Living off the grid in the city: On the road (LOTG 23)

Living Off the Grid In the City Radio Show Ep. 20

Living off the grid: Water Heat for LOTG (LOTG Ep19)

Living off the grid in the city (LOTG) Ep18: Time for LOTG

Ep. 18 Dec.2015

LOTG: Time for LOTG

Living Off the Grid in the City (LOTG) Ep17: Batteries

Living Off the Grid in the City (LOTG) Ep17: Batteries

Colonize Space: A few rationales Part 01 AudioBook

Living Off The Grid In The City Ep016

Living off the grid, LOTG Ep15

Episode 13 LOTG Radio Show 24 Oct. 2015

Enjoy my LOTG radio show on Backup Generators recorded 24 Oct. 2015
Ep. 13

LOTG Radio Recording Eps. 10 & 11; 10/18/2015

LOTG Radio Recording Eps. 10 & 11: 10/18/2015
Solar Techologies and how they can help you get off the grid, Click on the links below.
Ep. 10
Ep. 11

Retail stores are a waste of energy and resources

Retail stores are a waste of energy and resources

The act of going to the store is in itself wasteful and unnecessary, and has become a fad that is grotesque and abhorrent.  This resource-sucking fad exists even in the wake of the thousands of online retailers that offer so much more choice, flexible prices, and variety.  Conventional retail stores are the familiar large buildings that people go to pick up merchandise.  Going to the store requires a lot of energy in the form of gas and food; time that can be put to use in more constructive and needed ends like family and friendship time; and resources that are largely wasted.  Using stores requires that a massive number of infrastructure and services be used and maintained; such as warehouses, transportation systems, electricity, water, etc.  And personal resources from each user; like your vehicle, clothing, shoes, cellular phones, etc., which in turn need to be maintained at a cost.

The simple act of going to the store triggers a chain reaction of other expenditures and costs that are hard to estimate and could be quite high.  Just think of the vehicle maintenance costs that could be attributed to every shopping trip you ever did.  Shopping, now a days, is a very common task for most Americans and it is used many times more than online shopping.  And, it’s a large consumer of everyone’s available energy; which is paid-for energy.  So, that large amount of energy, spend on shopping in stores, can be calculated as a percentage of the cost of the energy required to maintain this habit and costs such as vehicle maintenance, insurance, and vehicle devaluation per year.   All of these costs could amount to many thousands of dollars per year per individual; and billions of dollars to each community.

            Additionally, think about the percentage of contributed pollution each trip you take to the store.  And, much of the energy you spend from the food you eat goes to shopping.  Also, the time spent getting ready, driving, and walking through a huge department store can amount to over hours per month and more in some cases.  What can you accomplish in 8, 10, 12, 24 hours?  Which are good examples of time blocks spent on shopping per month.  When you think of all of the energy, resources and time spent on shopping, including all of the material resources that the act requires.

The costs incurred by keeping merchandise for stores are enormous.  Multimillion dollar air conditioned buildings need to be build, staffed and maintained only to keep a bunch of over- or under-stocked merchandise in a certain location for everyone to (hopefully) go pick buy when they need it or want it.  This system is highly wasteful and could be eradicated all together in the wake of internet shopping.  Warehouses are expensive to build and maintain, let alone fancy stores that aim to attract buyer simply because of the glamour and aura of buying at their store.  Floors are polished, and decoration costs go to the tens of thousands per store to keep a certain “feel” at most stores.  Those funds could be used in more important things like education, healthcare, community projects, and social programs.  There won’t be a need to build and keep up with all of the stores and warehouses, only a fraction of them for the major retail stores.  For example, Amazon and EBay could keep strategically located and fully automated warehouses throughout regions, and a large percentage of trading and shopping could be peer to peer (P2P) skipping the middle sales person and saving many millions of dollars in the process.

            Maintaining stock is also highly wasteful, stock needs to be constantly watched over, moved around, kept in temperature controlled rooms, and be attempted to be sold under much pressure as much of it “expires” or “devalues” with time; rather quickly in some cases (such as computer technologies, cars, etc.)  The personnel to keep up with merchandise at stocks is an enormous cost for the retailers and the economy in general.  And, while keeping up with stock provides jobs, these jobs are rather monotonous, boring, and mind-numbing.  The equipment and energy needed to handle stock is enormous.  Think about all the forklifts, diesel generators, trucks, air conditioned storage, refrigerated storage, and the massive amount of power that would be saved if most stores and warehouses were demolished.

