Last year I said I was working on an alternative energy book. A do-it-yourself guide for an off-grid home. The project got derailed by my months off-line and all so much catch-up work since. The book is still on my project list but recently I have been getting quite a few questions about doing primarily PV solar systems. While no substitute for the book, I have desired to scribble down some of the considerations here.

Multiple people have asked me "What did you do?" Let me address that question first.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, my only electricity source was about 2000 peak watts of PV panels. What's new is a 400 peak watt wind turbine. So far, so good.

The PV array usually supplies all my energy needs. Everything here is electric except the kitchen stove. In almost a year of living here, I have run my backup generator for about eight hours and half of that was just because it is a good idea to start it every couple of months. True that our rainy season wasn't rainy enough but that still shows PV was a good thing.

I have been hearing rumors about new PV technology that reduces silicon usage. Today, I saw this ecogeek article that tells the story. Wow is the word that comes to mind.

From the article:

The cells are made of micron-sized silicon wires that are encased in a flexible polymer that can be rolled or bent.