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Maybe them older self sufficient people have no choice but to keep pushing on...That's not the point. Off grid and all that may be a goal but to forgo grid hookups when available makes no sense...
Maybe people want reliable power.
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... Go solar and all that but not being on the grid as a backup when available makes no sense....
If you go solar, you are far more likely to have power everyday, day after day, today, tomorrow, the next Thursday as well. Some want reliable power.
Maybe you like having grid some times, on some days. But I like power every day.
Makes sense, huh ?
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... As for being completely self sufficient,,that's not going to happen..
With the noted exception of families who do it, yes. Other than for those who do, it can't happen.
If you go solar, you are far more likely to have power everyday, day after day, today, tomorrow, the next Thursday as well. Some want reliable power.
Maybe you like having grid some times, on some days. But I like power every day.
I'm really sorry that electrical power in your part of Maine is so unreliable. We haven't had a power outage in my little city in at least 3 or 4 years. Hopefully a lightning strike or a wind storm doesn't do in your solar collectors.
Grid power is more likely to be found in urban regions, as you look rural there are a lot of expanses where wires have not been ran.
At least I live in town, our town lost power for 3 1/2 days during Christmas week, we lost it for 3 days during the second week of January, and we have had short duration outages [less than 4 hours] 3 times so far in 2015. We normally lose power only once or twice a month, but sometimes more.
The majority of townships in this state have never had grid power. When I was shopping for land, many parcels I looked at the nearest grid was many miles away.
In our town we have one road, power is only along the pavement and a few miles of pavement do not have power lines. Most parcels in our town have no access to grid power.
Such is life on the East Coast.
There are some homes in our town that do not use electricity. Of the homes that do use electricity, my home is the only one, I am aware of, that does not have a generator. We are saving up for solar power.
[quote=Submariner;38854441]Maybe people want reliable power.
If you go solar, you are far more likely to have power everyday, day after day, today, tomorrow, the next Thursday as well. Some want reliable power.
Maybe you like having grid some times, on some days. But I like power every day.
Makes sense, huh ?
Your missing the point...Whatever the main source is a backup is necessary. The most reliable is grid electricity,,generators have their own mind and get crankier with age.Theres other reasons but most know them,,at least if they're really interested in solar systems. Personally I think solars the way to go. With technological advances,,It might become a standard and people will be chatting about,,,Living on the grid.. But for the time being grid is the way to go be it for primary or backup power if solar is the main...
Now I get it,,many don't have a choice,grid may not be there or so costly it never will.
Your missing the point...Whatever the main source is a backup is necessary. The most reliable is grid electricity,,, Personally I think solars the way to go. With technological advances,,It might become a standard and people will be chatting about,,,Living on the grid.. But for the time being grid is the way to go be it for primary or backup power if solar is the main...
Now I get it,,many don't have a choice,grid may not be there or so costly it never will.
Very correct; we do not have any power lines here. No choices. If we did have a choice, we would have hooked up to the grid, as a back-up. We were thrown off the boat in the middle of the lake, to sink or swim.
... Your missing the point...Whatever the main source is a backup is necessary. The most reliable is grid electricity,
The grid is 'up' more days than it is down. In that limited context grid power can be seen as 'reliable'.
This is March, lets look at April. If you wanted to have power everyday all April long, you would need a more reliable power source instead of the grid. We all know that from 1 April to 30 April there will be a half-down power outages. The grid can not supply power all April long, it is not that reliable. The grid does go down.
So if you wanted to have power available to you every day, all April long, from 1 April to 30 April, then clearly you need some other power source. Utility Companies are not capable of doing this.
Maybe as you suggest people should look at Utility Companies as a back-up. If your primary source of power goes down, then roll the dice and maybe the Utility Company will be up that day.
Maybe the grid should be thought of purely as a back-up power source.
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... generators have their own mind and get crankier with age.
Good point, after 40 years of regular use, generators may need to be replaced. I have neighbors whose generators date from when 'rural-electrification' first rolled through this town. Those old things probably should be replaced.
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... Theres other reasons but most know them,,at least if they're really interested in solar systems. Personally I think solars the way to go. With technological advances,,It might become a standard and people will be chatting about,,,Living on the grid.. But for the time being grid is the way to go be it for primary or backup power if solar is the main... Now I get it,,many don't have a choice,grid may not be there or so costly it never will.
I am sure it is different out West. By land-mass most of this nation is very rural. Generally most of the East Coast is pretty urban. Where I settled we have a bit less than 10 people per square-mile, by East Coast standards this is fairly rural. A lot of the USA has much lower population-density than this region has. With lower population-density goes the fact that grid power lines are fewer, they are spread out farther apart, and in forests they are a lot less reliable. I settled in a state that is 92% forest.
