OVERNIGHT

HOMEE N E R G Y

A Comprehensive Guide for Going Off-Grid with a SELF-SUSTAINABLE POWER SYSTEM

By RICHARD MARSHALL

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Table ofCONTENTS

2 CHAPTER 1 - OVERNIGHT HOME ENERGY

Introduction to Off Grid Energy

The Condition of the Grid

What Will Happen When the Power Goes Out?

Why You Need to Be Off the Grid

6 CHAPTER 2 - ELECTRICAL POWER OPTIONS: PROS & CONS

Generators

Geothermal Power

Wind Power

Solar Power

Which Should You Use?

15 CHAPTER 3 - BUILDING YOUR OWN ENERGY SOURCE

Building Solar Panels

How To Reduce Costs With Free Solar Panels

Building Wind Turbine Generators

Battery Backup Systems

Connecting to the Home

25 BONUS - OTHER USES FOR SOLAR POWER

Solar Heating

Solar Hot Water

Solar Cooking

31 CONCLUSION

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Chapter 1

OVERNIGHT HOME ENERGY

INTRODUCTION TO OFF GRID ENERGY

Let’s face it, modern society is hooked on energy; especially electrical energy. It seems that just about everything we do these days requires electrical energy to accomplish. Whereas our ancestors didn’t even know what electricity was, most of us wouldn’t know how to live without it.

While it is possible for us to live without electrical power, to do so would require reverting to the ways our ancestors did things before electricity became commonplace. Many of the things which make our lives more convenient would be lost to us, along with much of what we use for business and entertainment.

In recent years, the loss of electrical power has become a common occurrence in this country after a natural disaster has struck. People in the affected areas have gone without electrical power for weeks or even months, while crews worked to rebuild the grid. Each of those cases was merely a regional disaster, not anything that affected us on a national basis.

In each of those cases, repair crews from other parts of the nation were sent to the affected area to participate in the reconstruction of the grid. Local technicians and contractors weren’t enough to complete the work, necessitating the addition of those extra crews. But what would happen in a nationwide crisis? Where would the crews come from to help put things back together? How long would it be before everyone had power once again?

Those who expect Big Brother to take care of them will be shocked to discover that the government doesn’t have a plan for this type of crisis. The total lack of electrical power will not only affect our ability to use computers, televisions, and video games; it will affect every aspect of our lives. Everything from food preservation and preparation to medical services to fresh water depends on electrical power. Without it, many vital services will come to a screeching halt.

Should a nationwide crisis strike, there isn’t enough support at any level to rebuild or repair the electrical grid quickly. Many will suffer, waiting for the government and the power companies to get their act together and restore electrical power. The only ones who won’t be affected are those that are prepared.

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THE CONDITION OF THE GRID

“So why should we be concerned about the condition of the electrical grid? If it’s been working for all these years, why should we be concerned that it won’t continue to work? Even if the power lines to our homes blow down, the major lines should still be in place, right? Shouldn’t they be able to take care of us quickly, even with a nationwide disaster?”

Not a chance.

Anyone who believes that the government and the power companies can take care of a major problem with the grid is out of touch with reality. After Hurricane Sandy, many neighborhoods were without power for two weeks, even after all the planning and preparation that was done to find a better way of restoring power in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The problem isn’t so much the people, the problem is the equipment.

Much of our grid is over 50 years old, with parts of it having been built over 100 years ago. No system created by man is designed to be used that long. In fact, when those systems were built, they were designed for a lifespan of only 50 years. So, even much of the “newest” equipment has already reached the end of its useful life.

That doesn’t mean that nothing is being done to upgrade the grid; but the reality is that what’s being done is too little, too late. It’s not the fault of the power companies either. Every time they propose a new project, they get shot down in the permitting process. Whether that’s the cause of government bureaucrats or environmental groups is hard to say. In most cases, the two seem to be working together to thwart any new projects.

Without new power plants and transmission lines, the power companies are left with the job of patching up the old ones. That can only go on so long, before they can’t be patched up any more.

The current administration’s goal is to replace the aging electrical grid, especially the power production part of it, with alternative energy which doesn’t pollute. While that’s an admirable goal, the technology just isn’t advanced enough to make that a reality. Nevertheless, they have dumped hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money into propping up the alternative energy industry; money that ends up being wasted when those companies go bankrupt. Sadly, these industries have not reached the point where they are able to sustain themselves, let alone sustain the grid.

Obama’s answer for that is to increase taxes on coal-fired power, expecting that to force power companies to make the switch. In reality, all that will do is make energy costs higher for the average American consumer.

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WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN THE POWER GOES OUT?

The question isn’t “will the power go out?” but “when will the power go out?” You can be pretty sure that sometime soon, electrical power will be lost in the city where you live. How bad the situation will be when that happens should be another question we ask ourselves; so that we can begin planning for how we will mitigate the impact on our lives.

Losing electrical power doesn’t just mean a loss of our refrigerators and television sets; much of our infrastructure depends upon it as well. Just about everything we need on a day-to-day basis requires electricity to get it to us. Our fresh water, sewage treatment, gasoline, food, and communications are all electrically based. Without electrical power, none of them work.

So, a loss of the electrical grid isn’t just a loss of our Nintendo systems, it’s a loss of almost everything we depend upon. We’re a long way away from the time when people were self-sufficient and able to get a bucket of water from their own backyard well. Most don’t possess the skills necessary to hunt and gather food in the wild. Even for those that have those skills, there isn’t enough game out there to feed everyone.

Quite literally, loss of electrical power means the loss of modern life. It means going back to a much more basic and primitive way of doing almost everything we do. It means that we’re going to have to learn how to survive without a lot of things, or make do with something else.

WHY YOU NEED TO BE OFF THE GRID

There is no simple solution to the problems our country faces with our electrical grid. Many years and many billions of dollars will have to be spent to restore the grid to something that we can depend on. Even so, nobody is spending that money. Once again, this isn’t the fault of the electrical companies, because they are at least trying. It’s the fault of the government bureaucrats who won’t allow them to go forward.

As ordinary citizens, we can’t fix this situation for our country. The most we can do is fix it for ourselves. Getting our homes off the grid eliminates at least part of our dependency upon a failing system which isn’t being updated fast enough. If we can produce even a fraction of the electrical power we’re consuming each month, then when the grid goes down we won’t have to go down with it.

This doesn’t mean producing all of the electricity that your family buys from the power company each month; rather, it’s about creating enough electricity to power critical systems. For most homes, critical systems refers to refrigeration, a pump for the well, communications, some small appliances, maybe even a one-room air conditioner. Once your family gets to that point, then maybe you can look at going further.

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In addition to preparing for an emergency, getting off the grid can save you a lot of money.

Even if your family is able to produce only 20 percent of your monthly electrical needs, it can make a huge difference in your monthly expenses. As energy costs go up, that difference will increase even more. So, investing money in getting off the grid doesn’t make sense just from an emergency preparedness point of view, but it makes sense from a basic financial point of view as well.

