PV Gap

Joanne Said:

Make electricity with steam at home?

We Answered:

The killer here is efficiency. The efficiency of a steam turbine is only on the order of 30%. The equipment is pretty expensive too unless you go with some kind of home brew set up which can be dangerous. You would need to burn a lot of wood to make any serious amount of power. It would probably be cheaper to buy from the grid.

Walter Said:

Does hooking up to your power grid, using renewable electrical sources, cost money?

We Answered:

When you hook a system up to the "grid" you need to get a permit from the city. You will need to submit plans and get them approved. The cost will depend be determined by your city or county.

It is also up to the utility to allow items to be hooked up to the power companies equipment.

I had a solar system installed and the permits were only a few hundred dollars, the solar contractor had to submit plans for apporval and we had to have an inspection before we could start the system.