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Designing your own electricity system - part 5 (where to find money for an RE system)

1) Once you have purchased an RE system, inflation is locked in. The more you use the system during daylight (sunny) hours or during windy house (if you have a wind turbine), the cheaper the cost is per kwh.

2) If you take your pension money and use if for an RE system, you are making a better investment than otherwise. This is my believe. It has not been proven.

3) Your house will be more valuable if you reduce its reliance on Eskom. If there is a power failure you might not even notice!

4) Many countries have 30% rebates on these kinds of systems. South Africa should have this kind of rebate program as well. It has been determined that a fossil fueled power station costs 30% of the cost of an RE power station and therefore the government would have spent this in any case to give you power and therefore should pay this back to you.

5) South Africa implemented feed in tariffs on 31st March 2009, but they don't include electricity made from Photovoltaic panels and someone has said that they are for Independent Power Producers only. ie not for private people who wish to supply the grid!

6) I know someone who has 3 water turbines on his farm. He produces 22kwh of power per day and powers 14 fridges on his farm as well as the rest of his equipment. He is on a river which flows all year. Small water turbines are the most efficient way of making electricity and they work in a similar way to a water dynamo.

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