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Chapter 2

ELECTRICAL POWER OPTIONS: PROS & CONS

Considering how fragile the energy grid is, it only makes sense to come up with a way of generating your own electrical power. That leaves the question of how to do so. Leaving out the expensive methods of building a hydroelectric plant or a private nuclear power reactor, along with all the red tape that both of those entail, there are four basic means of generating electricity:

1. Generators

2. Geothermal power

3. Solar power

4. Wind power

Each of these methods has its own pros and cons, based on cost, sustainability, the region where your family lives, climate or weather, and how much energy needs to be produced. So, let’s take a look at each of them, to determine which options are the most logical to pursue.

Before we start, let’s talk about how much electricity a family needs. There are two ways to think of this question: critical systems and

whole house need. Creating power for just the critical systems is a much smaller requirement and easier to think of, but won’t provide enough electrical power for everything in the home to function. On the other hand, producing enough electricity to allow the home to go completely off the grid would be extremely expensive.

For the typical home, critical systems consist of the things that the family has to have in order to function. While everyone’s ideas of what should be included in critical systems is different, for most families, that means refrigeration, communications, some basic lighting and some basic ventilation. If the family has members with special medical needs, that must be included in the critical systems as well.

Let’s start by looking at a family’s normal electrical consumption. It is easy to determine this from their electric bill. In order to do this we need to understand how it all works.

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1. One kilowatt hour is 1,000 watts of power, over an hour’s time.

2. If the family’s electric bill says that they consumed 2,286 kWh of electricity, that’s the same as saying that:

a. They ran a device that consumes 1 kW for 2,286 hours

b. Or, they ran a device that consumes 2,286 kW for one hour

c. More likely, all the electrical devices in the home together consumed 3.175 kW of power for the 720 hours that there were in the month. This was calculated by dividing the 2,286 kW by the 720 hours in the month.

With that it’s possible to break down an average electric bill in order to find out the family’s average electric consumption:

1. Determine this average electrical consumption per month. To do so, add the cost of the family’s electric bills for 12 months, and then divide the number by 12. This will show how much the family spends per month on their electric usage.

2. Select a bill that is representative of that average month for that family. In other words, the bill for a month that comes as close as possible to the average monthly cost, which was calculated in step one.

3. Somewhere on the bill, it will list the total number of kilowatt hours that have been charged for on that bill. That was the family’s electric consumption for that month.

4. Figure out the number of hours that were in that month. Since there are 24 hours in a day, that means taking the number of days in the month that the bill represents and multiplying it by 24.

5. To calculate the average hourly electric consumption, divide the total kilowatt hours from the electric bill, by the number of hours in the month.

6. Do the same for the highest usage month, in order to find out what the worst-case consumption is as well.

For example:

• A family adds up their monthly electric bills for a year, and divides by 12, determining that their average monthly electric cost is $170.00. They find a bill that their bill for May is $174.88 and decide to use that to represent the average month.

• On that May bill, they find that they used 1,742 kWh of electricity for the month.

• Since the month of May has 31 days, they calculate 31 x 24 to determine that there are 744 hours in the month.

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• They then divide the 1,742 kWh of electricity that they used for the month by the 744 hours in the month, which tells them that they used an average of 2.34 kW of electricity per hour that month.

To determine the electrical power consumption of the critical systems is a bit more complicated, as it is necessary to determine the actual power consumption of each device and add it up. In most cases, the manufacturer doesn’t give you this information in watts or kilowatts, but rather in amps. It is necessary to convert from one to the other. To convert amps to watts, multiply the amps by 120.

For example, one of the electrical appliances that just about everyone would agree qualifies as part of their critical systems would be their refrigerator. The average refrigerator consumes 6 amps of power. To determine how many watts that is, multiply 6 by 120, giving a result of 720 watts.

For comparison purposes, the average commercial windmill produces about 700 watts of power; so it would not quite produce enough electrical power on its own to power a refrigerator full time.

Now that we have an idea of total electrical consumption per month, let’s look at the various systems that are available.

GENERATORS

Gas powered generators are the most common means of producing electrical energy that one can purchase to power their home, with the lowest initial investment cost. However, they are the least sustainable, requiring constant consumption of gasoline. That makes them the worst option, as far as cost of operation.

Based upon our calculations above, a 5,000 watt (5 kW) portable gasoline powered portable generator will produce enough power to run the critical systems, plus a little bit more, in the average home. Portable generators are the least expensive to buy, but the most expensive to operate. An average 5 kW gasoline powered generator costs somewhere between $500 to $700, with a few top-of-the-line models running higher. Running full time, that generator will consume about 18 gallons of gasoline per 24 hour period of time. A smaller generator, such as a 3,500 watt one (at a cost of $350 to $500), will consume less gasoline; roughly 12 gallons in a 24 hour period of time.

To buy an inverter generator is considerably more expensive. For the same 5,000 watt capacity, an inverter generator will run almost $2,000. However it pays for itself in a crisis situation in that it brings fuel consumption all the way down to 2.5 gallons per 24 hour period of time. Since gasoline is hard to store over an extended period of time, the reduced fuel consumption is a great advantage.

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Whole house generators don’t use gasoline, but rather are run off of either natural gas or liquid propane (LP) gas. These are much larger generators, ranging from 12 kW to 45 kW. A 12 kW whole house generator costs roughly $3,000, while a 45 kW one costs upwards of $13,000.

A whole house generator that is running off natural gas will consume from 130 to 450 cu ft/hr, depending upon the size of the generator. For example, a 15 kW whole house generator will consume about 200 cu ft/hr. With a cost at the time of this writing of about $10.00 per 1,000 cubic foot, it would cost $48.00 per day to operate that generator.

Whether natural gas will be available during a major crisis or not is questionable. The pumping stations that push the gas through the pipes are not electrically powered, but are driven by motors that burn natural gas. However, the controls are electric. The pumping stations that move that gas through the pipes, so that it can get to people’s homes, have the capability of producing their own electricity, making them totally self-sufficient. That is, they are totally self-sufficient as long as everything keeps working and nothing disrupts the system.

If the generator is running off of liquefied propane (LP) gas, it will consume from 81 to 180 cu ft/hr. A 15 kW whole house generator will consume 85 cu ft/hr. If a home is using LP, the company which is providing the propane will typically provide a 500 gallon tank, rent free. At a cost of about $2.50 per gallon at the time of this writing, it will cost $1,250 to fill that tank. That 500 gallons converts to 17,825 cubic feet of propane, enough to run the 15 kW generator for 8-3/4 days. That works out to $142.86 per day.

Regardless of the generator option, the cost of fuel and the amount of fuel which can be stored practically are the biggest factors. All of those options require a lot of fuel, no matter how you look at it. Of all the options available, a generator is the most ineffective option, cost-wise.

GEOTHERMAL POWER

Geothermal energy is one of the alternative energy sources being touted as a solution to the current burning of fossil fuels. While the technology is sufficiently advanced to be practical and usable, the cost is still rather prohibitive.

Geothermal heat pumps for heating and cooling homes are available in most parts of the country. Since they are a heat pump system, a large temperature differential is not necessary. The most expensive part of these systems is the “loop” that must be put into the ground. Cost varies considerably, based upon the size of the home, and the in-ground thermal conditions where you live.

Creating electricity from geothermal heat is much more complicated than using it for heating and cooling, as well as being more complicated than the other systems discussed

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in this book. The water needs to turn to steam in the loop. That means drilling a much deeper hole for the loop than is needed for geothermal heating and cooling. These wells can range anywhere from 1,600 feet deep to as much as 6 miles deep, depending upon the part of the country that the system is being installed in and the “thermal flow” of that area.

