POWER OFF GRID: BENEFITS OF A POWER OFF GRID SYSTEM FOR YOUR HOME

POWER OFF GRID: BENEFITS OF A POWER OFF GRID SYSTEM FOR YOUR HOME

Power off grid systems are generally utilized in remote locations without the benefit of a utility grid.  The power off grid system can also be used in an area where furbishing a power line to the local utility grid is prohibitively expensive, or in an area where blackouts and/or brownouts are frequent.  With an off grid solar power system, you would be able to provide the energy necessary to light up a cabin, home or business.

Power off grid systems comprehensively alleviate a home’s dependency on utility electrical grids.  Usually, the power off grid systems require a higher initial investment than grid-tie systems.  The difference is because there is a greater demand on the power off grid system.  A grid-tie system usually supplements a home’s energy demands, which reduces the amount of energy required from the utility grid.  In contrast, a power off grid system is responsible for providing all power to the household appliances and tools.

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When designing a power off grid system, it is best to take a holistic approach and envision the completed project from a “big picture” perspective.  This strategy is even necessary when deciding something as simple as the type of light bulbs that will be utilized.  Standard incandescent lighting is extremely energy inefficient, and as such, you may want to consider fluorescent or LED lighting instead.

Power off grid systems are usually bigger than most grid-tie systems.  For the power off grid system to be fully independent, a system must have a greater array of energy-producing panels, which in turn requires more batteries to store the charge and more equipment to regulate the charge.  However, even though the power off grid system requires a bigger initial investment, in the long run, a power off grid system may save you thousands in energy costs.

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Here are the main components to a power off grid system:

(1)    Solar Array:         A Solar Array is a group of solar panels which absorb solar energy and convert this to DC power.  The number and type of solar panels will determine how much energy you can produce, as will your geographic location.

(2)    PV Combiner Box:           The PV Combiner Box usually includes GFCIs which protect your solar power system from equipment damage caused by power surges and short circuits.  You can also shut down your solar power system at a moment’s notice, allowing for safe maintenance, repair, and inspection.

(3)    Charge Controller:           Your batteries will accept all electrical current running from the solar array, but overcharging can ruin them.  Charge controllers ensure batteries don’t receive current when they’re charged to capacity, protecting your investment.

(4)    DC Breaker Box:                               The DC Breaker Box includes a disconnect which will regulate the relationship between the battery bank and the inverter so it can be shut down at a moment’s notice to replace, repair, or inspect the batteries safely.

(5)    Battery Bank:     Batteries store the energy you collect through your array.  Power off grid systems must collect enough energy to power your home or business until your batteries can be charged again.

(6)    Inverter:              Inverters take DC power and convert it to AC power.  Most electrical systems (like that found in your home) run off of AC power.

(7)    Back-up Generator:        A back-up power supply is important to compensate for weather patterns which might otherwise disrupt your array’s collection.

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SOLAR HOT WATER 2 DIY USING BLACK WATER HOSE SOLAR WATER HEATER SUN POWER

Part 2 of a 2 part series showing how to install a cheap cost effective solar hot water heater. greenpowerscience.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

This is the future project in Australia. It will be ready in 2012.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Sustainable Energy Shares Why Energy Monitoring Systems Are Helpful To Your Business

Shared by Sustainable Energy

Why Are Energy Monitoring Systems Important?

There are a number of energy monitoring systems available on the market. What do these systems do? Fundamentally they monitor energy usage in a facility. This is a very vital system that many companies do not have in place. The only resource they have is their power bill that comes once a month. They look at their regular monthly costs rising, but they do not know where they can help you save energy. Imagine operating a business without an accounting system. You do not know your income or your expenditures. This is the exact same for a company with no energy monitoring system; they have not a clue that there are energy efficiencies in the organization. Now some corporations prefer to get an energy audit, instead than investing in a system. But what use is that in a year, in 5 years. Equipment improvements, consumers change and all that knowledge is lost. If you install a system that monitors energy usage, then it is there for a very extended time, and it works 24/7.

How Does It Work?
The program will assess energy utilization on phases in the main distribution panel. This is done by setting up CT’s (Current Transformers) on electrical loads in the main distribution panel. The information then is fed to an Internet based interface that will allow users to download reports, alter set-points and compare energy usage by size, location etc. In addition, energy monitoring systems can be used to authenticate energy usage reductions from “energy saving” equipment like new compressors, lighting, control systems etc.
The energy supervisor can do facility benchmarking, view energy usage by equipment type and verify financial savings from commissioned facilities. The energy monitoring system made by EG Energy Controls is capable of monitoring up to 2500 stores within the company’s network. The system can keep track of any desired electrical, gas or oil loads.
Examples of loads that can be measured are:

Main entrance, Lighting, Low and Medium temperature compressors (can monitor pending equipment failure), HVAC, Motors (can monitor pending equipment failure), Parking Lot Lights, Water usage, Oil/Propane Usage
The system will monitor equipment kWh usage and send e-mails to alert the Energy Manager of abnormal energy usage. The system will also contact the weather station daily to gather weather information to allow it to accurately predict energy usage for the next day and avoid inaccurate alerts. This is a very important feature, since the problem with some energy monitoring systems is that they send redundant emails that end up annoying people.

The other good aspect of an energy monitoring system is the capacity to foresee pending equipment failures. This is called motor performance tracking:
Motor performance. Traffic monitoring motor current levels and unbalances is a main component of a superior online monitoring system. Often it’s found that current level is identified as the average current level for all phases. For predictive maintenance reasons, however, the highest line current level developed is of much greater importance. The heat in each motor winding is interdependent on the amount of current that flows through it. Hence, the the most fragile point of the motor’s insulation with respect to current level is the phase with the largest current

Energy Monitoring and Energy Awareness

It is incredible how energy usage drops in a facility when employees know that there is a system that is monitoring what they are doing. Since the system can also be used to monitor sections of a facility, or even individual departments, people become naturally more energy conscious. For example, turning of lights when they leave the room or not leaving the computer on at night. These may seem to be minor changes; however the mindset is already being changed to become more energy conscious. These people then come to their own home and start noticing energy efficiencies, and they start doing changes in their own home.
By: Edward Herniak

About Sustainable Energy Coalition: The Sustainable Energy Coalition (SEC) brings together more than 60 national and state-level business, environmental, consumer, and energy policy organizations. Founded in 1992, the Coalition promotes increased federal support for ENERGY EFFICIENCY and RENEWABLE ENERGY technologies and reduced federal support for unsafe or polluting energy resources.

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