Anyone have any experience with energy (electricity) resellers?

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Red_Liner740 said:
Sometimes, its not about the $$$, but about being self-sufficient and reliant on yourself.

go on alternative energy forums and you'll see tons of people who have gone off-grid and never looked back.

Who gives a crap how much KWh costs when you aint getting any power.
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To each his own. I have a back up genny to keep the food from spoiling but if I spent 20 hours a week fiddling with turbines, panels and heat exchangers I would be in essence paying myself a buck or so per hour. I'll work a extra hour at the shop to pay for store bought power and use the other 19 hours doing what I want.
 
Maybe people enjoy it? With that thinking i'd never work on my cars/bikes, just take it into the shop.....cept that i enjoy it...and i get to acquire knowledge that cannot be taken away when any and all local shops have a "closed" sign up. Same sense of self reliance is what drives people.

and i dont think anyone would have to tinker 20 hours a day to maintain their off-grid system. Not something that is home sized.

Between solar, wind and diesel generator for top-ups it would be a pretty reliable system.



nobbie48 said:
To each his own. I have a back up genny to keep the food from spoiling but if I spent 20 hours a week fiddling with turbines, panels and heat exchangers I would be in essence paying myself a buck or so per hour. I'll work a extra hour at the shop to pay for store bought power and use the other 19 hours doing what I want.
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Red_Liner740 said:
Maybe people enjoy it? With that thinking i'd never work on my cars/bikes, just take it into the shop.....cept that i enjoy it...and i get to acquire knowledge that cannot be taken away when any and all local shops have a "closed" sign up. Same sense of self reliance is what drives people.

and i dont think anyone would have to tinker 20 hours a day to maintain their off-grid system. Not something that is home sized.

Between solar, wind and diesel generator for top-ups it would be a pretty reliable system.
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20 hours per week not day. Chopping wood and or stoking fires, cleaning and adjusting solar panels, servicing gennies, refueling etc. It all adds up. As I said, if it's your thing, go for it.
 
nobbie48 said:
20 hours per week not day. Chopping wood and or stoking fires, cleaning and adjusting solar panels, servicing gennies, refueling etc. It all adds up. As I said, if it's your thing, go for it.
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We heat with wood, we have a furnace to keep the house from going below 16c but to make the house comfortable we use the wood stove. I'd say I spend about 16-20 hours a year cutting and splitting wood. We use about 1 to 1.5 cords of wood a year. Some of the wood is bought already chopped and split and it's still way cheaper than a tank of oil. We have a rack that holds about 1/4 of a cord that is inside the house and might spend 1/2 an hour every two weeks replenishing it from outside. Stoking fires isn't really time consuming or labour intensive.

and for less need of servicing I'd look at propane generator (or nat gas if it was available) instead of diesel or gas... How much servicing do wind turbines need? as far as I know they sit there and spin. I suppose solar would need cleaning (and snow brushed off them in winter), I imagine it would take the same amount of time as washing and waxing your car for a home system.

If I spent an hour a week maintaining solar it would work out time wise to my advantage as it takes me more time to make the $ to pay the damn bill.
 
These regulations only apply to new stoves and make a huge difference I went from a old stove to a new style approved stove and the heat output is 10x from the same amount of wood anyone using an older stove is either wasting a lot of money if they buy wood or effort if they cut their own.

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