Wednesday thoughts: Eco-pimpin'

I walked to work this morning which means I had more than thirty minutes of thinkin' time to myself. For most of this morning I thought about eco-pimpin' out future property. I'm pretty sure that I can afford a house later this year and that means that I'll be able to do whatever I want to it. I'd really like to live off-grid, but that's not going to happen in the middle of Silicon Valley so I'll see how close I can get.

Here are the changes I plan on making in order of likelihood given the fact that I'll be broke:

1. Install a solar attic fan. I'm going to assume that my place will have an attic. I'm not sure that you can build houses without them. It can get pretty warm here during the summers, but I don't plan on installing or using air conditioning. Death by sweating? Hopefully not, but a/c is expensive and really dries the air out which messes with my sinuses. An attic fan helps exchange warm air in the attic with cooler air outside since your roof absorbs sunlight and I guess your attic can get as warm as 150 F. A solar attic fan is an attic fan that is solar-powered which makes sense because your house is most likely going to warm up only when the sun is out. These solar fans cost more than regular ones, but then you don't need to wire them to the house grid. I think you can get a decent one installed for something like $600.
2. Install more insulation in the attic and in the walls. Most old houses are pretty drafty and I'll stay cooler in the summer and warmer in the window if I properly insulate my house. It should also help cut down on street noise and that is always appreciated. I think this item is necessary if I do item 1 because I don't want any backdrafting.
3. Strategically plant deciduous trees in the yard to shade the house. The leaves will shade the house during the summer, but will allow sunlight during the winter. I'll try to find some native trees to plant because I strongly believe in biodiversity.
4. Replace older appliances with the most efficient models available and replace all light bulbs with CFL or LED. The refrigerator is a huge energy drain so I want to make sure I've got an efficient one. I already own a bunch of compact fluorescence bulbs, but I've been reading up on LED ones. The prices are starting to come down and they use much less electricity than even CFL.
   
5. Install some combination of a solar water heater and a tankless water heater. I read online yesterday that Hawai'i is now requiring all new homes to have solar water heaters. It makes sense there because the sun is out all the time and it makes sense in the Southwest as well. Usually a solar water heater is paired with a storage tank. Water is heated by the sun and stored for use. The money saved there is in the heating, which can be substantial, but I don't know how hot the water gets so I might want to pair it with a tankless water heater. The water would be pre-heated by the sun and then boosted, if necessary, by the water heater. This item may turn into an either or and I'll have to do more search to see what is the best combination. I played frisbee with an eco-nut in Ithaca and I think he mentioned combining a solar water heater with a tankless water heater. The big downside is the cost as tankless water heaters can run $1000-$2000.
6. Install 1-2kW of solar panels. My cousin works for the Phoenix branch of Solar City, which is headquartered in San Mateo, so he can tell me the best options for my place and possibly get me a deal though I'm not going to count on it. At least I won't get ripped off. I figure that I'll use roughly 10 kW-hr of juice each day. If I assume an average of six sunlit hours a day, I'll be generating 6-12 kW-hr of electricity. However, that generation will be during the day when my main use will be at night. Thanks to California's tiered pricing scheme, electricity is more expensive during the day and cheaper at night. I can sell the juice during the day and buy it back at night for much less. I'll need to get an inverter to convert the generated DC into AC, but I think I'll get one that allows for a future battery system so that I don't need to buy back any juice at night.
7. Install a bank of batteries. This option makes me a little nervous because the batteries are heavy and contain a lot of toxic chemicals, but it would be nice to not depend on the local utility at all. If there is a blackout, my solar panels might not be able to supply enough juice to keep everything running so I'd like batteries to pick up the slack. They're bulky and expensive though. I wonder if I could get a super capacitor instead. Those are in research to go into electric vehicles and would replace the bulky batteries.
   
8. Install a fuel cell generator. It's possible that my solar panels will not generate enough energy to power my entire home so I'd like to get a fuel cell generator (like ones made by IdaTech) to charge up the batteries. These generators are probably not cheap, but will get cheaper as time goes on. They run on a methanol mix and I'm not sure if I can get a permit to store that since it would be highly flammable. I guess it's no worse than most household chemicals, but I would need quite a lot of it around. The good thing is that the generator only kicks in when it senses that the batteries are low. If my solar panels are doing their thing then that situation shouldn't happen much.

As you can see, my plans revolve around solar for the most part which makes the most sense to me. The sun will shine for my lifetime for sure so I might as well take advantage of it. I believe local power generation makes the most sense because you lose less in transmission and I don't trust the government to look out for me since they seem more concerned with catering to big business.

Hmmm...how long after I get my house will I start living like a hermit? I better grow out my body hair now to get ready.