It works. I've been off the power grid totally for over 8 years now.
You can use the PV systems to furnish part, or all, of your electricity needs. I recommend starting with partial solar power, for certain needs, and then moving up to a full system. This allows you to get used to some of the ways that PV systems work, before going "whole hog".
It can be very expensive to try to buy a "whole house" PV system, that will power all of your existing appliances. As a PV specialist, I suggest that purchasing extremely energy efficient appliances is a very important factor in keeping the cost of the solar system to a minimum. The money spent on those efficient appliances can offset much larger costs of solar panels by a factor of sometimes 8 to 1.
One of the things that must be known up front, is that this is not an unlimited source of energy. It produces a certain amount each day, and that is all. Sometimes on cloudy days, it produces far less. If you go "off the grid", you then have no availablity of power from the street. If you lifestyle consists of total "energy hog" practices, this will either be very expensive to provide, or some moderation of energy wasting activities must be enacted. Some people can deal with this, and some cannot. Part of the reason that I am using low power amplifiers, is that I cannot provide thousands of watts of power for hours on end to run a high power class A amplifier(s) without using up the bulk of my available power that also must run the refrigerator, etc. This must be a consideration when moving into the personal power production arena.
That being said, it is totally feasible to use solar power, and it is reliable and practical. There are some lifestyle changes involved if you are disconnected from the grid. If you remain connected to the grid, you can access the grid for high-demand needs, and rely on the solar for less demanding needs. This is a common practice with solar power today.
From an audio standpoint, if you buy the correct equipment, you can provide a far cleaner and more reliable power for your stereo than you can get from the power company, even with power conditioners. If you use battery powered equipment like I do, then you can take that extra step toward ultra-clean power that most only dream about.
It is an interesting exercise, and can be productive. And as a side benefit, you will never have a power outage again.
You can use the PV systems to furnish part, or all, of your electricity needs. I recommend starting with partial solar power, for certain needs, and then moving up to a full system. This allows you to get used to some of the ways that PV systems work, before going "whole hog".
It can be very expensive to try to buy a "whole house" PV system, that will power all of your existing appliances. As a PV specialist, I suggest that purchasing extremely energy efficient appliances is a very important factor in keeping the cost of the solar system to a minimum. The money spent on those efficient appliances can offset much larger costs of solar panels by a factor of sometimes 8 to 1.
One of the things that must be known up front, is that this is not an unlimited source of energy. It produces a certain amount each day, and that is all. Sometimes on cloudy days, it produces far less. If you go "off the grid", you then have no availablity of power from the street. If you lifestyle consists of total "energy hog" practices, this will either be very expensive to provide, or some moderation of energy wasting activities must be enacted. Some people can deal with this, and some cannot. Part of the reason that I am using low power amplifiers, is that I cannot provide thousands of watts of power for hours on end to run a high power class A amplifier(s) without using up the bulk of my available power that also must run the refrigerator, etc. This must be a consideration when moving into the personal power production arena.
That being said, it is totally feasible to use solar power, and it is reliable and practical. There are some lifestyle changes involved if you are disconnected from the grid. If you remain connected to the grid, you can access the grid for high-demand needs, and rely on the solar for less demanding needs. This is a common practice with solar power today.
From an audio standpoint, if you buy the correct equipment, you can provide a far cleaner and more reliable power for your stereo than you can get from the power company, even with power conditioners. If you use battery powered equipment like I do, then you can take that extra step toward ultra-clean power that most only dream about.
It is an interesting exercise, and can be productive. And as a side benefit, you will never have a power outage again.