Off Grid living

Qyburn

A rural property is almost certainly off grid for gas and sewerage already, and probably for water as well.

ariarnia

depending on where someone is could vertical turbines be an option? we have some friends in the middle of wales and they have a small solar panel and one turbine the roof of a workshop on a plot of land they own which runs to a battery they can use for the lights when theyre there. i dont think it makes much kwh but if you lived in a windy place and didn't mind having a few they might help towards covering baseload on gray days?

ariarnia

Deleted_User said:

ariarnia said:

depending on where someone is could vertical turbines be an option? we have some friends in the middle of wales and they have a small solar panel and one turbine the roof of a workshop on a plot of land they own which runs to a battery they can use for the lights when theyre there. i dont think it makes much kwh but if you lived in a windy place and didn't mind having a few they might help towards covering baseload on gray days?

The drawback that I see in wind power is the turbines need annual maintenance. Which costs. (Or do your friends say otherwise? This is what put me off turbines as we are at the top of a windy hill).

i think they bought it online or maybe from the energy place that's down the road from them (cat centre?) so i think they fitted it themselves and probably do the maintanance themselves to. its not huge. ive just quickly googled and it looks maybe like this (the blades were a differnt shape and only the one. unless they have more father back on the roof we couldnt see. but that kind of size) 



like i said i dont think it makes much power and there would be lots of places where its not worth it but just seemed the kind of thing people might be starting to see domestically not just those huge things you see in the distance. 

[Deleted User]

This month it's given us on average 1.5kwh a day of free electric.

And in December and January your panels will output very little to not a lot on any given day. My worst day last December was 350Wh and I have 6.35kWp of panels on my roof.

Krakkkers

Lots of free energy devices on youtube.

ariarnia

Deleted_User said:

We have portable generators and backup batteries. I have no clue about electric cars and charging, but would it be possible to pop down to the local charging station with your battery to top it up with a couple of kw of energy when you need it? Or even asking a family member of friend on a cheap off-peak tariff to charge - they could make a bit of extra money so a win-win. 

we don't have an ev but i think someone on here said public charging points are at commercial rates so 60p+ per kwh. i think depending on your battery and car that works out about the same or slightly more expensive than petrol. the bus would probably be cheaper than running a car lots of miles or keeping it on the road for only a few if cost saving is your aim. 

Krakkkers

Portable generator? Are you putting energy into the charging station?

ariarnia

Deleted_User said:

ariarnia said:

Deleted_User said:

We have portable generators and backup batteries. I have no clue about electric cars and charging, but would it be possible to pop down to the local charging station with your battery to top it up with a couple of kw of energy when you need it? Or even asking a family member of friend on a cheap off-peak tariff to charge - they could make a bit of extra money so a win-win. 

we don't have an ev but i think someone on here said public charging points are at commercial rates so 60p+ per kwh. i think depending on your battery and car that works out about the same or slightly more expensive than petrol. the bus would probably be cheaper than running a car lots of miles or keeping it on the road for only a few if cost saving is your aim. 

That does actually answer my question, but you misunderstood what I was getting at.

I don't have an electric car. But I was considering the possibility of taking a portable generator down to a charging station in the depths of winter when the solar system is failing to deliver?

If you go off-grid that saves you standing charges for energy. I don't know off hand what that is, but lets say £300 a year. Mostly you'd get your energy from solar but in the depths of winter solar won't give you enough. At 60p per kwh that's almost double what I'm paying now, but the saving from the standing charge would give you a 'free' few hundred Kwh which is more than you'd need to just plug those gaps in the winter.

Of course, I'm guessing that you'd need to sit for hours waiting for your battery to charge, and also it would rely on you having somewhere local to charge it.

But maybe that's a business opportunity for someone - to provide that service. 

i dont know if your battery would be compatible or if your local charging place would agree to you plugging in a random battery. i've seen ev plugs and there round with lots of pins so your battery would have to have the right kind of input. but maybe worth a conversation with them. 

about the price. this is from september and gives a range from 16p to 69p depending on if you have a subscription or where you are but the minimum charge on the cheaper ones seems to be at least £1 per charge

https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/electric/best-uk-public-charging-network/

[Deleted User]

i dont know if your battery would be compatible or if your local charging place would agree to you plugging in a random battery. 

For FAST EV charging up to 22kW, the charging point is nothing more than a power supply point. The actual charging is managed by the EV’s built in On Board Charger. For RAPID DC charging, 50kW+, the charger is the built into the charging point. 

Popping down to your local charging station with a battery will never be as simple as getting a gallon of petrol for the lawnmower.

LunaLater

Krakkkers said:

Lots of free energy devices on youtube.

Yes, but they tend to be the “break the laws of physics” type rather than renewable energy.