The “thermal flow” of the ground changes considerably from region to region and from place to place. Yellowstone Park in northwestern Wyoming is the hottest spot in the country. The western states have fairly good thermal flow overall, while the eastern half of the country has almost none. This thermal flow is essential to making a functional geothermal electrical generating system. In areas where there is little thermal flow, the wells drilled have to be closer to that six mile figure in order to generate steam.

Each geothermal system has to be individually engineered and designed by a competent geothermal contractor. Unfortunately, as each case is different, there is no way to provide detailed information for calculating the installation of a geothermal electrical system.

A geothermal electrical generating system is going to cost $20,000 or more. This is definitely not one that you can do yourself, but will need to hire a specialty contractor for it. However, once installed, it requires very little maintenance and will provide essentially free electricity for years.

Search the Internet for geothermal contractors in your area and compare quotes to get the best deal on a geothermal system for your property.

WIND POWER

Wind power is rapidly growing in popularity across the country. It is especially useful in areas that are known for consistent high winds. Wind turbines, more commonly referred to as windmills, have been in use for many years and are readily available. You can even buy them from your local building supply center.

The most common sort of wind generator is a horizontal one. This refers to the axle that the blades rotate around being horizontal. The blades themselves turn around a vertical axis. Typically, three blades are used, as experience has shown that three bladed wind generators are the most efficient.

The blades are normally mounted to a hub, which connects directly to a generator. For homemade wind generators, a DC motor is often used as the generator. Power from the generator is used to charge a bank of batteries and then inverted to provide power to the home.

Vertical wind generators can vary extensively in appearance, as they are largely experimental. In some cases, the blades Horizontal Wind Generator

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are shaped like airfoils (airplane wings) that are curved in an attempt to catch the wind more efficiently. The one thing that they all share in common is that they rotate around a vertical axis.

Of all the alternate power production methods, wind generators are the cheapest overall, when you consider both purchase price and cost of usage. While a gas generator can be purchased for less than a wind generator, the gas generator has the added cost of gasoline. Once installed, a wind generator has no operating costs. Of course, to produce electricity, the generator needs wind.

A number of people have successfully made their own horizontal wind turbine generators and are using them to produce electricity, either at their home or at a secondary bug-out location. They are fairly inexpensive to make, requiring nothing more than normal handyman skills.

Horizontal wind generators are also available for order from most home improvement centers. These range in output power from 400 to 1,000 watts, at costs ranging from $500 to $3,000. There are also businesses online which sell horizontal wind turbines. Some of these units can produce as much as 3,500 watts of power and cost as much as $10,000.

Some of the manufacturers of home wind turbines are:

• Aeolos Wind Turbines

• Bergey Wind Power

• Kestrel Wind Turbines

• Xzeres Wind

Some wind turbines come complete with a tower, but not all do. If a turbine is selected that does not come with a tower, then one will need to be purchased and installed for it. The same sort of tower that is used for a television antenna will work for a wind turbine as well. Some of the larger ones require a three-pole tower. In those cases, the manufacturer will specify what is required.

In addition, the necessary wires and junction box to tie the wind turbine into the home’s wiring system will need to be purchased and installed. This should be done by a qualified electrician, in order to ensure that the work is done properly. Failure to use the services of a qualified electrician could void the home’s insurance in the case of a fire.

We will discuss in a later chapter how you can build your own horizontal wind turbine, as well as how to connect it into the home electrical system.

Vertical Wind Generator

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SOLAR POWER

Solar power is probably the most popular alternative for people who are seeking to get off the grid. While solar is expensive to buy and install, it provides free energy for the life of the cells (as long as 40 years). Solar power systems are virtually maintenance-free.

Solar panels are good in any climate where there is a lot of sun. They will even work with some cloud cover, but some level of efficiency is lost. About the only place where they are not practical is in climates where there is little sun and a lot of rain. While the panels would still produce some power in those conditions, the loss of power production is enough to make them impractical.

Most people who go with solar power do so gradually, installing a few panels at a time, as their finances allow. This permits them to begin

receiving the benefits of the panels, without having to pay the price of a full system. Considering that a full solar system can cost $30,000, installing it in phases is wise.

It is possible to save a considerable amount of money on the installation of a solar system by building and installing it yourself. There are many sources to buy individual solar cells, which can then be built into panels. The same companies that sell solar cells usually sell full panel kits as well. These kits contain all the materials necessary to build a solar panel. The savings garnered by doing the work yourself make the payback on the solar installation much faster. We will discuss how to do this in a later chapter.

The biggest drawback to solar panels is that it takes a lot of panels to produce enough power to be effective. Individual solar cells don’t produce much electricity, so it takes a lot of them, chained together, in order to produce enough electrical power to be useful. It is not uncommon to see the entire roof of a home that is solar powered covered with solar panels.

Solar panels come in a wide variety of sizes. As the surface area of the panel is directly related to the power output, that means that they also come in a wide range of power ratings. A fairly typical solar panel would be three feet by five feet in size, and produce 240 watts. This size panel would cost somewhere from $300 to $350. However, this wattage is somewhat deceptive, as the voltage of the panel is lower than needed for home use.

Solar panels vary considerably in output voltage as well, as manufacturers have to make them so that they produce a higher voltage than the 12 volts that they are nominally designed for. As different manufacturers have different ideas of how much more voltage their panels should produce, the panels themselves have different output ratings. In all cases, this overage is there to ensure that the panels will produce at least 12 volts even on partly cloudy days. In addition, the solar cells that the panels are made of degrade over time, reducing their output voltage. Manufacturers take that into consideration in their design as well, ensuring that new panels are rated for enough voltage that they will still produce sufficient voltage after 20 years of use.

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The stated wattage is the wattage that the panel will produce at somewhere between 20 and 38 volts. If the panel is connected to a battery backup system, it will be operating at 12 volts.

For the sake of an understanding what this means, it would help to look at an example. In this example, we’ll use a solar panel that produces 240 watts at 30 volts. House current is 120 volts, four times as much voltage as the nominal voltage of the panel. Voltage and wattage are directly related to one another, so to increase the 30 volts of the panel four times, in order to arrive at the 120 volts that is required, the 240 watts needs to be divided by four, making that panel produce 60 watts at 120 volts.

However, those 60 watts are assuming 100 percent working efficiency. Cloud cover and the age of the panel can reduce this considerably, and the amount that it is reduced varies constantly depending upon the available sunlight.

When we compare that 60 watt figure to the amount of power that a home uses, we see that it takes a lot of panels to produce enough power for a home. With our earlier example of a home that uses 2.34 kW of power (or 2,340 watts of power), we see that it would take a minimum of 39 of those panels to provide enough power to take that home off the grid. Actually, it would take more, because all of these calculations have been based upon 100 percent efficiency and the home’s average electrical consumption. Calculations would have to be made based upon the home’s heaviest energy usage.

There are a number of suppliers for complete solar panels, as well as contractors who can provide and install complete systems. Some of the biggest manufacturers in the United States are:

• First Solar

• Sunpower

• Greenshire New Energy

It’s possible to save a considerable amount of money on solar panels by building them yourself. We’ll

discuss how to do this in the next chapter.

