Free Powers Seven Reasons for Do-It-Yourself (DIY)

Free power isn't totally free you will need to invest in equipment; but the power you make will be free. You have a large advantage over power companies when you make free power at home. No delivery charge. Power companies collect power or convert it then deliver it. They divide the cost of investment over 30 to 50 years and charge you for the investment and delivery amortized over time. What is the delivery cost if you make your own power (Zilch, zero, nothing)? If you hire a contractor to install energy devices at your home the cost will not be much cheaper than the Power Company. Your payback period will be as high as 25 years, not much better than the Power Company's payback period.

The rules change when you make your own power with a do-it-yourself (DIY) approach. No delivery charge, no contractor cost and investment payback period is usually under 5 years.

Here are seven reasons to make DIY homemade power:1.) Free power is everywhere. You just need to collect it. 2.) Collecting free power is easy with solar, wind, and solar hot water systems.3.) Free power investment is cheep for DIY. DIY projects can be 1/10 the cost of commercial and payback is 5-10 times faster, usually under 5 years.4.) The governments encourage free power collection. The government will pay you. In the USA the tax credit is 30% up to $2000 for solar electric and solar hot water and up to $4,000 for small wind turbine. That is not much for commercial investment of $20,000 to $80,000; but this is a lot for DIY projects of $100 to $6,000.5.) Free power is green. The more you collect the less the power company pollutes our planet. That makes a greener planet for our future and the kids’ future.6.) Do-it-yourself guides that make free power projects easy and low cost are cheep. Projects are a $100 - $200 investment. Multiple projects can get you off the grid completely.7.) Remote sites like a vacation home or cabin, hunting lodge, campsites can be powered by these free power projects, no gas generator and no kerosene.

Solar PanelsSolar panels are a collection of solar cells, soldered together into a system. The cells can be purchase on eBay for about $50 per 100 watts of power. You assemble the cells in to 70 – 175 watt panels. Installing the panels is a matter of some brackets and wire. Solar panel installation is much more flexible and portable than wind turbines. They produce 18+ volts in to a battery charge controller. The controller fills deep cycle batteries with the power during the day. Power can be generated most days, even with clouds. The limitation of solar panels is the sun. It’s up only half the day. A power inverter converts the battery’s power to household power for your normal use, day or night. Building several panels can achieve 1000+ watts of power.

Small Wind TurbineWind turbine is not for everyone. You need an open space, not because they are too large but because the wind flows better in the open. You need a minimum of 10+ M.P.H. wind speed with 20+ M.P.H. being ideal. An advantage to wind turbines is the wind can blow all day to produce power day or night. Another consideration is the wind turbine needs to be on a tower. The taller the better, in the 20 – 60 foot range. This usually requires local zoning permits. If these are not a problem you will get twice the power out of a wind turbine than for the same investment in solar panels. The break-even point is $400. More than that, the wind turbine is less costly to build for the same power output. You can easily get 450 watts to 1,000 watts from one DIY homemade turbine. Like the Solar Panel description above, you store the energy in deep cycle batteries and use an inverter to make household power, day or night.

Solar Hot WaterThe power required for a home hot water heater is about 30% of the household energy budget. The solar hot water can easily cut that in half. Solar hot water uses the greenhouse effect. Build a box with a glass cover and some pipes and you can get hot water in the range of 120 - 130 degrees Fahrenheit winter and summer. Feed this hot water into you hot water heater for storage and the hot water heater will shut down, no power consumption. The hot water heater will only run when a boost is required like washing clothes. The construction is cheep and easy.

Do you want to know how to do these projects, what materials to buy, how big or small to make things? Get a DIY guide is the answer. For under $50 you can get a step-by-step guide, a plan and in some cases where needed you get a video tutorial. Which guide is best? Where do you get the guide. Go to http://www.residentialenergykit.com/ for help.