TV, lights and small appliances, yes. Washer, maybe. Dryer, not likely unless it’s gas – consider a clothesline. Electric range or oven, no. Hot tub, no unless it’s converted to a gas heater.
The raw panels are about $3-8 per watt. So for 6Kw figure about $18k for the panels. The charger/inverter and batteries, figure $2-3k more. Figure about $30k including the installation.
You might also consider a generator. The off-grid houses I’ve seen tend to have them, even if they have batteries too. Add $3k for that.
Do you have a creek? Consider small-scale hydro too.
I had a similar issue and found a great guide to help. You can actually make your own solar power system and do it for a very affordable price. I made my solar system for just under $300.00 but it all depends on how much you really want to power. For this price you can conceivably power all of your household appliances. I highly recommend this guide to check out.
November 25th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
TV, lights and small appliances, yes. Washer, maybe. Dryer, not likely unless it’s gas – consider a clothesline. Electric range or oven, no. Hot tub, no unless it’s converted to a gas heater.
The raw panels are about $3-8 per watt. So for 6Kw figure about $18k for the panels. The charger/inverter and batteries, figure $2-3k more. Figure about $30k including the installation.
You might also consider a generator. The off-grid houses I’ve seen tend to have them, even if they have batteries too. Add $3k for that.
Do you have a creek? Consider small-scale hydro too.
November 29th, 2008 at 3:12 am
There are lots systems available out there, and the price range is huuuuuge.
I built one solar panel for my house just to see how well it would work and now I am powering a couple of lamps and a TV from it.
Seems to me like you could build enough of these to power your whole house.
It cost me about 200 bucks to build and took most of a Saturday.
Here are the plans I used:
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I had a similar issue and found a great guide to help. You can actually make your own solar power system and do it for a very affordable price. I made my solar system for just under $300.00 but it all depends on how much you really want to power. For this price you can conceivably power all of your household appliances. I highly recommend this guide to check out.