why to pay electricity bill?

[Efrat Green]

do you waana learn the most saving secret of the solar panels.
did you know that you can have solar panels and it will cost you less then $200?
this simple secret is changed my life. i stopped to pay electricity bill and continue to use all electrics products the same way i used before.
here is the way to save the world and your pocket too:

Administrator: Removed link to site peddling DVD

[Rob Beckers]

Efrat, gratuitous advertising as your message constituted is not allowed on this forum.

More in general: Several Web sites hawking cheap or almost free energy (renewable, no less) have been popping up. For anyone considering to spend the money on the book, DVD, CD, or whatever else they are selling: This is a scam!

While it is entirely possible to make your own wind turbine, or solar panels (that actually work), it is neither very easy, nor will they replace the electricity bill for the vast majority of people. It takes more than a few hundred dollars in materials to build a reasonably sized wind turbine (the inverter alone would run a few thousand, and even off-grid you'll need an inverter). Such a wind turbine would never produce what the average household uses, of 1000 kWh/month, even in a very, very windy location!

If the makers of the materials as hawked by Efrat were all that concerned with either the environment or other people's financial welfare they would simply publish that magical information for free on sites like Green Power Talk. Truth is, there is no magic solution. There is no "$200 will forever get rid of your electricity bills". Save your money. Better yet, frequent the many Web sites that do explain how renewable energy works, how wind turbines can be made (the books written by the two Dan's "Homebrew Wind Power" or Hugh Piggott's books come to mind). The same for making your own PV modules from cells, or reviving old forklift batteries (if you want 'free' batteries). There's no magic involved. It's mostly just hard work, enjoyable work if you are so inclined, and while it can do its bit it won't free you from electricity bills. At least not if you are currently on-grid and use over a few hundred kWh per month.

-RoB-

[Ralph Day]

Thanks Rob for nailing that scam to the wall. I was almost going to forward the link to all my on-grid friends, but you saved me from embarrasing myself;)

It's amazing how many scammers try to put one over on people, and on a site like this!

I read through all the Tennesse off grid stuff, finally. A nice thread, well documented, nice pictures etc. I noticed a lot of building issues and r/e installation issues. One smoked MX60 so far, I wonder if wire guages were a little light in places. Good luck to them.

Ralph