WHICH SHOULD YOU USE?

Trying to decide which alternative power option to use is a complicated question. Each system has its own pros and cons. While climate in your area is a factor, so is the total cost of the system.

The best option for most people isn’t to pick a particular type of alternative power and stick with it, but rather to use a combination of systems. This helps to eliminate the negative characteristics of

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each system, by allowing the other system to take over in those areas. Overall, a combined system provides more consistent electrical power to the home in an emergency.

Most preppers use a combination of solar and wind power for their emergency power system. They will put in a wind generator and a couple of solar panels. As funds are available, they might add additional solar panels to the system, increasing its overall capacity.

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Chapter 3

BUILDING YOUR OWN ENERGY SOURCE

A huge savings can be had by people who build their own alternative energy generators. While building a gasoline generator or installing a geothermal generator are probably beyond the technical capability of most people, building a wind generator or solar panel aren’t. These two forms of energy production lend themselves nicely to do-it-yourselfers, providing a way to save a bundle of money in the process. In the case of solar panels, it’s possible to save about 75 percent by building your own.

BUILDING SOLAR PANELS

Before you go about harnessing solar energy, you should consider your home’s layout and ensure that any panels you install will have access to consistent sunlight. It’s imperative that you avoid any shade. If even one panel is shaded, it can wipe out a much larger portion of the entire array. In addition, the sun’s rays are strongest at different points of the horizon depending on your latitude, so adjusting the incline of your solar panels will make the most of this energy.

Solar panels are just a bunch of solar cells connected together. That makes it fairly easy for anyone who knows how to solder electrical components and has some basic building skills to put them together themselves. The hardest part of the project is actually soldering the individual cells together without damaging them. When wiring cells together, you can customize the power output with the wiring pattern you use. Once that is done, it’s just a matter of mounting them in an airtight, glass-fronted panel.

Individual solar cells are available for purchase online for a reasonable price. Some savings can be garnered by being willing to buy damaged cells. These will be ones with chips on the corners and edges. They produce marginally less power, but not enough to cause any perceptible problem.

The easiest place to buy solar cells for building panels is through Alive After Crisis. Several kits and supplies are available that you cannot typically find at your local hardware store. To purchase panels or kits online go to http://aliveaftercrisis.com/supplies/solar.

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If buying via eBay or another online vendor, it’s important to make sure that all of the solar cells which will be used in one panel are the same size and rating.

Individual solar cells produce 0.5 volts from 2 to 6 watts each, depending upon their physical size. They are available tabbed (with lead wires attached) or untabbed, where the builder would have to attach the lead wires. The wire that is usually used for this is called “tabbing wire” and can be purchased from the same place you purchase the solar cells. The individual cells have to be connected together by wires, in order to produce enough electrical power to be usable.

There are two ways of connecting electrical devices together, serially or in parallel. Since solar cells produce electricity, we can think of them like batteries. So to understand the difference between the two, think of a common two-cell flashlight for a moment. The batteries in that flashlight are connected in series. That means that the positive pole (the end with the nipple) of one battery is connected to the negative pole of the other. When the batteries are connected together in this manner, the

voltage of the individual batteries is added together, giving a higher total voltage. In the case of our two-cell flashlight, that means that the two 1.5 volt batteries are providing 3.0 volts.

The batteries of a five battery flashlight, such as some of the big Maglite flashlights, will produce 7.5 volts. That allows them to use a more powerful bulb, producing more light. For a solar panel, it is necessary to produce at least 12 volts, so a minimum of 24 solar cells have to be hooked together in series to produce that.

Actually, 12 volts isn’t sufficient to always ensure a minimum of 12 volts. It is essential that the system always produce at least 12 volts, because that’s the minimum necessary in order to charge a car battery (storage for the power created). So it is much better to connect 30 solar cells together, in order to get 15 volts at whatever wattage the solar cells are rated at. Making a solar panel that produces more than the minimum necessary voltage ensures that it will produce enough voltage to be useful, even on a slightly cloudy day. At the same time, the overage in voltage rating compensates for the slow degradation of the solar cells that happens with time, giving the solar panel a longer life.

It is necessary to have several strings of 30 solar cells soldered together, as each string will add to the overall power produced, as measured in watts. Let’s go back to our flashlight batteries once again. Although connecting them in series increases their voltage, it doesn’t affect the wattage of power that can be pulled from the batteries. To do that, we need to connect them in parallel. That means connecting the positive terminals of all of the batteries together and connecting the negative terminals of all of the batteries together.

When the batteries are connected together in parallel, the wattage is added together, but the voltage remains the same. So, five D cell batteries connected in parallel will only produce 1.5 volts, but it will produce five times as much current (wattage).

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What we really want to create is what is known as a “series parallel circuit” out of the solar cells. That means that parts of the circuit are connected in series and other parts are connected in parallel. To do so, it is necessary to take the strings of solar cells that were made earlier and connect them in parallel, so that all the positive wires from each string of cells are connected together and all the negative wires are connected together. The end result will be a solar panel that will produce 15 volts at perhaps 100 watts.

In the diagram each row of cells are connected serially. The two rows are then connected in parallel. Since there are six cells in each series of cells, this array will produce 3 volts. If we assume that each cell is providing 3 watts, then each row is producing the same 3 watts. The two rows tied together will produce 6 watts.

Before setting out to start soldering solar cells together, there’s one other detail to take care of. That is to determine the physical layout of the solar panel, so that the individual cells can be placed in the right places. Otherwise, they might not be connected together with enough wire.

A solar panel is just a bunch of individual solar cells mounted and connected together. So, it is important to have a plan for how they are going to be mounted together, before soldering the wires. This requires planning out the panel itself, before connecting the cells together.

The panel needs to keep the solar cells physically mounted together, protected from the elements, and pointed in the right direction as to catch the sun’s rays the best they can. So, it’s not a very complicated device, but it must be built strong enough to withstand snow and wind and waterproof enough to keep moisture from getting inside to fog the glass.

As you can see from this diagram, the construction of the panel itself isn’t complicated. The main thing is to seal it from moisture. To this end, the aluminum C channels that hold the whole thing together are filled with a bead of silicone sealant, before assembly. Once assembled, the edges

of the channel are also sealed. The backing plate can be anything which will provide stiffness, while keeping moisture out. A stiff plastic is best, but if plywood is used it should be combined with a layer of plastic as a moisture barrier.

The size of the panel will affect the physical placement of the individual solar cells. Even if the solar cells are soldered together before building the panel, it is important to know the size of panel being built, in order to determine the layout. For most people, the size ends up being determined by the materials they have available to them.

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The cells themselves can be mounted to the backing plate with double-sided foam adhesive. By putting the wires behind the cells, they aren’t blocking any of the light. It’s also a good idea to put some silicone desiccant packages inside the assembly, to absorb any moisture contained within it at the time of assembly.

The solar panel will need some sort of mounting bracket to hold it in place. This mounting will need to hold the solar panel at the optimum angle, where it receives the best possible sunlight. Unless installing a solar tracker to automatically adjust the tilt and direct the solar panels throughout the day, they should face true south, which is different than magnetic south. The amount of difference depends upon the location where the panels are to be installed. Search the web for “magnetic declination” in your area to learn the difference.

