Thursday, October 22, 2009

Free Power's Seven Reasons for Do-It-Yourself (DIY)
By: Woody Wilson

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Free power isn't totally free you will need to invest in equipment; but the power you make will be free. You have a large advantage over power companies when you make free power at home. No delivery charge. Power companies collect power or convert it then deliver it. They divide the cost of investment over 30 to 50 years and charge you for the investment and delivery amortized over time. What is the delivery cost if you make your own power (Zilch, zero, nothing)? If you hire a contractor to install energy devices at your home the cost will not be much cheaper than the Power Company. Your payback period will be as high as 25 years, not much better than the Power Company's payback period.

The rules are different when you build your own energy with a do-it-yourself (DIY) approach. No delivery cost, no installer cost and investment payback interval is usually under 5 years.

Here are seven reasons to build DIY homemade power:
1.) Free power is everywhere. You just need to collect it.
2.) Collecting no cost power is straightforward with solar, wind, and solar hot water systems.
3.) Free energy investment is cheep for DIY. DIY projects can be 1/10 the cost of commercial and payback is 5-10 times sooner, ordinarily under five years.
4.) The governments promote free energy collection. The government will reimburse you. In the USA the tax credit is 30% up to $2000 for solar electric and solar hot water and up to $4,000 for small wind turbine. That's not much for commercial investment of $20,000 to $80,000; but this is a bunch for DIY projects of $100 to $6,000.
5.) Free power is green. The more you collect the less the Power Company pollutes our planet. That makes a greener planet for our future and the kids future.
6.) Do-it-yourself guides that build free energy projects simple and low cost are cheap. Projects are a $100 - $200 investment. Multiple projects can get you off the grid completely.
7.) Remote sites like a vacation home or cottage, hunting lodge, campsites can be powered by these free energy projects, no gas generator and no kerosene.

Solar Panels
Solar panels are a grouping of solar cells, soldered together into a scheme. The cells can be bought on eBay for on the order of $50 per 100 watts of power. You assemble the cells in to 70 - 175 watt panels. Installing the panels is a matter of some brackets and wire. Solar panel installation is much more flexible and portable than wind turbines. They output 18+ volts in to a battery charge controller. The controller fills deep cycle batteries with the energy throughout the day. Energy can be generated most days, even with clouds. The limitation of solar panels is the sun. It's up only half the day. A power inverter converts the battery's power to household power for your regular use, day or night. Making several panels can achieve 1000+ watts of power.

Small Wind Turbine
Wind turbine is not for everybody. You need an open space, not for the reason that they are too large but for the reason that the wind flows better in the open. You need a least of 10+ M.P.H. Wind speed with 20+ M.P.H. Being ideal. An advantage to wind turbines is the wind can blow all day to make energy day or night. Another important point is the wind turbine requires to be on a tower. The higher the better, in the 20 - 60 foot range. This usually requires local zoning permits. If these are not a problem you will get two times the power out of a wind turbine than for the same cost in solar panels. The break-even point is $400. Further than that, the wind turbine is less costly to build for the same energy output. You can easily get 450 watts to 1,000 watts from one DIY homemade turbine. Like the Solar Panel explanation above, you stockpile the power in deep cycle batteries and use an inverter to make household power, day or night.

Solar Hot Water
The energy required for a residential home hot water heater is around 30% of the household energy cost. The solar hot water can with no trouble cut that in half. Solar hot water uses the hothouse effect. Make a box with a glass top and some pipes and you can make hot water in the range of 120 - 130 degrees Fahrenheit winter and summer. Feed this hot water into your hot water heater for storage and the hot water heater will shut down, no energy cost. The hot water heater will only operate once a boost is essential like washing clothes. The construction is cheap and easy.

Do you want to know how to do these projects, what materials to buy, how big or small to make things? Get a DIY guide is the answer. For under $50 you can get a step-by-step guide, a plan and in some cases where needed you get a video tutorial. Which guide is best? Where do you get the guide?
If you want my critical review of two of the best guides Go To: www.ResidentialEnergyKit.com



by Woody Wilson



Woody Wilson's background: Marketing Major with honors; US Navy Electronics and Computer expert; Bio-Medical Field Engineer; Salesman; Applications Programmer; US Coast Guard Merchant Marine Captain and all around handyman.

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