Wind Power, Etc.

The battery and inverter requirements for wind power are exactly the same as for solar, so I will not bother going into that here. For power production, wind is a lot like the sun; wherever you live you will have some and wherever you live it will probably not be enough to completely run your home. The only exception to this may be solar power in the southwest U.S. I like wind power as a backup power system because a person can build various types of windmills and save the cost of purchasing one. You can purchase a 300 watt unit for just over $500 and the prices go up from there. To get a real good idea of prices, just go to some of the wind power sites on the internet and you will see what they sell for. This is also true of solar power, there are many of both on the internet. Later I will be giving some instructions on building a wind power unit yourself. It is a simple unit and many people do not see it as a viable wind unit. While it does not produce a lot of power, I feel it can be an integral part of your overall backup system. Looking at some other methods: water is not an option for most of us. First you need to be on a stream of running water. You then need to build a dam and build or buy a water wheel and turbine. As these are not popular, they can be hard to locate and expensive. I have no esperience with water power, so I will have to leave you to do your own research. Back in 1980 a man by the name of Jim Cullen published a book titled; "How To Be Your Own Power Company." It deals with an automobile being your main source of power. By adding an extra battery or two to your vehicle and keeping them charged in your daily driving, this would be your power source. I have used several ideas from that book when I had a cabin, but find it inconvenient to try to run an entire house with this system. By adding a marine battery or two to your car and a switching system to keep all charged and not bleeding the charge from one to the other, you could get a little extra power. This could be done for around $100 so it might pay. When I had my cabin, it was in a remote location so I had everything 12v. This eliminates the need for an inverter. Inverters rob a portion of the power you generate. You can get just about anything you want in 12v now. In your home today you might even want to incorporate some 12v appliances so that you save on your present electric bill. When you get into a complete backup system I find that a combination of things work best. Cooking and heating can be handled with wood, LP or kerosene. Water can be heated by solar or wood and almost everything else can be handled by 12v batteries. Coming up I will get into a little more of the tecnology of a complete backup system.