The angle of the panels depends upon the longitude of the installation location. There are two options: make this fixed, or make provisions for seasonally adjusting it twice per year. Adjusting the angle provides about a four percent increase in power output. The angle of a fixed installation can be calculated by:

• If the latitude is below 25o, the latitude needs to be multiplied by 0.87.

• If the latitude is above 25o, the latitude needs to be multiplied by 0.76, plus 3.1 degrees.

• If the latitudes is above 50o, it requires some special calculations, but this only applies to people living in Alaska

If the panels are going to have their angle adjusted seasonally, the adjustment should be made to the summer angle on March 30th and the winter angle on September 12th. For latitudes between 25o and 50o, the angle can be calculated by:

• Multiplying the latitude times 0.93, minus 21 degrees for summer

• Multiplying the latitude times 0.875, plus 19.2 degrees for winter

Some people adjust their solar panels four times per year, but the additional power gained is less than one percent. For clarification, all of these angles are referring to off the vertical. In other words, at a tilt angle of zero, the panel would face straight up. The angles mentioned here are the angle off of zero, aiming the panel more to the south.

Multiple solar panels can and should be connected together. They must be connected in parallel, so that the current is added and the voltage stays the same.

Solar panels can either be connected directly to the home or connected through a battery back-up system. We will discuss later how to build a battery back-up system.

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HOW TO REDUCE COSTS WITH FREE SOLAR PANELS

The next time you’re driving along the highway, keep an eye out for one of those illuminated roadside signs – they’re solar-powered and contain PV panels on top.

If you can safely and legally park on the side of the road, get out and write down the name and phone number of the traffic sign rental company to which the sign belongs. This information should be printed on a sticker on the side of the sign.

Look up the rental company online or call and get directions to their warehouse. Then visit them in person and ask the mechanics or maintenance staff for any damaged or chipped solar panels. Most shops have dozens of these panels lying around and are happy to get rid of them for free.

When you get home, test and repair each panel as best as possible. Sealing cracks with clear silicone and re-soldering the wires will make many of the panels produce up to 75% of their original power output. Using a multimeter will allow you to check the amperage and wattage of each panel so you’ll know how well it’s working.

Be sure to stop by the rental company every few weeks to pick up more panels. If you bring along some snacks and develop a good relationship with the staff, you can build your entire system using these free panels!

BUILDING WIND TURBINE GENERATORS

As with solar panels, it’s important to consider the layout of your property prior to building your own wind turbine generator. You can determine the location with the most wind activity by placing several wooden stakes with ribbons tied around them around your property. When the wind picks up, you’ll be able to see where you’ll get the strong, consistent airflow needed for wind power.

It’s possible to build both horizontal and vertical axis wind turbine generators. Of the two, horizontal axis ones are much more common, as they are considerably easier to build. The biggest problem with vertical axis wind turbines is leverage. A wide circle is necessary to ensure that the blades are far enough away from the axle to have enough leverage. If they are not far enough, the turbine won’t turn without very high winds. However, vertical axis windmills are quieter, which is why some people choose them.

Horizontal axis wind generators will turn in lighter winds, because it is easier to ensure that at least part of the blades are sufficiently far from the axle to provide leverage. There are also fewer parts involved, as the hub for the blades can attach directly to the generator without pulleys or gears.

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The actual electrical generator on a wind generator is a DC motor. Motors and generators are essentially the same thing, just used in opposite ways; one converts electricity to motion, while the other converts motion into electricity. Ideally, a low speed motor that is rated higher than 12 volts should be selected to use as the generator. The average speed of most motors is 1750 RPM, which is much faster than a wind turbine is able to turn; instead, a motor that is designed to turn at 300 to 400 RPM should be used. The reason why

it should also be more than 12 volts is so that if it is not running at full speed, it will still produce at least 12 volts.

Wind generator kits can be purchased online for between $300 to $600 and several are available through Alive After Crisis. To browse the current inventory and purchase a kit online, go to http://aliveaftercrisis.com/supplies/wind.

Another option is to scrounge parts and buy used stuff locally or on eBay, which is a cheaper alternative for those on a budget.

The first thing you’ll need for your wind generator is a DC motor. There are many used ones available, most of which have been taken out of equipment, such as old computer tape drives for mainframe systems. These are ideal, as they are the right speed and voltage range for a wind generator. An assortment of these can be found on eBay for $20 to $50.

The hardest part of building a horizontal axis wind generator is making the hub and blades to attach to the motor/generator. The hub is a metal or plastic disk which can bolt onto the motor shaft and to which the blades can be bolted. This needs to be thicker than sheet metal (anywhere from 1/4 inch thick on up to an inch), as it has to be able to hold itself perpendicular to the motor’s shaft and hold the blades without bending.

The hub has to be big enough in diameter to attach the blades so that they will be held rigidly in place. That means a minimum of eight inches in diameter. A central hole will have to be bored through the hub to match the size of the motor shaft. The holes for the mounting of the blades need to be drilled so that the blades are evenly spaced around the hub and exactly perpendicular to the edge of the hub. A minimum of two holes per blade is needed in order to hold the blades rigid.

Three blades seem to work well for most horizontal wind turbines; this is the most common number for commercially produced ones. These can be made out of six inch PVC pipe. The pipe needs to be cut in thirds lengthwise and then shaped to form the blades.

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There is no ideal blade length or design; a lot depends upon the location that the wind turbine is being installed, the motor that is used and the amount of wind that there is in that location. The diagram below shows a typical blade design. Since this is being cut out of a section of PVC pipe, the blade is actually curved. So, for the blade in the diagram, if the bottom edge was lying on a table, the top of the blade would be curved up away from the table.

Although this diagram shows a flat blade, remember that the blade is actually curved. The straight side of the blade is the part that is against the hub, while the curved side sticks up away from it. This provides an angle to the blade, as well as stiffness. The angle is necessary to force the airflow of the wind to turn the wind generator.

The longer the blade is the more leverage it has and the lower wind velocity needed to turn the wind turbine. However, the longer the blade is the weaker it becomes, and more likely to bend or even break in high wind situations. Therefore, a blade length of 36” to 42” is usually ideal for this type of wind turbine, made with these materials.

The blades are bolted to the hub, which is in turn bolted to the motor shaft. All of this together is mounted to a base on a bearing, so that it can turn into the wind. The assembly must be balanced so that the center of gravity is directly over the bearing. The addition of a tail ensures that your wind turbine is always pointed into the wind. As the wind hits the tail, it causes the tail to turn, until it is exactly parallel to the wind’s direction, making the blades point directly into the wind. To do this, the total area of the tail has to be at least twenty percent larger than the area of the three blades together.

The length of the boom depends upon the size of the motor being used and the size of the tail. While length is not critical, it should be long enough to ensure that the leading edge of the tail is at least as far from the bearing as the blades are.

A variety of different types of bearings can be used for building a wind generator. Since the purpose of the bearing is to allow the wind generator to turn freely into the wind, a ball-bearing unit is best. The ball bearing unit selected must be a “thrust bearing” or a tapered roller bearing, such as would be used as a wheel bearing on a car. The bearing must be of sufficiently large diameter to go around the metal pipe or tubing used as a mast. If a tapered roller bearing is used, the appropriate sized race must be purchased to go with it. If the local auto parts store doesn’t have the bearings needed, Grainger Industrial Supply is an excellent source. They can be found online at http://www.grainger.com.

