Self-reliance, alternative energy, and you.

[Anonymous No.5735459]

Hey, /sci/. /k/ here. I was wondering, if I were to buy a large amount of land out in say, Montana, for example, likely up in the mountains, and I wanted to make it self sufficient, power-wise, I'd like to know what I'd need to do. Could a single wind turbine power the average American home? If it helps, I would ideally have solar panels too. I tried googling this, but none of the results I find give me a time frame for power output. I am well aware that this would be a great expense, and that's not currently what I'm worried about. Thanks.

tl;dr How many windturbines/solarpanels would I need to become completely self-reliant for energy?

[Anonymous No.5735479]

Neither wind turbines nor solar panels have a fixed output, you'd need an assessment of the area to answer your questions.

To be quite honest if you're looking in the mountains you'd be better off finding a small creek or river and using a miniature hydro set up probably.

[Anonymous No.5735487]

>>5735479
I see. If the turbines and panels are producing more power than I'm using, is there any way to store the excess power that they create? Sorry if for some reason this goes against a basic understanding of electricity.

[Anonymous No.5735493]

>>5735487
Batteries. Most people use dozens of car batteries.

[Anonymous No.5735501]

>>5735487
>If the turbines and panels are producing more power than I'm using, is there any way to store the excess power that they create?

Sure, lots of ways. They're all generally very inefficient, though.

Most straightforward way would just be to charge batteries. But you'd need a lot of them and they only last a few years.

[Anonymous No.5735503]

If you want a grid-like energy supply you'll need (rechargable) batteries. Wind stops blowing, sun stops shining, your TV wants to keep running.
Problem is that no battery lasts forever, so you can't be independent for eternity. Going to have to ship in fresh batteries occasionally. I don't really know the lifespan of batteries though.

Hydro power should be a more reliable source, assuming you have a constantly flowing river or creek. But that is quite a big assumption.

[Anonymous No.5735537]

>>5735501
>>5735493
>>5735503
What if I were to have a propane or diesel generator? Would that be sufficient as a backup during brownouts? How much fuel would I need to run it for let's say, a week, in case of like, total power failure?

[Anonymous No.5735553]

>>5735537

Too many variables to give you an answer. Like, how much power will you be using?

[Anonymous No.5735573]

>>5735553
Well, in a situation where I had to switch to secondary power, I'd likely try to minimize power consumption, but I'd say ideally enough to run heating/air, lights, a range of kitchen appliances, internet/other personal appliances, etc.

[Anonymous No.5735575]

>>5735573
Oh, I forgot, let's say this is all for a home that's about 3500 square feet. That's a pretty average size, right?

[Anonymous No.5735604]

First and foremost you'd need to invent a house that is as efficient as possible in terms of loss of energy. It's very easy to create energy and use it if you're not wasting it. This means modern insulation, and airflow (or lack thereof), things like that.

Prepare to do a lot of work on your own. You'll need at least a pickup truck. Prepare to be many miles from the closest grocery store. And possibly hours from the closest hardware store (which you will be frequenting a lot).

I'd say cover your roof and a portion of your land in solar panels, and have maybe 1-5 small wind turbines strategically placed to capture the most wind. Keep in mind that if you are not in a high-wind area, this won't do you any good.
You should also have a diesel engine generator for when the sky goes black and the winds cease in the coming reckoning.

Harness the resources most available to you in your immediate environment. Harness the power of bears and mountain lions, and you'll be set.

[Anonymous No.5735648]

>>5735604
How do I harness the bears and mountain lions? Do I train them to patrol the land? Do I have them run on giant hamster wheels or what? How do you even domesticate a bear?

[Anonymous No.5735661]

>>5735648

black bears aren't much different that very large dogs. They love honey.

[Pedro !!h6N23eWX4gY No.5735699]

You'll probably be better off on /diy/, here on /sci/ people are scientists, on /diy/ people are engineers.

[Nuka-Cola; Alpha Apple No.5736959]

how to not pay power or water bills, or pay for gasoline ever again

1) buy about 15kw of solar panels off ebay. at the current price of 70 cents a peak watt including the grid tie, that's like $10,500. this will basically cut your power bill down to nothing (you still need the grid tie for baseload). and you'll also need a battery bank big enough to last you through the night. probably another $3k

2) get a parabolic solar water heater, both for water distillation (for purifying water) and also to heat A/C collant for your air conditioner/heater. using this you can capture rainwater and continuously recycle it with distillation and a small reservoir tank. The piping hot water could also potentially sterilize your waste water and break it down into compost. This can get somewhat complex though, what with filters that need to be cleaned. Also consider drilling a well.

3) buy an electric car. get a small trailer and a gasoline electric generator as well. Around town just use the batteries, and hook up the generator for long trips. charge your car off the solar panels when you're not driving

4) get a satellite or 4g internet connection. it's not cheap, but you have nothing else to really spend on aside from food, so fuck it

you could go even crazier and build your own greenhouse, but that's another hurdle and a half

tl;dr SOLAR ROCKS FOR OFF-GRID LIVING but is garbage for generating baseload.

[Nuka-Cola; Alpha Apple No.5736962]

>>5736959
oh, almost forgot. look into flywheel energy storage, either replacing or in addition to batteries. there's a company making a one ton flywheel in a vaccuum with magnetic bearings that can supposedly release a continuous 15kW for over 8 hours (through the night, max load), and has a 2% idle energy loss to friction or whatever. it blows batteries the fuck out of the water.
i think the company wants to have a commercial model on the market by late 2014 or something?

[Anonymous No.5736998]

>>5736959

$13,500 is like paying $112/mo for 10 years.

I'll stay on the grid, tyvm.

[Nuka-Cola; Alpha Apple No.5737018]

>>5736998
again, this pays for your electric bills AND the gas in your tank, since you're no longer paying for gasoline. factor that into the pays-for-itself value

[Anonymous No.5737893]

If you're out in the boonies, then a water supply must always be arranged. So why not use the water supply (at the cost of doubling its storage cost) as your battery? Use your wind turbines to pump the stored water into a high tank, and then let it flow to a lower (but still high with respect to the users) tank through a water turbine.

[Anonymous No.5737905]

>>5737018
then you have to factor in the price of a new car.