Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy

-Cross posted to Off The Grid-

I found a fantastic government resource [PDF], with documentation on what you need to consider when going off the electrical grid either as a new home builder, or home renovator. There are pages and pages of detailed suggestions, and steps for planning an ideal off-grid home, so browse or delve right in. You can’t help but learn something by reading just a page of it. Here are a few interesting points and definitions from the document:

Off-grid homes have shortened the [electricity delivery] line and have the electricity generating equipment in their backyards [instead of hundreds of kilometers away]. Their electricity comes from a photovoltaic array (solar panel), wind turbine, micro-hydro turbine and/or a fossil-fueled generator. Collectively, the other parts of the system equipment are known as the balance of system (BOS) and include low-voltage (12 volt) direct current (DC) electrical storage (batteries) and regulating equipment (controller, inverter, battery charger, DC disconnect and monitor) right in the house. Instead of paying for someone else to look after the supply of electricity, people living off-grid need to be their own power managers.

Obviously not everyone is willing to take on the responsibility of maintaining their own power supply station(s). Yet everyone has to manage their power consumption, anyway. For people less dedicated to energy independence and “Do It Yourself” projects, there are systems that work both on and off the grid, so that the grid’s power supply is always present if needed. If you’re in a location where the electrical grid is already installed, you can design your off-grid system so that it sells electricity to the hydro (power) company when a surplus is collected from the renewable source on your property.

You may have seen power inverters in Canadian Tire, or an electronic store like Radio Shack. They plug into your car’s cigarette lighter, and turn the 12V DC battery current, into 120V AC current for your mini TV, DVD player, or any small device with a standard North American electrical two prong plug. It turns out off-grid homes use the exact same technology, only much larger or “stacked” models.

Make sure you research inverters carefully to find the one that will best serve your needs. Look at the continuous power rating and the surge capacity.

The quality, sophistication and reliability of DC/AC inverters and the power they provide have improved significantly in the last number of years and can be more stable than the grid. (When the Luets had a blower door test done on their house to see how airtight it was, the tester commented that the quality of their power was better than grid power, as noted by how smoothly the fan in the blower door ran.)

In the sample off-grid home used for the Yukon document, the Luet family uses a Trace SW2512 (2500 watt, 12 volt) inverter as the brain of their electrical system. It uses a special stand-by “search” mode to save power, and activates only when a load needs to be powered.

The important point to take away from the government guide, is that an off-grid home works best under ideal conditions built into the home from its conception. However, ideal situations rarely exist, so there are still many measures you can make for any home, that will reduce your dependency on grid-electricity. And if the technology works in the harsh climate of the Yukon Territory, it can work anywhere in Canada with more annual sunlight hours.