Question by Advice Please: What is the cheapest way to start using solar power for your house? Or Wind?
I’m tired of the electric and gas bills that seem to be perpetual. I’d like to little by little start switching to solar or wind. What’s THE cheapest way to start doing this. I really don’t want a bunch of companies that sell this stuff to answer this question trying to sell their wares. I’d love to know from the people who are familar with solar and electronics who know their stuff. I have no clue what to buy, but this is what I’d like to do. I’d like to spend no more than a couple hundred dollars at a time as I can afford it to buy it. I’d like something that’s able to be moved in case I were to move. What kind of things could I do to start this process of moving to solar?
Best answer:
Answer by Raheem Taylor
Solar panels on your roof cost literally thousands and thousands of dollars, but you can build a small wind generator out of wood for about maybe 200 dollars? I don’t know. Shouldn’t be much. If you are going to build a wind generator, your property will have to be high up in elevation because otherwise the blades won’t pick up any wind and they will stop. The air will rise from below and catch the blades to get them to spin constantly without stopping. I do not know how to build a wind generator, but they have diagrams on google images.
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Eric says:
March 16, 2014 at 5:38 pm (UTC 0)
You might not like this answer a whole lot, but seriously – the cheapest solar & wind power you can use is to hang your laundry out to dry rather than putting it in a dryer. Seriously! I can cut my electric bill in half in the summer by hanging my clothes on a clothesline. And it’s kind of a pleasant break. 🙂
In the winter, open your south (assuming you’re in the northern hemisphere) window shades to let the sun help heat your house. In the summer, open the windows to let the wind cool your house. 🙂
Other than that, there’s honestly not a lot you can do for a couple hundred dollars when it comes to real grid-tied household solar photovoltaics. Anything in the couple-hundred range is more in the realm of a science experiment for now, I’m afraid.
If these guys make it to market, you might be able to do a few plug-in panels for under $ 1000 each: http://www.clarianpower.com/solar.html
Other than that, you should at least look at http://www.dsireusa.org and see what incentives might be available for solar in your state, and call around to ask solar installers if they would be willing to talk to you about a minimal but expandable system. Using something like the enphase microinverters, you could in theory add 1 panel + 1 inverter at a time, but it’ll still be more than a couple hundred, I’m afraid.
Any good solar installer will also strongly encourage you to look at efficiency & waste first, though. Unless you’ve already gone looking for ways to reduce your bill, I bet you can drop at least 25% by swapping out light bulbs to CFLs, setting computers to go to sleep when not in use, eliminating vampire loads, replacing an old refrigerator [1], etc.
Good luck!
[1] http://www.toptenusa.org/Refrigerators/Medium-Sized-Refrigerators
heritage b says:
March 16, 2014 at 6:36 pm (UTC 0)
Solar panels are pricey but are only good enough for lighting and with low energy bulbs so cheap its not worth the outlay. Wind is good but will cost 10’000’s for a decent size wind turbine to provide electricity for a whole house but you may be able to sell electricity back to the grid.
Mike says:
March 16, 2014 at 6:55 pm (UTC 0)
You need to do some research if money is the issue!
The cost of solar electric is only about double of that off the power grid. While there are reasons to move in that direction, they are do to not having ready access to a power grid.
Find out the cost of the system.
Calculate the amount of electric power it produces over it’s lifetime.
Do the math. You’ll stay with the utilities….