Off Grid Project ...
Our current home is located approximately 40 miles west of Las Vegas in the Pahrump Valley of Southern Nevada.
The Pahrump Valley is located west of the Las Vegas Valley and is separated from Las Vegas by the Spring Mountain range.
Our Valley enjoys one of the highest rates of "sunshine" days per year in the United States. - There are very few days per year when the sun does not shine and the skies are not clear and blue.
As there are no public utility services in the Valley, most homes are "all electric" - served by a private co-operative electric company. Cooling and heating is achieved through the use of heat pump air conditioners and heaters.
Most homes have their own water wells which are also powered by electricity.
As you can well imagine from the above, for all homeowners the biggest (and only) utility bill is from the private electric company.
As it is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to bring electricity to a new homesite and as it does not appear that the cost of electricity will be coming down in the future, we have decided to build an experimental home that is totally "off-grid" ... the "off-grid project".
Objective ...
- The overall objective is to determine and develop more energy and cost efficient methods to power a home.
- To become more energy and location independent.
- To develop methods to build a comfortable home where there are no utilities available.
Criteria ...
- For all intents and purposes, the home must appear and function like a modern, normal and usual home in the area.
- The home must have all of the usual amenities such as lighting, regular cooking range, oven, microwave oven, dishwasher, in-sink trash disposal, refrigerator, washer and dryer, hot water, heating and air conditioning, telephone lines, satellite cable lines, etc.
- The home must be completely energy independent. - All energy must be generated (converted) on-site. - No additional input of energy in the form of wood, natural gas, propane, diesel, gasoline, etc. should be required.
- As the Valley does not have consistent winds (hardly any wind to speak of), only solar power and geothermal energy will be utilized.
Water Well ...
Foundation ...
Heating & Cooling ...
Structure ...
Solar Panels ...
Batteries ...
Lighting ...
Electric Outlets ...
e-mail Rapidyne Corporation
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