Stocking merchandise necessarily adds cost to all items.  This is because of the massive energies and resources used to transport, stock, and maintain them while stocked.  These added fees are ultimately added to the price of the items which are sold, and the ones that don’t sell; incur a bigger loss.  Again, personnel, property, real state, and energy is dedicated to items, even when they sit still in a warehouse.  So, in the end prices for all items are bloated and higher than they would be if the pull-push method is used.  The push-pull method is a 5S method that requires manufacturers to build only as demand requires them to build.  For example, if a vacuum cleaner is sold, then another one is built to replace it; instead of manufacturing 1000 vacuum cleaners hoping to sell all or most of them.  Prices become less flexible when the added costs of stocking them is attached to them, making many retailers sell items at no-less-than-a-minimum price or “loose” the item.

            Even “Locality fees” can be attached to items when they are stocked in a certain location, for example if an item is stocked in New York City or Tokyo where space is scarce and expensive; this added cost is added to each item.  Alternatively, items could be pulled and pushed one at-a-time or stored in cheaper and less costly locations to be delivered only at request.  Also, when items have the appearance of being “only” available at a certain store or location; a higher price than it’s worth may be attached to it because of this exclusivity; thus opening up “availability abuse”.  This is apparent in many areas and stores that work hard to give the appearance of being the only ones to carry the item(s).  Again, the internet and global delivery systems (UPS, FedEx) have changed the game in the trade and purchasing and should be used to minimize all the costs associate with stocking items in stores and warehouses.

Conventional stores more often than not keep stocks that are higher or lower than needed.  This situation creates unnecessary costs to merchandise because of storage costs added to overstock, and demand costs added to items that must be rushed delivered due to low or no availability.  The best option is the pull-push model of trade, but this model is unlikely to be used when over or understocking.  When lower than needed merchandise is kept, then those that need the merchandise suffer due to unavailability; when the merchandise is abundant then waste and environmental damage is likely.  And, overstocking necessarily detours needed resources from important social, health, and educational ends.

            Going and using conventional stores is time and energy wasting in a human sense.  The act of walking through the large isles of modern stores is energy and time demanding, potentially taking up many hundreds of hours per person per year, and using up massive amounts of energy.  Isle shopping can trigger impulsive shopping and hoarding.  Many people pick up extra items on every trip to the stores as they attempt to maximize the use of their trip, thus over shopping or hoarding.  Impulsive shopping just to keep up with fad, fashion, or latest models; is likely during trips to the store.

            Many local stores have grown disproportionally large.  Large enough to knock almost every other store out of business.  The establishment of virtual monopolies (as Walmart) will give an impression of lower prices and choice; but in fact this drives up prices, limits variety, and creates cheaper quality products.  Products most necessarily become of less quality because suppliers and manufacturers are bullied (as in the case for Walmart) into producing cheaper (thus less quality) products.  This is because manufacturer’s also look to gain profit thus sacrificing quality for cost.

            The internet has brought about massive changes in world trade, and now your local town shops are not the only choice for shoppers; now it’s the shops around the world that are able to ship merchandise.  The cost of shipping has steadily decreased with more efficient transportation methods, and has equaled or exceeded the efficiency of bulk shipping and mass storage of merchandise.  By keeping the current mode of shopping; which is mainly going to stores and rarely buying online, then this trade power of the internet is wasted.

We should demand the growth and betterment of online shopping.  The best way to do this is by using online stores as much as possible.  Demand products from the seller of the best value products.  Demand cheaper or free shipping and better online products by refusing to buy from sellers that don’t allow rating or have bad ratings.  Quit going to conventional stores unless absolutely necessary, which should be very minimal.  This was, stores will begin to close, shrink, or evolve to something that is less wasteful and more useful for society.  Also, true worldwide trade should be demanded; by this I mean demand products from every corner of the world, and eventually production and shipping will expand to many more areas that will likely produce better products due to specialization.

