How feasible is to run a generator instead of electrical power at home.

[Valv]

Recently I was out of power and was running my little 1500watts to keep house going for a day.

We were debating if it was possible to always run a generator instead of buying electricity.

Definitely a diesel is a must but I don't know if fuel consumption will be too high to even come close to break even point.

Any expert out there ?

[waskawood]

Valv,

I went online and picked a 4500 watt Honda generator at random and did the numbers. It will burn 1/2 gallon of gas an hour at 1/2 load or at 2250 watts. That is about $1.50 an hour for fuel at that load. My kilowatt hour rate here is about 7.5 cents or 18.5 cents to do the same 2250 watts of work. A 4500 watt generator wouldn't run an airconditioner, hotwater heater, or electric stove. I would guess that a bigger generator would be less efficient. The problem would be is that you would have to leave it run continously so that your heating, airconditioning, refridgeration etc, would work on an as needed basis. Granted a diesel would be cheaper but I think it still would be prohibitive. I think the cheapest route would be a natural gas unit and even then the price won't be even close. That is my take on it. There may be others out there that differ.

[Valv]

I did same thing with a 15kw (15,000watts) diesel generator, which they use 1.5gal/hr at 75% peak.

If I calculate 10 hours a day x 30 days = 300 hours x $1.5 = $ 450.

Plus you have to add price of generator in depreciation.

Not feasible.

But I thought maybe I was doing or calculating something wrong, that's why I asked if anybody knowledgeable knows.

[renny]

even if it were feasible, how could you stand the noise, i know that they make em pretty quite now a days, but if you were my neighbor i not sure that i would care for it. was camping once with friends and they had one along so that he could make toast,LOL, did'nt care for the hum in the background, but then that's just me. emergenies only or portable power is what there desgined for.

[Valv]

I live in the country, and I can guarantee you the make some very quiet ones, so it won't bother me.

It's not an issue this anymore, even with a free unit it's still not feasible.

[woodyjdh]

I'd go with a wind generator

[SteveWilson]

You could do it but it would be expensive. Lookup fuel cells

[ZapBranigan]

Wind power - I have a good friend who is an engineer at Prarie Island Excel Energy. He worked on the wind generation project for years. They have to keep the generators moving when there isn't enough wind to turn them. The whole project had a continual net loss of power month after month.

Excel is not dumping any more money into the project after ten years of collecting data. The project used more power than it could produce. Not too promising.

[htgeren]

Waska and Valv are right on. Gas generators are definetely not a feasible option. I've worked in the energy conservation industry for years now and can guess that you are probably going to spend close to 10 times over your regular service provider.

Wind is a tough one also. The other option to look at would be photovoltaics or solar energy to offset partial loads, but still a fairly long payback. May be hard to beleive but on average we only get about an hour less of usable sunlight per day here than south texas does. Plus with the new energy bill that just passed, a residential homeowner can receive a substantial tax credit to offset the cost of installing PV in your home through 2008.

[JohnMickish]

Good luck on the solar energy. It takes a photocell the size of the hood on your truck to charge a battery decently, and it'll take one the size of your block to run half the lights in your house. The technology just isn't there yet. It will be someday, along with wind energy, but for now it's just hydro, gas, coal and good ol' neutron smashing. I know it's hard to believe but nuclear energy is still the cheapest in the long, long run. (that is if you don't look where the waste goes)

[Gus]

We run a solar cell at our cabin for electricity. Bare minimum electricity. We have a cell about 3 feet by 5 feet, and have it charge a bank of 6 deep cell batterys. It's enough power to run 12 volt fans, 12 volt light bulbs, cell phone, and even a laptop computer for a tv if the weather is really bad. Not much else though, but everything else is run by gas. Additional gas lights, rv sytle water heater, stove, etc. And you always have a fresh battery for the trolling motor It works out great for us considering the alternative is no juice.

[Hemlock]

Lots of people including myself are running solar systems on islands on Lake of the Woods. Initial cost is a buggar, but after that it's pretty decent, with replacement to your batteries every so often. We run a smaller system ( I can't even remember what) but the panels are about 2'X 4' and it charges 2 batteries in series, I beleive. Enough to run lights, laptop, cell phone, and vaccuum cleaner for short lengths. Again, our system is minor, but for other cabins around the area, I know they are running their microwave, water pumps, small washing machines, etc. When you conserve and combine it with propane stove, h2o heater, etc., you can do it fairly cheap. The other componant is the generator that kicks in only when the solar can't keep up, which in most cases is not very often.

[JohnMickish]

I should have restated, it will take a very, very large solar cell to run a "typical" household the way we live a normal life without any sort of backup and using it every day, 365 days a year. Winter would be a killer. The technology is there but not to do it cheaply.

[Hemlock]

Very true, good clarification mnfishguy. Even as the days get shorter in September/August, people using solar here start to seen the differences, let alone Dec-March.