Thinking About Living Off The Grid?

The potential shortage of power, the rapid consumption of non-renewable energy, the ever-increasing demand for power and the diminish supply, the daily warnings about our environment. These are enough signs to tell us that it’s time we do something.

So, what can YOU do?

For starters, how about living off the grid?

If I have startled you with that proposition, let me tell you that living off the grid not only helps the environment and helps save power; it also cuts down your electricity bill substantially. Now, that’s a tangible benefit apart from all the good you will do to the world. Trust me, you will feel good doing this.

However, you should not leap blindly into the world of generating your own energy. Before you run outside and cut the power cord, get a little real world info.

With that in mind, let us first study the real advantages of living off the grid.

• Reduced dependability on exhausting resources:

Who wants to depend on public utilities all the time? Living off the grid helps you rely only on your own resources and not the ones supplied by governments or corporations. How often have you cursed when faced with a power outage in the middle of some important work, a party, or just what was supposed to be a relaxing evening at home? How about huge area wide blackouts after natural disasters? Wouldn’t you like to take charge of such factors affecting you life? With alternate power solutions, you can.

• Freedom of usage of naturally available resources:

How would you feel if you did not have to pay for the power you use?

Wouldn’t it be delightful to use as much power as you want without worrying about the electric meter? You can make use of the abundant power available in nature to light up your home and make your food. The solar power solutions and the wind power solutions literally are the answers to your power quest.

• Reduced power costs, helping save your money:

How would you feel if the electricity bills stop arriving in your mail box? Alternate power solutions give you a return on investment very rapidly, thus making the power supply to your home eventually free!

• Making way for a healthier environment:

Don’t you bless the people who planted trees years ago not expecting them to miraculously grow? They planted those trees for the future generations like you and me. Make the future of your generations of decendants secure by giving them a greener, healthier world. Cut down on the usage of non-renewable sources of energy.

If you are thinking it is not very feasible for you to live off the grid, look at the alternate power solutions that are available and you will be surprised to learn that they are not only cost-effective but also extremely feasible.

You can make your own power at home with solar and wind energy to eliminate your power bill. Get a complete guide to making your own energy and living off the grid at www.earth4energy.com.

Guide To Home Made Energy

By Mark Myer

The amount of fossil fuels such as coal, gasoline, oil, and wood is slowly being depleted as mankind utilizes it every day. In fact, scientists and scholars predict that the world will be completely stripped of all fossil fuels within a few decades. With this bleak forecast in mind, it is important that everyone turns their efforts towards finding a means of generating home made energy of some sort.

Homemade energy is an important investment for the future of your family, as you want to avoid an energy crisis in the near future. If everyone did their part to generate energy through wind power, solar power, water power, or geothermal power, the energy crisis could be avoided and the world would be a much cleaner and better place.

If you are looking into your own home made energy system, then you are doing the right thing. If you want to reduce your monthly costs, you should definitely consider one of these homemade energy systems. Not only can you help to protect the environment and make the world a better and safer place, but you will be reducing costs and making an investment in your future.

Here are some reasons that you should consider your own home made energy:

By generating your own energy at home, you will be consuming less fossil fuels. Seeing as we are all citizens of the Earth, we have the responsibility to protect it to the best of our ability. By using less of the natural fuels provided to us by the Earth, we can protect it and help it to last longer.

Using less electricity from the electric company means that you are reducing the amount of carbon dioxide and harmful gases that are being released into the air every day. The electric company has to use natural gas, wood, nuclear fusion, and other forms of energy creation that release fumes into the atmosphere and damage the planet, but using home made energy can help to reduce the among of damage done.

You will be able to save a good deal of money once you have your own energy system running. Rather than being forced to pay hefty electric and heating bills every month, you can simply generate your own electricity and spend your money where it is most needed.

The energy that you can generate with your home energy system is nearly unlimited, which means that you can have as much energy as you want. Using solar panels won't "drain" the energy from the sun, and you can set up a massive solar power system that will generate enough energy for you to power your home and even sell the excess energy.

Doing your part to protect the planet and conserve the environment is one of the most important responsibilities that you have, and you will find that these home energy systems are some of the best tools you have at your disposal to do so. While it will be an initial investment, you will find that buying one or more of these home energy systems will save you money in the long run.

For more in depth information, check out home made energy at LocalSolarSystem.com today. Make sure you check out the background information on homemade solar panels for further tips.