Save energy prior to getting off the grid

 Before jumping into the uncharted territory of living off the grid, it is wise to do warm up exercises and prepare so that you don’t freak out and throw in the white towel in frustration.  Living off the grid will require many concessions and sacrifices in your part, and many fundamental changes; especially if it is done in the current inefficient and wasteful society and with current available technologies.

            It is recommended that you ease into living off the grid, instead of crash landing into it and suffer more than necessary.  Unlike many believe; living off the grid does not have be painful and backward.  You can have all of the comfort and the convenience of the latest technologies, have power, and be part of society just the same or better than under the current ‘grid’ power lifestyle.  I say it would be better because you would be saving much more money and helping to change many industries around the world become more energy efficient and less wasteful.

Appliances are the biggest users of energy, so having the most efficient appliances will help you and eventually the industries that produce them.  High efficiency (HE) appliances (TVs, computers, refrigerators, washing machines, etc.) will save power and pay for their higher cost in the long run in energy savings.  You will contribute to cut down waste and help the environment, and also you will increase the demand for HE products by creating incentive for companies to manufacture HE products.

            You should upgrade to HE products as much as you can.  It can be a slow and gradual process or an all-at-once change; if it is possible for you to do that.   HE appliances that can have a large impact on your energy use are your AC, water heater, washing and drying machines, refrigerator, etc.  Low impact HE appliances are your TVs, computers, fans, lights, and kitchen appliances.

            You should downsize whenever possible.  Why have a 120 gallon water heater when you only need a 40 gallon water heater and save 2 thirds of the energy required to run it.  Other appliances that can be downsized are your refrigerator, TVs, AC, microwave, clothes washer/dryer, lighting power, etc.

            Cutting back on the number of running appliances is another way to save power.  Why have 5 TVs when you can only have one in a central location?  Why have 5 computers or printers when one can be used by everyone in the home without sacrificing convenience.

It is recommended to switch old and inefficient technology off permanently and turn better technology on.  In many cases, and whenever possible is best to get rid of one type of technology and upgrade for other better technology.  For example, when LED TVs came out, the energy savings potential of LED was hardly mentioned in comparison to the brighter sharper picture; if fact the LED TVs save much more energy than older tube TVs or even LCD TVs.  Again, more efficient technologies may be costlier, but they will aid in your efforts to get off the grid and make the effort less costly overall.  If you attempt to get off the grid running all of the same inefficient equipment and remain with the same number of unnecessary appliances running; the cost to do so may be many times higher than necessary.

            Lastly, get rid of appliances you don’t need.  Get rid of that full size freezer in your basement and quit drinking beer; get rid of that large screen TV that you only use every 4^th Sunday in your den; get rid of the small fridge on the side of your bed, and get up and go to the kitchen if you need a cool drink (unless a medical condition requires this).  Cutting back on unnecessary and wasteful appliances is a great way to cut back on energy use prior to getting off the grid; remember that concessions need to occur, and your lifestyle may need some serious reforms to accommodate the benefits of living off the grid.

            Switching appliances from power sources that can be controlled and stored locally can be a powerful way to cut energy costs and dependence on a certain power source such as electric power.  Getting off the grid, in large part, means getting off the electric power; the largest power provider by far for any household.  Switching appliances to power sources such as LP gas, wood chips, natural gas, or heat concentrator; from electrical power is a significant step to get off the grid.  The more important appliances to get off the electric grid are your ‘power hogs’ such as your stove, water heater, clothes' dryer, air heater, etc.  You may say, why switch from one power source to another and still pay for it; perhaps the same or more.  This question misses the point.  Getting off the grid may require a slight increase in the costs you incur, especially sharp increases initially.  But, in the long run, getting off the grid should pay for itself relatively quick if done rationally.  Still, local energy sources provide much more control and flexibility for the owner.  Since you have much more control over the energy you use, and much more control on the costs associated with energy.

            LP gas is a flexible form of power that can be safely stored and it is highly efficient.  It relatively cheap and can power many of the more power demanding appliances (clothes' dryer, water heater, stove, and even your refrigerator and air heater).   LP can be stored in a tank that can last for many months to over 2 years depending on size and use.  And, LP can help you get off the grid by taking away appliances from electric requiring less energy to be covered by solar, wind, or other alternative source.

            Wood chips can be used as fuel for furnaces that can drive air heat, water heat, and clothes' drying.  Natural gas can be used like LP in many occasions, and can be stored although much more costly than LP.

