In light of the recent carbon tax i distictly remember our PM saying that when prices rise people find a way to cut down and reduce their costs. What this ment to me was that she was saying that its "OUR" problem, "the people" and that imposing a tax solved the governments obligations and problems.
My personal opinion is that instead of using less of the monopoly controled power, individuals should be producing as much as they can, and not supply it back to the grid, thus allowing the power companies to sell your power at a profit (run a lead to your neighbours if you have excess)
If you can produce all the power you need, no need to cut back on your usage
Cutting down on your power use and making an effeciant home is admirable, and for many of us the best we can do depending on our situations, but if you are in a situation where you can produce more of your own power, it would be my choice over cutting back usage.
If you look on some DIY websites (www.thebackshed.com is one of the best) there are some amazing solar and wind turbines being produced by many regular peaple who have just decided that making your own power makes more sense than anything. A lot of this can be done at a fraction of the cost of what some of these solar/wind turbines installation companies offer.
If you search for wind turbines on in this forum you will see my self made Lenz2 turbine. Total build cost under $100 so far. I am progressing through the electrical side of things at the moment (reconfiguring the coil and building a voltage regulator) according to thebackshed where a lot of peaple are using these alternators they are generally good for up to 400watts peak output (14V @ 30amps) about the same output as 6 average size solar panels that I estimate would cost me at least $100 each to make.
At the end of the day I guess it depends on what you can afford. If money is no issue, the most conventional way to get off the electricity grid would be to go a solar/wind combo. It's just a mater of figuring out your consumption in Ah (amp hours), then figuring out the number of batteries you will require to maintain that consumption relative to the charge sources. Solar is very reliable but peak power demand is usaully early evening for a lot of house holds so a big bank of batteries is needed to get through the night, wind turbines can help the evening power drain but wind is less reliable in most areas.
The most expensive items regardless of your set up are always going to be the batteries and inverter.
tristanw
sorry for ranting on, but I personally feel we are being forced/pushed into this conserve energy crisis, if our power source was clean, then how much we consume shouldn't be an issue.
)
They take after their dad, haha.