subject: How To Live Off Grid [print this page] How To Live Off Grid How To Live Off Grid
As energy costs continue to increase, off grid living becomes appealing to more and more people. Unplugging from the electric grid and producing all of your own power is now very possible. If you size the system appropriately, you can use solar panels or wind turbines to produce all of your own power. You can take at least your first step towards off grid living by producing some of your own power.
Let's start by talking about solar power. Solar panels are a great option for supplying power to many homes and can work in all parts of the world, even in remote areas or places with a harsh environment. Some hardware and plenty of sun are the only requirements. A solar power system can be as small or big as you want and can also be made portable if you are mobile. Solar panels are tough, require very little maintenance and can last up to 20 years if properly cared for.
A basic system includes some number of solar panels which are wired together. In the northern hemisphere, solar panels should be pointed directly south for maximum power output. With older solar panels, it was more important that they point directly at the sun and many solar power systems used motors to rotate the panels so they always pointed directly at the sun, however with more modern panels this is less important.With more modern solar panels, it is less important that they point directly at the sun, but older solar power systems often had motors to rotate the panels as the sun moved across the sky. With modern solar panels, as long as they are pointed due south and at the proper vertical angle, stationary panels will work almost as well as ones driven by motors. ?
Direct Current (DC) electricity is produced by solar cells and can be used to charge batteries to power any DC appliance. Electricity can be provided at night or when the sun isn't shining by charging batteries during the day.
In order to provide power to standard AC appliances, you will need to use a power inverter. A power inverter can be used to do the DC to AC conversion on power coming from either the solar panels or from batteries.
A wind turbine can also be used to generate the power that will enable you to begin living off grid. Modern wind turbines are fairly small and very efficient and can be mounted on a tower, a pole or in some cases even the roof of your house. Wind turbine can generate power at night, which is an advantage over solar panels. A wind turbine can generate power as long as the wind is blowing. ?
You can install both a wind turbine and solar panels together. This can give the best of both worlds and the same batteries and power inverter can be used with both. If it is overcast and windy the wind turbine can generate power and if is it a sunny, calm day the solar panels will provide power.
Using either or both of these systems can provide enough electricity to enable you to pull the plug and start living off grid. It can be your first step towards fulfilling your dream of living completely off grid.
