The Everything Guide to Living Off the Grid (11 page)

The idea of solar energy has been around for quite a while. A Swiss scientist, Horace de Saussure, invented the world’s first solar energy collector or “hot box” in 1767. In the 1830s, British astronomer John Herschel used a solar energy collector box to cook food during an expedition to Africa. Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his experiments with solar energy and photovoltaics.

Wood Burning

Mankind has been using wood for fuel ever since fire was invented. Burning wood can be an inexpensive way to heat your home. However, you need to be sure you have a source for the wood you want to use. Does your land have several acres of hardwood? A good rule of thumb is that you need about ten acres of hardwood to produce enough wood to heat a home every year.

If you are able to cut, gather, and stack your own wood, you can really save money. Keep in mind, though, that the saying “when you cut your own wood, it heats you twice” is very true. Harvesting wood is hard work, and caution must be maintained when using a chain saw.

If you have to have someone cut and deliver your wood, find out how much he or she charges. In some places, paying for wood is more expensive than using fossil fuels.

If you decide to use wood for heating, you have several options: a fireplace, a wood stove, or a wood furnace.

Is heating with wood bad for the environment?
Biomass fuels, such as wood or corn, are “carbon neutral,” which means they do not generate a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, heating an average home with wood can save enough nonrenewable fossil fuel to operate an automobile for a full year.

Fireplaces

Using a fireplace is the most inefficient way to heat your home. Although charming, an open fireplace draws much more air than needed for combustion. This causes the warm air from the burning wood to be drawn up the chimney. Between 80 percent and 90 percent of the heat produced by wood burned in an open fireplace is lost up the chimney. The other drawback is that a fireplace will steal heated air from other parts of your home, because it will be drawing the air for combustion. This draw actually pulls cold air into your home through any unsealed areas, like windows and doors.

If you have a home with an existing fireplace, you can purchase a fireplace insert that is designed to fit into your fireplace. An insert has a firebox that is surrounded by a steel shell. Air flows into the shell and radiant heat from the burning wood warms the air, which is then redistributed back into your home. This prevents the majority of the heat from escaping up the chimney and prevents the air draw in your home.

Wood Stoves

A wood stove is considered a “space heater” because, unlike a furnace that pushes heat through a duct system, it will heat a specific area in your home. New designs in wood stoves and tighter-built homes now make it possible to heat a home with a single wood stove. However, the
stove needs to be centrally located, so it can radiate heat throughout the area, and you must provide a way for heat to move through the rest of the home.

Wood stoves come in a variety of materials. Three of the most popular materials are cast iron, steel, and soapstone. Cast iron was the original material because the casting process was perfected long before steel and welding. You might even hear some people refer to wood stoves as “cast iron” stoves. The original Ben Franklin stoves from the 1700s were cast iron. Steel-plated stoves are another choice. Steel stoves heat up quickly and start radiating heat faster than cast iron. But when the fire is reduced to coals, there is little or no residual radiated heat. On the other hand, a cast iron stove might take a few hours to start radiating heat, but when the fire is reduced to coals you will continue to have residual heat for several hours. Soapstone is a relatively soft metamorphic rock. It was used in early New England because residents found that not only could it be easily cut and polished, but it would also absorb the heat and then provide a gentle and steady radiant heat. You can stand near a soapstone stove without feeling overwhelmed by the heat, in comparison to a cast iron stove, which can overwhelm you with the force of the heat it generates.

Wind Power

Once you’ve found that your particular piece of property is appropriate for wind power, you should research the different costs of wind systems and which will meet your energy needs. Some are actually hybrid systems that include not only the wind system, but also solar panels and a generator to ensure an ample supply of power to your home.

A small off-grid wind system is actually quite simple. It generally consists of a wind turbine that generates electrical power; a battery bank that stores the power; and an inverter, which, just like the inverter in the solar power system, changes the power into usable electricity.

You need to place the wind turbine on a tower that is approximately 100 feet high. At this height the winds are generally faster and less turbulent. Two or three blades are attached to the turbine. When the wind blows over the blades, they rotate. When they rotate, a shaft inside the turbine converts that movement into electricity.

Smaller vertical wind turbines have recently been developed for use in home power. These turbines take up less space than traditional horizontal turbines, and some can capture wind movement from all directions.

