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Couple goes off the grid in Christian County

The home is completely unplugged. It uses solar, wind, and thermal energy in the house.

April 13, 2011|by Jay Scherder, KY3 News | jscherder@ky3.com

BRUNER, Mo. -- A couple from Christian County is creating a home that is completely self-reliant.  We first told you about the home last July and now it's almost complete.   It's come a long way since then; it's not just four walls and a roof

Jeff Dawidowski and Terri Allen are completely off the grid, using only the power that their house generates.  They hope to never again pay a utility bill. 

"It's going slow, but we're progressing nicely.  We're moving in the right direction," Dawidowski said.  "Not many people know how it works, so we try to explain it and it's too much information at one time. There is a lot to learn."

The project itself has been a dream for a while.

"The more we thought about it, the more appealing it got," Dawidowski said.

As it is with most projects, there have been a few snags along the way.

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"We've had some challenges but all in all I think we've come through it pretty well," said Green Builders owner George Van Hoesen.

A concrete pad sits where a massive wind turbine will soon call home.  Hybrid thermal energy heats in the winter and cools in the summer.  The roof is lined with solar panels.

"We're using our solar power as our main power, so all our contractors that come in use our solar power," Dawidowski said.

Even on a cloudy day, the solar panels still get about 30 percent of what they would normally get on a sunny day.  The power received from the solar panels and the wind power goes to a converter.  It then gets stored in batteries.

Northstar Battery of Springfield makes the battery.  The company  mostly makes batteries for cellular telephone towers -- places that may not have power easily accessible to it.  This is the first off-the-grid home for which it has provided batteries.

"We have a total of 80 batteries.  These batteries will provide two to three days of extra power," Dawidowski said.

It's been a journey to get to this point. Their backup generator was their only source of power for a period of time.

"We would go through 100 gallons every week.  Boy, the day we shut it off -- that was a nice day," he said.

While there is still a lot of work left to be done, the end is in sight.  While some may think Dawidowski's idea is a little far fetched, he thinks he'll get the last laugh.

"We'll see who's crazy in the end."
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A lot of people might wonder how much more going "off the grid" costs.  We didn't get an exact number but it cost them about 30 percent more than a normal home to do what they did.  Dawidowski plans to be at the house for a long time and believes his costs will be made up in a matter of years.

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