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Soylent [food replacement] founder Rob Rhinehart shares his thoughts on extreme sustainability.
I am electrically self-reliant. My home life runs comfortably on a single 100W solar panel, which cost $150 and was available on Amazon Prime. I tracked down a few manufacturers in China who all said it costs around $40 to make. The US for some reason leverages massive tariffs on Chinese solar panels, so they ship them through Malaysian customs. Why do the politicians even bother?
For storage a $65 lead acid automobile battery does the trick. It's 12V so can be charged directly from the solar panel, and holds 420Wh, way more than I use in a day. That's $0.15 / Wh so I don't see why everyone is so excited about Tesla charging $0.43 / Wh for the Powerwall, sans inverter and installation.
He got rid of his fridge and other kitchen implements to make it work. What are the biggest energy users in your place? Could you pare things down as much as Rob?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday August 05 2015, @03:13PM
Solar Panels seem to be the way to go currently. Assuming you can afford the cost of getting them installed, you should be able to have them pay for themselves in 10 years. Currently in our area you end up having to pay about $20k out of pocket for a $50k system. That leaves 15 years of the warranty left where you are actually getting money back from the system. Some installers will also hook up the solar panels to your electric first, so you sell excess, and buy when you aren't producing enough. As opposed to the electric company getting all of your juice and you buying everything you consume.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"