Where Do I Get Batteries For My Solar Or Wind Power System?
Filed under: Alternative Energy Questions, Green Power Easy Questions
For those looking to build their own solar or wind power system, one question that many have is how do I get inexpensive batteries to store power?
I wanted to take a moment to answer that question, and to let all of our members know about a new supplemental guide that can help with this topic. Before we answer that question, the first thing you need to ask yourself is whether or not you need a battery backup at all.
Do I Need Batteries For My Solar or Wind Power System?
If your only intention is to reduce your power bill, on a home that is already tied to the grid, then you probably don’t need batteries.
You can simply tie your system directly into your home without the battery bank. When you setup your system this way, your home will be powered either partially or in full by your solar panels or wind turbines.
When you need extra energy it will be pulled from the power grid. On days where your alternative energy system produces more power than you need, the additional energy is fed back to the grid and sold back to the power company. For many people this is the easiest, and least expensive, way to install their green power solution.
Where you may want a battery bank is if you plan to live off the grid, or in cases where you want to store power in case of a power outage. In either of these cases you will need a battery bank.
The New Battery Report To Help
Recently added for members is a new battery report that will allow you to create a battery bank by reconditioning batteries. The simple truth is that most of the time a battery that was considered to be dead can be reconditioned to like-new condition and used for years to come. The best part is that you can often get batteries like this for free.
Available to Member's Only - The Battery Report Is An Excellent Place To Start If You Need To Store Power For Your Solar And Wind Power Applications
The new battery report is available inside our member’s area for the price of $19. It covers 3 separate methods to take an old deep cycle battery and recondition it for use in your solar or wind power system. The report is an invaluable tool for those who need a battery bank to store power, and at $19, it’s inexpensive when compared to similar eBooks that sell for $67 – $97.
If you need a battery bank for your solar or wind power system, the battery report is an excellent place to start. It is available to Green Power Easy member’s only, so you’ll need to signup on our homepage before you can purchase and download this new add-in guide.
How Many Solar Panels Will I Need?
Filed under: Alternative Energy Questions, Build Solar Panel Questions, DIY Solar Panels
One question that we are often asked is how many solar panels will I need to convert my entire home? Answering this question directly is actually quite difficult because there are too many factors involved.
First there are questions that need to be answered:
How much power do you use daily?
With a range in power consumption in North America between < 1KW hour per day and up to 40 or 50 KW hours per day – it’s impossible to answer the question without first looking at how much power you use.
Is there a difference in power consumption for your home between the seasons?
It isn’t enough to just average your power usage for a year. Do you use more energy in the summer months from an AC unit? Or do you live in a colder climate where the furnace motor runs a lot during the winter?
Do you plan to go off grid, or are you just trying to reduce your power bill?
Another important element to be considered is what your intention is when you convert to solar power. If you plan to go off grid you should allow for extra power production. That is, since solar power will be your only source of energy you should increase the amount of panels you use, and you should ensure your battery bank is large enough to store power to cover you energy needs for at least three days.
Can you reduce your energy consumption?
It’s also important to first look at how you can reduce your energy needs. Most North American homes use too much energy in the first place. An energy efficient home may use as little as 1-2 KW hours of energy per day. On the other end of the spectrum, a home that isn’t efficient may use 25 – 50 times that much.
To reduce the overall cost of your solar energy system, and to reduce the maintenance required to keep that system up, it’s important to look at ways to reduce your energy consumption before you calculate the number of solar panels you need. In many cases you may be able to reduce your power requirements by as much as 50%.
The Bottom Line:
If you’ve been asking the question yourself – how many solar panels will I need? You should start with the Green Power Easy guide. It covers many different ways to cheaply (and effectively) reduce the amount of power that you use. Once you’ve done that you should move onto the Green Power Easy implementation guide. It lays out the exact steps you should take to calculate the size of your solar energy system.
If you aren’t yet a Green Power Easy member, you can get your guides by clicking here.
Will One Wind Turbine Be Enough To Power My Home?
Filed under: Alternative Energy Questions, Build Wind Turbine Questions, DIY Wind Turbines
Before deciding to build a wind turbine some people like to ask just how many wind turbines they will need to convert their home to alternative energy. For those that live in a windy area (preferably where average wind speeds exceed 12MPH) a DIY wind turbine is an excellent way to reduce, or eliminate, the power bill. The question that needs to be answered is, will one wind turbine be enough?
That question can actually be a little difficult to answer without first knowing the specifics of the situation.
If you built the wind turbine that is laid out for you in the Green Power Easy guides, as it is specified it will create about 400Watts of power/hour in 20MPH wind speeds. If the wind blew for 10 hours out of the day, that turbine is then capable of producing about 4KW hours of energy every day.
If you calculated your power needs to be around 4KW hours per day, then a turbine built to our specs you may be enough. However there are other things to consider. Even if you need more energy than that turbine is capable of producing, you still may be able to adjust the design to suit.
As stated in the Green Power Easy guides, simple things like increasing the size of the DC motor you use as a generator will allow you to produce more energy with a single wind turbine. In fact if you found a 110-130V DC motor that operated well at a lower RPM (say 1250 RPMS), you could easily triple the power production of a single turbine.
Of course if you do this you would then need to increase the blade diameter to turn the larger motor. The whole turbine will take up more room, and for some, two smaller turbines are still a better solution.
In general when trying to calculate how many wind turbines that you need you should first refer to the Green Power Easy guides. The guides lay out for you the exact steps needed to calculate your energy needs, and they make suggestions on how to alter the design of your turbine to product more power.
If you aren’t yet a Green Power Easy member, you can get your guides by clicking here.
Is It Possible To Go Off The Grid With DIY Solar or DIY Wind Power?
Filed under: Alternative Energy Questions, Build Solar Panel Questions, Build Wind Turbine Questions
One question that prospective members sometimes ask is whether or not they can go completely off the grid with Green Power Easy. The answer to that question is, of course, yes. But, I wanted to take a little time to clarify this idea a bit.
The Green Power Easy guides come as four separate eBooks. If you’ve taken the time to read our homepage then you already know that as a member you get:
- Green Power Easy – The Easy Guide To DIY Solar And Wind Power
- Green Power Easy Implementation Guide – Learn How To Convert Your Entire Home To Alternative Energy
- Green Power Easy Parts Guide – Collected Links To Get All Of The Parts You Need At Prices Anyone Can Afford
- Green Power Easy Rebates Guide – Learn How You Can Get Tax Rebates For Your DIY Solar and Wind Power projects.
- Green Power Easy TV – Solar Panel Videos – The 1 Hour Video Series That Covers Building a 100 Watt Solar Panel.
With the material that comes with membership, the part that will be most important to those looking to go off the grid is the implementation guide. The main guide teaches you how to build the components you will need, but the implementation guide teaches you how to determine exactly what you will need to convert your entire home.
Go Off Grid - Learn How With The Green Power Easy Implementation Guide
With the Green Power Easy implementation guide you will be given step-by-step instruction on how to determine your energy requirements and then design your green power system to suit. It includes instruction on how to determine the number of solar panels/ turbines you will need, and gives you information on designing a battery bank to store power for off-grid applications.
It’s important to note that this portion of our guides is one of the elements that sets Green Power Easy apart from the competition. There are other guides that will teach you how to build a solar panel or a wind turbine (our instruction is clearer though), but none of the other DIY solar and wind power guides include instruction to go off the grid.
If you’re looking to take your home off the grid and live with renewable energy only, a great place to start is with the Green Power Easy guides.