Self-Sustaining Property - Electricity, Heat, Water

[Imagebuffet]

Now that I have a small property on which I can experiment, I want to try things like generating my own electricity and collecting my rain water. I'm looking at the adverts for home-generated electricity. Incidentally, my last electric bill for my 1219 s.f., 3-bedroom home is $48.74. I credit the cooler weather, that has allowed me to leave my A/C off for most of the last month. I also don't have a TV (though, my computer and CRT monitor certain are a load).

About an hour ago, I put out some buckets to collect rain water coming off my roof. So far, I've collected about 20 gallons. I'm going to need a better collection and distribution system.

I wonder if I can get some government grants to study sustainable living on a small city plot? My crazy neighbor back outside Edgewood, NM, made a living doing that on his considerably-larger plot of land. He sold his results to governments all over the world!

[J Eddington]

Check what your homeowners associaton rules on on solar and wind power.
Many plastic companies make water storage tanks. Tractor Supply has some locally, on line http://www.plastic-mart.com/class.php?item=1527. They are not cheap. About $1 per gallon going less expensive after 250-500 gallons. You want your gutters to drain into those. You can connect several together.
Here is a link to a article: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...1.4aa12ef.html

[danchez]

also, look into grey water systems. Re-using water from your shower and bathroom sinks for your toilet.

[venchka]

Keep water containers covered. Otherwise, you'll be breeding all sorts of nasty critters. And breaking the law. Olives are imported in large (~50 gallon) plastic drums. Somebody must sell the empties.

Your bill is a few dollars less than my 900 sq. ft. apartment in Houston. Good job! At that rate, you'll never make solar pay. Look into tax credits for a heat pump and modern energy efficient windows. Given your current consumption, those may never pay back either but you'll be more comfortable and your home may sell better down the road.

We installed a heat pump in our home about 100 miles east of you. Our August bill for 2,500 sq. ft. was $75. Heating is our biggest user. Our Jan-Feb bills are always larger than our July-Aug bills.

Good luck.

[johnastovall]

You need a copy of The Integral Urban House: Self-Reliant Living in the City. All you want to know and more.. Used as text in Urbanology class.

[alamoshutterbug]

A few ideas:

In my first home, we grey-watered with our washing machine water.

For rain collection you can buy new; some of these look really nice and don't look like plastic. You can also look along the side of the road for places that sell old syrup or oil barrels (the big blue plastic ones)

In the wintertime we would augment the central heat with our clothes dryer using a contraption you can find at Lowes. It has a lint trap and lets the hot humid air from the dryer stay in the house. You have to move the air around with fans otherwise the humidity will get too high. We did it during cold dry spells, not all the time.

Don't forget sun tea and solar ovens.

You can find toilets that have hand sinks built into the top that will turn on and run while its filling the tank, just long enough to wash your hands. Any water used by the toilet would have been used to wash hands first. This might put some off a bit, but they are very popular in some other countries.

I know Austin has tax incentives for rain water collection systems, your town may as well.

[venchka]

On demand hot water heater. We overlooked that when we remodeled. DUMB!

[Imagebuffet]

Thanks, guys. I appreciate the pointers and tips.

To my knowledge--and, I think I would know--I do not live in an HOA (I greatly rejoice!). My slice of Bohemia has a colorful cast of homeowners proud of their properties and with the money and skills to fix them up nicely. I have at least two landscapers living across the street from me. One guy across my ally apparently repairs diesel trucks, because his yard is full of them (and a 2-story storage shed in his back yard). Several of my neighbors have 3 or 4 cars and trucks parked all around their homes. We have one noisy neighbor, who, fortunately, limits his noisiness to periods of less than 15 minutes.

I understand that the electric company has to buy back power if one generates a surplus. If so, that might make a generation system pay. Even so, I can find other ways to use extra power. I would like to install an hydroponics system and maybe some fish tanks.

Edit: The final tally is about 30 gallons of water collected within 2 hours.

My water bill also came in. The City of Plano claims that I used 2550 gallons in August, and 4510 gallons in September. That's an average daily water usage of 106 gallons and 150 gallons, respectively. I'm skeptical of these numbers.

[venchka]

Don't loose sight of the economics. You could be pouring money down a very deep hole. Your description of your neighborhood doesn't sound like one that can sustain large infusions of capital.

Rainwater for landscape use sounds like the only low cost, low tech thing that might be viable for your property. That and upgrading to energy efficient replacements as things wear out.

99% of the time the only folks who can afford bleeding edge fancy high tech money saving stuff are folks with money to burn.

A $50 August electricity bill in DFW is as good as it gets. Spending money to improve on that puts you way beyond the point of diminishing returns.

But hey, it's your money. Throw it away any way you see fit.

[Jeff_Green]

What Wayne said. There isn't much more I would invest in. Your investment would fall way short on returns as it seems you minimalize your consumption as it is. I would do basic investments like the energy efficient windows and insta-hot water system. I think I recall you saying that it was already insulated quite well. If not, make sure you have plenty (A LOT!) in the attic, even over the garage if you have one. You may even consider a radiant barrier. Solar power, with your usage, wouldn't make sense. Even with power buy backs I doubt you would ever make your money back.

