Hooking into the power mains

I know that it's nice to aim to be completely self sufficient power wise, but I'd like to suggest some consideration for the benefits of not being completely disconnected from the city power. Every estimate I've heard concerning batteries and electrical storage is that they're terribly inefficient. See our discussion on this post.

Many clean electricity projects aim to look at net consumption of power from the mains. This means that they hook themselves up to the electrical mains like everyone else in the city but also have small-scale forms of energy production. Then when they need energy they use what's available from their own sources, and if they need it, from the mains, and if they have extra energy at any given time that energy goes back into the mains. The goal being to produce, overall, the same amount of energy as is consumed. The Solar Decathlon generally seems to work under this model.

Unfortunately, the almost permanent availability of energy in this scenario is more conducive to excessive use of electricity than having to use only what you've just created, but I think that's acceptable to most people who want the house to be usable and livable.

Solar Batteries

Via Inhabitat:

Inventor Knut Karlson is working on batteries wrapped in a thin photovoltaic cell- meaning that these batteries charge when simply left out in the sun!

I'm still not sure about the level of "green" associated with using batteries, but rechargable solar batteries sound like a potentially feasible option to me for many of the small power consumers around the house- decentralizing seems to me to be the way to go for relaiability in the case of alternative energy sources. Conter-arguments?

More infos!

more photos from will pederson's building of a tumbleweed tiny home here.

Zack and I are sitting around right now chatting about alternative energy sources and passive solar heating. We've been discussing different ideas for heating systems that work to both heat the house and produce hot water- things like a system which works off a tiny fireplace, channels the heat and carbon through the water heater, then into an algae container to process the carbon.

I've also thought about doing a composter that takes advantage of solar heat to reach high temperatures, then passing the water through a coil inside the composter and then though the rest of the house. That way, you get hot water and heat for the house, as well as a way of processing organic waste.