Low Voltage Living

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Just about any appliance that you can imagine having is available for 12-volt living. You'll discover quickly that these items are somewhat more expensive than their 120V AC counterparts, but they're generally quite well made. Low-voltage items should last for decades with an occasional replacement of brushes in their motors. Furthermore, 12

These are a few of the many options for 12volt direct-current lighting. The large devices are fluorescent bulbs in various shapes, and the two small bulbs are incandescent lamps from recreational vehicles.

VDC brushless motors are gradually becoming available, which should make the lowvoltage appliances virtually maintenance-free. The chart below shows you an example of what can be done on 3,000 watts per day.

Modern 12-volt refrigerators are true marvels. They can do with 500 watts what your run-ofthe-mill home icebox takes 3,000 watts to get done. But, as you'll discover when thumbing through catalogs, this incredible efficiency doesn't come cheap. The ArcticKold, Marvel, and Sun Frost refrigeratorfreezers all retail for between $1,500 and $3,000. For the low-voltage home, however, the only commercial alternative to these units is to find an absorption-cycle icebox that runs on a fossil fuel. The Sibir, which is sold by Lehmann Hardware, appears to be a fine unit. There are also used refrigerators around that run on propane or even kerosene.

The only 12-volt washing machines we've come across are conversions of standard machines from companies such as Real Goods Trading Company or Windlight Workshop. This isn't as difficult as it sounds: Just about any wringer washer can be converted easily, and conversion kits are available that help you to alter many popular modern machines. David Copperfield's book, Convert Automatic Washers to 12 Volts, is also helpful.

Television and home entertainment systems are no problem at all. Quality 12-volt color and black-and-white televisions are readily available from recreational vehicle suppliers, and automotive stereo systems can rival the fidelity of the best 120-VAC equipment.

And, yes, you can even pump your domestic water with 12-volt electricity. Many of the companies listed in the accompanying sidebar offer shallow-well and submersible pumps, and there are even a few deep-well pumps available. Of course, the actual amount of power that will be consumed by the pump will depend on the flow and head pressure you demand from it. So 800-watthours-per-day is just an estimate.

There are a number of very good lowvoltage lighting options. Fluorescent is the preferred choice, because it's so much more efficient than incandescent lighting. Our own informal testing showed that a 13-watt Norelco fluorescent was able to put out as much light as a 60-watt normal household bulb. And 120VAC fluorescent units can be converted to 12 VDC by switching ballasts. Replacement lowvoltage ballasts are available from most of the companies mentioned in our sidebar.

What else would you like to have in your low-voltage, energy-efficient household? A blender, perhaps? A toaster? A hair dryer or an electric curling iron? All of these things are available in 12-volt versions. There's really very little that you will be forced to give up when living independent from the power grid.

The question really isn't whether low-voltage living is possible, practical, or even pleasant. It's whether you want to take a hand in the production of the energy that you use while living on this planet. You'll work a little harder for your electricity than you do now-checking batteries, cleaning PV panels, devising new ways to use 12-volts, etc.-but you won't dread the trip to the mailbox nearly as much.

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