POWEROFF-GRIDTHE 13 PROVEN WAYS TO GENERATE

13 Proven Ways to Generate Off-Grid Power

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What It’s All About

A tree falls in Ohio…

…and the Northeastern United States goes dark.

The New York City skyline disappears that night. Subway trains grind to a halt, passengers are trapped in the pitch-black tunnels. Food rots in grocery stores and restaurants. Thousands flee Manhattan Island.

Across the Brooklyn Bridge they walk.

Gas stations can’t pump. Traffic lights stop working.

More than 55 million people are without power on the hot August night.

This isn’t some dystopian future I’m imagining now. This actually happened and I’m sure you remember it.

Most people know all about the Great Blackout of 2003.

What most people don’t realize is that the entire Northeast lost power because a tree fell on a power line in Ohio.

That’s all it took…

Whether it’s because you’ve seen the fragility of our ageing power grid with your own eyes and want to become more resilient, or you’re just yearning for a simpler life with less commitments, those are both valid (and common) reasons.

In this guide to the possibilities of off-grid power you’ll find 13 proven ways to get off the grid - from the common that we all are familiar with, to the more extreme.

I hope you like it (and if you do, feel free to share it with your friends).

To your self-reliance,

Dan WestCo-Founder & CEO, Walden Labs

Why Do YOU Want To Go Off-Grid?

ShortcutsSolar Panels

Wind TurbinesGenerators

Diesel Generators Solar Generators

Natural Gas Generators Wood Gas Generators

Hydro-Electric PowerHydropowerGeothermal

Biogas DigestersMuscle Power

No Power

The 13 Ways to Generate Off-Grid Power

Solar Panels.

When thinking of off-grid power, solar panels are probably what first comes to mind for many people.

For good reason. Solar panel systems are dropping in cost every year, and increasing in efficiency, putting them in the top.

Not many people own the ideal land to build a tall wind turbine tower or a micro hydro-electric power plant, but solar panels are accessible to almost everyone.

Ranging from solar panels that barely can power a LED light to solar systems that can power your entire home, there are options for all tastes and budgets.

Schematics of a typical residential PV system

A 5.3 kW residential rooftop system near Boston, United States. Photo: Gray Watson

Photo: SolarGIS © 2014 GeoModel Solar

World Map of Global Solar PotentialDon’t let the map fool you though, solar panels can still be worth it even if you live outside the red areas.

Wind Turbines.

Wind power is extracted from air flow using wind turbines or sails to produce mechanical or electrical power.

Windmills are used for their mechanical power, windpumps for water pumping, and sails to propel ships.

Wind power is plentiful, clean, and uses little land.

However, most of us do not have a vast expanse of windy desert in our backyard suitable for wind turbine installation, so location also plays a role in the overall success of the installation.

This photo depicts a poor wind turbine location. The turbine can produce less than half of its rated output because of turbulence created by tall trees and the roof of the home. In a residential area, however, there really may not be any other place to put the turbine.

Photo: Andol

James Blyth's electricity-generating wind turbine, photographed in 1891

Generators.

When it comes to generators there’s an ocean of choices out there, ranging from permanent backup generators to very portable generators you can carry in one hand.

Shopping for modern generators is a daunting task. They can be expensive and are offered in a variety of power outputs and fuel requirements. When it comes to fuel, here are some of your options:

Diesel GeneratorsA diesel generator is the combination of a diesel engine with an electric generator (often an alternator) to generate electrical energy.

It’s noisy and certainly not the most environmentally friendly generator, but it can produce a lot of power.

The power output ranges from 8 kW generators, enough to power a small home, to 2000 kW generators that take up a 40 ft (12 m) ISO container.

Solar GeneratorsWhat’s a solar generator?

It’s basically one or several solar panels connected to a portable battery bank.

Some of the newer generators have power outlets to charge USB-devices and to power AC appliances.

Natural Gas GeneratorsNatural gas generators, as the name suggests, use natural gas - which includes the propane used for backyard grills or the methane that utilities supply through underground lines - to generate electricity.

