A. It does't really work that way. Until you walk in the door and flip on that first switch, your house uses no electricity. Each person or family's power use and needs are as unique as a fingerprint. The cost and design of your personal power system is totally dependent on your power use needs and preferences. By knowing how much power your family uses in a day (look at your utility bill), we will be able to give you accurate information on the costs of an RE (Renewable Energy) system.

Most household unknowingly waste electricity needlessly. Incandescent lighting, phantom loads, and inefficient appliances waste in the neighborhood of 20% of all power consumed. With an RE system, a watt saved is a watt earned. We can help you determine what your daily power usage should be utilizing your power in an efficient manner. We will be able to help you determine what systems components will be needed to produce that power for you using Renewable Energy. One size does NOT fit all. Each RE system is unique and is designed to your needs and resources. Typical system costs run from $8K to $30K.

A. Renewable Energy generation is dependent upon the availability of RE sources at each specific site. What Nature grants you in terms of blowing wind, flowing water and direct sunlight will determine what you can harvest. We accept what Mother Nature freely gives us while she gives it and say Thanks!

A well designed renewable energy system blends your electrical needs with the available RE resources at your site. Photovoltaics panels (PVs) use sunlight to make electricity. Wind turbines use the wind, and micro-hydro turbines use water under pressure. For the most economical and effective installation, you need to determine what sort of Renewable Energy system will work for you. This involves some homework and taking a hard look at your electrical use patterns.

A. This is a good example of where an individual RE system won’t work. What is open to you now is energy conservation. Compact fluorescent light bulbs, energy efficient appliances and downright frugalness in your electrical energy use, will save you money and allow you to do your part for the planet.

By using switched plug strips, available at any hardware store, and putting your appliances that have built-in clocks or instant-on features on them, you can cut down on what we call phantom loads. These are things which consume power 24 hours a day without any real benefit. For example, a television set with a remote can consume as much as 10 watts of power just sitting there waiting for you to turn it on. Microwaves and VCRs are using power all the time just to keep the little clocks going. Computers and stereo equipment are often phantoms as well. To use the appliance turn on the plug strip first, when you are done, turn it off. It becomes a habit you don't even notice after a while.

Some folks start with a battery based system that charges off the grid during non-peak hours. This systems works if your utility offers Time of Use (TOU) metering. You consume power to charge the batteries at night when the rate is far less and feed your appliances from the battery bank during the peak period when power is expensive. You can start a system like this without any RE sources and add them later on when you can afford it, however most utility rebate and tax credit programs require photovoltaic input. A battery based system will get you through a blackout keeping essential loads like lighting, communications, and refrigeration powered up.

A. For an off grid home, if your clothes dryer, cooking range and water heater use gas, then most of your other appliances should be okay. When I buy an appliance for my Renewable Energy powered home I get one that is energy and water efficient. My automatic dishwasher, for example, is an Asko, a Swedish model, that is very efficient on water and electricity. It has a heating element in the machine itself. This can be turned off with a button. If our solar hot water system heats the water sufficiently, we can choose not to use electricity to do that task.

Anytime you use electricity to make heat or cold it takes a lot of it. Electric space heaters, stoves, and water heaters are all very large consumers of electricity. Unless you have a very good wind or microhydro site, these are best put on gas, wood or solar thermal sources. Air conditioners are also heavy consumers, but evaporative cooling, which works well in areas that are not very humid, are not. Be realistic when you use or buy an electric appliance. Do you really need that 1500 watt blow dryer or will an 800W model do the job just as well? All appliances do NOT consume the same amount of electricity

These are all small things, but together they can save big bucks in a renewable energy system. Lights, appliances, communication, a refrigerator/freezer and water pumping will be the most essential power consumers. Once we determine what your necessary daily power usage is we will be able to help you determine what systems components will be needed to produce that power for you using Renewable Energy.

A.Solar Power: Nearly everyone has access to some sunlight. How many hours of unobstructed sunlight do you get in a day? The crucial time period is the three or four hours on either side of solar noon. If there are trees, buildings, etc, that block the sunshine during those periods, using PVs may be less effective for you.

Wind Energy: How hard does the wind blow in your area? Is it seasonal or year round? Is it windiest during stormy periods of little sun? Do surrounding trees and bushes tend to grow leaning away from the prevailing wind? Are there tall trees or buildings close by that will cause turbulence to the wind stream? Don’t use your local airport’s wind measurements. Airports are usually built in the least windy area. Look around.

Micro-Hydro Power: If you have a creek or a stream, how many gallons per minute does it flow? Does the flow change radically from winter to summer? Any fish in the creek? How far from your home site is it? How much pressure or vertical fall can be developed by piping the water along your property? Water used to run a micro-hydro turbine has to be free to leave the bottom of the turbine unobstructed. It can not go back into a pressurized system.

A. Renewable Energy sources usually produce DC power. This electricity (most often 12, 24 or 48 volt DC) is sent by wire runs to a battery bank, or directly to a grid intertied inverter in a no battery system. In a battery based system, these will be deep cycle batteries, suited to this sort of usage and sized to meet your needs. From the batteries the power goes into an inverter which changes to regular household current. You won’t need to change your in house wiring or appliances. All Code required safety equipment and good system monitoring and metering will be designed into your system.

A. 30 states now have “net metering” programs to encourage the use of renewables on grid. If you intertie your system to the utility power Grid. In Oregon, you can participate in the Energy Trust of Oregon Incentive Program. you can sell excess power back to the utility. It’s quite a thrill to watch your utility meter spin backwards! With a battery based system, the inverter will automatically switch to powering your loads from the battery in the event of a electrical grid black out. When the grid comes back on, it automatically switches back. In a batteryless system, the RE sources automatically disconnect in the event of an outage. You go dark along with everyone else.