Dominican Lifestyle

 Lets discuss Inverters and what the true cost is. Now there are many ways to work this out but the main thing easier to reduce your need than it is to increase your power. A good example is those low energy compact fluorescent bulbs will let you run between 4 and five lights for the same power.  Put another way a 400 watt inverter will give you a small fan and 3 lights with incandescent bulbs or 2 small fans and 10 or so lights using compact fluorescent. When you build your off grid/emergency power system do not only look at how big to make your supply but look at how small to make your demand. That energy star fridge can make things a little nicer when it gets hot.

 A small window AC unit pulls 500 watts. So by replacing 10 incandescent bulb with equal compact florescent you can make your self a nice cool room after a hurricane.

 I have had experience with the following sized inverters and they all served their purpose. I had a 2.4 kw  Xantrex that I ran a household with for two years. I replaced it with a 3.5 when I decided my power needs were a little more. This was a brief period when we had less black outs. I recently put my 3.5 in storage and brought out my 2.4. Mainly my generator is not quite big enough to charge batteries and run other appliances at the same time so with the 2.4 I can keep going with in limits.

 I had a 6k in a  cafeteria my wife tried and it did fine as we only needed a few hours for the heavy times in the evening so we had about 18 or so hours that we could hope for a six hour charge to get us through the evening. I still have it and it is at my mother in-laws'.

 My Father In law has a 1.2 KW that he just loves because he has lights and fans when the power is out.

My mother in law had a 650 watt inverter that gave some lights , TV and a fan. It is now at her 98 year old mothers house.

 I had a small 400 watt inverter that used a car battery. I used it for when I went on trips and wanted to be sure I had lights and a fan in the Campo. It could charge while I was driving and would give me a good solid ten hours of one light and one fan. It is now at my brother in-laws' house.

If I were to ever live back home in Clay West Virginia where the power grid is more like the Dominican Republics than the rest of the US I would be copying my system I have now. 2.4k is enough to keep a gas furnace running, an energy star fridge and some compact fluorescent lights. Run generator about six hours a day to keep it all charged up and you would not be hurting for lack of power. The whole system in the US would run about $2000 which is a good chunk of money but all it takes is one winter storm to make it worth it.

 If I were  to be truly prepared back home I would have a wood stove set up and then use the inverter for fans and lights. Either way flipping a switch to get lights is  quality of life no matter where you live.

Alternative Energy