Article Source: Guide To Home Made Energy

Generating Homemade Energy - Green Business Trends

7 Good Bad Or Ugly Green Energy Trends Which Will Affect Your Bottom Line
By Gary W Patterson

We all love Mother Earth. If the devil is in the details, applies here as it does in most areas of life and business, how do we move to the next step of a greener world? What does it really mean to your company to actually operate in a greener world, and how soon will it happen? Logically most companies will see some benefits (good), some drawbacks (bad) and some will face major problems (ugly).

Consider how the following seven strategic "green energy" trends will impact your industry and your business in particular.

Bottom line benefit case studies from sustainable pioneers going green are starting to appear in the Wall Street Journal, other major business publications, and possibly your local newspaper.

Technology can help. Website and software tools are available to calculate the carbon footprint for your company, as one of the first steps to understand the various aspects of instituting green for your company. That capability can help a company research, define and then estimate its carbon footprint. The ability to include its entire worldwide supply chain helps better plan for the transition to a greener carbon footprint. Basically this quantifies targeted emissions for reduction to some government mandated level for your industry or country.

After estimating the carbon emission of your carbon footprint versus the mandated quantity, carbon tax can be estimated at a given carbon tax rate per ton. Soon to follow will be footnote disclosure and then recording the carbon footprint liability. This will be massive for some companies. The higher the carbon footprint quantity and the higher the tax rate, the higher the tax liability for targeted industries.

Think of people in prior generations protesting the Vietnam War or chaining themselves to trees to prevent logging operations. Companies need to better understand the passion, even fervor, of green energy advocates who demand that business formulate and implement green initiatives.

A "green washing" backlash is developing when clean energy advocates think corporate green claims are overstated. Remember, they define how green your activities must be, not your executives.

You will soon see pressure from your larger customers for you to meet greener mandates they have put in place. If you want to continue doing business with a number of blue-chip companies, you will be meeting their goals of greener operations as part of their strategic planning. Since it is easier for corporate level executives and strategists to make a decision than for their suppliers to actually make those strategies work, be prepared.

Many clean energy advocates are concerned about the backlash already building against going green. As more details of the magnitude and cost of proposed carbon tax legislation and the extent of its use of proceeds for Congressional leadership approved or non job creation purposes are apparent, a backlash against that Congressional leadership plan is building. To the extent that the job creation justification actually is used to fund a welfare system tax, backlash will accelerate.

Advocates see a much overdue environmentally transition. Other experts are concerned that the carbon tax being discussed will destroy more jobs than are created in the green sector. Whatever tax is enacted and undoubtedly revised, companies must plan and prepare for a range of conditions from strong benefits and opportunities to substantial, even massive, associated rising costs that such a tax will produce. Every industry and most businesses will see good, bad or ugly aspects from the greener world. How prepared are you?

Bottom line? - What is the cost of what you don't know?

Stop Profit Leaks Now. Apply this information to improve your profitability, re-engineer business models, and strengthen or gain competitive advantage in the marketplace. And apply the free Fiscal Test available at http://fiscaldoctor.com/fiscaltest.html.

From the author of the forthcoming book, 'Stick Out Your Balance Sheet & Cough: Best Practices for Long Term Business Health'.

From Gary W Patterson, http://www.FiscalDoctor.com
Copyright 2009.

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Generating Homemade Energy

Generating Homemade Energy - Why?

Why Use Alternative Energy in Your Own Home?
By Leon Lewis

The answer to this question really depends on what is important to you. Is your money important to you? Is the planet important to you? Also, is having energy that is efficient and will last forever important to you? These are some easy questions, all of which you would probably answer "yes" to without hesitation. Think about it: is the energy you are utilizing right now really bringing you to that point? Is it really saving you any money? Is it good for the environment? Is it going to last forever?

If you use electricity from the main power grids, odds are that your energy comes from either coal-run generators or nuclear power. Well, coal is not the answer. Sure, we have been using it for a long time, but it is bad for the environment, costly in the long run and will not last forever. And as for nuclear power, did you know that the leftovers from a nuclear reaction of this type are the most toxic substances ever known to mankind? Can that really be good for the environment?

The reasons to use alternatives such as wind and solar energy are more than obvious. Solar and wind energy are free. Of course they might cost more at first than just hooking up to the main power grid, but then again the energy is free once you set it up. They are not polluting and good for the environment. Also, they are everlasting. As long as there is an ocean, the wind will blow. And as long as there is a sun, solar energy will be usable by us. So, the answer is really quite simple: alternative energy is better, and that is why you should have an alternative energy system in your home as soon as possible.

