::dancingshroom::dancingshroom::dancingshroom::ahahaha::dancingshroom::dancingshroom::dancingshroom::feelsgoodman:

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Re: Off the Grid Electricity Living [Re: fung_us_among_us]
    #4019339 -

Depends where you live for the Solar Power..

Unless you are willing to spend lots and lots of money.

-- OJ

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Unfolding Nature Shop: Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order

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