            Solar heat concentrators can be used to heat water or air and be used to take water or air heating from electric to solar.  Heat concentrators can use radiated energy and collected in a sealed greenhouse and heat up a fluid for use.  Heat concentrators can heat up a point for cooking, or heating a fluid for use in air or water heating.  Heat collectors and concentrators can be readily bought or built to save a large amount of electric energy.  Large amounts of amps and voltage are used up to heat up elements like air or water for appliances, at times up to 15,000 watts or more.

            Solar, wind, or geothermal can be used to cover the energy needs required for the appliances that cannot be covered by the mentioned sources prior to getting off the grid.  Covering energy needs with solar, wind, or geothermal will be covered in detail in other presentations, but these technologies are affordable and ready for use in most areas of the world right now.

A great way to save energy, in preparations to get off the grid, is to switch appliances off manually or automatically.  Many items in the home draw energy even while they are in the off mode and use energy constantly.  Recently I used a watts meter, a device that measures the amount of energy being used by devices plugged in to electrical outlets, and found out that a few computer equipment, even while off, drew about 56watts per minute.  That is 1344 Watts in 24 hours for just for a few office equipment; imagine how many watts your whole home can draw while off.  A good idea for this is to make devices and appliances switch off completely and be disconnected from their wall outlets.  There are several ways of doing this, timers, manual disconnects, or just manually unplugging devices when not in use.

            This practice of turning devices off can be seamless and worry-free or can be a bit aggravating; it depends on how automated the switching system is.  Of course manual systems are much more hassling and require a strict schedule adherence to work, but can be an alternative to overpaying for energy or wasting precious energy.  A huge user or energy are your heat producing devices; water heater, air heater etc.  Those can be put on a timer where no energy is supplied to them during times of non-use or when the house is vacant; especially your water heater.  TVs, Internet equipment (modems, routers), music equipment, lighting, and more; can be disconnected from the outlets of your home by placing timers on those outlets or simply by putting switchable power strips on those outlets then running the rest of the cords to those power strips.  Power strips with some kind on lighting to indicate ON state are better as they are easy to identify as to On or Off.

            A lot of equipment now is able to shut off automatically or enter a hibernation state.  These are better than just having equipment on all the time but still do not completely stop “power leakage”.  Lighting is a major power user only because there are generally many lights in a home, and many of them stay of for long periods inadvertently or on purpose.  Efficient lighting helps, but it does not help as much as turning those off when not in use.  Movement sensors are a great advancement for lighting and saving energy.  Masdar city’s buildings are required to have these sensors per their building code*, and apparently they work; so if you can afford this technology is an option to get off the grid.  As a side note, you need not be piss poor to want to get off the grid to save some money, as getting off the grid will probably not save you much money at first.  Freedom, independence, choice, and environmental reasons are main drivers for those that want to get off the grid.

            A huge energy user is your home’s AC for cooling and heating.  It is the largest energy user here in America, by far.  Many states in the eastern seaboard and the Midwest are mild weathered and do not need the amount of air conditioning that people use.  I suspect people have grown over comfortable and unwilling to acclimatize to the natural weather of the season.  Deep summers and winters aside, most states in the continental US experience pleasant mild weathered springs, early and late summers, falls, and early winters.  Most households, as I have experienced, have their AC on, even during the most pleasant days, throughout the year.  This dependence on the comfort of ac is rampant and is a huge user of the total energy demand of cities, driver of pollution, and heating of the local atmosphere.

            While air conditioners cool the interior of the home, they release heat into the atmosphere.  And, one AC unit may not warm up your neighborhood by a few degrees, but 250,000 units are sure to increase the temperature in a large city.  Here in the US; majority of homes, businesses and industrial buildings are designed to maintain a constant internal atmosphere that require the constant use of large and power hungry AC units.  These buildings and dwellings are built with the power companies in mind, and for optimal comfort.

            Buildings are highly wasteful and energy inefficient.  From costly lighting, to small and limited windows and ventilation, to exterior dark paint and roofs; these buildings are a power company’s dream.  The lack of use of sun heating, illumination, and natural wind flow is just sad examples of how energy negative modern architecture is.  Architecture in the US is highly driven by economic and social pressures and very little or no environmental and efficiency concerns.

