magnkarl Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 9 hours ago, villakram said: Pretty cool! It's such a pity that the large commercial interests and nimby crowd make such a set-up in ones home a colossal pain in the ass, and wallet. To be honest the industry has dropped prices a lot in recent years. I'm not an electrical engineer but I presume you could just unplug all the circuits in your house that goes to the safety box and which power lights and low energy bits in your home and plug them into your solar circuits. There's definitely laws that electricians need to work with currents over 12v, but you could install cable, arrays and everything bar the stuff that needs doing within your strong current box. PS: You'd need to rejig your lamps with 12v bulbs before you do this. In a couple of years solar panels will probably be even cheaper and hopefully the need for electrical vehicles will ensure that we produce batteries that aren't dependent on rare minerals. With a proper power bank system solar panels should be able to handle all energy needs fairly soon. If I had the electrical knowledge I'd probably buy a used 1st gen electrical vehicle and make some sort of power bank out of the battery (30kw/h), I presume anyone who could do this could make this into a very profitable business. As of right now filling your roof with solar will pay itself in anything from 15-20 years, when this timeline goes under 10 years it'll be a no brainer for many more people. Our setup will pay itself in about 5 years (installed in 2009), but since we're connected to the grid our savings is much more dependent on the fees from the power companies. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 6 hours ago, magnkarl said: To be honest the industry has dropped prices a lot in recent years. I'm not an electrical engineer but I presume you could just unplug all the circuits in your house that goes to the safety box and which power lights and low energy bits in your home and plug them into your solar circuits. There's definitely laws that electricians need to work with currents over 12v, but you could install cable, arrays and everything bar the stuff that needs doing within your strong current box. PS: You'd need to rejig your lamps with 12v bulbs before you do this. In a couple of years solar panels will probably be even cheaper and hopefully the need for electrical vehicles will ensure that we produce batteries that aren't dependent on rare minerals. With a proper power bank system solar panels should be able to handle all energy needs fairly soon. If I had the electrical knowledge I'd probably buy a used 1st gen electrical vehicle and make some sort of power bank out of the battery (30kw/h), I presume anyone who could do this could make this into a very profitable business. As of right now filling your roof with solar will pay itself in anything from 15-20 years, when this timeline goes under 10 years it'll be a no brainer for many more people. Our setup will pay itself in about 5 years (installed in 2009), but since we're connected to the grid our savings is much more dependent on the fees from the power companies. Permits and insurance are the real issues over here at the moment. In lots of places you cannot get a permit to place solar panels on your south facing roof or on your lawn. Meanwhile to go near the power box in my house I need a permit from the council before a sparky can get to work. I think a separate panel for the renewables to live on would be the way to go and a proper inverter system. The power companies are entrenched and with winters here, the gov/populace doesn't have a massive interest in solar akin to Arizona or such. It's changing, but pretty slowly. Just a matter of time really. Most of the electrical spending is on hot water heating, but ~30-50% of our bill are flat fees to pay for the network, so there is only so much saving possible. Disconnecting would be foolish and connection will likely be made mandatory in coming years. Powerbanks are a different issue and the gamechanger. While relatively straightforward to put together (I know a guy in the car industry who already dabbles in this area - don't ignore laptop batteries, plentiful and more flexible form factors), what size can you put in your house and not be in breach of firecode (see airplanes or the issues with the small number of Tesla fires) or your insurance policy. When we bought last year, all the companies had renewable language but little about large li-ion powerbanks. Given the lack of real statewide guidance (hence a mess of changing regs from locale to locale), it'll likely be a bad event that results in regulation, so I think we are going to have to wait and see. Looks like the next 5 yrs should see this change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted April 3, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted April 3, 2021 Don't think it was this thread but there was a discussion recently about why The Sahara isn't covered in Solar Panels and exporting electricity. The excellent Fully Charged reported on this in a recent video, looks like it might happen. Try to not get too distracted by Robert Lewellyn constantly spitting all over the car whilst talking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted April 3, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted April 3, 2021 On 22/02/2021 at 18:47, Genie said: Why don’t the poor African countries export solar generated electricity to make a few quid? Found your original post @Genie. Above video seems to show this is on the cards. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 6 minutes ago, sidcow said: Found your original post @Genie. Above video seems to show this is on the cards. They all laughed at Christopher Columbus when he said the world was round... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 I'm looking at buying an acre of land and a modular home. It'll be spartan living, but the alternative is buying a dump or renting an apartment. The housing situation in Maine right now is really depressing if you are on a budget. Even building new is prohibitive with material costs at the moment. But I really like the idea of modular becoming more common. It's a very green alternative to building new. Anyone ever been inside one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 On 18/08/2019 at 06:10, Xann said: The self build hobbit house continues to develop. I had no idea, nice one, Xann! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 (edited) This looks decent. I'm sure the reality isn't quite as slick as these photos and not-so-real looking photos. https://www.dwellito.com/modular-homes/kithaus-k9 Edited May 1, 2021 by maqroll 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 This one is under 100K US https://mekamodular.com/models/standard/sol-480/ Palm trees not included. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts