Off the Grid in Wyoming
Today’s Laramie Boomerang, a newspaper in Laramie, Wyoming, features a profile of a gentleman by the name of Bob McGovern. Bob’s a carpenter who lives in Albany county, to the west of Laramie, and is living the dream - self-sufficent and off the grid.
When Bob bought his parcel of land out in the wild countryside of Wyoming, there was no existing electrical service in the area and Bob discovered that it was going to cost at least $25,000 for the power company to run poles out to his property. After much research, Bob was able to put together an off the grid solution that cost him just $16,000 and provides all of his power needs for both home and carpentry shop.
The system features 8 solar panels, a wind turbine, a solar hot water collector and a dozen 600-pound batteries that he picked up and recycled from a telecommunications company.
One of the primary aspects of Bob’s set up is his meager needs. Despite being both a home and a carpentry shop, Bob manages to get by with just 5 kilowatt hours per day of juice, compared to the average American home that sucks up 35 kilowatt hours per day. As Bob is quoted in the article…” I don’t know what these other people are doing, but if everyone would cut their energy consumption to 12 kilowatt hours per day, we wouldn’t have to worry about drilling for oil in Alaska.”
Bob also has the benefit of being in Wyoming where the wind can blow long and hard. He’s never been a day without power, even having gone over two weeks without wind and sun, mainly because of the impressive battery bank that he uses to store juice.
As Bob exhorts in the article, “The sun is free. Use it!” I think we need more Bobs in this world, too!
Here’s the article at the Laramie Boomerang.
[via Renewable Energy Access]
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POSTED IN: Living the Dream, News, Solar, Wind
1 opinion for Off the Grid in Wyoming
Marti
Nov 2, 2005 at 10:02 am
Wow, that’s great! I love reading about people who come up with innovative solutions (especially those that end up being less costly!)
I wish I could figure out a way to get broadband to my rural home without it costing so much to have the phone or cable company run wires here. (We are considered “too low-density” for them to offer it to our area.) I’ve looked into satellite internet, but it is also cost prohibitive, and reviews I’ve read from users say they would not recommend it.
Did you ever find an English translation for the website that featured the residential weathervane wind-power generator?
Doing a great job here - best wishes to you!
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