A relatively new product on the wind-power market is a vertical spire. One such product, marketed as Windspire, generates power when wind blows against the vertical airfoils, causing them to spin. This power is then converted to AC electricity and is immediately available to provide energy to your building. These spires are only 30 feet tall and 4 feet wide. In 11 mph annual average winds, each spire will generate about 2,000 kWh per year.

Hydro Power

Did you know that hydroelectric power is the most widely used renewable energy source in the world today? Worldwide, it accounts for approximately 16 percent of all electricity production. Much of the same technology used for massive hydroelectric plants can be used in powering your home.

Micro–hydro generators can use average water flows to generate electricity. The reason hydro power often surpasses solar and wind power in side-by-side comparisons is that water can generate power constantly, unlike sun and wind. If you’ve ever seen images of areas that have been flooded, you immediately understand the power of water.

The force of water is so powerful that it only requires six inches of water on a flooded street for you to lose control of your car. That same force, multiplied by four to equal two feet of water, can actually float your car downstream.

Although most commercial hydroelectric power plants use a dam, for residential power generation you will typically use a pipe to collect water from a stream or river. The water from the pipes increases in power or energy as it flows downhill from the source to the turbine. The water hits the turbine and causes it to spin, which generates electricity.

Before you can choose the correct hydro system for your home, you need to measure the amount of energy available in your water supply. To do
this you need to determine two important numbers—flow and head. Hydroelectric installers will work with you to estimate these numbers, but you will want to have a general idea of how the process works.

The flow is the amount of water available to turn your turbine; the more flow, the more energy. Flow is measured in cubic feet per second. So, if you were to use a pipe to divert water from your source, how much would be diverted in one second?

Head is the pressure of the water when it hits the turbine. To determine head, you need to estimate the distance the water will fall (go downhill) before it reaches your turbine; the further the fall, the higher the energy.

In order to use hydroelectric power efficiently, one or both of these numbers—flow or head—has to be fairly high to make the investment worth your while.

Alternative Energies

Several centuries ago, many German farmers and their families lived in housebarns. These buildings were comprised of the barn on the ground level and the home on the second and sometimes third level. The primary reason for this arrangement was that the warmth from the animals would rise up and help heat the home. That was one of the first uses of an alternative energy source called
biomass
.

One cow’s waste can produce enough electricity to light two 110-watt light bulbs twenty-four hours a day.

Biomass is organic material made from plants and animals that can be processed in order to provide energy. Biomass is processed by burning and by fermenting. The most common type of biomass that is burned is wood; however, garbage and wood waste can also be burned to produce energy. Another common biomass product is methane gas.

The Central Vermont Public Service corporation (
www.cvps.com/cowpower
). an electric utility company, offers its customers the option to
power their homes using CVPS Cow Power. Local dairy farmers gather cow manure into specially designed holding tanks called methane digesters that keep the manure at a certain temperature. The manure releases methane gas, which is piped into a generator that creates electricity.

Unless you decide to build one for yourself, methane digesters are only available for larger agricultural facilities. However, as more people explore the benefits of methane gas, small residential units may be available in the future.

CHAPTER 7
Developing Your Green Thumb

There is nothing more satisfying than eating vegetables from your own garden. Not only do they taste better because they’re fresh, but you know exactly what kinds of chemicals (if any) were used when growing them. In order to have a successful garden, you need to do some research on the type of soil you have, which planting zone you live in, and how best to make use of the garden space you have available to you.

Planning Your Garden

One of most important parts of your garden is the planning. You can pore over seed catalogs all winter long to look for the seed varieties you’d like. You can meet with your Extension agent to find out the particulars of gardening in your area. You can even meet with a master gardener who can answer many of your questions. But as you begin to plan your garden, you should ask yourself the following four questions.

Where Will Your Garden Be?

Generally, plants like lots of sun and well-drained soil. Look for places that are not shaded with trees or outbuildings. Try to find ground that is not rocky or sandy. Think about your water source. Is there a convenient way to transport water to your garden? How big do you want your garden to be? If you are planning to grow enough produce for your entire family, you should count on about 50 square feet of garden for each person, not counting paths.

How Will You Arrange Your Plants?

Are you going to use raised beds or use tilling? If raised beds, how are you going to place them? Are you going to plant single rows, double rows, or broadcast your seed over an area? How wide will your paths between rows be? If you use a rototiller or cultivator, you will want to plan your rows so it can easily be run up and down the paths. If you draw your garden on graphing paper, you can give each square a value—for example, each square is equal to 6 square inches—and plan your garden accordingly.