How plausible is eco-tricity for normal homes?

[jimboalee]

Go for a damned good ride round on your bike. While you are riding, charge a medium sized 12V dc battery. When you get home, connect the battery to the lamps circuit and it will light the house.

After your ride, you will want to take a cold shower to cool off, so that's not wasting energy heating water.

Walk around with minimal clothing until you feel cold and then put on some thick woolly clothes to keep warm.



Walk or cycle to the shop and buy some 'reduced for quick sale' cold pasties. Drink room temperature cheapo diet coke. No energy wasted cooking or fridging.



Convert your bed into a heat exchanger so you have a little bit of warmed water to wash with in the morning. Or better still, cycle to work and shower there.



You see, you don't need mains electricity.

Can you see I've spent some time living in a tent?

 

[mark barker]

As a nation we've been really slow to pick up on the "eco" lifestyle, and as such getting hold of decent equipment is pretty tricky. In the states its a really big thing, and there are plenty of folks that live entirely "off grid", without having to give up on the normal luxuries of modern living.

If you're looking to reduce your living costs and do your bit to reduce energy consumption you'd probably find that a review of your daily lifestyle would make a huge difference. The energy meters are a good place to start, you'd be surprised how much you can save with very little effort and even less expense!

How To Live Off Grid is really interesting book, and whilst some of the people featured are full on eco-warriors living in yurts, some are "normal" 9-5ers living in suburbia.

 

[jimboalee]

As a nation we've been really slow to pick up on the "eco" lifestyle, and as such getting hold of decent equipment is pretty tricky. In the states its a really big thing, and there are plenty of folks that live entirely "off grid", without having to give up on the normal luxuries of modern living.

If you're looking to reduce your living costs and do your bit to reduce energy consumption you'd probably find that a review of your daily lifestyle would make a huge difference. The energy meters are a good place to start, you'd be surprised how much you can save with very little effort and even less expense!

How To Live Off Grid is really interesting book, and whilst some of the people featured are full on eco-warriors living in yurts, some are "normal" 9-5ers living in suburbia.

Third car, motorboat, jetskis, hot rod, skidoo, model airplanes, motoX bikes, Quad bikes, sit-on mowers, SUVs, Off road trucks, RV, three tractors and an old Ford Diesel in a shed connected to a generator.

 

[bikepete]

The wind turbines all seem to be rather over manufactured and expensive. OK so they are well engineered to extract all the energy they can out of the wind but at the cost of using up lots of energy to make and it bumping up their price to make them uneconomic.

I have wondered about a home-made approach. Get a car alternator from a scrappie and attach it to a blade and stick the lot on top of a telegraph pole (a bit like the wind pumps they had on ranches in old cowboy films).

If it costs zero to make then whatever it produces is a plus.

Just run it from the turbine to a water heater feed tank to nicely store for you to use and save on heating all year.

Just get these instructions:

http://www.scoraigwi...ipecontents.htm

if you fancy a proven DIY approach and a realistic look at minimum cost options.

A car alternator not a particularly good option: this gives a summary of the main issues:

http://homepower.com...P113_pg10_ATE_5

 

[downfader]

As a nation we've been really slow to pick up on the "eco" lifestyle, and as such getting hold of decent equipment is pretty tricky. In the states its a really big thing, and there are plenty of folks that live entirely "off grid", without having to give up on the normal luxuries of modern living.

If you're looking to reduce your living costs and do your bit to reduce energy consumption you'd probably find that a review of your daily lifestyle would make a huge difference. The energy meters are a good place to start, you'd be surprised how much you can save with very little effort and even less expense!

How To Live Off Grid is really interesting book, and whilst some of the people featured are full on eco-warriors living in yurts, some are "normal" 9-5ers living in suburbia.

Sending that link to me old man!

Cheers matey