Solar Power/How To

[HADave]

Royall, I'm still trying to find ways to reduce/conserve. As an example, and i've read about many ideas this past year. One biggy is to convert a chest freezer into a chest frig. It improves the efficiency of refrigerating the food down to about .01kwh per day. There are no modifications to the freezer, at all, it simply is powered through a thermostat, It only requires running a thermistor (wire) through the drain hole of the freezer. Pretty simple actually. Once the thermostat senses the dialed in temp it shuts the power to the freezer compressor off. It seems to operate for about 90 seconds every hour to maintain 35-40 degrees. Best of all unlike a refrigerator it is very quiet.

The more I can do to reduce need the smaller less complicated a pv system We will need. The energy guide I posted definately has me convinced on flourencent lighting. So far I think I have created a significant reduction but continue to strive for more. The other thing about a chest frig I like is every time you open the door you don't seem to get that sudden air exchange, as in cold air leaving through the bottom that you get from a vertical cabinet frig. Plus things in a basket tend to make for less open door time. simply remove the fresh vegatable basket for instance instead of picking out all the salad stuff and loading your arms...I usually drop at least two things because I tried to take more than I can balance

I do think however the links posted from David M's are some of the best I've read and I also think that the link I posted www.hawaiisolar.com is the best for package setups in the Islands. Simply, they won't be undersold. I've not decided whether to go grid-tie or off grid I loved to think I could get power plus a dividend check too, but baby steps and lots more conservation methods first. Our lot has very easy access to power along it's 1000 ft of road frontage, almost direct to the house from any location, min. connection fees. Hopefully we can get power comsumption to be less than half of where we are now, historically averaging 700kwh mth. I really don't want to stop using our many convienent electrical items & tools, but our move there is all about simplifying our lives so we'll see how things play out. We may only be able to only afford breathing by the time we get there and get built...)

Aloha HADave