Produce Free Energy!

Off The Energy Grid

By Tobias Lighthill

Individuals who are committed to living without overtaxing the Earth’s natural resources have found inventive ways to exist off the energy grid. Even small communities have developed off-the-grid lifestyles through the cooperation of all the community’s residents. Rock Port (population 1,300) in the northwestern corner of Missouri converted its energy use in 2008 to a completely off-the-grid system powered by four massive wind turbines. Skeptics in Rock Port doubted the town, even one as small as theirs, could go off the grid, but their land lies on the central plains where wind blows, and blows strong.

A resident Eric Chamberlain, who led the conversion to off-the-grid living, admitted, “Did I ever think this would happen? Now, not in a million years . . . This is beyond my imagination.” In high-wind seasons, Rock Port makes more electricity than it can use, so the town puts the excess on the municipal energy grid. In low winds, the town makes up the difference by drawing electricity from the grid. Rock Port’s future may include the installation of energy storage systems so that the excess energy the turbines make can be saved for later.

Rock Port, Missouri, proves that off-the-grid living can take place in an entire municipality, although this town is small. Maybe the simplest way to move a larger and larger proportion of households and businesses from the energy grid rests in the hands of each individual.

The environmental author Alex Steffen wrote in the 2006 book Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century, “If houses with solar panels on their roofs and wind turbines in their backyards make you think of communes and hippies, your mental picture is out-of-date. Anyone with a bit of do-it-yourself mindset and a little disposable income can benefit from installing a home-energy system. These setups can save you real money over the long term and provide most or all of your power in clean, homegrown ways.” Put that way, there hardly seems a reason not to convert an existing building to some type of renewable energy source.

Advocates of wind power feel that establishing off-the-grid communities powered by wind may be cheaper and more feasible than installing solar energy systems. Rather than taking on the enormous job of converting large towns or cities, smaller communities of less than 10,000 people may be the best approach.

The community wind advocate Mike Bowman told E/The Environmental Magazine in 2009, “We have a distribution system in this country where 80 percent of the geography is served by rural electrics. What we have today, 70 years later, is a system that’s in place for delivering small amounts of power to thousands of places simultaneously.” In other words, U.S. energy utilities already have a good distribution infrastructure for bringing renewable energy to thousands of small communities.

Bowman pointed out the advantages of community-scale wind power stations compared with large corporate wind farms. The following suggestions could apply just as well to utilities that supply solar power, geothermal
power, or energy from biomass:
- Interconnected midsize installations can make better use of local geography than single large power plants.
- Most current transmission line grids do not have enough lines in the right places to carry electricity from solar or wind farms or geothermal sources.
- Plant managers could better control distribution and storage when the energy source fluctuates.
- Small systems can use existing power transmission lines.

Solar, wind, geothermal, and other renewable energies have established enough success stories in the United States and abroad to show that these off-the-grid methods are possible. They require only good planning, economic support—probably as tax credits—and a commitment from the community. The public has a bounty of resources at its disposal to make off-the-grid living practical. The best chance for success will likely be a strong economy that supports an innovative and growing green industry.

Published by Tobias Lighthill

The Advantages Of Wind Power

By Tobias Lighthill

Although residential wind turbines and their energy source, the
wind, have a few downsides, wind energy is an abundant and renewable
resource. We won’t run out of wind for the foreseeable future,
unlike oil and natural gas.

Small-scale wind energy could also help decrease our reliance
on declining and costly supplies of oil — if electricity generated by
wind is used to power electric or plug-in electric hybrid cars and
trucks, displacing gasoline, which is refined from oil.
Wind energy can also play a meaningful role in offsetting
declining US natural gas supplies. In the United States, approximately
18 percent of all electricity is currently generated by natural
gas, according to the US Department of Energy. As supplies
decline, wind could help ease the crunch, supplying a growing percentage
of our nation’s electricity.

Wind could even eventually reduce our dependence on nuclear
power as well. In the United States, nuclear power plants generate
about 20 percent of the nation’s electricity. Although wind energy
does have its impacts, it is a relatively benign technology compared
to conventional sources of electricity. It could help all countries create
cleaner and safer energy at a fraction of the environmental cost
of conventional electrical energy production. Wind energy can help
nations reduce global warming and devastating changes in our climate.
Wind can also help homeowners and businesses do their part
in solving other costly environmental problems such as acid rain.
Another benefit of wind energy is that, unlike oil, coal and
nuclear energy, the wind is not owned by major energy companies
or controlled by foreign nations. An increasing reliance on wind
energy could therefore ease international political tension. Reducing
our reliance on Middle Eastern oil could reduce costly military
operations aimed, in part, at stabilizing a region where the largest
oil reserves reside.

