admin answers:

I think you are looking for deep cycle batteries, the same kind that are used with solar collectors.

Try some of these sites…

Edit – to answer the question “Why not car batteries?” … The difference between a deep-cycle and car battery is that deep-cycle batteries contain solid lead and withstand “deep-cycling” (losing up to 80% charge) better than automotive batteries, which have a different construction. Car batteries are designed to give you more “starting” power and stay up above 50% charge. Deep-cycling a car battery can result in a quicker breakdown of the core, thus increasing cost in the long-run.

admin answers:

Call your electric company; the folk you would have had to call anyway to get connected & let them know that you would like a reverse meter so that they can measure how much energy that you are back feeding. There is specific wiring for this that has to be approved through your county anyway & it is a safety feature for people working on the lines after a storm so you don’t inadvertantly electrocute a lineman who is trying to restore power around you. They will no doubt have the answers that you need or can advise you on where to look for the insurance. The way that you do a million dollar insurance policy is called an UMBRELLA POLICY on the homeowner’s. That isn’t hard. It is a property insurance that goes above what the homeowner’s insurance carries. The UMBRELLA coverage is a catastrophic event coverage that is called secondary insurance. It isn’t even very expensive as it covers after everything else has been exhausted first. Go to yahoo & google Umbrella insurance & then if that doesn’t work, look at commercial insurance companies in your area. I know that CNA which is a HUGE insurance company, they write in Texas & may be able to write your friend the policy that he needs. I hope this helps. I used to do underwriting assistance for them & I helped insure folk in Texas in particular.

admin answers:

Thomas Boone Pickens, Jr. (born May 22, 1928), known as T. Boone Pickens, is an American financier who chairs the hedge fund BP Capital Management and he attempted to promote the use of wind energy. He was a well-known takeover operator and corporate raider during the 1980s. With an estimated current net worth of about $1.4 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 290th-richest person in America and ranked 880th in the world.

Louis Burton Lindley, Jr. (June 29, 1919 – December 8, 1983), better known by the stage name Slim Pickens, was an American rodeo performer and film and television actor who epitomized the profane, tough, sardonic cowboy, but who is best remembered for his comic roles, notably in Dr. Strangelove, 1941 and Blazing Saddles. He attempted to promote the use of wind energy as well.

admin answers:

Hey Philip, Billruss is right, but let me explain further. Your question is, “Are there efficiency standards…” There is no efficiency requirements, or standards for these devices, just safety requirements. Most utility companies for example, require that your grid connected inverter disconnect from the grid if the grid voltage or frequency goes outside of predetermined limits within one second. The Underwriters Labaratories does tests such as this, and others to make sure a stand alone inverter does not continue to power a small patch of homes if the section becomes disconnected from the rest of the grid for any reason. This situation, called islanding, can be deadly to lineman working on a downed wire when they assume the end going to the homes is not powered. There are other requirements, fire suppression, overload protection and so on, but as far as the government is concerned, if your inverter takes 1000 watts of solar power to dump 10 watts of useable power onto the grid, that’s your problem.

Most inverters operate in a range of efficiency, between 40 and 90 % for example. They generally run at best efficiency when running around 80 % power, and less efficiently at higher or lower power outputs. Manufacturers love to quote their “peak efficiency,” but don’t often mention how much power they use when all they are running is a night light. Take care Philip, Rudydoo

admin answers:

What you see outside is essentially a wind powered battery charger. The batteries inside power an inverter which will supply 120VAC to selected circuits in the house.
I’m putting together something similar which may help you understand what is being done. Read through my web page for wiring diagrams, charge controller, tower drawings, pictures, etc.
Http://members.rennlist.org/warren/wind.html

admin answers:

Hi Nour K.
The easiest way to find the information is to go to the links below.
The Build It Solar website has listing and multiple links on wind power home projects.
When you get there, there is a directory at the left side of the page.
Wind power Basics
Four others,
And Sampling of wind power turbine suppliers.

