Simple energy producing idea.

[QUOTE=dobbo;613592
Then the change of lifestyle costs as well

None of the following:

A/C
Halogen lights
Computers therefore Internet and AULRO
Microwaves
Plasma televisions
Electric heaters

etc.........

[/QUOTE]

Well, the only one of those items I have in my Brisbane inner suburban home is a computer. If I was establishing a country estate as a holiday home or weekender, I would just have generator for refrigerator and freezer. The people I mentioned wanted to use the properties for longer periods and thus wanted a few home comforts but being quoted $15000 over twenty years ago, in one case, to run powerlines 300 metres up a side road from the existing supply was considered a damn rip-off. Others had been quoted prices in excess of the amount they paid for the land and that a substantial annual minimum charge would apply. One of my rellies was farming 1000 acres on the inner Darling Downs from 1977-93. The power lines went down the main road on their side boundary. The price to get the supply up the side road to the house was considered so ridiculous that they just kept using the generator at night and gas refrigerators. However he found substantial supplies of underground water and planned to start irrigated cropping. The electricity authority then ran the power in at no charge but stipulated an annual minimum billing of $12000 in 1981. He was using far more than this with his 100hp pumps driving travelling irrigators. Made enough money from irrigation farming to retire to the Gold Coast in 1993 aged 51.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Frenchie

While in Canada I saw an article on a small scale portable hydro-electric generator that people could use to provide power for their bush shack.

Can't remember any details though.

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Problem in Australia is that there are very few places with the water and the fall for it to work, but where it is available, micro hydro is definitely the way to go. One major advantage is that in a lot of cases you do not need a battery or inverter - you use the water as your storage. This means that the whole setup can be quite cheap for the amount of power, except for the civil engineering, which may not be a lot in the best cases.

John

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dobbo

........

None of the following:

A/C
Halogen lights
Computers therefore Internet and AULRO
Microwaves
Plasma televisions
Electric heaters

etc.........


.........

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Computers need not use a significant amount of power - the simplest is to use a laptop, which are all pretty low power users, but a desktop is not too bad even unless it runs a big screen, a top end processor or a top end graphics card. And you can get desktop computers with processors designed for portables that use little more power than do the laptops.

Although a microwave uses a lot of power, if you use it only for defrosting, reheating etc, it can be used provided your supply will handle the peak power needed, since it is only used for a few minutes at a time.

John