Wind is also a free resource. The cost of wind is not subject to
price increases. A wind- and solar-powered future might be one
subject to less inflation. This is not to say that wind energy will be
free of price increases. While the fuel itself (the wind) is free, the
price of wind generators is likely to increase. That’s because it takes
energy to extract and process minerals to make the steel and copper
needed for wind turbines and towers. It also takes energy to
make turbines and towers and ship and install them. As the price
of conventional fuels and raw materials increases, the cost of wind
energy also will go up.

Yet another advantage of wind-generated electricity is that it
uses existing infrastructure, the electrical grid, and existing technologies.
A transition to wind energy could occur fairly seamlessly.
Thanks to generous tax credits and other financial incentives,
individuals in rural areas with good wind resources can meet all or
part of their energy needs at rates that are often competitive with
conventional sources. In remote locations, wind or wind and solar
electric hybrid systems can be cheaper than conventional power,

Published by Tobias Lighthill

Maximizing the Use of Your Home Energy

By Tobias Lighthill

With the technological advancements we have today, it is hard to resist the temptation of having each electronic device available on the market. And why not grab the latest if you can afford it? However, with the increasing fuel cost and electric rate, there are things that need to be done. You may simply grab the latest plasma television or the most advanced heating system today but the thing is, you have to pay the price not only on these items but the electricity that they will consume. And chances are, if you have all the high tech stuffs at home, your electric bill does not come cheap.

So, as was mentioned earlier, something must be done in order to make sure that your are getting the most out of what you are paying each month energy. And the very first place to do some changes is right at your very home.

A typical household would spend about $1600 per year on electric consumption. You might fall under this figure. This is big enough right? But this is not the end of the story. Don’t you know that a big portion of what you are paying for electric bill is never been used? Let us put it in other words: Energy is wasted month after month right at your very home. Thus, you are spending on something that you never even use.

To make up for this, here are the changes you can do in order to get the most out of every cent you pay for your electric bill:

Turn off unnecessary devices. If you are not watching your television, never leave it on. This also goes with your stereo. Learn how to turn them off if you don’t need them. Turn off the lights if you are leaving the room as well. Also switch off the air conditioning system if you don’t plan to return for a while. If you don’t use the computer monitor, turn them off. Like the television, it consumes electricity when you are not using it.

Keep the sockets free. Unplug all your chargers. Yes, they consume small electric current but if you leave them plugged in day in and day out for months, you will feel their effects on your electric bills. Remember that these little things, when pile up can be big.

If you plan to leave the house, never let the heating system run at the temperature as if you are at home. Keep them low; better yet, turn it off. You are not using them anyway. Heating system consumes a large portion of your electric bill so you might as well do some necessary changes with them. If for instance you do not want to enter cold home, you can set up remote control heating system or a programmable heating system. In this way, you do not have to leave the heating system running all day. All you have to do is to set the time when you want your heating system to work and you will save a lot of money.

During the day, use the sun to warn up the house. The sun is free so open your drapes and windows and let your heating system rest for a while. Close the windows and drapes at night.

Instead of incandescent lights, use fluorescent. They produce more light but consume less electricity.

If you don’t want to turn the lights on and off every time you go in and out of the room, you might want to get some timers, dimmers and motion sensors to do the job for you. They are worth investing for.

Refrain from using hot water when washing your clothes. Also, it will give you much savings if you prefer washing on full loads. On your dishwasher, make sure you also full load them. If there are few clothes or dishes to wash, prefer using your hands. Air-dry them so that you do not consume more electricity.

Doing these things doesn’t mean you deprive yourself from freely using the electricity you need. It only means that you are wisely spending every cent you pay for electric bills.

Published by Tobias Lighthill

My New Years Resolution: New Stuff for You!

By Tobias Lighthill

Dear reader,

I want to tell you, my loyal reader, about my new projects. I am thrilled to tell you more about my Facebook Page, my other website, my e-books and lots more!

1. Facebook Page: Produce Your Own Green Energy Home

I use my Facebook Page to reach more people and to stay in touch with my fans. At some point I will offer those visitors some short videos and a silly ‘Save The Planet’ game…

2. Produce Your Own Energy E-book

I’ve just finished writing my first edition of my own book! I worked all winter on it and I am quite psyched to spread the word! My book tells you what Green Power is and how you can build your own solar panels and stuff!

Upcoming projects, My New Years Resolution for 2011!

I want to develop some apps (applications) for the IPhone and Ipad. These apps will help the user to easily build a solar panel and predict their energy consumption and production. These apps will be given away freely when they are finished.

Besides these apps, I will explore the boundaries and possibilities of technology even further with a genuine free Facebook Game called ‘Save The Planet’!

May all your dreams come true!

Regards,

Tobias

Published by Tobias Lighthill