For maximum efficiency, the wind generator needs to be mounted high enough so that the blades are in the path of the wind. If the wind generator is installed in the back yard of a home, this would

Tapered rollr bearing

Roller thrust bearing

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mean using a high enough mast to place it above the height of fences, trees and neighboring homes. A mast that high requires guy wires to make it stable. If the predominant winds at the home where the wind generator is installed are from a particular direction, then the height of the mast much be high enough to provide a clear wind path only from that direction and not from all directions.

Please note that this diagram is not to scale, it is merely provided as a means to demonstrate how the various components of the wind turbine head are connected together. It is also showing only one blade, not the three which are required. The motor can be held to the boom with large hose clamps or other metal bands.

In order for your wind turbine to draw maximum power from the air on your property, be sure to use the ideal size gauge of wire. An electrician can help you determine the best size wire for your unit.

BATTERY BACKUP SYSTEMS

The problem with any means of producing electricity is that power production times and power usage times don’t necessarily agree. Take lighting for example. Lights are normally used only at night in most homes, but a solar power system is only producing electricity during the day. Since the light can’t be stored, some way of storing the electricity is needed.

That’s where a battery backup system comes in. The electrical power that the wind generator and solar panels produce is used to charge a bank of batteries. Then, a voltage inverter is connected to the bank of batteries, in order to produce the necessary power for use in the home (see the diagram below).As you’ll recall, the solar panels and the wind generator systems are designed to produce more than 12 volts DC, so that they can be used to charge 12 volt batteries. Why 12 volt batteries? Because they are plentiful and fairly inexpensive for the amount of storage needed. It is also easy to find battery chargers and voltage inverters for 12 volts.

The common lead-acid car battery is the heart of any battery backup system. Actually, a special car battery, rather than the standard ones is used; these are “deep cycle batteries.” A regular car battery is designed in such a way that it operates at peak efficiency when it is near a full charge. That’s the normal condition in a car. Whenever the battery is brought to a low charge situation (below half charge), it actually damages the battery, shortening its life. This process of discharging the battery to the point where it only holds a low charge is called “deep cycling.”

Deep cycle batteries are designed differently than standard car batteries. The plates inside the battery are thicker, so that they can more easily withstand the electro-chemical process of discharging. While there may still be some damage to the battery, it is minimized.

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For the purposes of a battery backup system, there are two minor issues with deep cycle batteries. First, they don’t have as big a charge capacity as a standard car battery does, so more batteries are required compared to using standard car batteries. Second, they are a bit more expensive than standard car batteries, although not by much.

It is possible to use standard car batteries if that’s all that’s available. However, it is important to realize that they won’t last long, especially if they are being deep cycled. They’ll do in an emergency, but it’s better in the long run to use deep-cycle batteries.

The batteries have to be connected in parallel (positive to positive, negative to negative). It doesn’t matter how many are connected to the charger, as the amount of charge current is determined by the output of the wind and solar power generators, not the batteries. It’s only necessary to make sure that the charger’s capacity is at least as big as the total output of the home’s power generation.

In other words, a system which has a wind generator that’s producing 700 watts of electricity and two solar panels that are producing 50 watts each, is producing a total of 800 watts of electrical power. At 12 volts (the voltage of the batteries) that equals 66.67 amps. So, the system would require a charger that is rated at a minimum of 800 watts or 66.67 amps at 12 volts.

It is also critical to ensure that the charger which is bought for the system is one that is designed for a 12 volt DC input (which should allow a higher input, without problem), not one for connection to house current. Most of the chargers out there are for house current and will not work for this type of system.

The system will also require a voltage inverter to convert the electrical power stored in the batteries to something that can be used in the home. Voltage inverters accept 12 volt direct current (12VDC) and convert it to 120 volt alternating current (12VAC), otherwise known as normal house current.

The size of the voltage inverter affects how much equipment can be run off of the battery backup system. These range extensively in output and are normally rated in watts. Since most household appliances and electronics are rated in amps of power consumed, rather that watts, it can seem a bit tricky. However, the conversion from one to the other is simple:

• To go from watts to amps, divide the watts by the volts – so a 2,000 watt voltage inverter is producing 2,000 ÷ 120 = 16.67 amps. Remember to use the voltage at the side of the inverter that you’re putting the load on, in this case 120 volts AC, which is normal house current.

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• To convert amps to watts, multiply the amps by the volts – so an electronic device that needs 2 amps to operate will draw 2 x 120 volts = 240 watts of power.

The number of batteries that the system has affects the total amount of power that the system can store. There are two specs normally given for car batteries, “cold cranking amps” and “reserve capacity minutes.” Of the two, the one that’s important in this case is the reserve capacity minutes. This is the amount of time that the battery can deliver at 25 amps, before it drops below 10.5 volts.

Considering that a 2,000 watt voltage inverter draws about 19.3 amps of current at 12 volts, it is safe to assume that a battery has at least as many minutes of power, at the full 2,000 watts, as its stated reserve capacity minutes (actually it will be a bit higher). In other words, a battery which is stated to have 500 reserve capacity minutes will provide power for 500 minutes if a 2,000 watt voltage inverter is connected to it. To determine the total capacity of the battery backup system, add the reserve capacity minutes of all the batteries in the system.

It’s important to note that the total draw on the system will change, depending upon what is connected to it. Although the last paragraph stated that a battery with 500 reserve capacity minutes will run equipment for 500 minutes when used with a 2,000 watt voltage inverter, that doesn’t mean that the equipment connected to that inverter will always be drawing 2,000 watts from it. So, how long the batteries will actually provide power to the home depends a lot on how much of a load is connected to the system.

Let’s put that in perspective. Remember back in the beginning of the book, when we were talking about determining the amount of power that a home consumes, by looking at the family’s electric bills? A family living in a large home in a hot climate would likely be running their air conditioning 10 months of the year. That family’s home would have an average electrical consumption of 2,175 watts. So, that 2,000 watt inverter would be able to provide about 90 percent of the home’s electrical consumption. While that isn’t enough to power the whole home, it clearly would be enough to provide power for the critical systems.

Battery backup really shouldn’t be designed based on normal power consumption, but rather on critical systems. In an emergency situation, the extraneous equipment would normally be turned off, and only the critical systems would be used. Therefore, the system should be designed with that need in mind.

CONNECTING TO THE HOME

On one hand, it’s easy to connect an off-grid power system to the home. All that has to be done is to connect it to the breaker box or home’s wiring. Some people have literally just plugged a solar panel into an electrical outlet and started using it. On the other hand, this type of connection won’t work during an emergency situation when the power is out.

In a power outage situation, if the off-grid power system is connected to the house, and the house is connected to the grid, then the power which is being produced, along with whatever power is stored in the battery backup system, will go into the grid, leaving the home without power. It won’t

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really help anyone else either, as the amount of power that one home would be producing won’t go very far; not when spread between hundreds of houses and businesses. It’ll be more like it just disappears.

The way to avoid this problem is to install a whole house switch. This is a switch that goes between the circuit breaker box and the power meter. It allows the homeowner to disconnect their home from the grid, so that their off-grid power stays in their home for their family to use.

