solar/wind for the bare necessities?

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cruisngrrl, your already on home heating oil which is "diesel like" and will run in a diesel generator. So you have the fuel source that will be fresh enough. just increase storage and or make sure your fuel carrier keeps your tank 50% full all the time.
Just be sure to have the switch installed so the power doesnt flow back down the power lines into the grid and light up a service guy. This makes them very cranky.
Creating a sustainable system to live off the grid is expensive, we have one at the cottage, it was about 25k all in and has limitations. Its solar panel/battery storage. But a power line into the lot was going to be 80k so its a deal......

If your worried about an ice storm style incident, deisel gen is your answer. They run very efficiently, use fuel you have on site and if you shop around are not badly priced.
 
I used to work for CN Signals and a big part of our job was battery maintenance. Granted, this was years ago before GelCell technology, so I may be off base. Batteries are maintenance intensive; they require checking and topping up regularly. At least once a month, or the useful life will be cut in half. Your 10-year battery bank will need to be replaced in 5 years ($$$$). I've thought of doing what you are talking about, and the battery issue is what stopped me; I know I'm not diligent enought to do the proper maintenance. MicroFit, or some other means of storing energy (not electricity) is probably what I'll go for. I have a hill on my new proerty with a spring, which I may be able to dam up and put in a small hydro unit. The risk here is if the dam goes, it may take out a couple of houses.
 
Makes me think of Les Stroud's (survivorman) movie "Off the Grid." Check it out, the family went through a lot to live independent in the middle of nowhere!
 
Lyndsay said:
I used to work for CN Signals and a big part of our job was battery maintenance. Granted, this was years ago before GelCell technology, so I may be off base. Batteries are maintenance intensive; they require checking and topping up regularly. At least once a month, or the useful life will be cut in half. Your 10-year battery bank will need to be replaced in 5 years ($$$$). I've thought of doing what you are talking about, and the battery issue is what stopped me; I know I'm not diligent enought to do the proper maintenance. MicroFit, or some other means of storing energy (not electricity) is probably what I'll go for. I have a hill on my new proerty with a spring, which I may be able to dam up and put in a small hydro unit. The risk here is if the dam goes, it may take out a couple of houses.
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I've thought of storing energy that way (water tanks in the attic pumped up by using energy generated by wind/solar but that would probably best be done where the natural features allowed.

batteries have come a long way and we aren't at the peek yet (actually I'd love a slowpoke reactor in my back yard)
 
Most likely, the CN batteries were lead/acid (automotive style). For serious energy storage nowadays, that's not the way to go. Lithium-based batteries are zero maintenance and have much higher storage capacity per unit of weight or volume, and probably cost. There are some other battery chemistries that are suitable for stationary applications (e.g. sodium/sulfur ... low cost reactants, but the cell has to operate at high temperature, which is why you'll never see it in a laptop or in a vehicle), but I'm not sure whether they are commercialized yet.
 
I live GTA and want to be off the grid, in case of extended lights out. See

http://esolar.ca/

Apparently if GTA is power out for 3 days there is no water, and I guess everybody has to leave (I hope this is an urban myth). Water is pumped up and gravity fed. Condo's/apartments typically have their own tank on the roof. My poor mother has instructions to fill the bathtub every time there's a power outage, (which she probably ignores).

The grid is an obvious target and if it's down for 3 months we're back in the stone age.
 
johnp said:
I live GTA and want to be off the grid, in case of extended lights out. See

http://esolar.ca/

Apparently if GTA is power out for 3 days there is no water, and I guess everybody has to leave (I hope this is an urban myth). Water is pumped up and gravity fed. Condo's/apartments typically have their own tank on the roof. My poor mother has instructions to fill the bathtub every time there's a power outage, (which she probably ignores).

The grid is an obvious target and if it's down for 3 months we're back in the stone age.
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I've never heard on the roof of condos but I don't run one, only do service work lower down.

For a rural situation as stated in the OP I once toyed with the concept of having a huge old clunker vehicle parked near the house. Re-locate the radiator to the house and use it for heat and the running engine with a decent size alternator would give you, through an inverter, the equivalent of one 15 amp circuit. Not comfy but a survival scenario. If one had the mechanical skills more heat could be extracted from the exhaust and a larger generator fitted to the drive train. One would have to calculate the BTUs one gets from a gallon of fuel and various efficiency rates etc.

PS I just looked it up. A gallon of gas = 114,000 BTUs, diesel = 129,000 BTUs So if all the engine heat could be captured and transfered to a house it would handle a decently insulated modest home. Lots of ifs.
 
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johnp said:
I live GTA and want to be off the grid, in case of extended lights out. See

http://esolar.ca/
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Thanks for the link. Fired off an enquiry for my cottage - I figure it sits empty Mon-Fri, if I could sell the energy back to compensate weekend use, it should be a money maker. Not tons obviously, but like OP, I'm tired of seeing delivery charges higher than my usage.
 
johnp said:
Condo's/apartments typically have their own tank on the roof.
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Not in any condo I have ever worked on. The closest any come to this is a storm water tank below ground used for watering plants (and those are even a recent addition to gets Leeds points).

When the grid crashed a few years ago, within 2 days, a friend with a 4th floor condo had no water.
 
johnp said:
I live GTA and want to be off the grid, in case of extended lights out. See

http://esolar.ca/

Apparently if GTA is power out for 3 days there is no water, and I guess everybody has to leave (I hope this is an urban myth). Water is pumped up and gravity fed. Condo's/apartments typically have their own tank on the roof. My poor mother has instructions to fill the bathtub every time there's a power outage, (which she probably ignores).

The grid is an obvious target and if it's down for 3 months we're back in the stone age.
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Wow the microfit price drop huge in the past year, Last year it was 82.1¢/kWh now it is 54.9¢/kWh.
 
GreyGhost said:
Not in any condo I have ever worked on. The closest any come to this is a storm water tank below ground used for watering plants (and those are even a recent addition to gets Leeds points).

When the grid crashed a few years ago, within 2 days, a friend with a 4th floor condo had no water.
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High rise buildings have complex water systems. If the pressure is high enough to get water to the top of a 30 story building the ground floor pressure would be so high it would drill holes in you when you took your morning shower. I'm not sure if they use pressure reduction systems but suspect they use normal pressure and a booster pump every third floor or so. No electricity, no booster pump. I'm not sure if those are mandated on an emergency generator. Fire pumps definately but domestic water, not sure.
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