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We made our own power for 5 years - it's no fun. Whatever means you use to make the power is not the difficult part. The hassle comes to the issue of storing power you make. This is a ife-style that requires time, attention, money and patience. Batteries will cost a significant amount - we spent $6,000 on them, and were not able to have sufficient power for an electric frig.
When you live out of power range, you are generally farther from shops and that means that you need to store more food, not less. Ergo the size of your freezer becomes important. Propane friges do not last very long, are expensive and small.
Passive Solar water heating is easy- get a black water tank, mount it on the roof - fill it periodically and the sun will make the water hot.

Contact Sailsports and ask them how many wind days we've had this year (over 15 knots), I belive Chris still tracks that information. Based on the fact that I've only windsurfed about 15 times this year I'll bet that the number is very low. Wind is just not a reliable source for day to day power.

Snowbird:

Can you tell me what brand of turbine you used? Sounds like one of the homemade types. Those are pretty worthless.

I've had pretty good results with my Bergey XL1. Virtually silent and puts out 1kw (full power) at 24 mph. At 16 mph it puts out almost 400 watts.

SCUBASNACK:

I forgot (having a senior moment) but I think it was a Whisper or a AIR X.---400 watt $800
A 1 kw will run over $2500
I think a lot of the noise was because it was attached to the house. It was an experiment and a back up for our solar & gen/set

Can I ask how may hours per year had a wind speed over 16mph ---on land (island) Not out on the open water.
I could watch a sail boat 1/2 mile away with its rotor spining while mine was not moving.
We could also enjoy a nice breeze at the N/E point of the island while not a breath mid-island
There is just more sun then wind in most places.
Solar is more dependable and gives more bang for the buck. BUT- it is NOT BTL!!!!
.

Snowbird:

Thanks for the info. Yep...sounds like you had an Air-X. Those are indeed pretty useless.

Hey Diane:

You've got me wondering now. Can you give me a snapshot of the AE system you used? What brand of batteries did you use and how many?

Thanks

My friends who live on Long Caye at Lighthouse Atoll have a marine windmill. It is all stainless steel and very small and it is mounted on its own tower. They run their small house on it - and talk about being far away from the store - well go figure! LOL

When did Malcolm give up solar? I talked to him just a while back and he was very happy with it. He told me about the batteries that hospitals are required to have and rotate out with lots of life left in them.

Although I prefer to cook with gas I do not like propane' especially in a salt environment where the fittings rust out. I've heard too many horror stories and I'm very happy with my glass top electric stove.

Bedsides the environmental impact I don't want to have to rely on BEL. Four of us live in an L and would like to share the wind power.

My advice what what it's worth...spend the extra money and buy a lot that has power.

Folks are always talking about the environmental "friendliness" of solar power but...how much fossil fuel was burnt in the manufacture of banks of lead acid batteries? How much fossil fuel was burnt in the manufacture of solar panels? And, where do all those batteries go when they're shot after 5 years? And for what, so that you can burn a few light bulbs and a fan or two? Most folk who have solar power use gas refrigerators and don't have the luxury of being able to air condition even their bedroom.

ScubaLdy, you're going to have to install a huge amount of solar and wind power generating capcity and banks and banks and BANKS of batteries, not to mention at least one very high capacity invertor, if you plan to run your glass-top electric stove!

I think the solar hot water heater is a great thing, everything else is just aggravation and false environmentalism. I think mass-production of solar and wind power has a lot of potential, but individual (or even 4 people sharing) "alternative" power sources really only work if you're prepared to sacrifice a lot of comfort and practicality.

It's been over a year since Malcom paid BEL over $10,000 to get electric. I believe his problems began when his apartment was rented out and his batteries gave out. His renters couldn't take showers before leaving the island, because the pump for his well uses power. He has huge batteries that cost in the thousands. Its great for back up when BEL goes down.
Malcoms neighbor Josh also used only solar for his house. You might want to talk to him. They had washer, dryer, dishwasher etc. He had to charge his batteries for hours during the day, using many gallons of gas. He is now using BEL
We have a small house and have solar on a smaller scale(one panel) it gets us by when we are there (2 or 3 weeks at a time) We have enough power for us because we are careful, running a fan at night and lights and water when needed. We still need to be careful, especially when there is no sun. We can't charge an electric golf cart when our batteries(8) are fully charged. (not enough power)
Chris is absolutely right with every thing he is saying. You will be sorry if you go with just solar.

Scubaldy
Electric stove?
Just did some quick math - beside twin inverters you would only need aprox. an 80 golf cart battery bank to run it for one hour.