Michelle LaBrosse Blogs

The official name for my New Year’s resolution of becoming energy self-sufficient is now Project Energy Independence. My energy improvement activities are well under way with replacing hot water tanks with tankless hot water heaters and swapping out high wattage light bulbs and appliances with low wattage ones. The next phase of my energy independence project is to assess the opportunities I have at each site for creating my own power. Here is what I’ve found so far:

Nevada – great opportunities for solar. The only constraint is space and money to purchase solar panels. For both properties there I can meet all the electrical power needs with solar panels. On one property, there is sufficient space to put up several wind mills and consider installing a geothermal heat pump system as well. I created a free Solar Energy Smart Start Guide based on what I learned evaluating solar opportunities in Nevada – you can get it at www.cheetahpower.net.

Connecticut – good location to do a geothermal heat pump application. Favorable legislative climate for creating my own power from solar – so I’m looking at putting up both solar shingles and some ground mounted solar panels.

Alaska – I have numerous energy generating opportunities on the land up there. I might be able to power the entire town with the wind out on my point. I was looking at a potential hydro power application using rain catchment – it would only produce about 1/3 the electricity for a small home – but it may not cost that much to implement. And I have some great geothermal heat pump opportunities as well.

If you would like to see the details of what I have been evaluating – visit www.cheetahpower.net

This entry was posted on Friday, January 23rd, 2009 at 10:47 am and is filed under Energy Independence, Mind Maps, Tips for Project Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.