From my perspective, it is hard to discuss grid power as if it were reliable in some context.
Maybe them older self sufficient people have no choice but to keep pushing on...
Or it's simply the life they love and chose long ago and don't want to give up. They've always been able to provide for themselves and don't want to have to depend on anybody else to take care of them.
That used to be a common way of thinking. Now people want the government to take care of them so they don't have to break a sweat or actually excert themselves doing actual labor.
As for being afraid to die,,if you aren't,,,your not normal...You may think it quaint to die behind a plow but in a reasoned world,,I'll take that pacemaker with stints thrown in as a package deal... Everyone dies but there's no reason to leave the party early.
I guess lying in a rest home or hospital with tubes running out of all of your orifaces, a feeding tube down your throat, saline drip into your arm to keep you hydrated, pooping/peeing in a bag, having electronics tracking your heart and keeping it beating, another machine watching the oxygen levels in your blood and pumping pure oxygen up your nose if it drops would be the ultimate in being hooked to the grid huh?
Again, when driving a tractor, you aren't walking behind a plow pushing it, you're riding in comfort while the tractor pulls the plow from the front
The grid is 'up' more days than it is down. In that limited context grid power can be seen as 'reliable'.
This is March, lets look at April. If you wanted to have power everyday all April long, you would need a more reliable power source instead of the grid. We all know that from 1 April to 30 April there will be a half-down power outages. The grid can not supply power all April long, it is not that reliable. The grid does go down.
So if you wanted to have power available to you every day, all April long, from 1 April to 30 April, then clearly you need some other power source. Utility Companies are not capable of doing this.
Maybe as you suggest people should look at Utility Companies as a back-up. If your primary source of power goes down, then roll the dice and maybe the Utility Company will be up that day.
Maybe the grid should be thought of purely as a back-up power source.
From my perspective, it is hard to discuss grid power as if it were reliable in some context.
I am in the process of shifting to solar-power.
My state is the 4th largest in the union, with around 1 million total population. We may have a statewide population density of around 4 people/square mile, but that's misleading as most of the population is in the western 1/3rd of the state so there is a lot of area that realistically has a population density far below 1 per square mile.
We get high winds and micro-bursts, heavy snows, landslides, torrential rains that wash out mountainsides, wildfires, you may be hooked to the grid, but you better have some form of reliable power especially when it's -40 outside.
That's one of the reasons most folks around here have at least 2 and usually 3 different heating sources, and having a generator or micro turbine waterwheel, or windmill or whatever is usually a far more reliable system to have in place.
The grid is nice if it works, but paying $20 to $50,000 or more just to run a line to your place isn't always the best option, or even feasible.
My state is the 4th largest in the union, with around 1 million total population. We may have a statewide population density of around 4 people/square mile, but that's misleading as most of the population is in the western 1/3rd of the state so there is a lot of area that realistically has a population density far below 1 per square mile.
We get high winds and micro-bursts, heavy snows, landslides, torrential rains that wash out mountainsides, wildfires, you may be hooked to the grid, but you better have some form of reliable power especially when it's -40 outside.
That's one of the reasons most folks around here have at least 2 and usually 3 different heating sources, and having a generator or micro turbine waterwheel, or windmill or whatever is usually a far more reliable system to have in place.
The grid is nice if it works, but paying $20 to $50,000 or more just to run a line to your place isn't always the best option, or even feasible.
...you may be hooked to the grid, but you better have some form of reliable power especially when it's -40 outside.
That's one of the reasons most folks around here have at least 2 and usually 3 different heating sources, and having a generator or micro turbine waterwheel, or windmill or whatever is usually a far more reliable system to have in place.
The grid is nice if it works, but paying $20 to $50,000 or more just to run a line to your place isn't always the best option, or even feasible.
^ This.
Anybody ever hear of "two is one, and one is none"? It's the value of redundancy. I don't care how reliable the grid power is; it goes out at least once in awhile everywhere. And while that doesn't seem like much in some places, it's precisely when it happens that can have a negative impact on the people affected.
We have both solar power and generators (3) of which at least 2 (and usually all 3) are running well. That has never failed us, and is far better than most grid-tied folks can really depend upon.
For heat we have wood (main) and propane back-up. We also have 2 large new kerosene heaters, with extra wicks. Next month I'll be bedding down in the garage with one of them, when this year's batch of baby chicks and poults arrives. I babysit them during their first few weeks. Besides, I love to sleep with my truck!
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