I want to buy an Electric Power Generator and im not 100% sure how they work.?

I want to buy an electric power generator but the only ones i found required gasoline. is there any generator that starts off charged and keeps itself charged? if so where could i buy one? also i need about 5000+ watts, im planning on using this for a room with a bunch of electronics. i probably need more than one. i dont care how much they are. please help me find this, i cant find it anywhere. (also if there isnt just a regular generator that doesnt require anything, what are the alternatives? i just need something that is an alternative to plugging it in the wall. solar power, generator, windmill, anything. please help me) thank you
ok sooo theres a way to use a windmill anndd solar panels and possibly get around 5000 watts? i need some links to this stuff because i have no idea what to look for. thanks for the responses btw

If you don’t care how much it costs, your best (as in quietest and least obtrusive) option is a heap of solar panels, a fat battery bank and a multi-kilowatt inverter.

Anything that gives you electricity OUT is going to require a substantially greater amount of energy IN.  Gasoline, wind, sunlight… always more in than out, the proportion depending on which one you use (wind will be most efficient).  You cannot get something for nothing.  I wrote a blues about it once.

Edit:  You don’t really understand your own needs.  You say you need 5000 watts, but that’s a measure of power (like horsepower).  How much time each day do you need it?  What you need to calculate is how many kilowatt-hours you need per day (like gallons per day).

This makes a huge difference.  If you are running a 3000 watt well pump for a total of 20 minutes a day, that’s 1 kilowatt-hour (3000 watts * 1/3 hour) a day or an average of just 42 watts.  If you are running a 5000-watt light show for 12 hours a day, that’s 60 kWh/day…. 60 times as much energy.

Determining the required size of the various generating options, batteries and so forth are way beyond the scope of Y!A, so you should go pick up something like "Home Power" magazine and start reading up.

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if you have connected them up to still run 12 volts
you should connect the solar panel the positive and negative of one battery

The neocons are at it again–they’ve spent years fighting envorimental reform and now are trying to slander Al Gore. Here’s the facts (look them up in the news stories if you don’t want to take my word for it:

1) a neocon group (Tennessee Center for Policy research) claimed Gore uses a lot of electricity and is being a hypocrite.
2) This group lied about contacting the power company–and the figures they published for Gore’s power use were exaggerated.
3) Al Gore is currently in the process of converting his home to solar energy
4) In the meantime, Gore is purchasing carbon credits (at hs own expense) to balance out his energy use.

Oh dear! Seems like the neocons aren’t being entirely honest. Imagine that!

Reality has a distinct liberal bias.

Since the right-wing crackpots can’t confront the message, they attack the messenger.

I’m thinking of maybe switching to solar energy, but I need some questions answered.

How is solar energy used and what percent of our energy comes from this source? What are some advantages/disadvantages of solar energy, and how does it help/harm the environment?

Hi Sarah – That is great that you are considering solar power. The previous answers do a good job of covering the main uses of solar power – heat or electricity. Using a renewable energy technology like solar thermal or solar electric (photovoltaic) means that we use less polluting fossil fuels to produce the energy that we consume. Despite the widespread availability of solar power for residential, commercial and utility scale projects, less than 1% of all of our electricity in the US is generated from solar power!

If you plan to seriously investigate solar power for your home or business, the first step is to look at ways to reduce your consumption. Solar energy is clean, but we should still be fully aware of what we consume. In many cases solar power is an investment for environmental reasons and not strictly economic reasons.

Good luck!
Kristen

what parts and tool do i need to build and connect a solar electric panel to my home

Dear Matadora,
Very good, good, good step to change your home electric supply to solar cell, because in long run, solar cell is cheaper. First you have to consider Power need for your house, eg. 1200W, then you go to sellers and choose one with lowest price but best quality. After that you should assemble/attach your solar panel in place that gets most Sunlight, most probably in your roof. Attach them tightly, avoid burglar. Original solar cell current is DC. Current from solar cell placed first in several car batteries, so you could use electricity in night either. After that if your home appliances use DC, you could directly connect your appliances to batteries. But if your appliances need AC, current should be converted first from DC to AC use DC to AC converter. Car battery used to have 12 Volt DC. So if you need 220VAC, after DC converted into AC, then passed through transformer to increase voltage.
Thank you very much Matadora.

Hi, I’ve heard that there are wind powered generator that also have solar panels?
The idea is to have enhanced reliability.
Do you know where can I find information about it? Anywhere in the world is fine!
Thank you!

