For those that have successfully gone off-grid, how many watts?

Posted by Travis M on April 21, 2008, 11:26:51 AM

For those that have successfully gone off-grid, how many watts?
The subject says it all.  If you've take a home or other building that you use regularly (so, not a cabin where you're only there for a few days a month or something), how many watts total solar did it take?  Not talking batteries, other parts, or other costs, but just the solar panel.  How much did it take to take you "off the grid?"

Thanks!

 

Posted by Thomas Allen Schmidt on April 22, 2008, 04:22:21 AM

Re: For those that have successfully gone off-grid, how many watts? (Reply #1)

If you look at how rural electrification evolved on the grid starting around the early 1900's some of the first residential utility services were only 30 amps at 120 vac. Now you would be pressed to find a new home with nothing less than a 200 amp service at 240 volts.
For me personally I lived for the better part of twenty years without any electricity what so ever and now I live  with a 1000 watt PV array. So what? I don't need them per say I simply wanted them. You could ask 100 people and get a hundred different answers. Bon appetit!
Oh! Thats it inst it, your forming a concensus?
How much wattage do you need/want?
If I may offer a little advice? Try living without electricity for a while and you might realize that you can live without it, or at least a lot less of it.
It could be said that there are four modern day energy essentials in life; cooking, heating, refrigeration, and transportation and all of these with the exception of refrigeration (they perserved) were accomplished by our ancestors for thousands of years before us, without electricity.
 

Posted by John D on April 22, 2008, 09:21:52 AM

Re: For those that have successfully gone off-grid, how many watts? (Reply #2)
Travis,

I think it is also important to note those who are not entirely off-grid, but rely on alternatives for a portion of their electrical needs.  I have 425-watts of PV, and I use that to power my refrigerator and freezer.  I've automated my system so that it switches back to grid-supplied power when my batteries get low.  At the present time those devices run for about 12 hours per day on energy from the sun.  I add to the system as my budget allows, and may someday be able to go totally off-grid.

http://solarjohn.blogspot.com

John
 

Posted by Travis M on April 22, 2008, 10:38:40 AM

Re: For those that have successfully gone off-grid, how many watts? (Reply #3)

...If I may offer a little advice? Try living without electricity for a while and you might realize that you can live without it, or at least a lot less of it.
It could be said that there are four modern day energy essentials in life; cooking, heating, refrigeration, and transportation and all of these with the exception of refrigeration (they perserved) were accomplished by our ancestors for thousands of years before us, without electricity.

Oh, I agree!  And yea, just trying to see who else out there has taken a primary dwelling or other significant size building totally off-grid, and just how many watts of PV they're using to do it.

In our master bath, the vanity lights (two sinks, so two sets of four bulbs) are CFLs.  The overhead light is an edison-base LED that draws just 4 watts.  When we're not using the over-sink vanity lights, we just use the LED overhead, and if we want additional light (or warmer light for ambience) I have a pair of wall-mounted oil lamps.  Romantic, and cheap!  Our home also has a fireplace, but we're otherwise all-electric.  I do plan to get more oil lamps, and every bulb in the house is already CFL or LED.  In addition, I have a timer on the water heater that shuts in off from 12-4 AM (when we're sleeping) and 12-4 PM (when we're not home).  The system has to do a little catch-up work at 4am and 4pm, but that's still less energy usage than keeping water hot unnecessarily.  It also heat-shocks sediment off the elements, prolonging their life.  We have a timer on the HVAC that turns the heat down a degree at night, and down to 50° during the day.  When the AC is running, same thing.  Up a degree at night, and up to 80° during the day.  The thermostat has "recovery" mode, so it eases into the new setting slowly.

There are other things we've done, too (reflective tint on a few windows, Energy Star compliant refrigerator, etc.)

We're already doing as much as we can reasonably do, but we're open to further ideas.  Now we're down to seeing what others have done that actually works for them before we do anything big and expensive.

I've already taken my garage off-grid, and am slowly buying the PV necessary to charge my electric truck, which is almost completed.  In the end, the garage will probably have more PV than the house!
 

Posted by Gary Sindt on May 02, 2008, 07:04:12 PM

Re: For those that have successfully gone off-grid, how many watts? (Reply #4)


If I may offer a little advice? Try living without electricity for a while and you might realize that you can live without it, or at least a lot less of it.



I know that you can live without electricity, but it is a modern day convenience.  we got away from the Ice boxes, and Coal furnaces long ago.  I am looking for the same answer that this guy was.  I am wanting to know how much power is needed to get my home off of the grid, while still maintaining my current lifestyle. If you take a home with 200A service off of the grid, how many watts is it going to take to get it off?  I tried doing calculations, and came up with 2 different answers.

Using the formula P=IE, with the house having 200A service, and 240V input, P=200A * 240V, you get 48000W or 48Kw.  But the 240V line that comes into the home is split into 2.  giving you 2 lines at 120V with 100A for each run. that would end up P=(100A * 120V)2, which would give you 24000W, or 24Kw.

I could be totally off on my thinking, but which is a more accurate calculation? or would it be a combination of both calculations?

any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
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