Welcome to Gaia! ::

My parents are running off of 2 generators, A large one will power most of the things in the house for about 8-12 hours and the small one will do small electronics and one large appliance for about 8 hours. I like them!

I myself would love to go just on solar energy!

Oh I don't care about the clean part, I care about being able to store UV rays all day long! I also think roofs of solar panels are pretty! 3nodding

From what I understand, wind generators aren't that great. The cost of money it takes to keep them up and running isn't worth the amount of power that they output.

Its not the money that matters its the resources put in, if we keep worrying about money forever we'll be dead before we get rich anyways xD

Ah but Shram if everyone was using solar panels then that oil would be just used to make said glass.

The wind generators make more sense for larger groups to own that the individual person. And certain places are far better suited to have them than others.
There is wind everywhere but some places get a better consistency of strong wind.

Also GRM, I think I saw an add for tiny mount on your roof wind generators, for individual homes. But you'd have to look that up, it might be something very new.


The really important thing with energy is keeping it as locally made as possible. The farther you ship it the more of it you loose.

Oh, but another thing I've heard is that if you have solar panels or wind apparently some energy companies are only willing to let you have a certain amount of that energy for free. Something like you make x amount of energy and whatever you don't use joins their grid but they'll still insist you pay so much just for being connected. And they get to keep your unused energy.
Which is fine but hey I made that you should pay me, right?

If you're in an area where you can do wind, then go for it. For one capable of powering your house at grid-level(that is, enough power to do everything you do now), it's gonna cost you a lot, but if you cut back on some things and use a separate turbine for a well rig you can cut back some.

Those little "roof mount" turbines are trash. They don't put out much power at all, let alone the amount you need to power a house for very long. At most, you might get a couple lightbulbs and a coffee maker's worth of power from it.


For hot water, I recommend using the "black pipes on the roof" approach. Done right, you can heat up more water hotter than a water heater can, for free. You only have hot water during the day, though. Some rigs also look pretty similar to solar panels.



Elcia:

The problem with that is that solar panels have a rather short service life, only a few years before the panel's kaput and you need to buy a new one. Only some places have viable enough wind for wind generators, and most of the country doesn't get strong enough sun to make solar practical. Unless there's some sort of major breakthrough, there is no sustainable energy source that is even remotely practical for most of the country.


Energy companies can't charge you if you're entierly under your own power. Actually, according to federal law, if you're still hooked up to grid power and produce more than you're using, they have to pay YOU for power.

Gaia has been glitchy all day, it's actually been kinda fun when you get over the "WTF?!" part.

As for the wind turbines, it's not the small house mount ones, these are large ones that would normally cost $1500. Not sure how my rents got the deal on that one.