You can build a system that consists of solar panels and a wind powered gererator. In this case you can use whatever windmill you like and whatever solar panels you like.

try:

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=solar+panels&y=Search+the+Web&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-web-t400&x=wrt&meta=vl%3Dlang_en%26vl%3Dlang_de

And:

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=wind+generator&fr=FP-tab-web-t400&toggle=1&cop=&ei=UTF-8

most major home improvement stores sell them.

I’m in the middle of a project for college here. Some interesting facts: Oil production peaked in the mid seventies, natural gas production will peak in 2020, the most efficient engine we use at the moment is the diesel engine which is approx 40% efficient for the fuel put in to the work done. Renewable energy (solar, wind, tidal, etc) still only accounts for a tiny percentage of the energy we use! We are totally screwed! We still breed like rabbits and still don’t treat the world responsibly! At this rate the world will be out of resources within 100 years, by then we’ll HAVE to use renewable sources of energy but the pollutants that will exist then will have completely b*ggered up the planet! Any thoughts?
Jeez Kev, that’s a bit harsh, not getting any? In fact they reckon the population will increase and hold at approximately 10 billion by 2050. We are indeed using more oil than ever but the overall number of SOURCES of oil has not been increasing since the seventies. Read the question and don’t make assumptions. Live and let live. And lose the superior attitude.

Hey T M Good Question.

Have a look at [Link 1] I think it will help flesh out your project.

Focusing in on the population curve: have you wondered why it’s shown to flatten out (sigmoid growth)? And more importantly do you believe that it will simply flatten out? [Link 2 & 3]

I think we’re in for a bit of boom and bust regards global population levels. Declining fertility rates (not contraception) and lack of access to basic requirements (clean food and water) will eventually mean that the population will reach equilibrium – a starvation equilibrium. But declinig natural resources, shifting enironmental conditions, competition for scarsening resources and habitable areas (leading to wars – and we’ve seen that in Iraq already) combined with the environmental impact of global warming; put all this together and I recon we’re headed for a population crash.

Best wishes LT

PS: Making statements that could possibly be construded as acknowledging the bleeding obvious, namely that we are trashing the planet big time and that we are, for example responsible for global warming – is a rather contentious area and as you have seen with at least one respondent, likely to lead to a ‘naysyaer’ back lash. Don’t be put off – you’re spot on with your observations – and remember the debate on environmental issue has now moved on – the debate is OVER, we are screwing up the environment and behaving irresponsibly, that’s now the offical position. However, for some people no matter how much evidence is brought forward, no matter how bad the weather gets or how many species go extinct, no matter how many people starve to death or are displaced from their homes due to rising sea levels or drought or other climatic changes, they’ll never believe that it’s us to blame – that’s because they have alterior motives (namely vested self interest, greed and/or stupidity) which are over riding their morals (assuming they have any) and common sense (again assuming they have any).

I guess i’ll have to expand on the above list to make people face the truth.
First of all, the Polysilicates usually make solar cells expensive, true. And in the manufacturing process of these panels to make one actually big enough to use, you do cause some polution. According to statistics, there is hardly any solar system that actually pays for itself. You will have to also maintain them to ensure that they panels do not build up a film due to rain, dust, debris. Some area’s have unique problems like hurricanes in the Southeast, snowloads in the north and earthquakes in the west. a Solar system is basically a small electrical plant, in which you are using energy from the sun to charge up batteries, thus needing a charging system, a distribution system and the batteries themselves give off explosive gas if in a confined area while charging. 2% to 4% of the hydrogen atmosphere can be dangerous if using unsealed types. You will also usually require rewiring some of your house if you want to go low voltage. If not, then you need a DC to AC converter and enough battery capactiy to provide your electrical needs for such a conversion since transmission, conversion and regulation result in some loss. Then there’s the hazmat issue in regards to the batteries when they need replacing.
The Advantages….if all runs well witout breakdowns, you can live off the grid, or supplement your use from the grid therefore making a lower electrical bill. You will have bragging rights….despite the system will probably never pay for itself. You might qualify for a discount or some kind of rebate…if the city you rin hasn’t already quit the program or gone bankrupt because of it. You will have lights on when your neighborhood loses power due to a line being down.

I want to build solar panels for my house.

Dose anyone try http://www.howtobuildsolarpanels.com is this really work?

You cannot build solar panels. I believe what you want to do is build a solar system for your house. If you have a background in electrical system you could do it yourself. Otherwise you would be ahead to have professionals install the system for you.