There are two types of whole house switches, manual and automatic. When a whole house generator is installed, it is usually installed through an automatic

whole house switch. That way, if the power goes out and the generator kicks on, it automatically disconnects the house from the grid at the same time that it turns the generator on.

These types of whole house switches are expensive. Typically, they range from $600 to $1,800 depending upon the amperage rating required. The switch’s amperage rating must equal that of the home’s electrical service. They can be bought at any home improvement center or anywhere that sells home electrical parts and supplies (not home electronics).

There are also manual whole house switches, which require someone physically flipping a large switch to disconnect from the grid. The advantage of these over the automatic ones is price. These switches cost from $150 to $300. The disadvantage is that if the home loses power while the family is away from the home or asleep and don’t know about it, nobody will be available to switch it and the power that their off-grid system is producing will go into the grid until they manually flip the switch.

In both cases, the switch is installed essentially the same, between the breaker box and the power meter. This must be done by a licensed electrician. It is not the type of job that a home handyman can do themselves.

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Bonus

OTHER USES FOR SOLAR POWER

Up to this point, we’ve only talked about producing electricity to replace the electricity that won’t be available if the grid goes down. Of course, the same actions will help lower the family’s electric bills, once they are installed. Nevertheless, the focus of this book has been a grid down situation. However, there’s more that can be done, other than just produce electricity; to reduce a family’s dependence on the grid, without lowering the quality of life at all.

Solar power has been in use for quite a number of years, but is still not used as extensively as one would expect. Nevertheless, the sun, that great ball of fire in the sky, produces a quantity of heat so great, that it isn’t even comprehendible. We can make use of at least some of that heat in order to lower our overall electric consumption. Not only does this have the potential of lowering a family’s energy bills, but it can also lower their need to produce electricity to power their home in a grid-down situation.

SOLAR HEATING

Almost 50% of the energy being used in most U.S. homes is for heating, air conditioning and ventilation. Passive solar heating operates under the same principle as a car that’s left out in the sun. The sun enters the windows, striking the interior of the car. That light is then converted to heat, which is retained inside the car, because the windows trap it inside.

Almost any home can be modified so that it has some passive solar heating. The best passive solar homes however, are those which are specifically designed and built to be solar homes. Essentially,

a passive solar heating system consists of allowing sunlight to enter the home through south facing windows and strike something to act as an absorber, which converts the sunlight into heat. That heat is stored in a thermal mass for later distribution.

A passive solar system has two modes of operation. During the day, it is converting light from the sun into heat, storing much of it. Not

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all of the heat that is created is stored, as some of it dissipates into the home as well. At night, it dissipates the heat that it has been collecting during the day.

While there aren’t many elements to a passive solar heating system, each of them is critical to its function. Leave any of them out, or not provide that element adequately, and the system won’t work properly.

Aperture – The windows are the aperture for the system, sometimes referred to as a collector. They allow the sunlight into the home, while blocking the escape of heat generated by the system. To accomplish this, double or even triple pane windows are used. The greater the space between the individual panels of glass, the greater the amount of insulation that they provide, while not blocking any of the light.

Absorber – The absorber is what the sunlight hits when it comes into the house. Ideally, this should be something that is black, or at least dark in color. Black is the best color, because it absorbs the most light, converting it to heat. The absorber is normally the floor covering and is physically connected to the thermal mass. The material that the absorber is made of is important as well, as it needs to be a material that readily transfers the heat that it creates into the thermal mass. Dark colored stones or tiles are popular for absorbers. Carpet and linoleum make very poor absorbers, as they do not readily transfer the heat they are absorbing to the thermal mass. Absorber materials can be purchased from a local floor covering store or at large chain hardware stores.

Thermal Mass – The thermal mass is the “battery” of the system, storing the heat for use when the sun goes down and the temperature drops. There’s a reason why it is called a “mass” and that is that it needs to be massive in order to store the heat. Typically, this is a thick cement floor or an interior rock wall. The absorber is physically connected directly to the thermal mass, allowing the heat that the absorber is creating to be directly transferred to the thermal mass. More sophisticated systems could use other things for the thermal mass, but those are usually active solar systems, not passive ones.

Distribution – It is after sunset when the true design of a passive solar system is tested. At that time, the heat which has been stored during the day begins to dissipate, providing heat for the night. During this time, a distribution system needs to ensure that the heat spreads through the home. In a home that is designed as a solar home, this is done by a combination of radiation and convection. The thermal mass radiates the heat that is stored in it, and the natural convection movement of the air distributes it. In homes which are modified to be passive solar, this may need to be augmented with fans.

Control – The control is what keeps the home from becoming overly heated during the summer months, when the passive solar system is not needed. Roof overhangs are the most common control, designed and built to ensure that the sunlight can go through the window in the winter months, when the sun is lower and is blocked from going through the windows in the summer

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months, when the sun is higher. In the case of a home that is being modified to make it passive solar, some other device, such as window shades, can be used as a control.

Some solar homes use a wall as an absorber and thermal mass. In those cases, the wall, which is made of concrete or stone, is built a couple of feet inside the room, placed so that the light coming through the windows hits the wall directly. This eliminates the use of the widows for looking through, but makes a very effective solar system. It also reduces the available floor space in the room; taking some of the space for the wall and space between the wall and the windows.

While the best passive solar systems are those which are designed into the home when the home is built, it is possible to modify just about any home to have some passive solar heating capacity. This is done by adding additional windows and changing the flooring to something that will work as an absorber, such dark colored tile or stone. If the home is built on a cement slab, then the slab can function as the thermal mass. However, even in cases where there is no cement slab to act as a thermal mass, changing the floor covering to one that works as an absorber will work to help heat the home during the day. What will be lost will be the ability of the passive solar system to heat the home at night.

SOLAR HOT WATER

Another thing that solar energy readily adapts itself to is providing hot water. There are a number of ways that hot water can be produced, ranging in complexity from putting it in a container that is painted black to full-blown solar hot water systems.

In many third world and emerging countries, homes have a black plastic water tank on the roof. This is a passive solar hot water system. The tank is filled by city water pressure and then shut off by a valve, similar to a toilet tank valve. The sun warms the tank, heating the water inside. When hot water is needed, it is gravity fed into the home.

In a typical American home, hot water heating accounts for 20 to 25 percent of the electrical consumption. By installing solar hot water heating, a family can reduce their monthly energy expenditures, while also preparing for any emergency situation in which the grid might fail.

While there are some commercially produced solar hot water systems on the market, they are fairly expensive, ranging in

price from $1,200 to $4,000. These systems consist of a solar collector, with a built-in tank to store the hot water. These are mounted on the roof of a home, like solar collectors for solar energy, and connected to the home’s plumbing.

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Due to the expense and riskiness of roof-based systems, it is recommend for DIY-ers to install their solar hot water system in an unobstructed location at ground level. The home’s existing hot water heater can be used as a tank.

Before installation, you must consider the orientation of the solar collector in order to maximize the amount of solar energy you’ll be able to use for heating. A south-facing unit is ideal. Identify any possible obstructions between the collector and the sun’s path as these will diminish the efficiency of your system. You’ll also want to gauge the distance between the home’s existing water heater and the collector; some heat will be lost as water travels through the system, so a short route is best and the pipes should be insulated.

