Part 3: What Am I Doing About Inflation?

I will begin by telling you there will be a part 4. It seems as I go along I just keep remembering more about the methods that have become second nature to me. Much of it will, likely, be old news to you, but hopefully some of it will be new, or inspiring.

In part 2 I illuminated the strategies I used to reduce my "energy footprint". Reducing the amount of energy you use while still maintaining your lifestyle will save on the amount of energy that you will have to purchase. Sure, it may contribute to a "greener" planet, but that is just incidental. Having more dollars to spend on other things is the real goal of conservation.

My current project is to get up and running by the end of this year a 2.5KW wind turbine. This should furnish about 90 to 100% of my electrical needs. I have the good luck to live in an area where this is a feasible option. Just 5 miles down wind from me is one of the largest wind-farms in the country. I hope they dont mind that I will be bleeding off a few watts before it gets to them...#8-)

I plan in the future to add 5kw of solar generation. This will all be "Grid Tied" so that I use the grid as my storage medium. The solar generation is waiting for a reduction in the cost per watt of solar panels. Right now they are way too expensive to pay for themselves.

I do all this work myself. The cost of having a turnkey installation of either wind or solar generation makes the system uneconomical in that it will likely never pay for itself. If you are out to reduce your carbon footprint and dont care what it will cost, be my guest. But I want payback. Carbon, Shmarbon, I eat meat and live on the top of the foodchain as I have said before. By doing it yourself you can have a 2.5KW wind turbine up and producing for less than $7000, mine will cost less than $5000 so a two year payback is likely. Solar however, even with do it yourself will likely cost $3 a watt minimum so I will wait as I need 5kw of solar if I am to completely slake my appetite for energy.

My next post will be an exposure of the myth that you need 70% of your before retirement income to comfortably retire.

So stay tuned if you are about to retire.

Jim Isbell
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