BEAVERLODGE ALBERTA
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Copyright Solarwyse Ltd 2005/2012
It seams like a huge step, building a new home, cutting the ties with the local utilities. Facing the unknown, can be a daunting task. Canadian winters can be long and cold. The what if’s start to control your every thought. But then others have lived off the power grid and survived. What am I going to give up? Do I have what it takes? How will I explain the failure to my friends. Here’s some great facts!
You can make living off the grid, a modern experience, or as rustic living as you want. There is only one thing you will have to give up, and that is a willingness to forgo that monthly bill from the utility company. You will find a need for a small amount of increased manual labour, in exchange for giving up your power (hydro) and gas bills.
Lets have a look at what will not work on a solar off grid home:
- Appliances that make heat, such as an electric range
- High power consumption appliances such as the older fridge and deep freezers.
In a modern solar home, you will find energy efficient appliances, a blue star, refrigerator, and deep freezer, front loading washing machines, and a propane clothes dryer. Of course you can use a old fashioned solar clothes line mounted out doors on a simple pulley system.
Here at SOLARWYSE we have a built in dishwasher, to help cut back on that labour, now that we are starting to get older.
Instead of the forced air furnace heating the home, it is turned back to a cool 10 degrees. A cozy wood burning fire heats our home, and a built in fan circulates the warm air throughout our home. Hauling a few armloads of fire wood into the wood box in the porch, each evening is an easy chore to help cut back on the propane use. Who does not enjoy a cozy warm fire on a cold winters day?
The carbon produced by burning wood is neutral, as that same amount of carbon is required to grow a new tree.
The next labour intensive time, comes when our backup generator starts, we have to get up and start the dishwasher, laundry, and run water for our horses and chickens. Running the water when the generator runs, saves major energy, as the generator not only charges the batteries, but runs our appliances, and as well, burning only a minimal amount of diesel.
Our diesel generator is mounted in our workshop, so we can salvage the heat produced from the radiator, and direct it back into the work area, once again saving energy, that would otherwise have been sent into the outdoors.
Our generator is totally automated, our OUTBACK solar inverter produces start/stop signals and the generator responds as needed. The 3500 watt OUTBACK inverter not only supplies more than enough power for our off grid home, it also has the smarts to call for generator power when the batteries are being heavily used, or getting low in charge.
Other than treating our generator to an oil and filter change monthly, and adding water to the lead acid batteries, you would never know that our home is off the power grid.
Living off the grid has taught us how to conserve what energy we do produce. I mentioned that salvaging the heat from the generator, to heat our work shop is one way. But I bet you did not know another waste of energy is right in front of you. We selected the large screen LCD TV because of the energy efficiency, over all the other TV’s out there, however these units draw power if they are on or off. We have had to give up the instant on feature, and mount a switch on the wall to power down the entertainment centre when not in use. I know it is hard work flipping that switch every time, but the labour is worth it.
During the summer when we have excess power from our panels, is a great time to incubate our winter supply of chickens. Watching those little chicks hatch sure beats watching TV any way.
We have hooked up heat lamps, in the chicken coop that come on only when the generator runs, so our laying birds enjoy a winter sauna, instead of freezing winter air. Another energy saving tip for you.
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