Farm-Made Energy
We have a wind generator and it's been running for 10 years with little more than a change of blades (cause a bird hit it in a wind storm). We thought about replacing the batteries but then found a de-sulfinator would restore the batteries and they have been running ever since. As long as the batteries have not frozen and are not bulging, de-sulfinating is how they can be maintained to last 10 times longer.
After the power was out for a week were we lived, we decided we needed some form of back-up power for lights at the very least. That was 10 years ago and we never thought we would turn to a small Air 409 as an actual source of power but with so much talk about future energy shortages, peak oil and natural disasters - we are glad we bought one when we did. I can't say it has paid for itself but it's been an "insurance" policy for if we ever needed it - till now.
We also have solar panels on our electric tractor. We put a few small panels on it so it would work longer in the fields (when its sunny) and we can drive the tractor around to where we want to use the power.
After 10 years of reading every available piece of information on the internet and local library, we stumbled on "Alcohol Can Be A Gas" by David Blume. He describes how the Brazilians are creating an alcohol based fuel economy and how people can create their own fuel. Sounds great doesn't it?
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