Off Grid Project ...
Location is 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.
The Pahrump 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 and office/commercial buildings have their own water wells which are also powered by electricity.
As you can well imagine from the above, for all property owners 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 building site 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 building 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 building.
- To become more energy and location independent.
- To develop methods to build a comfortable building where there are no utilities available.
Criteria ...
- For all intents and purposes, the home/building must appear and function like a modern, normal and usual home/building in the area.
- The home/building 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/building must be as energy independent as possible. - As much energy as possible should be generated on-site through the use of solar panels, solar water heating, geothermal cooling & heating, wind power, etc.
- No additional input of energy in the form of wood, natural gas, propane, diesel, gasoline, etc. should be used or required.
- NOTE: - Although as much energy as possible should be generated on-site, grid electricity will be used in the rare instances where it is economically more feasable to utilize grid electricity.
- As the Valley does not have consistent winds (hardly any wind to speak of), only solar power and geothermal energy will be utilized.
Heating & Cooling ...
Water Well ...
Planter ...
Water Heating ... (link is not yet active)
Foundation ... (link is not yet active)
Structure ... (link is not yet active)
Solar Panels ... (link is not yet active)
Batteries ... (link is not yet active)
Lighting ... (link is not yet active)
Electric Outlets ... (link is not yet active)
Septic System ... (link is not yet active)
e-mail Rapidyne Corporation
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