Generate Energy
Impacts: Community, Money
Literally make some electricity from renewable energy sources and push it back onto the grid. I know this one might sound a bit hair brained to the uninitiated but it’s actually easier to do that you might realize. Before the power grid existed everyone who had electricity made it themselves. Americans have been innovating in this space for generations.
If more people invested in the equipment needed to generate some electricity and began contributing power to the grid, less power would need to be generated from burning stuff. More people would learn that conserving electricity saves them even more money and doesn’t significantly reduce the quality of life. The grid wouldn’t disappear it would simply become decentralized. Power plants would eventually be shut down as more and more people added electricity to the grid. Energy companies would probably still exist but as the keepers of the infrastructure. Our dependency on carbon based fuels would be reduced and the cost of energy would drop as well as the cost of generating electricity.
The most reasonable option today is solar photovoltaic panels. These panels can be mounted to trackers that follow the sun for maximum efficiency or less visually obtrusive alternative can be used like photovoltaic shingles that look almost exactly like normal roof shingles.
Another fairly reasonable option are wind turbines. Not all wind turbines look like giant propellers or water pumping windmills from the farm. Some actually have a much smaller visual footprints and can even be used in urban areas without attracting much negative attention.
If you live near a year round creek or river and have some water rights to it you might find it possible to divert a small portion of the water to run through a small hydroelectric turbine. This is actually one of the best ways to generate a lot of electricity because these turbines run day and night and as long as the water flows. Hydroelectric systems can also be less expensive to install than comparable photovoltaic systems simply due to their efficiency and reduced technical complexity.
Making your own energy reduces your dependency on another external force. It reduces everyone’s dependency on carbon based fuels. It changes the way we all think about electricity, efficiency, and conservation. The positive impacts are not always immediate but in the long run it tends to pay off big.
Take Action
- Learn more about grid tied photovoltaic solar systems.
- Join other Americans at We Can Solve It and help end our addiction to carbon based fuels.
- Research the tax benefits to grid tied photovoltaic solar systems at irs.gov.
- Learn more about other alternative power systems like wind, micro-hydro, passive and active solar systems at homepower.com.
- Learn more about vehicle to grid (V2G) systems and how they can act as a battery for the grid at rechargeit.org.
