Airstream Newbie looking into self-sufficiency

[jolttx]

Hi Everyone-- I am a complete newbie and am trying to get a sense of what is possible.

It appears that a number of people have experience with solar and wind power... could you tell me what I can expect to run with either or both of them? How much it will cost to invest in...How much you can save (and when you can expect a return on your investment).

I also noticed that some trailers come with a "solar prewire". What does that mean and how much more work/$$$ do you have to put in?

I know that there are probably alot of factors that go into this and I am sorry that I don't have specific systems that I am looking at, etc-- I don't even have a trailer yet!

If there are any of you out there that I working toward self-sufficiency I would love to hear your stories and suggestions. I also posted a thread on the TV forum about TV's with better gas mileage and am wondering if anyone has a TV that has gone through a Veggie Conversion.

Thanks!

[FLYNCLD]

Greetings and Welcome to the Forums!

There is a ton of info on these subjects available here on the forums, and always a lot of good people willing to help. Go to the Forum interface, scroll down to the posts on Solar, and take a look there. We are doing a complete "eco-friendly" reconstruction on our AS and are currently in the process of doing a solar installation. We will post it to our blog as soon as we make a little more progress. You can check out what we are up to here:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/blog...6-flyncld.html

After a lot of research, we found some very good people to work with on the Solar at AM Solar. Super friendly and they are experts in RV installations. I would highly recommend them as a resource. You can find them at:

Welcome to AM Solar - Your RV Solar Specialists since 1987

There is not as much info on wind power here, but you can take a look at this website for more:

Southwest Windpower: Renewable Wind Energy

As for bio-diesel and vegie conversions, Bio is pretty easy, almost any diesel will burn it. Vegie takes a major conversion, and a lot of work to produce the fuel. A major commitment!

Anyway, hope this helps!

FLYNCLD