The energy suppliers in my area all have contracts I do not agree with. My gas & electric service may be cut in a couple weeks.
What’s my best move? I need enough electricity to power a mid-sized refrigerator (but could downgrade to a minifridge if needed), a few lights, router, laptop.
My boiler is gas but I have an old previously used mazut tank and furnice which I could possibly get working again with some effort.
Not sure what to do for cooking. Maybe use a portable electric cooktop.
(updates)
I’m favoring diesel over gasoline, for these reasons:
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My large mazut tank could store a year supply diesel but I doubt I could safely store gasoline in that quantity. It’s questionable though because it has mold or something growing in it so I’m not sure if it needs to be cleaned (or whether cleaning it is even possible). Or maybe the mold is harmless.
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Mazut and diesel may be compatible (not sure). That is, maybe a diesel generator can burn mazut or perhaps the mazut furnice can burn diesel. Guess I should find out how different they are.
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Clean biodiesel can be made in a basement from waste cooking oil and lye. I can probably get the waste oil at no cost.
W.r.t renewables, it’s in a densely packed city with a tiny terrace so wind turbines are probably impossible. Solar panels may be viable, I need to look into that. But I would be really surprised if solar could warm the house in the winter – it’s not a passive house (in fact not even insulated). I think solar would be a nice clean & quiet supplement.
Camping propane or butane stove may be the way to go for cooking.
Both will blow a lot of dirt and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. What about solar panels or a windmill?
Neither can be realistically installed in a couple of weeks. Depending on where you live, the waiting time for a battery is already 3-4 weeks.
Would that generate remotely enough power?
Solar with enough panels and storage can do a great deal. For cooking consider an induction cook top as they’re about double the efficiency of a traditional stove.
Batteries are kinda pricey though. I guess it depends on your budget. Perhaps a generator for standby or night time / overcast power.
That depends on how many sun hours or/and wind you’ve got at your place, how much panels you can install and of course how much light you’re using. I don’t have the knowledge to do the math on that.
Is there a free market to buy (sustainable) electricity from at your place? Or are you forced to buy from the local/regional provider?
offtopic: Such a nice post for a place themed “green energy”, LOL.
https://slrpnk.net/c/offgrid would have been the better place indeed 🤷♂️
Yeah, I meant that normally people focused on being able to live off the grid are often aggressive towards green energy proponents and vice versa, because, well, gasoline and diesel fuel and all that are good to be autonomous, but very, very not green. I’m thinking of survivalist types.
Honestly not even that autonomous - there are a lot of ways to make electricity as an individual, making gasoline is much harder (diesel or something close enough maybe but it’s still going to be an ongoing project). Hard to be off grid if you’re making trips to the gas station
I’m favoring diesel at the moment for a few reasons:
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I have a large mazut tank which could store diesel. Although it has mold or something growing in it so I’m not sure if it needs to be cleaned (or whether cleaning it is even possible)
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Mazut and diesel may be compatible (not sure). That is, maybe a diesel generator can burn mazut or perhaps the mazut furnice can burn diesel. Guess I should find out how different they are.
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Biodiesel can be made in a basement from waste cooking oil and lye.
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Rather “asynchronous supply” than “off grid”, yes.
I’d argue that as an individual you’ll find early XIX century approaches most realistic, like from Jules Verne’s books sans possessing all the industrial knowledge of contemporary humanity.
Gasoline and diesel will get you power fast, but remember it’ll cost 10x per kWh compared to the grid, so it’s a temporary solution unless you’re a millionaire.
Skip the batteries for now, get a few solar panels and an inverter. Skip depending on a fridge until you can get batteries in. But more details about your must haves, want to haves and nice extras would enable more exacting calculations.
Details on basic setup can be found here: https://anarchosolarpunk.substack.com/p/offgridsolar
I agree. skip the generator and skip batteries for now.
Put some ice blocks on your fridge that will help it stay colder longer and run less often. Also add some rigid foam insulation around the outside of it and the door (don’t cover any cooling coils or fans or anything like that) OR get a small chest freezer and use it as a fridge, you can often find them used for cheap or free. Freezer tend to be better insulated also a top opening chest freezer is less convenient to store/organize stuff in but it holds cold better because it doesn’t dump out the door every time you open it.
The guy suggests not mounting the panels on the roof. That would be my only option. Then he mentioned hail. Well that would seem to blow it. We get flash hail storms. They’re short enough that in the time it would take me to protect the panels (assuming I’m home) the storm would stop and the damage would be done.
You probably want a gas generator since diesel smells terrible and you don’t want that anywhere near your home.
You just need to make sure you get one that can run long enough without having to stop. Most portable can’t even run an entire day. If you get a stand by generator, that shouldn’t be an issue. But you might still need to take a break once a week.
In general gas generators require more maintenance and have a shorter lifespan. But you probably want to switch to another energy source all together. A generator is. only good for 10,000-30,000 hours. Which is 1-4 years if you are using it every day.
A diesel generator would last longer and is easier to repair. So if you plan on using a generator for the next few decades, get a diesel. But I would suggest adding solar power asap and then only using the generator as backup. That way even a gas generator could last 20-50 years.
For cooking get a gas stove. You can just get a 1-2 burner stove or a full on stove and just hook it up to a cannister rather than the gasline in your home.
But how would that work without infrastructure? OP said his gas and electricity would be out. To supply a gas generator, he would have to buy a new gas cylinder every few days? Is there even a supply for that? I would only know camping sized propane suppliers in my region but that is not enough for a house. Also I do not know if my gas burner would work properly with propane or require specific gas properties.
The handling and storage of diesel, as well as the supply should be way easier - even in large quantities. There are also no high pressure containers involved.
For the generator you get a big enough tank so it lasts a few weeks or months. Then you call a gas supplier to fill it up as needed. It’s no different from Diesel except doing it yourself isn’t an option. But the amount OP would need also makes diesel not convenient for diy and you end up paying someone to deliver you hundreds or even thousands of gallons.
For the stove you just use a propane tank for grilling. It will last several weeks or even months. It’s a very common setup here in the Philippines because there is no infrastructure for gas.
For cooking get a gas stove. You can just get a 1-2 burner stove or a full on stove and just hook it up to a cannister rather than the gasline in your home.
Good idea. Maybe I should be looking at camping stoves and get in the mindset of camping. Perhaps a charcoal grill would make sense too.
You need to pull your usage records from the electric company to have a baseline of what you will need in terms of Kw over the course of a month. It should be on your bill.
Then figure out what you can cut, and what size generator/solar panels/battery backup you’ll need to get by. Make sure to figure out what you are going to do in the cold months and the hot months.
THEN figure out if you are even allowed to be “off grid” in your area. You may be required to keep the electric line running to the house, but you can shut this off at your breaker box so you won’t use any electricity. You will still get a monthly bill from the electric company for the hookup (it’s usually very small, $5-$15).
best of luck!
Since this would be a short term solution, a gas generator is probably your better choice. Diesel generator smell terrible and you don’t want that near your home.
Gas generators need more maintenance and have a shorter lifespan than diesel but that shouldn’t matter since long term you would want to switch to another energy source all together.
Just add up the electricity you need and get a generator that makes enough, probably in the 5-7000 watt range.
For cooking you can also get a gas stove. You can buy a smaller 1-2 burner one or a full on stove and just hook it up to a gas cannister instead of the gas outlet in your home.
Is propane an option? I have a propane generator.
Not sure, but perhaps worth noting that I have no car. I guess I need to see if propane is cycling distance and consider a bicycle trailer for hauling it.