Living in Maine was... interesting. I learned quite a lot! I think the main thing I learned, was that paying for electricity is a total waste of money, when you can get it free.
Now, here in Iowa, I have my house/farm My store, and my shop (Dads shop I pay the electricity bill) So I am paying in the neighborhood of 400 to 500 a MONTH for electricity...
The store I could easily go off grid, but being on the town square I have no place to put panels except on a north facing roof, and that won't work well... The shop.. uses a LOT of power, but will be a consideration...
My house, I have all the room, all the sun and all the wind I need.. I WILL be going OFF GRID over the course of the next three years... My payments are 200 to 300 a month for electricity here at the house. I can eliminate that completely!
My wife bought a cabin on the Piscataquis (spelling?) River. The river is about twenty to thirty steps out the back door, it is about a mile off the beaten path. It has no power lines. It runs completely on solar panels. Those panels charge a bank pf batteries, and the batteries feed an inverter that converts the DC power to AC power. If we get a few days of stormy and cloudy weather, she starts her generator and runs it for two to three hours to charge the batteries, and she is good for another two or three days.
She has a washing machine, Microwave, TV, XBox, and at least while I was there a computer. Internet is provided via the hot spot on her phone. Gas stove and gas on demand hot water, and a drilled well. We lacked for NOTHING.
YES, we had to be more conscious about shutting lights off. We had to do laundry etc during peak hours when the sun was shining on the panels, but none of it was really any type of inconvenience. I was perfectly content and comfortable.
She has a little wood stove, and a gas wall heater as backup. I cut wood and stacked her porch full, and kept the wood stove going all winter. I cooked on it most of the time as well, just because I could, not because I needed to.
As I get going on adding solar and wind to THIS house in Iowa, I will take pictures and create a thread here about it, if anyone is curious...
As battery technology improves, Inverter's get better, and wind power becomes more dependable with brush-less generators etc... I just can't imagine continuing to PAY so much to the power companies... However, I am also starting to see where states and federal governments are now making it "illegal" to go off grid completely. Power companies are trying to LIMIT grid tie and off grid systems... I really don't blame them, because from what I now KNOW to be a fact, the power companies TIME is limited!
Scott