A solar hot water collector consists of copper tubing, connected to a heat sink, enclosed behind glass and painted black. As the sun strikes it, the sun’s rays are turned to heat, which passes into the water running through the tubing. A small circulating pump is needed, to keep a constant supply of water pumping from the storage tank through the solar collector to become heated. Copper tubing is used for the solar collector because copper is one of the best heat conductors on the planet. The heat that is generated is quickly and easily transferred to the water. To expand the efficiency of the system, a heat sink needs to be attached to the tubing. This can either be made out of copper, or to save money, out of aluminum. They’re usually solid, but they can also be made as strips, such as the coil on the back of a refrigerator.

In the diagram below, the copper pipes form a path for the water to pass through. The aluminum heat sink is a made of several pieces of aluminum flashing, which are placed behind the copper tubing and in contact with it. When the solar hot water heater is assembled, this is pressed against the back of the copper tubing. That way, any heat that it collects is transferred to the copper pipe.

The heat sink and copper pipes should be painted with a flat black enamel paint to assist with the absorption of sunlight, and its conversion to heat. Neither aluminum nor copper are easy surfaces to paint, as the paint does not adhere to them well. To help alleviate this problem, be sure that all surfaces are clean before painting. Sanding the aluminum and copper lightly, to roughen the surface before painting, can help the paint adhere better. Another way to promote paint adhesion to these materials is by wiping them down with vinegar, as the acid in the vinegar will etch the surface of the metal.

The solar collector needs to be mounted at the same angle that we discussed earlier for the solar panels. It is important that the water enter the solar collector from the bottom and leave from the top. That ensures that the system will remain filled and not have air pockets in it.

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Although a pump will be needed for circulating the water, a small pump can be used, which doesn’t use much electricity. For emergency uses, a manually operated pump can be installed as well, allowing the system to be operated without any electrical power during times of emergency. In such a case, the pump would not have to be operated continually, but could be operated occasionally, allowing the water time to heat and then be circulated back to the tank.

Circulating pumps of the type which are needed for this type of system are normally not available in home improvement centers, but must be purchased from plumbing supply companies, which can be found in most cities. A pump that circulates one-half to one gallon per minute should cost about $60.

Your home’s existing hot water heater tank can be used for connection to the solar hot water heater. If the drain valve is removed, a T pipe fitting can be installed there, with one branch of the T going to the circulating pump and the drain valve connected to the other branch of the T. Another T fitting needs to be added at the tank’s water inlet, so that the water returning from the solar water heater can be connected there.You can maximize your system’s performance by showering, doing laundry, washing dishes and other activities requiring significant amounts of hot water at night after the solar system has been absorbing energy all day. Also, remember to cover the glazed top of the collector at night to avoid losing stored energy.

Another option is to install a timer on the hot water heater controls. These can be purchased at any home improvement center for about $50. The timer allows the hot water heater to function normally at night, and be turned off during the day, allowing the solar hot water heater to take over.

SOLAR COOKING

There is a third way in which solar power can be used in order to reduce electrical consumption, whether you’re facing a time of crisis or not; that is the use of solar power for cooking. A basic solar oven is extremely simple to make and can be used for cooking in a manner similar to using a Crockpot.

The idea of a solar oven is to concentrate the sun’s rays in one place, so that they produce the maximum amount of heat possible. There are a number of ways of doing this, but the simplest is with a basic reflector. You can make one of these by building a box out of aluminized sheathing panels, available from any home improvement center for under $10.00.

The sun’s rays reflect off the aluminum of the panels, focusing on the pot inside. By angling the sides of the box so that they reflect the sun’s rays more onto the pot, the temperature can be increased.

A more sophisticated solar oven can be made by use of a Fresnel lens. These lenses are more commonly known as a plastic sheet magnifying glass. The back side of the sheet is molded in a series of concentric rings, each of which consists of a ridge that acts to bend light rays, much as a magnifying glass does.

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Fresnel lenses come in a variety of sizes. The largest are those used for the old style large screen televisions. These were used to focus the rays of the image onto the screen. Many of these are available from old big screen televisions that no longer work. The easiest place to find these used Fresnel lenses is on eBay. A 20 inch by 36 inch one sells for about $50.

The focal length of these Fresnel lenses is about 24 inches, so the pot with the food in it needs to be placed about that distance behind the lens. The lens should be pointed towards the sun so that the face of it is perpendicular to the light rays. That means that the lens will need to be mounted in a frame that can be adjusted for angle and direction.

Ideally, the solar oven should be totally portable, allowing it to be positioned where it can get the best possible light. This varies by season and even by time of day. Shade from trees is a major factor to consider when using a solar oven, as well as the sun’s position. Since most of the cooking is done in a Dutch oven (shown in black in the diagram) the focal point from the lens needs to be pointed there. As the day progresses, the lens will have to be moved, so that continued heat will be applied to the Dutch oven.

Pretty much anything can be cooked in a Dutch oven when heated by a Fresnel lens. In the early days of our country, the Dutch oven was the only type of oven that existed. It was placed in the coals of a fire, with more coals heaped on top. This allowed them to bake what was inside. Cakes and pies were both baked in this manner.

If a frying pan is used in place of a Dutch oven, a Fresnel lens is a very efficient way of frying eggs. Pretty much anything that can be cooked in a frying pan, pot, Crockpot, or oven can be cooked in this manner. Cooking times will have to be adjusted, depending upon the amount of sunlight available and how well the sun’s rays are focused on the Dutch oven or skillet.

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ConclusionAs you can see, there are many ways to make your family less dependent upon the grid. Each of these requires time and money to implement. Most of us don’t have the luxury of investing $30,000 at once to convert our home to solar power. However, we do have something that we can start with, even if it’s only ten dollars. While ten dollars doesn’t seem like enough to start with, it’s enough to buy a few solar cells or the pipe to make the blades for a wind turbine. Working piece by piece it’s possible to buy all the parts to totally convert your home.

Regardless of how much money one has to start with, the key point is getting started. Few people put in that thirty thousand dollar solar system in one shot, they do it in stages. Even if they ultimately end up with that type of system, it probably takes them years to get there.

Creating a system that will provide enough emergency power to keep a home’s critical systems going is much easier than creating one that will provide an entire family’s electrical consumption. Even so, it will probably take a while before the project is completed. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll be prepared for an unforeseen disruption of the grid.

It’s a good idea to avoid thinking only about projects that will produce electrical power, but to also work on the other end as well. Reducing your family’s electrical consumption will not only make it easier to develop an off-the-grid system, but it will save you money each and every month.

As a family becomes more energy independent, they will find that it provides them with a renewed freedom. This is a way to quite literally follow in the footsteps of our ancestors, who were more independent than the people of today. At the same time, energy independence protects the family from any coming disaster.

Getting off the grid as much as possible is an important part of prepping. It will allow any family to keep functioning more or less normally, while everyone else is without power. They may not have all the power they want, but they will have much more than those people who waited until disaster struck before thinking about what they were going to do.

For more information about off-grid energy, disaster preparation, and survival skills, please join the United Survivalists Association where we provide weekly reports on all of the essentials you absolutely need to know to get through any disaster: http://aliveaftercrisis.com/members/u-s-a/

RICHARD MARSHALL

A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE FOR GOING OFF-GRID WITH A

SELF-SUSTAINABLE POWER SYSTEM

OVERNIGHT

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