Nuclear myths and truths

[CrealCritter]

The most important thing people can do is start looking at how much electricity they use, and where they can cut. For instance, most people feel like they MUST have air conditioning in the summer; and yet, humans did without that for most of our time on earth

You nailed it! I reduced my electric bill significantly by doing one simple thing. I replaced all those oboma era CFL light bulbs with LED bulbs. If you don't do this then your missing out on savings. Especially since you can buy them cheap at dollar tree, for yes you guessed it $1.00 per bulb.

https://www.dollartree.com/warm-white-8-watt-medium-base-led-lightbulbs/244270

 

[wyoDreamer]

In Wyoming, we had neighbors who were living in their dream home - off-grid.
The homeowner was an electrical engineer and worked with a solar company that was just starting up. He went with them because he was getting a super deal on the battery bank. A couple of years later, the company was gone - turns out the installer wasn't charging enough for the batteries and went bankrupt.

Anyway, they installed both solar panels and wind turbine. In Wyoming, that should have covered all their electrical needs. Usually, it did. She had to check the battery levels before vacuuming, but it worked for them. Until we had a 2 1/2 week period of cloudy, snowing and no wind. They had wood stoves in the house for heat, so she knew she wouldn't freeze but the battery bank went down below 15%. No TV, No water wasting (shower/bath was too much, melted snow for fluching), no laundry - basically don't use the electric at all if possible as they needed it to keep the refrigerator running. All this time, he was working out of state and she was at the house alone.

 

[Marianne]

Reducing your electrical usage is step #1, for sure. Even for those who don't believe in any of the other things. Just saying...

 

[Lazy Gardener]

One thing I'll not give up unless forced to do is my AC. If I get overheated, I get physically ill. We've not yet brought the AC up from basement, but... I do have a big fan today. Our AC use is cut back by making sensible adjustments: We open windows up and use fans to direct fresh air into the house when ever the outside temp is lower than the inside temp. When the temps reverse, or even before that, I close up windows, and pull shades if sun shines in. However, we built our house with roof line/overhang and house orientation adjusted to limit summer sun while taking advantage of winter sun.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

In Wyoming, we had neighbors who were living in their dream home - off-grid.
The homeowner was an electrical engineer and worked with a solar company that was just starting up. He went with them because he was getting a super deal on the battery bank. A couple of years later, the company was gone - turns out the installer wasn't charging enough for the batteries and went bankrupt.

Anyway, they installed both solar panels and wind turbine. In Wyoming, that should have covered all their electrical needs. Usually, it did. She had to check the battery levels before vacuuming, but it worked for them. Until we had a 2 1/2 week period of cloudy, snowing and no wind. They had wood stoves in the house for heat, so she knew she wouldn't freeze but the battery bank went down below 15%. No TV, No water wasting (shower/bath was too much, melted snow for fluching), no laundry - basically don't use the electric at all if possible as they needed it to keep the refrigerator running. All this time, he was working out of state and she was at the house alone.

A simple generator would be a good back up plan. Here, in Maine, it's almost a necessity to have a generator. We've lost our power for up to 13 days before! And it's not at all uncommon for us to loose power for any where from 8 hours to 3 days at a time. A generator would provide back up for the situation that you describe: weather conditions making it impossible to keep battery banks charged.

 

[Marianne]

In Wyoming, we had neighbors who were living in their dream home - off-grid.
The homeowner was an electrical engineer and worked with a solar company that was just starting up. He went with them because he was getting a super deal on the battery bank. A couple of years later, the company was gone - turns out the installer wasn't charging enough for the batteries and went bankrupt.

Anyway, they installed both solar panels and wind turbine. In Wyoming, that should have covered all their electrical needs. Usually, it did. She had to check the battery levels before vacuuming, but it worked for them. Until we had a 2 1/2 week period of cloudy, snowing and no wind. They had wood stoves in the house for heat, so she knew she wouldn't freeze but the battery bank went down below 15%. No TV, No water wasting (shower/bath was too much, melted snow for fluching), no laundry - basically don't use the electric at all if possible as they needed it to keep the refrigerator running. All this time, he was working out of state and she was at the house alone.

