Home Power to Lower Fossil Fuel Emissions
by Jesse Tatum

      The term home power is used to refer to the small photovoltaic, micro-
hydro, and wind electric power systems now installed in more than
100,000 homes in the U.S. alone. The vast majority of these systems are
not interconnected with the utility grid, although interconnections are
becoming increasingly common as inverters designed for interconnection
have become more widely available and as contractual arrangements for
interconnections have been developed and streamlined. With electric
utilities only recently getting into the business of offering such
systems, and with most retail sales still by mail order, the vast
majority of the home power systems now in place have been installed by
home owners themselves in design consultation with mail order suppliers.
Often motivated by vigorous interests in living somewhat differently,
home power adopters often proceed even when their efforts may not be
justified by a traditional financial comparison with utility power.
They frequently show commitments to a strengthened sense of community,
to innovative work design and scheduling, and to radically altered
relationships with the environment. In order to make their home power
supply systems affordable, they generally make very efficient use of
electricity, buying for instance, specially designed
refrigerator/freezers that use only about 1/6 the amount of electricity
used by more conventional units. Not committed to doing without as much
as to a very careful use of electricity, they reduce the size of their
supply systems (especially photovoltaic panels) and arrive at absolute
costs not too far from those of the conventional supplies associated
with much less efficient electricity use.
    We often hear of the prospects for the developing world to leapfrog
inappropriate developed world technology and move directly to
photovoltaics and other renewable energy supplies. Home power people
are, in effect, leaping to such technologies in this country (where
ultimately they seem to make equally good sense), without waiting for
the tax incentives or utility programs that might at some point bring
them into more universal use more quickly. Think locally, act globally,
as they say.