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I have been thinking on and off about how important or not electricity is for my sustainability in the suburbs (pertains to Rural or City areas).
I would appreciate some input from y'all on my thinking.
Generators are out because of the noise and need for a large tank of fuel to power it (plus cost).
I do get a fair amount of wind, my back yard is in a wind tunnel of some kind and almost always has some breeze in the evenings, but cost of installing a windmill (even with me doing the labor), risk of damage during one of the many large wind storms and it would stand out like a sore thumb in my neighborhood keep that from being a good option for me.
I will toss out my idea in the next paragraph, but all I can think of needing power for would be: Flashlights, 2-way radios, maybe some 12v water pumps and honestly having access to the data stored in my laptop would be invaluable (even without the internet) as I keep a number of books that I have bought and a lot of free non copyrighted information saved from the internet etc (as well as a movie night on the laptop here and there would help my city girl ladies adjust to instant camping maybe?). My skills are better then the average bear, but not living in the boonies has dulled me some. What else would I want?
So my first option would be throw away batteries and just keep a bunch, but they are only good for so many years so I would have to rotate my stash and I just don't use that many batteries in a year. We do keep a decent stock of every style we would use so that would keep us for awhile.
My idea isn't revolutionary and might not be a good one (so maybe someone has a better idea that is cost efficient) but was inspired by some things I saw on a show about Columbia and how they have had to repurpose almost every thing because of being cut off from most of the world and a hillbilly documentary of some kind I watched at one point where they used a water wheel to run a car alternator for power.
I do not have access to running water so I was pondering taking a bicycle and taking the tube off the back tire, then raise and support the bike so that the back wheel would run an automotive serpentine belt or something of the like. Take that belt and run it to a high output auto alternator (ones used for people who have too much money into car stereo systems), which could then be connected to as many 12v deep cycle batteries as would be reasonable or used straight direct current. I could always convert the 12v to 120v for charging the laptop and recharging batteries that do not have a 12v option.
I carp bike would be close to free for most people. The alternator would cost a little bit, maybe $40-$100 depending on a few things. The deep cycle batteries would be the largest investment, but some of the commercially available ones will last for quite a few years (again I have the problem of keeping fresh ones in stock so most likely it would be direct current to a regulator). As a side note, I could yank the 2 batteries out of my car and truck which would give me 2 to work with minimum.
As a side bonus, it would warm someone up to get on the bike and get the batteries charged (but also burn calories so I guess that could be a negative). Good exercise If you were hunkered in for months I suppose but I hate bike seats - good thing I have a teenager.
ok, critique time...
I would appreciate some input from y'all on my thinking.
Generators are out because of the noise and need for a large tank of fuel to power it (plus cost).
I do get a fair amount of wind, my back yard is in a wind tunnel of some kind and almost always has some breeze in the evenings, but cost of installing a windmill (even with me doing the labor), risk of damage during one of the many large wind storms and it would stand out like a sore thumb in my neighborhood keep that from being a good option for me.
I will toss out my idea in the next paragraph, but all I can think of needing power for would be: Flashlights, 2-way radios, maybe some 12v water pumps and honestly having access to the data stored in my laptop would be invaluable (even without the internet) as I keep a number of books that I have bought and a lot of free non copyrighted information saved from the internet etc (as well as a movie night on the laptop here and there would help my city girl ladies adjust to instant camping maybe?). My skills are better then the average bear, but not living in the boonies has dulled me some. What else would I want?
So my first option would be throw away batteries and just keep a bunch, but they are only good for so many years so I would have to rotate my stash and I just don't use that many batteries in a year. We do keep a decent stock of every style we would use so that would keep us for awhile.
My idea isn't revolutionary and might not be a good one (so maybe someone has a better idea that is cost efficient) but was inspired by some things I saw on a show about Columbia and how they have had to repurpose almost every thing because of being cut off from most of the world and a hillbilly documentary of some kind I watched at one point where they used a water wheel to run a car alternator for power.
I do not have access to running water so I was pondering taking a bicycle and taking the tube off the back tire, then raise and support the bike so that the back wheel would run an automotive serpentine belt or something of the like. Take that belt and run it to a high output auto alternator (ones used for people who have too much money into car stereo systems), which could then be connected to as many 12v deep cycle batteries as would be reasonable or used straight direct current. I could always convert the 12v to 120v for charging the laptop and recharging batteries that do not have a 12v option.
I carp bike would be close to free for most people. The alternator would cost a little bit, maybe $40-$100 depending on a few things. The deep cycle batteries would be the largest investment, but some of the commercially available ones will last for quite a few years (again I have the problem of keeping fresh ones in stock so most likely it would be direct current to a regulator). As a side note, I could yank the 2 batteries out of my car and truck which would give me 2 to work with minimum.
As a side bonus, it would warm someone up to get on the bike and get the batteries charged (but also burn calories so I guess that could be a negative). Good exercise If you were hunkered in for months I suppose but I hate bike seats - good thing I have a teenager.
ok, critique time...