Look into new ways to help your family.

http://www.powersubstitute.com

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Generating Homemade Energy

Generating Homemade Energy - More on Solar Power

The Process and Future of Solar Energy
>By Russell Hancock

Our planet receives enough raw energy in the form of sunlight in sixty minutes to illuminate all of the worlds lights for a full year. Unfortunately, a very small part of it can be harnessed so most of the population still gets most of its energy from power plants that burn fossil fuels. Fortunately for our environment, we have recently seen an increasing trend in the demand for solar energy. This is partly due to the fact that solar panels are becoming cheaper as technology advances.

At the equator, the Sun provides approximately 1000 watts of energy per square meter on the earths surface. That means that 1 square meter of each panel can generate approximately 100 GW of raw power per year. That amount of power is enough to illuminate more than 50,000 houses. The entire area that would need to be covered by solar panels to power the entire world for a year would be the equivalent to one percent of the entire space of the Sahara Desert. The amount of power solar panels can generate on a given day depends on a few variables like smog, cloudy days, low temperatures and humidity.

Solar panel farms are a lot like other normal power plants with the only big difference being that most power plants get their energy from fossil fuels. And when conventional plants burn fossil fuels, they generate the by products which are contributing to global warming. Solar panel farms or solar heat plants (or CSP plants) absorb the rays of the sun to generate electrical energy.

This process of energy conversion in solar heat plants rather simple. The panels absorb the rays of the sun, which then shines on the power receiver. In this receiver, the energy is converted into steam from the suns rays. The steam is taken to tanks where it will be used to spin turbines and generate electricity. The process is clean because it requires no fossil fuels to be burned. It is safe for the environment and doesn't contribute to global warming like conventional power plants.

If more solar panel farms are implemented, the demand for oil will be reduced sharply. Today, there are many households that use solar panels for energy and more people are adding panels every day. When this demand for solar energy and other alternatives goes up, fewer people will use gas and fossil fuels, and the prices for these will surely drop as well.

If you use solar energy, you may actually be able to use "negative energy". Because every house is connected to the city's power system, the extra energy that your panels produce will go back into the grid and can be consumed by other households. This will result in you being sent a check by the electric company for the energy you put back in. Even if you panels are small, you will see a huge reduction in your bill. These solar panels, aside from being good for the environment, are good for your pocket!

Even though the initial investment into your solar panel system is a bit expensive, the panels will undoubtedly pay for themselves in the long run. Not only do you save money and perhaps even make some with your panels, you help the environment by reducing greenhouse gases and emissions. These systems are so durable they have been known to last years. PV cells are supposed to stay good anywhere from twenty-five to forty years. Most suppliers of solar panels have a standard twenty-five year warranty.

Finally, solar panels take minimal maintenance and they can be placed basically anywhere that gets a good amount of sunlight all year.

There is no question that alternative energy IS the future and the future is right now.

You can generate your own energy for a lot less than you think! DIY Energy features reviews and news on popular Do it Yourself Alternative Energy Projects.
Learn to build solar panels, and wind powered generators for a fraction of the cost of an installed system.

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Generating Homemade Energy

Generating Homemade Energy - Home Design

Solar Energy Use In Home Design
By Jere Botes

‘The sun is a constant source of energy. Everyday it provides us with 5000 times as much energy as the whole world needs.’ (Unknown)

In the 1950s and '60s efficient energy use was often neglected in constructing buildings and houses, but the high energy prices of the 1970s changed that. Some buildings built in the 80’s use only about 20% of the energy used in buildings constructed just ten years earlier. Techniques to save energy include designing and siting buildings to use passive solar heat, avoiding overlighting, and using better insulation. A “life-cycle” approach, which takes into account the total costs over the entire life of the building, rather than simply the initial construction cost or sales price, is encouraging greater efficiency.

SOLAR ENERGY IN SOUTH AFRICA

Climate

South Africa is one of the areas in the world with the highest count of sunny days per year in the world therefore making it also one of the most appropriate places in the world to use solar power energy should that be the only reason for using them.

A photovoltaic sell uses the sun’s light to create an electric current and not the heat of the sun as is commonly thought. A photovoltaic sell actually decreases in efficiency when the sell is heated extremely because of the resistance building up in the material. Because of the above fact, one can see that these photovoltaic panels is actually less efficient in very warm climates. South Africa, in summertime, can be extremely hot and could cause a photovoltaic panel on certain summer days to work less efficient although not as significantly as 25% less efficient as it is said can be lost in desert-type climates.