I believe it. Our son lived in India for years, traveled all over. He learned how to get by without refrigeration and a lot of things we take for granted. I, in turn, learned a lot from him.
We had a huge ice storm years ago and ended up staying with our daughter for 8 days because we had no power. After that, I learned what I had to do and stock to be able to stay in my home for three months with no power. I hope I don't have to do it.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I was watching a show on public television that was analyzing the old mansions of the south and how they were built for those hot summer days. The reason for hte large porches was to provide overhangs so the sun couldn't shine directly into the house and heat it up. The windows were large so they could open them up and get alot of air flow, and they had the windows on the roofs that could be opened to let the heat out.
But I bet they still had problems sleeping on those hot, steamy nights.

 

[CrealCritter]

One thing I'll not give up unless forced to do is my AC. If I get overheated, I get physically ill. We've not yet brought the AC up from basement, but... I do have a big fan today. Our AC use is cut back by making sensible adjustments: We open windows up and use fans to direct fresh air into the house when ever the outside temp is lower than the inside temp. When the temps reverse, or even before that, I close up windows, and pull shades if sun shines in. However, we built our house with roof line/overhang and house orientation adjusted to limit summer sun while taking advantage of winter sun.

You can look into Geo thermal also. Its basically a large diameter pipe buried deep in the ground where the temperature remains constant in the 50' or 60'. Your house air is ran through the loop of pipe. For heat you use a heat exchanger and for air conditioning it just circulates the air. Doesn't help with humidity but there are some systems out now that address humidity as well. Geothermal also works if you have a deep pond, same principle... submerge coils of pipe in the bottom of the pond where the temperature remains fairly consistent.

I have a friend here in southern IL who has Geo thermal. He loves it and it doubles as a storm shelter during tornadoes. They just crawl inside the pipe and wait out the storm.

 

[Marianne]

A simple generator would be a good back up plan. Here, in Maine, it's almost a necessity to have a generator. We've lost our power for up to 13 days before! And it's not at all uncommon for us to loose power for any where from 8 hours to 3 days at a time. A generator would provide back up for the situation that you describe: weather conditions making it impossible to keep battery banks charged.

The generator would certainly help.
When we had no power after that storm, no one could get gasoline around here, either. Everyone was driving 30 miles to buy it in another town. My husband wanted one for 10 years, but I always spoke out against it. I was willing to change my standard of living for those days when we had no power.
Now, air conditioning? egads... It was 100 the other day and it does not cool down at night. I have COPD, high heat and cold are not friends for my lungs. I'd be back at my daughter's. I wish we had an earth berm house.

 

[Marianne]

You can look into Geo thermal also. Its basically a large diameter pipe buried deep in the ground where the temperature remains constant in the 50' or 60'. Your house air is ran through the loop of pipe. For heat you use a heat exchanger and for air conditioning it just circulates the air. Doesn't help with humidity but there are some systems out now that address humidity as well. Geothermal also works if you have a deep pond, same principle... submerge coils of pipe in the bottom of the pond where the temperature remains fairly consistent.

I have a friend here in southern IL who has Geo thermal. He loves it and it doubles as a storm shelter during tornadoes. They just crawl inside the pipe and wait out the storm.

I love geothermal! We planned for that, had all the tubing, ductwork, everything in place. Then got the quote - $10K IF we picked up the unit, carried it upstairs, then they'd hook everything up. We threw in the towel at that point and got a heat pump.
In this area, they use deep wells for geothermal. A neighbor paid almost $20K for his, had a lot of problems for three months, but after they got the bugs worked out, he said his average bill was $50 a month. The tech that hooked up our heat pump said the units usually needed replaced before they paid for themselves BUT again, that was 10 years ago or something. Time and technology are making things more efficient.