▲ 89 ▼ What are ways Renters (of a house) can get into alternative energy? (lemmywinks.com) submitted 3 years ago by spasm01@lemmywinks.com to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world 32 comments fedilink hide all child comments Are there portable wind turbines and/or solar panels I can put up in my very bright dusty back yard?
[–] kmkz_ninja@lemmy.world 7 points 3 years ago (2 children) Why would that be illegal? permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 4 child comments replies: [–] SeedOnTheWind@lemmy.world 24 points 3 years ago (2 children) The line workers would not be aware of power coming from the load side and therefore may accidentally work on a live line and die. Most rooftop solar that plugs into the grid is set up to switch off if power goes out for this reason. This is mostly and educated (from a solar class years ago) guess. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 4 child comments replies: [–] Kelsenellenelvial@lemmy.ca 12 points 3 years ago This is right. A proper system has a transfer switch that prevents back feeding the grid if it’s down. There’s also a safety aspect in that supplying power to the branch circuit in this way bypasses the overcurrent protection, so one could potentially be loading that circuit with 5 A on top of its rated load and cause significant damage. If a person wants to offset their electricity at this small scale, better to have it powering a shed or charging power tool batteries. Won’t get as good a return, but you’d never get a return on a permitted grid tied system at that scale either. permalink fedilink source parent [–] Eavolution@kbin.social 2 points 3 years ago Would you not have to get a proper switch installed? We have a diesel generator in our house (countryside, unreliable power) and we had to get a big isolater switch, so when the switch is set to generator, nothing can go back into the grid. permalink fedilink source parent [+] hoodatninja@kbin.social 3 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) [deleted] permalink fedilink source parent
[–] SeedOnTheWind@lemmy.world 24 points 3 years ago (2 children) The line workers would not be aware of power coming from the load side and therefore may accidentally work on a live line and die. Most rooftop solar that plugs into the grid is set up to switch off if power goes out for this reason. This is mostly and educated (from a solar class years ago) guess. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 4 child comments replies: [–] Kelsenellenelvial@lemmy.ca 12 points 3 years ago This is right. A proper system has a transfer switch that prevents back feeding the grid if it’s down. There’s also a safety aspect in that supplying power to the branch circuit in this way bypasses the overcurrent protection, so one could potentially be loading that circuit with 5 A on top of its rated load and cause significant damage. If a person wants to offset their electricity at this small scale, better to have it powering a shed or charging power tool batteries. Won’t get as good a return, but you’d never get a return on a permitted grid tied system at that scale either. permalink fedilink source parent [–] Eavolution@kbin.social 2 points 3 years ago Would you not have to get a proper switch installed? We have a diesel generator in our house (countryside, unreliable power) and we had to get a big isolater switch, so when the switch is set to generator, nothing can go back into the grid. permalink fedilink source parent
[–] Kelsenellenelvial@lemmy.ca 12 points 3 years ago This is right. A proper system has a transfer switch that prevents back feeding the grid if it’s down. There’s also a safety aspect in that supplying power to the branch circuit in this way bypasses the overcurrent protection, so one could potentially be loading that circuit with 5 A on top of its rated load and cause significant damage. If a person wants to offset their electricity at this small scale, better to have it powering a shed or charging power tool batteries. Won’t get as good a return, but you’d never get a return on a permitted grid tied system at that scale either. permalink fedilink source parent
[–] Eavolution@kbin.social 2 points 3 years ago Would you not have to get a proper switch installed? We have a diesel generator in our house (countryside, unreliable power) and we had to get a big isolater switch, so when the switch is set to generator, nothing can go back into the grid. permalink fedilink source parent
[+] hoodatninja@kbin.social 3 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) [deleted] permalink fedilink source parent