John Blittersdorf
When John told his mom that he was going to "Dave's House", she thought that meant he was going to go across the street, when really John was crossing the mountains to build shelters made of woods, and play in Vermont's mountian forrests all day long. John's love of the outdoors and appreciation for nature came to him at an early age, adventuring off into the woods to find his friend, Dave who lived across a nearby range in Pittsford Vermont. He always had a envisioned owning a mountain to live on, and now, in the same town of Pittsford, John lives almost at the top of a gorgeous mountain in his off the grid home, nested right under the green mountain range.

 

 

John bought about 100 acres of mountain land and open pasture for $18,000. He first built a log cabin in 1979 which was 10 x 17 feet. It was on this foundation that his seven year masterpiece began. He decided it would be economically and environmentally sensible to live off the energy grid, so he has experimented with several different methods of getting power to his home, including a homemade wind mill which accounts for about 10% of his energy. Since it is a relatively poor site for wind because it isn't directly wind facing, he added solar panels and now has an efficient energy supply for him and his wife. His home he said is "a testbed" for new things." Not only has John chosen to live alternatively, but has also made his career by selling, installing and servicing renewable energy systems. His company, Vermont Solar and Wind, www.cvsolar.com, has been incredibly successful at spreading the news of off the grid living. Johns says that people can have the bells and whistles they desire in a comfortable and nice home and still live in environmentally sensitive ways. The company formed in 1966 to help Vermonters transition from the Petroleum Age to the Solar Age. The original focus was to assist in building independent power systems for new homes, existing homes or camps not connected to the power grid.

Words Of Experience:

John Blittersdorf Story

"Having made the choice to live "off the grid" when the cost to run power to my cabin was $14,000 in 1980, I did not know that I was embarking on a pioneering adventure. Initially the solution was kerosene lamps, wood stoves and frozen pipes but I soon tired of cleaning lamp chimneys. I enlisted the aid of my brother, a mechanical engineer and wind power enthusiast to build a wind generator to produce 12vdc power to store in batteries. These fed a 500 watt inverter to make 120vac power. I soon discovered that the efficiency of the inverter was so poor that I used most of the stored power just to keep the system running and there was little power left to use.

The next experiment was to purchase a PV (Photovoltaic) panel which magically made 12vcd power from the sun with no moving parts. That helped add power to the batteries but still didn't help the inefficiency to the inverter. Finally in desperation I moved the PV panel from the windmill shack to the house and put more batteries under the kitchen sink. Using high efficiency 12vdc florescent lights (camping Lights), I found that my lighting problem was solved and I was impressed with the simplicity of using PV panels and some batteries to create a complete power system. I then added a 12v TV and radio and life was nice. I soon wanted more so I added more PV panels, bought some more lights and decided that I really needed a refrigerator. I bought one of those small office sized refrigerators and purchased a new state-of-art 600 watt inverter. The inverter worked fine and was efficient...We are now living on 12vdc power and relatively happy. Of course we always want improvements in our lives so we decided to buy a large inverter which could run my circular saw more efficiently and maybe handle a microwave...two decades of experimenting and watching technology advance finally led to the perfect system. Now with many years of experience living with this system, we are convinced that living off the grid CAN be as easy and convenient as living connected to the grid. For more information see the web site or contact:

Central Vermont Solar and Wind

200 West Road

North Chittenden, Vt 05763

802-747-0577

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