PV Gap

Katie Said:

I have a few questions about wind power?

We Answered:

Hey Piper, Kristen is quite right on the numbers. We power our entire home with wind and solar power, and we have made plenty of mistakes. If you want to run everything, you will need a herculean sized wind plant, maybe something on the order of 10 kilowatts or more. Ours is a 1kw, but the solar does most of the work here, even though it is more expensive. The question you have to answer first is am I trying to save money, or do I want to get rid of the power company entirely. To cut down your energy bill, I would suggest a wind turbine direct to grid tie system. The wind plant produces whatever power it can and dumps it in your home, if it's more than you need, it sends the rest out the grid line, and your meter spins backwards. Problem is, if the grid goes down, your wind plant shuts down too, it has to have someplace to go all the time. If you want your own source, you have to have battery storage, and a larger plant, then you are spending more money up front for equipment, but if the power goes out, you probably won't be aware of it. We have the latter system, and twice last year it provided us with power when the entire county was without, hard to put a price tag on that.

My suggestion is you do some reading for a while, start with Home Power Magazine, then check out the library. Our home was actually featured in Home Power twice in the past, use their search engine and look for, "small system first." You might decide not to get involved, and that's fine too, but at least you will be well informed. Take care, Rudydoo

Carmen Said:

I need a simple explanation of electricity?

We Answered:

Ohm's law. Look it up.

Thomas Said:

Will Solar and Wind Power the Country?

We Answered:

Solar Photovoltaic panels are very expensive for the amount of electricity that they produce.

the cost of electricity produced by solar photovoltaic panels is approximately ten times the cost of producing electricity with fossil fuels.

Also you cannot produce electricity at night.

Wind power tends to be unreliable. the wind does not always blow when you need it.

The only reliable, and affordable source of electricity that does not produce carbon dioxide is nuclear power.

the cost to produce electricity by the use of nuclear power is approximately equal to the cost of producing electricity by the use of fossil fuel.

Shannon Said:

I Need A Emergency Power Supply For House For 16 KW ,Anyone Have Any Inexpensive Ideas?

We Answered:

Man this will take long to explain. Just stock up on fire wood and candles, it is cheap and no hassle at all