Can a home be ran on solar power alone in Illinois?
Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at
3:17 am
I would like to build a small home (just under 700 square feet) in the middle of nowhere as a vacation spot. Running electricity would cost a lot. So I was thinking of alternative power sorces. It seems like most homes have alternative power plus regular power. So can it be done? What will it take?
What else can be done?
Tagged with: alone. • Home • Illinois • Power • solar
Filed under: Renewable Energy
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Not with just solar power. I would think it would be cloudy up there during the winter
Probably, but it could be expensive to start up, and you certainly want to do your research first! Check out the link below, its about homes in Illinois using alternative power sources, it could give you ideas! I also thought they were building a solar farm somewhere in Illinois, but I can’t find the story at the moment. Good luck with the project!
If you want to be completely off grid in Illinois, you will need a lot of money in order to fund various types of alternative energy. Solar alone probably won’t be ideal. You would want a mix of solar and wind. As well as using as little electricity as possible to begin with.
Keeping things small is a good start. Be sure to build your house smart in order to take advantage of passive solar heating and cooling, and install a fireplace to heat you in the winter.
You might even consider building an earthship.
The point is, if you want to be off the main power grid, you need to reduce the amount of energy you will need as much as possible.
Oh, and three words: South Facing Windows.
California builds homes using solar power. Occasionally, it rains and there is no sun but the power still seems to function. I think it is possible to build a home in Illinois but check with someone in California prior to making any plans.
I think it would be really expensive.
Yes, this can be done. It’s known as an “off-grid” solar system. You’ll need battery backup and the system won’t be cheap. But for many people it’s less than running a line would be. More information requires analysis by an expert solar energy firm. Here’s one I know in Northern California:
http://www.planitsolar.com/
No doubt there is one near you.
Yes. It will be fairly expensive, but it can be done. It would need to be a complete stand alone system with Solar Panels, Charge Regulator, Cotroller, and Battery Bank. I would also install a Gas (Propane or Liquid Natural Gas) stove, gas refrigerator, and small diesel also run on the same gas. You can also use a small modern ventless gas fireplace for heat. This keeps your solar system much smaller and less costly. A small system like this will cost around $20,000-$25,000.
Since all your solar has to carry is lights and no large loads, it can do a pretty good job keeping up probably most of the time, as long as you have a good size battery bank and are careful with lighting usage.
Yes it can be done . That’s all i use and I’m in Michigan . solar panels are not cheap at all . I build all my solar from junk i have a few pics in blog how i do the solar cells cheap . Then i have a small wind mill i built it helps out allot . In the summer i heat my water with these black plastic gas tanks that came off junk cars they work great . Make sure you have allot of batteries the more the better off you will be . I heat with wood or used motor oil . Its actually an army tent heater that i got off eBay new for 65 Dollars it burns anything works great love it . I even cook on it in the winter I even made a metal oven that i set on it for making pizza or anything you heat in an oven .
There are so many ways to make your own energy from junk its unreal if you have the time if not its going to cost. It looks like they put a big price tag on green .
Best thing to do is study up on how solar works and do your own . You will need things like inverters things like that but every thing is in eBay fairly cheap and allot of those guys selling solar items will help you out with any questions so don’t be shy to ask .
Once you learn the basics it all simple
yes and no — it can be done and excess electric will be brought back by the local utility company –up front cost is great on example i use nothing but solar power fence charges on about 9 miles of fence in southern illinois – a regular charger running on electric power costs about $69 where a solar power charger will be 3 times that much and the replaced batter is about $65 == my reason i can put the charger any where with out plug ends.
It can be done moderately cheaply. The trick is that you need to do without. Most of us waste or overuse 60 to 80 percent of the electricity we use in some manner. For example I have three light bulbs the room I’m sitting in. I’m using the light from only one of them for this portion of the room. Yet all three are on. This is the same story throughout this house with all of the lights and most of the appliances.
You should seriously think about how you plan to use every watt of power. If I had three light switches in this room instead of one, that is a lot less power I would be using. Think about doing the extra wiring to separate the individual electrical uses to their own switch and then plan out what you really need for electrical uses.
Others have lived off grid with a power source of 2 kilowatt hours rated worth of panels and batteries. You will find yourself living around when you do and do not have the power available. But others have done it. Check out some books of the stories of people that do this. You local library might even have some.
Here’s my thought: Because the house is off the grid, it’s going to need a big enough solar installation to provide all your power needs. If this is meant to be a home away from home, rather than a cabin in the woods with a few basic appliances, that’s going to be a big system.
Also, because the house is off the grid, any power your system generates that you do not use will simply be wasted. Since you won’t be there most of the time, you’re buying a whole lot of wasted capacity.
My ideal system (which probably doesn’t exist yet) would involve a very tiny solar power system whose power was used to create hydrogen and store it in a big tank (a few months worth). Then the system would send the hydrogen to a fuel cell to generate power. It would be like the system was charging an enormous battery that you would use when you were living there.
The more practical eco-friendly alternative would be to put the huge solar installation on your main house, and let that assuage your guilt for buying a clean-burning natural gas generator for your vacation home. A natural gas generator will produce far more energy per pound of CO2 than a gasoline generator.
Of course, all this advice is assuming you want to have the same lifestyle in your new home as your old home. If you just want to be able to run a laptop, a light, and maybe an occasional appliance, a small solar installation with batteries would be inexpensive and functional.
yes it can be done. Your home should be designed not only with solar electric panels for electricity, but with a solar design that will allow the sun to heat your house during the winter. Also your house should have a solar collector to heat your water. You should not have to depend on solar electricity to do any of your heating. The biggest problem will be winter when the amount of light will be at its minimum, and also during cloudy days but some solar panels can generate some electricity under clouds depending on how dark or how thick the clouds are. But yes, it can be done with a good design. Also, your house should have some really good insulation or thick walls.
Okay, so like everyone else, you aren’t thinking about saving the environment by putting in solar power, you’re thinking of saving a few bucks. You could do solar power I suppose, but you’d be cutting down tons of trees to be able to see the sun at all. Personally I prefer wind power than solar power because it will save you a lot more money and you wouldn’t be cutting down tons of trees and harming the environment to save a few dollars. At least with wind power you’d still be getting the Illinois view and not some cookie cutter home that looks like it could fit in any state. Don’t hurt the environment just to save yourself, that’s biting the hand that feeds.
You can have a solar house, off the grid – just about anywhere. You will need to have a lot of solar panels and battery storage so that you can store enough energy to use at night, especially in the winter when the days are shorter and the nights are cold.
You should also keep passive solar heating in mind. That is, orient your house to be south facing with lots of large windows on the south wall, and put stone floors and other thermal mass like brick, stone or stucco planters in front of the window. This will allow them to soak up heat during the day and keep your house warmer.
I know numerous people who use solar off the grid. Many have diesel generators (powered by biodiesel) to use in emergencies.
Go to the bookstore or library and look for books on solar powered homes, there are dozens if not hundreds out there with good ideas.
probably. The solar cells would have to be able to preserve energy though, for the winter months and nights.