Living with Alternative Energy

by Tom Renk

My wife and I have been living “off the grid” since 2001.  Most of the time, we don’t even notice that we don’t have conventional power.  We have lots of lights and regular 120 volt appliances including a washing machine, refrigerator, vacuum, and shop tools (even a 5 hp. compressor).  Of course, we don’t use everything at once and we turn off lights when not needed - a habit we learned when we had a monthly power bill at our previous house. 

We don’t use electricity for heat-generating appliances.  Instead, we have a propane range/oven, hot water heater, and clothes dryer, along with propane baseboard heat to supplement our wood stove.

Our Hydro System

We’re lucky to have a small year-round stream for a hydro system that powers an alternator to charge a bank of eight deep-cycle batteries.  These feed D.C. power to a 4000 watt inverter that provides regular 120 volt power to our home, garage, and shop.  All the wires are buried underground.  The system runs day and night, all year round.  We have a backup 5000 watt generator but rarely need to use it.  Routine maintenance is easy and not time-consuming.

Why Alternative Power?

So why did we choose to go with alternative power?  First, we liked the idea of being independent, of being able to provide for our own power needs.  Second, we didn’t want to pay what the power company was charging to bring conventional power to our house.  We’re over a mile from the power line and at the time we checked (late 1990s), they wanted more than $30,000 to connect us with the grid.  Instead, we spent about half of that on our power system - and we haven’t paid a power bill since!

While we use a small hydro system, other folks in our area use solar panels and/or wind generators to power their alternative systems.  There are many properties in North Idaho that are suitable for solar power and some locations are good for wind power assist as well.  You too can say goodbye to power bills!

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