My brilliant friend Mike Simpson runs the NGO One Sky: The Canadian Institute for Sustainable Living. One Sky, in short, “promotes sustainable living globally,” from Smithers BC, to Calabar, Nigeria to Sierra Leone to Peru and beyond. They stand for integration, integrity and a sharing of ideas and practical applications on the ground. Every time I spend time with Mike (and Gail) I learn a ton of actually practical things (and things metaphysical), and of course these three August days in Smithers, BC were no exception. Upon my urging, Mike gave me a ten-minute crash course in living off the grid, and more intelligently on the grid, and let me film it. I hadn’t even heard of grid-intertie systems. And lo and behold, one of the reasons, Mike says, that solar isn’t yet common place is because all of the non-renewable resources, oil, nuclear etc, are relentlessly subsidized. Subsidized? In our ‘free market’ system. What the hell? Yes, that was sarcasm. Learn what you can, do what you can. You know, love is a sustainable resource, too. May all sisters and brothers live a little better, a little more sustainably, with a little more justice. Pete See www.onesky.ca See also Gail Hochachka’s www.drishti.ca www.petemccormack.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5
sickest view ever.
would this provide enough power to charge up an electric car for daily use do you think?
how much power do those 12 panels put out?
You can, but generally you would be better off not to since you can fairly easily dry your clothes on a clothes line and do a lot of your cooking on a wood stove or propane in a pinch. The smaller your system, the smaller the investment and the quicker turn around on your investment. People who are more in tune with the environment and plan their greatest power usage when there is wind or lots of sun tend to be more successful off-gridders.
can u run a dryer or stove off your panels
I googled ‘solar panels’ in okc and could only find a small number of results….most were promoting ‘installation’ at an outrageous amount…..16,000?
I wish…
This is a good answer but it addresses the wrong question. The real point is that modern folks have been trapped in the petroleum biased technology by power elite monopolists who want to keep their cash flow and control grid business model running so they can rule others. We are feudal surfs to oil robber barons. They have succeed in part by suppressing inventions of technology that would collapse their monopoly oil business.
Another option would be to use solar only for the ‘easy’ stuff: lights and the water pump. Extremely efficient LEDs are efficient, and the infrequent use of water, means solar panels would have an easier job of keeping a small batter bank (two golf cart batteries) charged.
There is no such thing as peak oil, at least not for another couple centuries. Our present oil limitations are cause by environmentalists.
If you can’t afford solar panels I like how he said, “you don’t need to go and get solar panels to make a big impact, it makes much more impact to actually reduce your energy footprint.”
Great vidio
If you’re going drop the subsidies for oil and natura gas extraction then you better drop the Crown royalties on oil and gas as well.
What kind of panels are they and how mny watts each?
Thanks awesome video
garage band music…….sweeeet
nice setup looking to start a system . how do you keep the battery warm
I converted my home to a net-zero powered solar home and made a video about it….It’s called, “Preparing for peak oil”…great off the grid video…
There are lots of options available VERY cheaply ! High efficiency wind turbine $425 complete, solar, passive heat boxes, solar fans, candle stoves, 12 volt off grid water heater, 12 or 120 volt power for free, radiator heat. All this is cheap compared to gas and oil. Pays for itself in a year as long as you do it yourself. A heat box gives you 140″ heat forever, for free. How hot is your heater outlet? 90″? ac
No sound !!!