Comments on: Can DC power an entire home?

By: Chudamani Ratnam

Chudamani Ratnam — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:29:52 +0000

I find solar/direct current powered aircons use less than half the power of grid(alternating) current aircons for the same cooling capacity. Why ?

By: Emmanuel Olowosulu

Emmanuel Olowosulu — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:14:03 +0000

Nice one. I have been thinking along the same lines myself. Is it ok to reference your post in my work?

By: Nick Ingvoldstad

Nick Ingvoldstad — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:08:42 +0000

Hey, this is a great post, I like your blog. I’m writing from the CPES at Virginia Tech, I came upon this post while doing some research for this program called the Sustainable Building Initiative. I shared the website with this comment, it’s exactly what you’ve written about, we’re designing and developing a showcase home running with DC. The grid will still be the main power source, with solar and wind sources helping to charge home battery storage and an EV battery, if plugged in. The concept is to have two DC buses, a 380V for large appliances (fridge, washer, dryer, etc) and a 48V bus for appliances. Lighting will most likely be a mix of fluorescent and LED, but I’m trying to see if we could use entirely nanocrystal LED. Anyways, just figured I’d comment since you wanted to know of anything similar being developed. If you want to get back to me, send me an email at ishkabum@vt.edu

By: Ted Martin

Ted Martin — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:44:26 +0000

I am going through the misery of finding someone to help me design a 95% dc powered motorhome. None of the solar companies are interested in discussing these possibilities with me… they want to sell gen sets and inverters. The cost of an inverted system is outrageous. I want to use dc in everything – true, it drives up the initial cost, but when you are finished with a quality dc appliance, you still have something to sell. The only people that I can get advise from are the 12vdc alternator people, and their knowledge is usually not too broad. The others are those that prefer to live like hermits. As this nice website does not seem to prohibit emails, I would like to know somewhere I could go to find some advise/consultation on how to set up such a system – even if it costs to get that advise: tkmartin1070@gmail.com

By: Chris McBrien

Chris McBrien — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:28:37 +0000

We will never get away from 120V a.c. or 240V a.c. mains electricity depending whether you live in the US or the UK respectvely. ower levels of appliances are just too high….
a) 3kWatt immersion heaters
b) 2kWatt vertical kettles
c) 2kWatt hair driers
The list goes on.
I would however suggest 12Volts or 24Volts for ordinary house lighting. How many cars are there on the roads that use 12Volts, so no shortage of bulbs or storage batteries. How many trucks or aircraft are there that have a 24Volt system. No shotage of lighting equipment.
Storing any form of enery is potentially dangerous, hence Potential Energy.
Hot water storage for domestic housing from Solar Panels is not exactly dangerous. 39 cubic kilometres of water behind the Three Gorges Dam is dangerous, potentially.