Water Collection System update

Water Collection System update
See this short video on the water collection system here in Middle GA.  Its working great and only in a few weeks it has nearly 2500 gallons of treatable water.

Living Off the Grid in the City Radio Show Ep006

Living Off the Grid in the City Radio Show Ep006
https://youtu.be/MsTrWyh-U4g

Living Off the Grid in the City Radio Show Ep005

Living Off the Grid in the City Radio Show Ep005
https://youtu.be/SOaKC8e4GKQ

Living Off The Grid in the City Ep007 Radio Show

Living Off The Grid in the City Ep007 Radio Show
https://youtu.be/hz-hQO33LuI

Living Off the Grid in the City ep. 004 blog

Check out this Living Off the Grid in the City ep. 004 blog, show recorded on August 12, 2015
Living Off the Grid in the City ep. 004 blog

Living off the Grid in the City Ep. 003 Radio Show blog

Living off the Grid in the City Ep. 003 Radio Show blog, check it.  Recorded on 12 August 2015
https://youtu.be/onJd4mg3LTA

Off Grid Living in the City Radio Show ep002

Check out my new post, it is a radio recording of my show Off Grid Living in the City episode 2 recorded on August 12, 2015.
https://youtu.be/SLfiuNhxy5E

Off Grid Living in the City Ep. 001 Radio Show Blog

Check out my new recorded radio show about Living Off the Grid, this is episode 1 recorded August 10, 2015.
Living Off the Grid Ep001

The 8000W Low Frequency inverter I bought from eBay has not performed as I wished.  It beeps in overload mode when it approaches its advertised capacity of 8000W but its max capacity is well over that (3200W) so I don't understand why it beeps.  I also had issues with a blowing AC fuse, but that was mainly because I had the N wire connected to the output side with the two L1 and L2 wires for the 220V.  The inverter is used to power a water pump that is a 240V 60Hz and perhaps 1200W or more.  It does run fine for a long time when the pump has a reservoir tank that it keeps full.  The pump has a system that keeps water pressure in the house at a certain level so that there is always water available when a fosset or spigot is opened.  This feature has the system turn the pump on often, as often as every 5 minutes or so.  This quite a heavy load on the system and I did not expect it to require such big solar power system to maintain.  A better alternative is going with a much more efficient pump to begin with.

Cochran GA Install

Recently I commissioned an install in Cochran GA.  It is still not completely as I want it, but it is a working system nevertheless.  It is a 675W Solar Energy System, with a 800 Ah battery bank.  There is three 225W solar panesl up on the metal roof, on a rail system.  The rail system is grounded common with grid power and it is fed through a roof entrance gland junction box, into the small laundry area inside the house coming in throught the ceiling at a vent entrance.  I was lucky to find such entrance in that area because that is where the main inside power panel is.  I put all equipment in this small area including batteries and the 8000W LF inverter.  Initially the batteries and inverter are stacked up in three different coffers.  But I will take the inverter out and mount in on a wall shelf away from the batteries.  These batteries are wet cell so I really dont want a hot inverter right on top of them.  The system was electrically designed and mostly installed by me.  I had help installing the roof panels and some of the inside equipment from a gentleman called Ken on 7/10/15.  I finished the install on 7/14 and plan to go back to put finishing touches on 7/16.  It is a working progress and I had issues with the inverter.  The system primary purpose is to power a 240V well pump.  But this pump draws large amounts of amps at start up.  Up to 39A.  So the 8KW inverter is struggling.  Since 240VACx39A=9360W, still well under the advertised 32K peak wattage. The inverter blows fuses, and the pump just quits at times while on inverter power.  I contacted the manufacturer and have not gotten a clear answer, they said to put another fuse and try again.  The system took some time and funds to build because it required a dual power switching method, a transfer switch wired in.  And, it required a large inverter for the kick start of the well pump.  I hope the project ends up as a sucess for the running of the pump, but worst case scenario where the expensive inverter just wont keep up with the pump, I will try to convince the customer that the best use for it is to power the kitchen with it.  Too bad this project is in a remote area away from home and it makes it costly to do anything to it.  The largest hardware store around is a small Ace and its about 10 miles from the site.  This was really a challenging project but it is one with much potential.  The customer is environment and economy conscious and is very happy to have the potential to use solar power in the event of any power outage.

