I’ve been evaluating the various ways to power properties in three different locations over the past several months and have found a bewildering number of options to do just that. Some are still in the twinkle in the eye phase of development, others are more proven, but my gosh the price tag makes you feel like you’re underwater gasping for air. Basically anywhere you live you need power for three functions:
1. Run Electrical appliances.
2. Heat and Cool Your Dwelling
3. Get you from point A to point B.
So here are the three locations I’ve been evaluating, the options, and the feasibility of those options.

Alaska Property For Energy Self-Sufficiency
Alaska - this property is on the Lynn Canal - a very deep fjord about 70 miles northwest of Juneau. The local population is very pro-environmental so there is wide acceptance for doing alternative energy solutions. The property actually just got on the grid less than ten years ago so it is already set up to be off the grid. It has a large 20kw diesel generator that powers the main house and three outbuildings that includes an apartment. It used to house a very large windmill in a field and the wiring still exists to the main generator shed. The home and hot water are currently heated with a diesel furnace. Propane provides cooking fuel. There are options to put in a geothermal heat pump system. The piping can either be run underground or can be placed out in the water. The approximate cost to do that is $20,000. Current heating oil costs on that site are $5000 per year. The site also has strong gusting winds sometimes over 70 MPH. There is a 5kw windmill by Helix Wind that can handle wind from all directions and large gusts. The cost is approximately $20,000. Current electrical costs are $4000 per year. Reducing the electrical usage is somewhat difficult as the custom home was built using approximately 14 different types of light fixtures. It is not an easy matter of just replacing incandescent bulbs with florescent bulbs - most of the light fixtures need to be replaced. There is also a green house that has high wattage metal halyide lights.
To modify the home’s heat and electrical sources is possible, but may not be desirable. The windmill would be the easiest to implement solution since the electrical system is already set up to be off the grid. The Geothermal Heat Pump system would be considerably more difficult as there are no qualified installers in the area and doing the piping into the water, even though it is a closed loop system, would require special permitting and may not be allowed. Doing a horizontal or vertical closed loop ground system would also add considerable cost to the installation and significantly alter the natural landscape on the property. There is another alternative to use the existing infrastructure of both the diesel generator to create the electricity and the diesel furnace to heat the home - that would be to create algae oil. But from what I’ve seen on the algae to oil tools - this is not an easy task and there are not currently off the shelf solutions to make oil from algae. My initial step is going to be to install the windmill and keep experimenting with the algae biofuel alternatives. The algae biofuel would also be used as fuel for the diesel truck and tractor. I could put in a larger 100kw windmill and use the excess power to create hydrogen for a fuel cell car - however there are no technicians in the area with hydrogen or fuel cell experience so maintaining a fuel cell vehicle up there over the long term would be more difficult. The town has told me if I set up my own power company, they do have to purchase back my electricity at their wholesale rate. But they do not do net metering.

Small Tract Home in Northern Nevada
Nevada - there are two properties in Northern Nevada on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada range. The first property is a small home in a tract neighborhood. The options for this house are limited to solar panels on the roof and possibly a very small windmill. For this home, we have already replaced all the light bulbs with low wattage florescent, installed a tankless hot water heater and added an energy efficient natural gas fireplace. The other property is on a south facing hill with ample space for solar panels. It already employs a passive solar design, and was designed using low wattage light fixtures, and tankless water heaters. We have designed solar awnings, a portable solar carport, are putting solar panels on the polar king freezer trailer and can ground mount at least 50kw

Nevada House on South Facing Hill
of solar panels on the 2 acre hill behind the house. The property also gets winds up to 30 MPH from the valley floor for half the day. This property is also well suited for a geothermal heat pump system but because of the passive solar design and the airflow characteristics, the home has minimal heating and cooling needs as it is. The excess electricity generated on this property could be used to create hydrogen for a fuel cell vehicle. The area has numerous people who are technically qualified to help with a fuel cell vehicle. The plan for this property is to first install the solar awnings as that will reduce the cooling needs of the house. Then install the portable solar carport and put the solar panels on the polar king freezer. The next step will be to install a 5 KW windmill and then work on the hydrogen creation system for the fuel cell. Depending on the needs for the hydrogen fuel cell system, we may install more solar panels or windmills.
I’ve also been evaluating some other novel energy storage concepts for the Nevada property. Research Scientists at Worcester Polytechnic Institute have found a way to use asphalt to capture solar energy to heat a liquid. There are some other fascinating ways of very inexpensively using the sun’s energy on vacumn sealed tubes heating liquid mounted flat or in a trackable concave mirror. With both of these combined, they can circulate liquid through a tank that then uses that liquid in the tank to run a waste heat generator for electricity. After the water goes through the waste heat generator, it gets returned to the hot liquid sink to be heated up again from the asphalt and the concave mirror solar energy collectors. Electratherm, the manufacturer of the waste heat generator, said they were going to be rolling out a 5kw system by the end of 2009. The benefit of this system is it would also keep the driveway hot for snow melting in the winter. The key would be to use a non-toxic antifreeze in the system.

Connecticut Property for Energy Self-Sufficiency
Connecticut - This property sits on a west facing hill. There is ample space for ground mounted solarpanels facing south. We priced a 6kw system which would cover the electrical needs of the home. The installed costs would be 50K. There is also ample space to install a horizontal piping geothermal heat pump system. The house is a passive solar design as well so the geothermal heat pump would work well for the cooling needs in the summer but it may be inadequate to for the heating needs in the winter. More evaluation is required - however there are other people in the area employing geothermal heat pump solutions and there are qualified installers in the area. We may be selling this property within the next year or two so we have put the energy self-sufficiency projects on hold. Homes in the area are not selling at even their market value so making improvements on this property doesn’t make sense at this time.