Thanks for info Boo Bear. I would like to learn more about wind power genorators and what are battery inverters? Is the Carla Emery book readily available at book stores?

-- Ann Hurlington (annette@fred.net), March 04, 1998

Answers

http://www.webpage.com/wpt/plan.html This is a commercial site on World Technology's Whisper Line of wind generators - very nice, pricey. There are many ways to generate power with the wind that go all across the price spectrum. I read an old Mother Earth News article that showed how to cut a 55 gallon drum and mount it on a building to use as a wind generator. :)

I'd suggest a yahoo seach on renewable energy, wind generators, wind energy. Also on misc.rural and misc.survivalism there is usually a thread on these - they've helped me out many times.

The idea of renewable energy (solar, wind) or self generated energy through a generator or (in a pinch) a car or truck engine is this: generate the power, store the power, convert the power, use the power. Whether solar or wind, you generate the power then it is stored into deep cell storage batteries (a phenomenal amount of energy is lost in this process, I can't remember how much but if anyone else can help out here it is amazing). The power in the batteries is now Direct Current (DC) energy. Your home runs off of Alternating Current (AC) so you have to do something to convert it. That's where inverters come in. Hook one up to your battery bank (several storage batteries hooked together in a circuit to become one big battery) and plug in the appliances you want to run or your house. This is NOT for the inexperienced to do - first of all if you are currently on the grid you have to shut off the main switch before you hook up any alternative power source or you can fry a human who may be working on the lines (good to remember if you want to use your generator due to a temporary outage like a storm or downed wires). There is alot to setting up a system properly so you don't overload anything. On the really plus side though, once you have a system in place you can sell energy back to the power company. I think there's more on that at the website noted at the top of this.

If you look around you'll find many small inverters on the market (Damark, I think even Walmart, Radio Shack) that people use to take camping or in their cars now. It's a small box that has a cigarette lighter plug-in coming off one end, regular AC outlets on the other. You can plug in a Tv while you drive (yeah, like that's a good idea!) or let your spoiled city kid take along his Nintendo on the camping trip and run it and a small Tv off the car battery. I've seen them used for computers and fax machines in cars also. The bigger the inverter and more power it can handle, the bigger the appliances you can hook up and run off of it (providing of course that you have enough power stored in your batteries).

Carla Emery's book is readily available now since she had it reprinted with Sasquatch Books as the publisher. ISBN 0-912365-95-1

I haven't done a search at Amazon.com but I believe it would be available there as well as on most large bookstore shelves. It was $24 and worth tenfold that price. The best over all self-sufficiency/homesteading book I've ever seen. The best part is it was written over years and reprinted by Carla Emery - first hand cranked on a mimeograph machine and sold out the back of her car. As she received requests to cover more things, and got tips and recipes and things from readers it grew and grew and grew. She incorporates her own stories and family goings on with her valuable information - makes for a page turning read as well as a good reference book.

I hope this helps, I'm no expert at any of this but have lived through many years of trial and error, practicing for Y2K as it turns out!

BooBear

-- BooBear (Bear456@rocketmail.com), March 05, 1998.

I just bought Carla Emery's book at Border's and it is very good. Also thanks for the info on wind generators. Just found out that in my part of the country wind power is cheaper than solar and more reliable.

-- Rebecca Kutcher (kutcher@pionet.net), March 05, 1998.

Here ya go - I knew once I was back on my own computer I'd find this URL - check out http://www.jademountain.com/

Jade Mountain will answer most of the questions you have on winde generators, inverters, solar, etc. Very nice website.

Regards, BooBear

-- BooBear (Bear456@rocketmail.com), March 07, 1998.

Try www.realgoods.com, "tree huggers" extraordanaire!

-- (angusdude@my.yahoo.com), July 13, 1998.

Try www.realgoods.com, "tree huggers" extraordanaire!

-- (angusdude@my.yahoo.com), July 13, 1998.