2015Aug17 Update
About a week ago from today I removed the system from the customer's home.  Although the system was installed as safe as possible with current resources; the inverter failed to work for the pump.  It was a gamble from the begining as the pump was only rated to work with a 1200W water pump (per manufacturer).  In the end the gamble did not pay off, as the customer did not want to keep a system that did not support the pump.  The customer could not be convinced to use the system for the kitchen, as no guarantees could be made for that either.  I think the removal of all equipment and a full refund was the best thing for the company and the customer; so it was done.  A full refund was issued on 14August.  And, everyone was happy.  I will attempt to test for the failure to support the pump, but it may take time.  I will attempt to regain the loss by selling equipment or other more profitable install with same equipment.

Battery bank wiring for solar panels

Battery bank wiring for solar panels
From the many configurations I have found on the internet on how to wire a 12v battery bank, I am yet to find a way to most efficiently charge and drain my 10 12V-battery deep cycle battery bank.  Just recently they were wired in series as shown in option 1. It seemed to work fine during the very sunny days of the spring of 2015, then I connected my wind turbine generator to the same charger leads and the batteries began to not last as long (charged).  Before hooking up the wind turbine;I was surprised the bank supplied energy for long periods as I thought the battery being mostly charged and drained was the one connected to the inverter and controller terminals.  Thinking this configuration was not optimal I switched to option 3 on the diagram shown.  So, far the batteries have not held much charge, I will try option 1 again, and if not optimal then try option 2.  Option two is believed to be a balanced draw and charge option.

Off Grid Living: Water Collector.

Off Grid Living: Rain Water Collector.
This is my first and experimental true rain water collection system.  Its a simple gravity water run system using a 30ft gutter on the north side of my roof and a way to channel the rain to the 2500 gallon tank (see video below).  After months of deliberation and lack of time, I finally got to finish its preliminary stage, so it can start (trying) to collect some rain water.  After it was done on 6/14/2015 a huge rain poured but the overhead conduit got to heavy and drooped bad in several places leaking all the water out.  I will not to modify it majorly and have it work.  The system is made from concrete posted 2x4's to take a water feed from the newly installed gutter to about 50 feet away from the house in the back yard.  Yes I cound just move the tank just under the gutter spout but that is not really the best spot for that big tank.  My septic tank in right under that spot and it would block off my solar equipment.   Again, watch the video below with the link, comment, like, subscribe and email vladi3@msn.com for details on construction or drop me a comment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW6cCdxp8Ak

8/1/2015 Update
The water collection system is working great.  The system is only catching about half of my roof's water output on the south side only; and it has collected over 1000 gallons in only about 6 weeks.  It has rained only seldom lately but it has rained hard and heavy the few times it rained.  The water is dirt but I don't think is contaminated.  It will likely be used for watering plants, car washing, or for other outside activities like water gun fights.  I plan to add about 20 more feet of gutter to collect more water and add a gutter to another piece of roof I have on a small 12x16 tool shed.  The water collector has been a success.

Living off the grid 2015 update video

Living off the grid 2015 update video.  This is a follow up of my 2013 Living Off the Grid series 1-6 which you can watch in my Youtube Channel
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrOJLmDB9oM
My Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJThB3GYiVzycf698jpOURw

The term off-the-grid (OTG) can refer to living in a self-sufficient manner without reliance on one or more public utilities. Off-the-grid homes are autonomous; they do not rely on municipal water supply, sewer, natural gas, electrical power grid, or similar utility services. -Wikipedia.org.
On average, one of the most (if not the most) expensive utility is the electrical.  Electricity can power most of our home's appliances, and air and heat in modern dwellings; often costing hundreds of dollars per month and several thousand per year.  It is not unusual for a home to pay close to $3000 dollars per year on home electric, and on average the Atlanta GA area pays about $1400 per year.  The average Joe in Atlanta can get a nice vacation to Hawaii every 4 years if they did not have an energy bill; and I'm talking Joe from Wal-mart.
So, although living off the (electric) grid in a city has many challenges, it is very possible and can be seriously rewarding.  In my goal to be off the electric grid before 2017 I have created this blog to show my progress, the plan, the details, the challenges, and the milestones.  Follow and post to this blog if you are interested or are doing something similar.  Good blogging