Scroll down the page, there is a link to www.eere.energy.gov ,,,

And a hole lot more there.
Http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Wind/wind.htm#DIYWind

The Eco-Friendly Power website has five products from 2 kilowatt to 20 kilowatt.
Just click on any one of the pictures for more information.
Http://www.redriven.net/products.html

For example, this the 5Kw package
http://www.redriven.net/products_5kw.html

Edit , I came back and added more.
It comes with:

•FD6.4-5000 including generator, blades, flange
•5 Kw ReDriven On-Grid Controller
•1 PVI-6000 Inverter
MSRP: $14,825.40* USD

These are the specifications for the 5Kw

Rated Power: 5000W

Rated Voltage: 240v 60hz

Start up wind speed: 2 m/s (4.4mph)

Rated Wind speed: 10m/s (22.35)

Blade material: Fiber Glass

5,000 watts at 240 Vac is 20 amps
or 40 amps at 120 volts

Here are videos of the 10Kw unit:
http://www.redriven.net/media.html

Here is a search for [home wind turbine cost]
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=home+wind+turbine+cost&rlz=1R2GGLP_enUS353&aq=4&oq=home+wind+turbine&aqi=g10

From there to here:
What do I need to know to purchase a residential wind turbine? Jump to How much does a wind system cost?‎: A small turbine can cost anywhere from $6000 to $22000 installed, depending upon size, …
Http://www.awea.org/faq/rsdntqa.html

This a demonstration video describing how a wing generator works:
http://www.skystreamenergy.com/how-it-works/skystreaminmotion.php

Sorry I can not find how much a professional installation costs, you could contact several manufactures to find out.

Wingman

admin answers:

Let me start off by saying we (my family and I) live completely, 100% “off of the grid and are completely self sufficient” using alternative fuels / energy. I was in a similar situation as you few years ago.

Www agua-lun com

We do not leave our ranch except about once or twice a year, mainly for travel and vacations.

We raise meat and milk goats, chickens for meat and eggs, ducks for meat and eggs, trap havilina (wild boar pig), rabbit, quail. Brew our own beer from home grown products, preserve our fruits, vegetables, etc. Smoke and jerky the meat, make our own soap, cheese.

There are no utility lines, no water lines, no roads, tv, cell service, etc. On our ranch. EVERYTHING needed is produced here. All electricity comes from 27 solar panels, 2 main wind gens and a back hydrogen generator if needed (typically we can last 9 days with all luxuries of sunless windless weather, hasn’t happened yet). Water is caught and storage from the rain. Hot water is made with solar batch water heaters with an on-demand hydrogen hot water heater as backup. Even our vehicles use alternative energy (2 hydrogen trucks, 1 EV electric vehicle converted).

We’ve lived self sufficiently off the grid for over 5 years now. In 2003 I left an Engineering position with Boeing, sold 2 houses and most of our positions, purchased a small ranch in West Texas near the Mexican border, built a completely green home using 100% recycled and local (rocks, lumber, sand from the ranch) materials, built a wind generator and some solar panels, built a hydrogen generator and converted the vehicles to run on alternative energy, purchased some goats, chickens, ducks, lamas, etc, a composting toilet, water storage tanks, planted crops and fruit trees and settled down for the long run. We typically don’t leave the ranch for 6-8 months at a time, and only then to visit family.

The house is built utilizing natures natural materials, Woodburning stoves, solar chimney, solar AC, solar heating, solar water heating (pool and home), solar stove, solar power, wind power, hydrogen powered back up generator, hydrogen back up water heater, hydrogen stove, 2 hydrogen powered trucks, 1 EV (electric vehicle) and satellite internet.

To see some pics of the ranch
www agua-lun com

We also built many small cabins on the ranch that we offer to family, friends and our on-site off-grid workshop guests, including one straw bale, one papercrete, earth bag and adobe, one cob and cordwood, one underground and rammed earth, one log and post and beam and one rock.

I later wrote a several guides on how to build with alternative materials, alternative energy / fuels using alternative methods for next to nothing. Anyone interested can check it out at..

Www agua-lun com

As we have no bills, no mortgage and no taxes ..we have little use for money (any extra money saved up usually goes towards vacations as we enjoy traveling to Mexico).

