Alternative Energy projects

[3930dave]

Many mass markets are driven to the size they are by high energy-density batteries..... people carry the modern personal electronics they do, largely due to lithium batteries.

While I do recognize the above reality, there are people (me for one) that are willing to make use of existing basic FLA or AGM batteries, today, in grid re/displacement systems.

While they may not make sense in a tiny condo, or other severely constrained spaces, I find the battery boxes in the link below, and in the Vancouver Island house at 4:00 minutes in the vid in post #1, deliver appropriate performance today.

tobaccovilleweather.com Whole House UPS

"Appropriate" performance is subjective - admittedly, my expectations differ from many consumers..... I don't expect to run a clothes dryer, or a 3 ton+ AC unit off these systems.

As daytime electricity rates continue to skyrocket in jurisdictions like where I reside, I predict that large scale UPS systems like the tobaccoville one above will become more common in residential use.

Rgds, D.

 

[buickanddeere]

I'm thinking something of that nature as well to trim daytime peak load demand with the summer AC and pool pump.
The electric water heater is on a timer to bulk heat the tank during the lowest rates.
The local utility would connect a 600V three phase 200 amp , 200Kw service to the shop without question . They claim however that a 10KW net metering system is not possible as it would overload the distribution system .

 

[buickanddeere]

I'm thinking something of that nature as well to trim daytime peak load demand with the summer AC and pool pump.
The electric water heater is on a timer to bulk heat the tank during the lowest rates.
The local utility would connect a 600V three phase 200 amp , 200Kw service to the shop without question . They claim however that a 10KW net metering system is not possible as it would overload the distribution system .

 

[3930dave]

The local utility would connect a 600V three phase 200 amp , 200Kw service to the shop without question . They claim however that a 10KW net metering system is not possible as it would overload the distribution system .

LOL ! Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

I'm thinking something of that nature as well to trim daytime peak load demand with the summer AC and pool pump.

I've started with baby steps..... wanted something portable, so threw together a 1kw Xantrex inverter and a light-truck sized AGM battery, mounted on a handtruck - real useful for camping and other outdoor activities. Daytime, at the house, it's used to run our goto computers - a bit of load shift accomplished, and a nice backup in general for light loads. In a pinch, it will run a 700w one cup coffee machine.

I define a major catastrophe as No Coffee Available

I poked around a bit the other night to see if I could still find the link...... one of the best home systems I've seen was set up as a personal system a few years ago by a telecomm engineer, as a whole-house UPS. If I find the link, I'll post it here, as the system was very well done.

Similar to that design, access to large-scale industrial batteries was the foundation of another system built by an olde-tymer I talked to about 15 years ago. In his case, he found a great deal at a local industrial battery distributor - the batteries that came in were slightly out of a utility's spec - nothing that really affected their final residential use, so this olde-tymer snapped them up at a fraction of cost.

Last I talked to him, he was just using a small Honda air-cooled engine belted up to a truck alternator to charge his battery bank - as his loads where modest, he didn't have to charge very often. He heated with wood, no AC, and had little/no cooking loads on electric - not a lifestyle many people would volunteer for today. He lived in the middle of the area that got hit badly in the Ice Storm of '98 - he said the look on military guy's face that came to his door one night was priceless - he was surprised to find a house in the middle of nowhere with no generator going, but with light/heat/ and movies running !

You only miss the grid, if you rely on it in the first place....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Figures..... that a bunch of Scots would pull this off !

BBC - Future - The small Scottish isle leading the world in electricity

Rgds, D.

 

[FatTire]

Glad to see some people on TBN interested in alternative energy. I guess it would be fair to say it is a way of life for us.

We live about 5 miles beyond the end of the power lines and live off-grid at 9000 ft elevation in the foothills of Colorado's San Juan Mountains. We have a 2KW PV array for our home and a 1.2 KW system for our shop. In our home's crawl space we have 16 lead-acid batteries (size = L16, wired for 48VDC to the inverter). We are just ending our 4th winter with this setup and have not run a generator during that time for our household needs. (!!!)
An important factor that enables us to do that is we live in an area with exceptional sun, we get at least 2 or 3 hours of full sun more than 320 days per year. We have a very efficient electric fridge (German), small microwave, and modern front loading washer. We do not have a clothes dryer or a dishwasher but we have a small chest freezer (AC). My wife and I are both very conscious of our electric use and are comfortable cutting way back on our discretionary consumption during storm cycles. Very thankful to my wife for choosing to live this way. She says there is nothing she misses about living on the grid.

Our home is mostly timber-frame with straw-bale insulation (small 2nd story is spray-foam). Primary heat is passive solar and wood. So far this winter we've burned 2 1/4 cords. (April is a high heating month, it is still cool and the sun angle is no longer favorable, so we will likely burn another 1/2 cord or more this month). We have a 500 gallon propane tank for hot water, cooking, and back-up space heating. We use about 200 to 225 gallons of propane per year and have the tank filled every-other summer. We catch rainwater for our water and store it in a 6,000 gallon cistern, so the PV system has to power a pump in the cistern but it is a small head, less than 20 feet from the bottom of the cistern to a shower head. In 2008 we were able to get a permit from the state's Department of Natural Resources to catch this much rainwater. Without the permit it would be illegal in Colorado.

In our shop we have 8 batteries, and a 4kW inverter I occasionally run a generator out there, block heaters is the main reason. The need to fire up equipment coincides with stormy weather, nothing I can do about that, but I try to keep whatever equipment I'll be using the next day parked indoors whenever I have space.

So that's a glimpse of how we live here!

 

[FatTire]

I forgot to mention Internet. The internet has become a big expense for us, much more than propane. We are using Exede satellite for internet, at $150 a month. That is in addition to the Verizon bill for cell phones and whatever data we use on our phones.

 

[3930dave]

Excellent post FatTire. I appreciate hearing real-world data; your homestead is very well tuned - definitely HomePower worthy, if you haven't been profiled by them yet.

What I did find startling was that you need a permit for your cistern ! I thought it was just us Canucks that were routinely over-taxed - they do understand that the water goes back into the ground when you are done with it ? Not like you are beaming it into outer space....

Great example of living successfully off-grid !

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

I forgot to mention Internet. The internet has become a big expense for us, much more than propane. We are using Exede satellite for internet, at $150 a month. That is in addition to the Verizon bill for cell phones and whatever data we use on our phones.

At 9000 feet, if you are spending more on Comms than heat, you are doing something right :drink:

People whine about batteries, but mostly existing technology just takes space, sounds like you are doing fine with your FLA matrix.

Things do change though....

Lithium-Ion Battery Inventor Introduces New Technology for Fast-Charging, Noncombustible Batteries | UT News | The University of Texas at Austin

Tick, tock...

Rgds, D.