Cost efficiency & economy

Eskom South Africa provides our country with some of the cheapest conventional unsustainable electricity costs in the world, and that is the main reason for solar energy technology not taking off in South Africa. Although a number of solar thermal panels is in operation, even in residential buildings in the country, photovoltaic panels was up to date just not cost effective enough to justify the money saved using conventional electricity for manufacturers making them available on a large scale. Because of the uncommonness and unavailability of these panels the prices of theses panels has not significantly decreased in South Africa as it has in other more technologically advanced and environmentally aware
countries.

Also, because the electricity has been so inexpensive in SA, the cost of paying off a solar electricity system that provides the same amount (or sufficient amount) of electricity as a conventional system, will take an extremely long time to pay off with the money saved without using conventional electricity, and most home owners in South Africa doesn’t stay long enough in one home to justify the cost saving.
Another factor is that the technology is becoming more advanced day by day, and one might purchase a system today which will reach the end of it’s life before the system has paid for itself with money saved from not using conventional electricity is over.

Sustainability & the environment

Eskom might well be one of the cheapest electricity providers in the world, but it is also a fact that eskom releases some of the most pollution in the atmosphere by burning coal to generate electricity. Although air pollution doesn’t seem to be that big a problem here than in other countries where acid rain etc. is huge concerns for the community, it would be wise to sooner rather than later start to concentrate on the environment in South Africa and that is when solar power could start playing a big role as an energy provider.

Appropriate for us?

Solar panels can be used very effectively and appropriately in the remote areas around the country because the cost of connecting to the conventional power grid by laying cables might be even more expensive and once a solar PV system is installed one does not need any tools or technicians to maintain a PV panel regularly.

There are a number of places in our environment where solar power could be (and are already) used very effectively for example water pumps to dams in nature reserves. PV panels have also been used to power electric fencing in game reserves very successfully for interruptions in electricity is eliminated and big mammals like elephants has no chance of breaking through a fence as could be the case in an normal power interruption.

In conclusion, the use of solar power in South Africa isn’t that far fetched when one look at the very appropriate weather conditions and the need to look at a more sustainable and renewable energy source for the future.

Written by Jere Botes, architect & founder of http://www.dreamhouses.co.za, a website dedicated to provide home builders, home renovators, home owners & developers with free professional advice on all aspects of home design, building & diy. Reproductions of this article are encouraged but must include a link pointing to http://www.dreamhouses.co.za

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Generating Homemade Energy

Generating Homemade Energy is Another Aspect of Greenergy

Greenergy - Where Does it Come From?
By Nick Tart

Green energy, or greenergy, is a term used to describe all methods of creating energy that are environmentally friendly and non-polluting. Therefore may provide a solution to the ever-present problems of pollution and global warming. Scientists and entrepreneurs alike have developed many forms of green energy.

Wind Power - The conversion of wind energy into electricity by using wind turbines that turn as the wind blows.

Solar Power - The utilization of the radiant energy of the sun through solar panels that collect and convert the sun rays.

Hydropower - The use of moving water to turn giant turbines which in turn create electricity.

Anaerobic Digestion - The burning of "farts" from microorganisms after they digest biodegradable material to create electricity.

Geothermal Power - The generation of electricity by harnessing the heat stored beneath the earth's surface to turn turbines as it rises into the atmosphere.

Biomass Power - The burning of biomass material, such as dead plants and plant-like materials, to create energy. Biofuel is a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels.

Nuclear energy is arguably a form of green energy. The process of splitting atoms and harnessing the resulting energy is much cleaner than burning coal or oil. However, problems with disposing of nuclear waste lay claim that this method is neither efficient nor effective in cutting CO2 emissions.

Keep in mind, no form of energy creation is entirely impact-free. Even the manufacturing and installation of wind turbines creates CO2 emissions before the turbines can generate the first ampere of electricity.

About the Author

Nick Tart is the editor of four main sites for Worldwide Marketing Solutions. One of which is Great Earth News. GreatEarthNews.com provides information and tips to help you better the world. If you enjoyed reading this article, please check out The Good News Site.

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Want to read more about these sorts of topics? Check out Wind Power Generating Kit and All About Biodiesel and Other Biofuels.

Generating Homemade Energy