Nuclear myths and truths

[Marianne]

@Marianne That's a crazy amount to spend for very little return. And, that's why more people are not doing it. The very people who stand to benefit the most (the ones who struggle to pay those utility bills) are the ones who the technology is not available to.... unless they possess the DIY drive and skill to make it happen without paying for the convenience of having someone else build it.

That's right. That's why I've always liked passive solar, especially scrap heap passive solar. Some areas have a rebate program if you use a solar option along with the electrical grid. They install panels on your roof that you basically rent, but your power bill is so much lower, you end up paying less than the standard electrical bill.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

If the panels are positioned on a typical single story roof, Why couldn't they be cleaned with high pressure water from standard hose, and a tool similar to a roof rake, but with soft material instead of the "rake"? Panels also can be put at ground level. Bruce who is on BYC and @Beekissed Front Porch Swing forums has ground level mounted solar panels. He's in VT and is averaging good power output in spite of rainy and snowy days.

Sounds like cleaning panels would be a good job for a local specialty business. I'd much rather see my money going to provide income for a local business than seeing my money going to pay high utility bills that are largely supported by the nuclear industry.

 

[CrealCritter]

The most important thing people can do is start looking at how much electricity they use, and where they can cut. For instance, most people feel like they MUST have air conditioning in the summer; and yet, humans did without that for most of our time on earth

You nailed it! I reduced my electric bill significantly by doing one simple thing. I replaced all those oboma era CFL light bulbs with LED bulbs. If you don't do this then your missing out on savings. Especially since you can buy them cheap at dollar tree, for yes you guessed it $1.00 per bulb.

https://www.dollartree.com/warm-white-8-watt-medium-base-led-lightbulbs/244270

 

[Marianne]

Reducing your electrical usage is step #1, for sure. Even for those who don't believe in any of the other things. Just saying...

 

[Lazy Gardener]

In Wyoming, we had neighbors who were living in their dream home - off-grid.
The homeowner was an electrical engineer and worked with a solar company that was just starting up. He went with them because he was getting a super deal on the battery bank. A couple of years later, the company was gone - turns out the installer wasn't charging enough for the batteries and went bankrupt.

Anyway, they installed both solar panels and wind turbine. In Wyoming, that should have covered all their electrical needs. Usually, it did. She had to check the battery levels before vacuuming, but it worked for them. Until we had a 2 1/2 week period of cloudy, snowing and no wind. They had wood stoves in the house for heat, so she knew she wouldn't freeze but the battery bank went down below 15%. No TV, No water wasting (shower/bath was too much, melted snow for fluching), no laundry - basically don't use the electric at all if possible as they needed it to keep the refrigerator running. All this time, he was working out of state and she was at the house alone.

A simple generator would be a good back up plan. Here, in Maine, it's almost a necessity to have a generator. We've lost our power for up to 13 days before! And it's not at all uncommon for us to loose power for any where from 8 hours to 3 days at a time. A generator would provide back up for the situation that you describe: weather conditions making it impossible to keep battery banks charged.

 

[Marianne]

A simple generator would be a good back up plan. Here, in Maine, it's almost a necessity to have a generator. We've lost our power for up to 13 days before! And it's not at all uncommon for us to loose power for any where from 8 hours to 3 days at a time. A generator would provide back up for the situation that you describe: weather conditions making it impossible to keep battery banks charged.

The generator would certainly help.
When we had no power after that storm, no one could get gasoline around here, either. Everyone was driving 30 miles to buy it in another town. My husband wanted one for 10 years, but I always spoke out against it. I was willing to change my standard of living for those days when we had no power.
Now, air conditioning? egads... It was 100 the other day and it does not cool down at night. I have COPD, high heat and cold are not friends for my lungs. I'd be back at my daughter's. I wish we had an earth berm house.

 

[Marianne]

Yes! Years ago when our a/c went kaput, I put damp towels over a couple box fans and that helped cool the room. My husband hated it, complained that it was humid. Well, yeah...but it's a cooler humid. It made it tolerable until the a/c guy could get here.

 

[CrealCritter]

Also I wanted to mention... I had a friend in North Carolina who heated his wood shop with an array of soda/beer can heaters. It did a good job too. General idea is here --->
https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Soda-Can-Heater/

He also used the same basic design but with large diameter copper pipe painted flat black to supplement hot water to his hot water heater for his house.

Truth is there are lots we could do to help reduce our dependency on the grid but I guess it's just to convenient to flip a switch and pay the monthly bills.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

We can heat our house with 3.5 cords of wood. We buy cut and split, then have to split it again b/c the fire box of our stove is so small. We also have an oil forced hot air furnace, and put a pellet stove in the basement for those long spells of below 0*F when we don't want to burn oil.

 

[Hinotori]

We use wood heat. It takes us 2 cords or less for a season of fir and cedar. It's a small house and is well insulated. Plus we keep is somewhere around 60° on average. We like it cool.

The wood comes from a landscaping company. It's a byproduct for them so the price isn't bad.

I use pieces that are 3-8 inches across. Found that works best in our firebox. Lets me load exactly how much I want. Then I just usually need to light it once a day.

Ive been cutting and tying the smaller tree branches when I've been pruning. Those work really well when first starting the fire.