If you’d like more info on how you can make the transition easily, let me know.

admin answers:

I’m going to give you my standard blurb on dealing with depression. I have bipolar disorder, and have not found meds that will help me after going thru like 30 different drugs and even trying electroshock. The tips I’m going to give you are practical, nuts & bolts type things you can do to feel better. I’ve got some stuff in there that doesn’t apply to you, so just ignore that. But there should be a few helpful tips in there that will help. I learned them in classes in the mental hospital, and figured out a few, too. I hope they help! Print them out!

If your depression seems to be more of a problem in the winter, try to get more sun. You could have seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, or your depression could have a seasonal component, meaning you tend to have more trouble in the winter. A light box is really good if you can afford one (about $300 online, don’t get it at a local store, they will charge more for a light less than 1/2 as bright). Since I will always have a mood disorder, I have put in extra windows, keep the drapes mounted so they don’t cover them, make sure I spend a lot of time in southern exposure rooms, painted the walls peach and yellow. I even have a skylight (and I LOVE it, it helps a lot!!!!!)

Try meditation tapes like progressive muscle relaxation or guided imagery. They may seem silly at first, but they work!! They help reduce stress, which makes depression worse.
***** #1 MOST HELPFUL TIP Go out with friends, and if you don’t have any, find a club to join and MAKE yourself go until you actually look forward to it. Isolation makes depression worse. I’m an introvert, extremely so, and I still need to get out with others.

Exercise at least 1/2 hour a day, and anytime you feel really hyper or depressed. Exercise is a great mood stabilizer and cuts down on anxiety a lot.

If your depression makes it hard for you to sleep, here are some good “sleep hygiene” tips so you can sleep better. Like go to bed and get up about the same time each day, even weekends. Don’t use your bedroom to watch TV and read and use the computer and all that-just use the room as a bedroom normally would be used. Don’t do stuff that pumps you up right before bed, like exercising and using the computer. You want to use that last hour to wind down-Take a bath? Make the bedroom really dark, cover up the clock radio, even, so the light doesn’t shine at you. If you live in the city, use a noise generator (makes wave sounds and the like) to cover up the city sounds. Avoid caffeine in the afternoon and evening.Try soundsleeping.com for free relaxing sounds downloads.

Put a lot of colorful things around the house, happy type things, and keep the blinds open and let the sun in. Get yourself some flowers. Put on some nice clothes. OK that was for the ladies, mostly. Make a list of things that make you happy. Here’s some things on my list: A basket full of fluffy kittens, bread fresh from the oven, Fireworks popping on a warm summer evening, The first fireflies of the season, the scent of Jergen’s cherry almond lotion, The crisp sound of a saltine cracker breaking, fresh sheets on the bed, standing in the boat flicking topwater lures out onto the water, etc. Use all your senses and read that list when you are breaking down
Work on time management if being overwhelmed and late for things and too much to do is getting to you. Cut back on other responsibilities temporarily so you can spend more restorative time with friends and family.

You got a significant other? Extra physical touch is very helpful. Most people in the US or UK are touch deprived, so hold hands more, hug more, give shoulder rubs, etc. Etc. Is a euphemism for you folks in an adult relationship. A pet is good to cuddle with, too, if your home situation allows you to get one. (I’m an animal lover, don’t get one if you can’t commit to it for 15 years) Take the dog out for a game of fetch, brush Fluffy, etc.
Make sure you are NOT listening to sad music! It is so easy to fall into doing that, but it makes things a lot worse! Listen to happy, upbeat stuff. Do the same with movies you watch.
Distract yourself when the hurting is at its worst. Read a novel, watch a comedy, go out with friends, play cards, play a videogame, whatever is mentally all-consuming. This is a VERY helpful tip that works!!
I have severe psychiatric symptoms from bipolar disorder and post traumatic stress disorder. And I am able to control my behavior almost 100% even when I am suffering, and able to feel quite a bit better using some of these tricks, because the meds have not been effective for me. If I didn’t do stuff like the above, I would be dead or in a group home. So please try some of these things and they may provide some relief for you. Pills alone or counseling alone are not as effective as pills plus counseling, and you have to follow some of these type of suggestions the counselors give you. Cognitive Behavioral therapy is the gold st