Alternative Energy Sources

Most people – be they ’Do-it-Yourself’ enthusiasts or micro-generation business professionals, they will invariably choose their alternative energy sources system on a number of key criteria, cost is always a major issue, performance within the location. No good building a solar array when the location doesn’t favour the sun as a regular and reliable power souce. Having said that there are lots of other alternative energy sources to be considered. Most private home owners will choose either solar panels and/or wind generators on the basis of the ‘Bang for Bucks’ or Return On Investment (ROI).

With the final choice affecting the type of battery you will ultimately buy and use to store your new found power supply. It is likely in most cases to be the Lead Acid Deep Cycle type because of it’s universal popularity and the ease of availability.

When it comes down to it – Size Does Matter :o)

The size of the batteries and therefore the storage capacity, measured in Amp Hours, will vary according to your located as well as which Alternative Energy Sources you have chosen. To ensure that you choose the correct equipment you need to plan. Good planning will save you wasting money and wasting your efforts.

As a rough guide for your solar and wind power system – you should aim for a Total Battery Capacity (Measured in Amp Hours) that is three, four (and possibly as much as five) times your daily electrical power usage.

• In the US ’Sunbelt’ states you should aim for a 3 day capacity.
• In most Midwestern states you should aim for a 4 day capacity.
• In the East and Northern you should aim a little higher with a 5 day capacity.

Adding a wind generator or turbine might allow you to reduce your total storage capacity by 1 day. But only if you live in a good position for using wind generation, the only problem is that wind as we all know is highly variable. If you are still in the planning stage then you should seriously consider buying a truly cost effective and very accurate solar and wind power data logging device called the Power Predictor 2.0. This device will take all the guesswork out of making decisions about your alternative energy sources and it could save you literally thousands of dollars. To read more and watch a short video showing the benefits of  the Power Predictor 2.0 simply ‘click’ here.

The term ‘backup power system’ (also known as a UPS) is used to describe your typical deep cycle battery bank, as that’s what it gives you – backup power for when the grid power goes out in winter or bad weather. For those with the annual threat of  tornadoes or tropical storms as well as living an ‘off the grid’ lifestyle, through choice or otherwise, will know it’s crucial to carefully match your power storage solution to your personal useage and your Alternative Energy Sources – solar, wind or whatever.

What are Alternative Energy Sources?

There’s a long and growing list of alternative energy sources to choose from – Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Solar Water Heating, Wind Turbines, Radiation Energy Generators, Heat pumps, Bio-Mass convertors to name but a few. To get a more complete list of the world of Alternative Energy Sources visit Wikipedia just ’click’ here.  However it’s more likely as not that you will look towards Solar Photovoltaic (PV) and/or Wind Turbines as Alternative Energy Sources! There are still a number of alternative energy sources choices available for the Do-it-Yourself (DIY) enthusiast and we have already reviewed and compared what we believe to be the Top 3 guides in the field of DIY Solar and Wind Energy. To read more on each try these links:

1. Earth4Energy – Number 1 of the Alternative Energy Sources.
2. Green DIY Energy - Number 2 of the Alternative Energy Sources.
3. Home Made Energy - Number 3 of the Alternative Energy Sources.
4. For a direct comparison of the Top 3 Alternative Energy Sources visit our Renewable Product Comparison Chart.

Watt Hours? Amp Hour? Alternative Energy Sources? You need to know.

How many Watt-Hours in a battery?: Watts are pretty simple – it’s just Battery Voltage times the Amp Hours. For example: A 12 volt 105 AH battery can supply (under perfect conditions and to 100% discharge) 12 x 105, or 1260 Watt-hours (1.26KWH). For more information see our Ohm’s Law pie chart, just ‘click’ here.

For any alternative Energy Sources you should think about installing a backup power system. The total capacity should be enough to cover about twice the longest anticipated outage. To figure how many amp-hours storage you need, take your average daily usage in watts and divide by the battery voltage. For example, if you use 5 kwh (kilowatt-hours) per day (24 hour cycle), and have a 48 volt system, then dividing 5000 by 48 gives you 105 Amp Hour (AH). Since you do not want to discharge the battery storage facility by more than 50% in most cases, you would need a 210 AH system. If you want to keep running for 4 days of bad weather with no sun, multiply that figure by 4, which gives you about 850 AH total capacity.

*UPS and backup power systems are essentially same, except that the times quoted for a UPS are often in hours instead of days associated with backup power systems.

Alternative Energy Sources.

The lead acid deep cycle battery remains the most practical and cost effective power storage solution, well suited to your Alternative Energy Sources, such as solar and wind energy. They are also well suited for the majority of serious DIY and small business enterprises.

* BRAND NEW - Now Avaliable* An all new Refurbish Deep Cycle Battery guide   

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This Brand New ‘Recondition Battery’ guide makes a fantastic additional resource to go with Any of the other DIY Solar and Wind Energy Guides we have reviewed for you right here on this site. It’s been created to help you make the right decisions about Refurbishing or Reconditioning the common types of Rechargeable Batteries, such as Lead Acid (Pb H2SO4), Nickel Cadmium (NiCad) and Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH), as well as covering Deep Cycle Battery types. If you are into DIY Alternative Energy Sources then don’t miss this great opportunity to get Energy Storage on the cheap.