Off-Grid Power Generator Solutions

In today’s world, there are many people choosing to live “off the grid”. They build homes in the middle of nowhere. They travel from place to place in tiny homes. They are unconnected to traditional power lines and happier than ever with their choices to be free. Since they live off the grid, you may think that they have to give up the things we love the most about our modern lives. This is not true. There are many off-grid power generator solutions that can power heat and air units, refrigerators, and more.

An Off-Grid Lifestyle

When living off the grid, you ditch the traditional way of life. You may grow your own food. You may embrace hunting and fishing. You may harvest rain water for flushing your toilet or watering your garden. There are many options available. It simply depends on how far off the grid you want to be. Most people live off the grid without sacrificing television, smart phones, laptops, or other technology. This is made possible by the power generators that they set up wherever they go.

Powering and Off-Grid Life

The people who embrace living off the traditional power grid have discovered ways to have it all. They ditch expensive power bills by choosing other power solutions. The main three options include:

Wind Power:

This type of power uses a wind to provide power. As the wind blows it spins a propeller blade. These blades capture kinetic energy and send it to a generator inside the rotating housing behind the blades. From this, it generates electricity.

Generator Power:

Generators are used both on the grid and off. Even your power company will use a generator. There are portable generators available to people who want to live off the grid. A quiet generator can power homes in all locations using natural gas, solar power, gasoline, and diesel. Some are designed to work off more than one type of fuel, depending on availability in your area.

Solar Power:

Solar power is the use of our sun to provide power using photovoltaic solar panels. They are often installed on the roof of an off the grid home. On sunny days, your solar panels will harness the sun’s power in a battery, where it will be stored until it is necessary.

Pros and Cons

If you want the most efficient type of natural power, then many say that solar is your best option. There are fewer moving parts in solar panels than there are in wind power generators. However, if you look at the numbers, at most 20% of the sun’s energy can be converted and about 60% of the wind can be converted into power. Therefore, it has been proven that wind power is available 24/7 and one wind turbine can provide as much as a thousand solar panels. Wind does provide the most power output, but wind turbines require a lot of space. They are also not easily moved from one place to another. A generator can provide ample power for most homes, even larger ones. You only need the fuel to power them.

The cost of solar or wind power is dropping, but so far solar is cheaper to run if you want to use a renewable energy source. It still requires quite an investment to get solar power setup. You could pay up to $29,000 depending on the size of your home. Most generators can be purchased for a few hundred dollars.

When trying to decide which is best for your off the grid lifestyle, you will have to make sure you do your research. What can you afford, how much power do you need, and how permanent do you want it to be? These are all important questions for you to consider before you decide.