Natural gas generators are sold in sizes from portable to industrial, or you can convert a gasoline/diesel generator to use propane with a conversion kit.

Believe it or not, but you can run a vehicle, or power a generator to create electricity, using wood as your only fuel source.

Wood or charcoal is burned, next the wood gas is filtered and cooled and can then be used to power an internal combustion engine or for other purposes.

Wood Gas Generators

WALDEN LABS PREMIUM

Access your ‘Resilient Power Generation’ Execution Plan

The step-by-step plan to generate resilient & renewable energy off-the-grid…

Click Here to Access this Execution Plan

Hydro-Electric Power.

“Hydro electricity can be one of the cheapest methods of providing off-grid renewable electricity, but it is also very site specific.

The best sites are on steep hills, with fast flowing water. One advantage is that on a good site you may not need batteries or an inverter (to step from DC to AC voltage), as the turbine will produce 240 volts AC and can just be turned on when needed.”

Source: Center for Applied Technology

Hydro-Electric Dam

Hydropower.

Transforming energy to electricity seems to be the only way to harness water power, but it is not.

In fact, humans used hydropower to power machines mechanically long before they discovered electricity.

Nowadays there are all kinds of power tools and machines you can run with hydropower, for example this table saw:

Picture: Campo Nuevo

Watermill of Braine-le-Château, Belgium (12th century)

Watermills in Bosnia and Herzegovina, run by the river Pliva.

Geothermal.

Geothermal energy is thermal energy (i.e. heat) generated and stored in the Earth.

This heat can be used to generate electricity through steam turbines (see this article for more), but this method has high initial capital costs and is really only viable on a village-scale or larger (unless you live in Iceland, possibly).

However, home-scale geothermal energy is possible when you use it to heat your home rather than to generate electricity.

These systems work to keep the average home comfortable year round by pumping water through a network of pipes located a few feet below the ground.

The reason this works is because despite sometimes radical temperature fluctuations on the surface of the Earth, if you dig down a few feet the ground maintains a consistent temperature around 55°F. This keeps the home cool in the summer and using a heat collector, amplifies the heat to keep the home warm in the winter.

Biogas Digesters.

The term biogas refers to natural gas that is generated from the biological degradation of organic material in the absence of oxygen.

The gases produced from this process are methane, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide.

The methane in particular, which makes up about 60% of the output, can be combusted just like other forms of natural gas and used as a fuel source for heating and cooking.

This methane gas can also be converted into electricity to power electrical devices.

Fixed dome biodigester plant Nicarao design: 1. Mixing tank with inlet pipe and sand trap. 2. Digester. 3. Compensation and removal tank. 4. Gasholder. 5. Gaspipe. 6. Entry hatch, with gastight seal. 7. Accumulation of thick sludge. 8. Outlet pipe. 9. Reference level. 10. Supernatant scum, broken up by varying level. Source: TBW

Muscle Power.

No, I’m not talking about slave labor here (although slave labor has been favored by rulers as the perfect “off-grid” energy source for most of human history.)

What I’m talking about is using energy generated by your muscles to power machines and to generate electricity.

Whether it’s a hand saw, a hand-powered kitchen blender, a grain mill, a coffee grinder, a bicycle driven generator, or something else, chances are you might not need anything other than your muscle power.

No Power.

It might sound cheesy but I’ll say it anyway:

The best kind of off-grid power is the power you don’t need.

If you don’t need an AC unit or natural gas heating but instead use free passive solar heating and geothermal cooling, guess how much money you’ll save? A lot.

If you don’t use much power you’ll get away with a much cheaper backup generator, a much cheaper solar panel system, etc.

That means less time working to pay off your loans and more time enjoying life.

Sounds like a good deal to me.

So do what you can to keep track of your energy use and simply try to use less.

WALDEN LABS PREMIUM

Access your ‘Resilient Power Generation’ Execution Plan

The step-by-step plan to generate resilient & renewable energy off-the-grid…

Click Here to Access this Execution Plan