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Poll: homegrown energy

Started by Ron Wenrich, April 23, 2006, 08:21:18 PM

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Ron Wenrich

Expires 5-8-06

What kind of energy are you folks producing at home?  Don't count stuff you buy in, just the stuff you make or capture.

Vote for all of them if it applies. 
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

wiam

I voted firewood.  I heat my house with 2 apartments,  domestic water for both households, 2 waterbeds and the heat for 2 dryers.

Will

Minnesota_boy

I heated my home entirely with wood for over 20 years.  It's time for someone else to pick up the slack.  :-\
I eat a high-fiber diet.  Lots of sawdust!

DanG

I had to check "none" since that's the truth, but we all need to be doing all we can.  Wind and hydro would seem to be the most practical for those that have it available.  Wind isn't a viable option in my area, but hydro energy is rampant.  There are at least a dozen old millponds within 5 miles of me that could be producing electricity if there were a practical generating unit on the market.
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

breederman

We heat our house and some water with wood.  The log home is situated to take advantage of solar warming. 
Wind power sounds like a great thing to many people,but have they ever seen a wind farm on top of the ridges?
Together we got this !

Engineer

Only firewood for me, I use biodiesel for my tractor but I buy it, not produce it.  If I had a farm and a decent stream, I'd be using a lot more of those.  Solar & photovoltaics are expensive in the short term, but I designed my house to take advantage of them in the future.  Wind isn't a viable option for me, and I don't have a stream or millpond that I can utilize.   With the cost of oil and propane what it is, I will be using wood even in midsummer to heat my water for domestic use.

Woodcarver

My bride and I began heating our home with wood in the early 70's, shortly after we bought the homestead.  We've never regretted it.  It's comfortable heat and we enjoy the time spent in the woods cutting cull trees for fuel. 
Just an old dog learning new tricks.......Woodcarver

crtreedude

I have to vote none - but we hardly use anthing except electric, and not much of that.

We use wood for grilling - does that count? Don't need any heat.
So, how did I end up here anyway?

IL Bull

I only use firewood to heat my wood shop.  I used to heat the house with wood but after the kids were gone it became too much of a hassle.  Couldn't get the little woman split all that wood and haul it in the house. ??? ::) :D  I told her not to worry I would take care of the ashes.
Case Skid Steer,  Ford Backhoe,  Allis WD45 and Burg Manual Sawmill

Bill

Firewood is an easy choice but I 'm working up to an inexpensive way to brew my own biodiesel from my own raw material . . .

Higher prices might speed up the process

isawlogs

 Firewood  for me , I heat my shop and house with it , I do have an electric furnace here for back-up or when we go away .
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

beav

   Ok, I lied a little bit...The hydropower bit is in the planning stage. I have a small stream that will supply a small bit of power to supplement the photovoltaics during prolonged rainy spells.And if it gets cold the wood (only) heat will warm the house and the DHW that wasnt heated in the solar hot water panels. During more extreme periods of uncooperation,Biodiesel runs the generator that charges my batteries.
  I am too afraid of heights to fly a wind genny, but if my site were more ideal I'd probably have one up.(got a few old ones in the shed).
   This stuff isn't rocket science, ya just gotta be into it. A dollar spent on conservation saves many,many more down the road. Go for it.

Michigan Mike

We heat with with wood.The house is designed to heat with passive solar and earth bermed  (semi buried). We have been living here for twenty six years.   Question??? Wiam   what does it  take to heat a water bed with external heat.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

maple flats

I voted wood. Most of my house heat is wood, has been for 30 years. My evaporator to make maple syrup is also wood fired and I have way too much wood that still needs to be thinned out. Need more uses and more time. My plans for building a new home in a couple of years will also have some solar included and more wood heat, house and shop.
logging small time for years but just learning how,  2012 36 HP Mahindra tractor, 3point log arch, 8000# class excavator, lifts 2500# and sets logs on mill precisely where needed, Woodland Mills HM130Max , maple syrup a hobby that consumes my time. looking to learn blacksmithing.

wiam

Mike  under the mattress there is about 40' of 3/8 entran hose.   Cut the cord off the electric heater at the heating pad.  Leave the thermostat that came with the electric heater under the mattress.  Run a wire from the cut off heater cord to a circulator.  Make sure to put in a flow check.  I have had my flow check get stuck open.  The bed will get so hot you can not sleep in it. ::)

Will

Michigan Mike

Thanks for the info Will. I was curious because we have slept in a waterbed longer than we have lived in the house. I dont currently have wood heated water but when I do I will definatlly  include a loop for the bed.

wiam

Mike when I added the waterbeds about 4 years ago each one dropped about $10 from the electric bill. 8)

Will

sandman2234

When I was running over the road, I had a solar panel in my truck that would keep the batteries charged during periods of time that I shut the truck off. It kept the refriderator from draining the batteries. More of a trickle charger that produced just a little more than the refriderator pulled, but the charger only worked during daylight hours, so it would still go dead after about 5 days. That was much better than the 24-36 hour range I had without it.
  The other option was to unplug the refriderator and unload it, and it usually took about 10 hours to get it back to operating temperature.
    That $50 solar panel, a 2000 watt inverter and a laptop with a mapping program were 3 of the best investments I ever made for tools used in the trucking industry.
     David from jax

coldnorth

I use firewood, leftover from the tree trimmings, thinnings, toppings and mill scraps.  I also have a few photovoltaic panels that produce some electric, but it is expensive to add panels.  Some lumber drying fans are running from these photovoltaic panels and my kiln fans will be running from them once I complete it later this month (hopefully).

Coldnorth
If you want something done correctly, you have to do it yourself.

highpockets

Someone needs to build a solar panel about the size of a postage stamp the will produce about a half of a megawatt of energy.      8)
Louisiana Country boy
homemade mill, 20 h.p. Honda & 4 h.p. for hydraulics.  8 hydraulic circuits, loads, clamps, rotates, etc.

Ron Wenrich

I was invited to see a guy called Dennis Lee this week.  He's supposed to be one of those free energy gurus.  You've heard the type.  They have this fantastic invention that would take care of all of our energy problems, but the government and big business has squashed him.

He has also invented a paint that would insulate the inside of your house, engines that run on 80% water (don't know how he mixed it with gas), cutting torches that used 80% water, laundry cleaners that use magnets instead of detergent (ionizes the water), and a paint that would melt ice and snow on contact.

He said the government had thrown him in jail for 2 years with no charges.

When I heard all this, I smelled a scam.  I didn't bother to waste my time.  Then I did an Internet search.  The guy is a total scammer, and he is looking for dealers.  His 2 years of jail was due to pleading guilty to 8 counts of a 47 count indictment in California.  He is banned in 4 states and has restraining orders in others.

So, when you see some of the solutions, they just might not be what  you bargained for.   ;)
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Ron Scott

The Pits. A Traverse City grower reportedly sold 800 tons of dried cherry pits last year as an alternative energy source for home heating in wood stoves. The cherry pits from Traverse City area producers, reportedly sold from$135 to $250 a ton.
~Ron