Homestead mailing list

[Mogrits <mogrits AT gmail.com>]

I'm looking for some good, practical solar energy sites. Stepdaughter
just bought her first home and mentioned she wanted to use the
stimulus money she receives to install a solar system and "go off the
grid". We've discussed this subject here before and I realize how
impractical such a thing is, but don't want to discourage her. I tried
to explain that you can't heat water, run a heat-pump, power a well
pump, or run washers and dryers with a photovoltaic array. The house
has good insulation, new insulated windows and a high efficiency heat
pump. I gently suggested she could install a solar water heater, or at
least a pre-heater, and possibly handle all her lighting needs with
batteries and string a clothesline, but that her best bet would be to
reduce consumption. But as with most youth that wasn't the answer she
wanted.

So, does anyone have a good website that might lay out realistic costs
v benefits for solar energy systems?

Warren