Solar Power: What's the Easiest Method of Going Off-Grid

Posted by Rolf Joho on November 8th, 2009 filed in Global Warming

If you were to fit solar panels on your home, could you just go “off grid” and cut out the power company forever?  Not having to rely on the energy company for your electricity is an attractive proposition. No more power bills arriving in your mailbox. No more frustration with the power companies for any reason. Is this a possibility for you and your family? The answer will very much rely upon the prevalent weather in your region and how much money you can invest maintaining your own energy system.

The Net Metering Effect of Chosing Off-Grid

First, consider the usual type of weather in your part of the world.  Does your region experience a lot of sunshine, or is it overcast much of the time?  Solar panels can only produce power when sunlight is hitting them.  That means you have to use batteries to preserve power in order for it to be available at night and during overcast periods.

That’s where added expenses come in.  You’ll need to obtain and maintain enough large DC (direct current) batteries to save ample energy to last through a couple of inclement weather.  You’ll need ample storage space for that many batteries and you’ll also need to plan for the cost of periodically replacing them.

Make Your Own Off-Grid Energy

It’s also a good idea to keep a backup generator in the event that you have a long stretch of overcast weather that lasts beyond your battery storage capacity.  Your generator will require fuel, so you’ll need storage for that, too. Usually generators use gas or diesel fuel.  But that seems to defeat the purpose of a solar panel system, so you’ll probably want to use biodiesel. So, yes, it is possible to go “off grid”, but it’s not a simple or cheap undertaking.

A more practical solution may be “net metering.”  You can check to see if your local utility company offers this program. Net metering is a practical way to cut down on your electricity bills, and still have power available at night and during long spells of overcast conditions.  Net metering allows you to get credits back from the power company for excess electricity that your solar panels generate during the day. Then, at night or on days when there is not enough sunlight, you simply use electricity supplied by your local utility company. And you wouldn’t have to find somewhere to store stacks of batteries. Although you won’t be living “off grid”, you’ll save a significant amount of money on your monthly bill.  Some months you may owe nothing!

Taking DIY Towards Off-Grid Domestic Solar Energy Installation

So if you live in a very sunny area, with lots of extra room to store batteries, living “off grid” could be possible for you. But if you’re part of the world gets little sun and you have no large storage space, “net metering” would be more feasible.

Related Reading:

Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years, Updated and Expanded EditionSinger and Avery present—in popular language supported by in-depth scientific evidence—the compelling concept that global temperatures have been rising mostly or entirely because of a natural cycle. Using historic data from two millennia of recorded history combined with the natural physical records found in ice cores, seabed sediment, cave stalagmites, and tree rings, Unstoppable Global Warming argues that the 1,500 year solar-driven cycle that has always controlled the earth's climate remains the driving force in the current warming trend.

Trillions of dollars spent on reducing fossil fuel use would have no effect on today's rising temperatures. The public policy key, Singer and Avery propose, is adaptation, not fruitless attempts at prevention. Further, they offer convincing evidence that civilization's most successful eras have coincided with the cycle's warmest peaks. With the added benefit of modern technology, humanity can not only survive global climate change, but thrive.

Global Warming: Understanding the ForecastGlobal Warming: Understanding the Forecast is a comprehensive introduction to all aspects of global warming. Written in an accessible style, this important book examines the processes of climate change and climate stability, from the distant past to the distant future.

Examining the greenhouse effect, the carbon cycle, and what the future may hold for global climate, this text draws on a wide range of disciplines, and summarizes not only scientific evidence, but also economic and policy issues, related to global warming. A companion web site at (http://understandingtheforecast.org) provides access to interactive computer models of the physics and chemistry behind the global warming forecast, which can be used to support suggested student projects included at the end of each chapter. Solutions and artwork from the book are available to instructors at www.blackwellpublishing.com/archer.

Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast provides an essential introduction to this vital issue for both students and general readers, with or without a science background.

Climate of Corruption: Politics and Power Behind The Global Warming HoaxNew revelations demonstrate how politics and powerful special-interest agendas have warped the most important scientific debate of the 21st century.

Melting glaciers, suffering polar bears, rising oceans—these are just a few of the climate change crisis myths debunked by noted aerospace expert Larry Bell in this explosive new book. With meticulous research, Bell deflates these and other climate misconceptions with perceptive analysis, humor, and the most recent scientific data.

Written for the laymen, yet in-depth enough for the specialist, this book digs deep into the natural and political aspects of the climate change debate, answering fundamental questions that reveal the all-too-human origins of “scientific” inquiry. Why and how are some of the world’s most prestigious scientific institutions cashing in on the debate? Who stand to benefit most by promoting public climate change alarmism? What true political and financial purposes are served by the vilification of carbon dioxide? How do climate deceptions promote grossly exaggerated claims for non-fossil alternative energy capacities and advance blatant global wealth redistribution goals?

With its devastating portrayal of scientific and government establishments run amok, this book is an invaluable addition to the tremendously popular literature attacking the scientific status quo. Climate of Corruption will bring welcome relief to all those who are fed up with climate crisis insanity.

2084: An Oral History of the Great Warming (Kindle Single)By 2084, global warming has proven worse than even the worst-case projections of scientists at the turn of the century. No country and no individual has escaped. Through interviews, this book of oral history captures the effects of the Great Warming on various countries and individuals, as reported in the year 2084.

The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your FutureAmericans are over-regulated and over-taxed. When regulation escalates, the result is an increase in regulators. In other words, bigger government is required to enforce the greater degree of regulation. Bigger government means bigger budgets and higher taxes. More simply doesn't mean better. A perfect example is the entire global warming, climate-change issue, which is an effort to dramatically and hugely increase regulation of each of our lives and business, and to raise our cost of living and taxes. In The Greatest Hoax, Senator James Inhofe will reveal the reasons behind those perpetuating the Hoax of global warming, who is benefitting from the general acceptance of the Hoax and why the premise statements are blatantly and categorically false.