[venchka]

Originally Posted by Imagebuffet

...My water bill also came in. The City of Plano claims that I used 2550 gallons in August, and 4510 gallons in September. That's an average daily water usage of 106 gallons and 150 gallons, respectively. I'm skeptical of these numbers.

Unless you have leaks, those numbers are impossible. Contest it. Read the meter yourself. Keep good records. Read the meter at least once a week.

[Imagebuffet]

Originally Posted by venchka

Don't loose sight of the economics. You could be pouring money down a very deep hole. Your description of your neighborhood doesn't sound like one that can sustain large infusions of capital.

That is something I keep in mind as I consider remodeling. My kitchen needs remodeling that most. I don't know what substance was used in the construction of the countertops, but, whatever it is, it has become a sticky, wrinkled veneer with orange blotches showing through the brown overcoat. I think the kitchen is a bit cramped, too; I'd like to push the wall back a bit into the garage. But, how much remodeling would a potential buyer or renter be willing to subsidize? My house is appraised by Plano around $108k, and by the VA around $98k. All the other houses in the neighborhood are under $120k. I have a 1-car garage, though other homes next door have 2-car garages. I am right now listening to a passing freight train that is blaring its horn 1/2 a mile South of me. All told, I don't believe that anyone would be willing to pay (in today's dollars) more than $120k for this property, no matter what I do to it.

One other thing to consider, though, is that resale price is not the only use I could get out of this property. If I could benefit from an improvement that isn't necessarily going to add to resale value, I might still consider it.

Originally Posted by venchka

Rainwater for landscape use sounds like the only low cost, low tech thing that might be viable for your property. That and upgrading to energy efficient replacements as things wear out.

I'm thinking of adding some sort of enclosure to the back porch. It already has an awning over the concrete slab. Screens in the Summer and maybe plastic tarp walls in the Winter, to keep out bugs and serve as a greenhouse, might be useful.

I need a storage shed. All the other homes have a $1k+ storage shed in the back yard. Mine has nothing. I love the big, free space, but I need a storage shed. My living room is stacked floor-to-ceiling with boxes of junk. I want to move that stuff out of my house.

It would be nice to have a workshop, too, and maybe another garage bay.

Originally Posted by venchka

99% of the time the only folks who can afford bleeding edge fancy high tech money saving stuff are folks with money to burn.

That's true. But, I can still make a lot of improvements to this place.

I want a tub big enough for me to lie down in (I'm 6'3" tall). I don't know where that would fit in my current floor plan. Coincidentally, the floorboards in the laundry room on the other side of the wall from my master bathroom have rotted. It might be desirable to combine the laundry room with my master bathroom, to make a much larger bathroom. Then, I could have a full-sized tub, too.

If I made these changes to the kitchen and to the master bathroom, I would probably max out the value that someone would be willing to pay for this property. That's my guess, anyway. However, the people across the street from me just remodeled their home, and it looks really nice. They rent out that property.

Originally Posted by venchka

A $50 August electricity bill in DFW is as good as it gets.

That was September (08/25 to 09/23).

Originally Posted by venchka

Spending money to improve on that puts you way beyond the point of diminishing returns.

But hey, it's your money. Throw it away any way you see fit.

Heh, I'm sure I'll hit $100/month next year at some point. We've had a very cool, wet year this year. I need to start looking at ways to winterize my house.

Imagebuffet added 2 Minutes and 3 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

Originally Posted by venchka

Unless you have leaks, those numbers are impossible. Contest it. Read the meter yourself. Keep good records. Read the meter at least once a week.

Thanks, I will contest it. But, they keep the cap over the meter locked, so I can't see it.

Edit: Something else I've noticed is, neither bathroom has any electrical outlets. I cannot believe that someone would make a bathroom that has no way to plug in an electric razor or hair drier or (in my case) a utility heater. I'm going to freeze this Winter!

[Westx]

Richard HD sells the tool to open the meter box. In the State of Texas you have the right to read your meter at any time. When you get the tool to open the lid the meter will have some type of small dial that will turn along with the long clock hand type dail and the number. Make sure you have no water on in the house then watch the small dial to see if moves at all. If it move then that indicates you have a leak on your side of the meter somewhere. It could be a toilet cycling or a leak some where else. To check the toilet put a couple drops food coloring in the tank and let the toilet be for 20 minutes or so the look in the bowl and if you have colored water in the bowl that means the flapper in the tank is leaking by. That is the biggest cause of high water bills. The amounts you say they billed you for is awfully high for one person.

[Tom]

If its yellow, let it mellow. If its brown, flush it down.

[alamoshutterbug]

Originally Posted by Thomas Campbell

If its yellow, let it mellow. If its brown, flush it down.

Or better yet:

humanure