Solar Sailors for Sale

When most people in the North America mention cruisers they think of Carnival Cruise line and huge ships going to the Bahamas or Mexico. I want to introduce you to another kind of cruiser. The couple, family, or solo sailor who live aboard a boat and cruise to exotic ports of call the world over. You need to meet these people because they've solved the issues of renewable energy ages ago. That's the good news. The bad news is some of the solutions are illegal according to US building codes and architectural review boards so even today's smartest smart house isn't as efficient as a thirty year old sailboat.

When you look at a cruiser's vessel you'll notice they have solar panels, wind generators, rainwater collectors, solar ovens, and even fuel powered generators. There is no silver bullet solution. The answer isn't wind, it isn't solar, and it isn't fuel. It's a combination of all of the above. When the seasons change you need to change with them. When your location changes you need to adapt. When you have limited resources you need to use them wisely.

Wise cruisers schedule their power usage to minimize consumption. If they need to run the generator to charge up the batteries they'll make sure any power hungry activity is accomplished during this time. Then the generator will be cut and the batteries will take over. This also ensures proper loading of the generator. Too low of a load is not only inefficient it can harm the generator's engine over time.

After doing the laundry, running the water maker, or running the air conditioning to cool off the interior the rest of the day's power consumption is relatively minimal. It's primarily refrigeration and lighting. With the advent of Kindles and iPads even running electronics doesn't consume too much energy. The cruisers eke out even more efficiency, though, since their boats have lighting on a separate low voltage circuit that consumes significantly less power.

This efficient use of energy and smart scheduling mean they can actually get most of the power they need from their solar cells or wind generators. So the concept they are using is to decrease demand as much as possible and then meet that demand with renewable energy. Some cruisers only run their generators for a couple hours every month. They aren't living like hermits, either. If anything with all the radios, satellite communications, RADAR, and other goodies they have more tech on board than you'll ever see in a house. 

What they do enjoy, however, is the ability to nullify the largest contributor to energy consumption. If the weather is too hot or too cold they simply raise the anchor, hoist the sails, and find better weather. Sure, this has its own costs, but you get the point. The real culprit gobbling up energy is is the heating and cooling of our homes. Better windows, insulation, and design that takes into consideration solar orientation and prevailing winds (not just the views) will do more to save you money on your power bills than anything else. Once you've done that you can take your game to the next level by introducing task lighting, energy star appliances, and scheduling of major power usage during off-peak times. This will allow you to get the most out of solar panels and wind generators.

If we wanted to be smarter in our homes we could start lobbying for lighting only low voltage circuitry like they have in boats and RVs, allowing solar and wind generators (many places have restrictions), and start a conversation with the utilities about how we're charged for power. Championing a silver bullet solution, however, will only prevent us from being as efficient as that crusty old sailor.

Posted via email from Kenneth Hitchens