Where does it go?

Have you done an energy audit? Get a Killawatt meter, measure and record all usage. Lay it all out so you can see where you should concentrate effort for highest savings versus investment to improve efficiency or cut waste. It helps to write down the value each watt-hour provides.

Turning off lights and appliances when not in use is easy and will help. Do lots of little things which don't cost. Put your investment where you get the biggest return. Example might be switching electric heat/air to gas or go geothermal.

Solutions are personal depending on particular location and operation and/or lifestyle. You need to look at the big picture like 20 or even 30 years for ROI.

You'll find the real free energy is that which you no longer waste.

bi

whrere to start

Everyone is looking for a point from which to start. First, change all incandescent bulbs to LED. Next build or buy a wind turbine. During winter, (which is of higher electrical usage for most people), the wind blows more than does the sun shine. Solar panels are also a good investment for those days when the wind doesn't blow. A sufficient battery bank is a necessity. A solar water heater will have the largest impact on your electric bill. A solar passive heating system will be next. Good Luck. stealth

The best our official have for extra energy other than the current
hydroelectric plant, nuclear is to build one of these. They only run
$80 thousand on up to a half a mil.

This one is more but shows the basic structure of industrial grade
wind harvesting. When somebody does come up with a cheaper
source we will let you know where we buried them so the rest
can tremble in fear for the next decade.

If you have a stream? You could do a tiny plant for little stuff.

Paddles in the water or paddles in the air is about all we have for
now sorry. Who knows though, maybe one of the UFO's that the
government flies around will stop and give us some hints.

We see the farms here in Kansas trying the wind thing and the
brand new one are always broke off on their wings. When the wind
blows they must be turned off. Otherwise only a 7-10 mile an
hour wind is allowed. At 15 MPH the wind hold 4X energy so they
design machines that won't handle that. At 22mph the energy is 8X
energy. Very few turbines permit a 22MPH wind so shut down is
required.

thanks everyone for the replies
How to choose good LEDs? I liked these LED wallpacks https://www.mrosupply.com/lighting/l..._rab-lighting/

They would be perfect for my barn. But it is very pricey for me now..

at one point I quit using electric light and heat,
power bill went to almost nothing
long ago farms used no electricity because they did not have any,
just figure out how they did it (I read the books they wrote about how they did things back then)

All home improvement stores and most retail stores, even dollar stores have LED bulbs. 6.5 to 15 watt LED compare favorably to 40 to 100 watt incandescent bulbs. Even LED floodlight bulbs are readily available. Most automotive stores carry 12volt LED, which can save even more using a transformer. Flashlights and lanterns only use 4.5 volts and can output lots of light. individual LED's can be purchased at your local electronic supply store and easily make you own. A wind turbine can charge a battery and power many LED's, and more. Wins turbines can be purchase or easily built to supply power to charge batteries. I have several designs and will post one or two for your consideration. Good Luck. stealth

A framework of pipe and several barrels or buckets cut in half lengthwise and provide all the power you need. Many sizes are available as are low RPM 12 volt DC motors*turn backwards). Belts and pulleys or chains and gears can provide needed RPM for you low RPM motor. Automotive bearings can run maintenance free for many years. Anyway the wind blows can turn this turbine. You could use an automotive type voltage regulator to prevent overcharging, and charge many batteries if needed to run you entire house or several smaller turbines for barns, workshops or other outbuildings. Good luck. stealth

If you are running a gasoline or diesel generator with liquid coolant don't overlook the possibility of running the coolant water from the engine through a heat exchanger in your furnace to heat your house, perhaps an old air conditioning indoor coil. I heat my house with propane and the house heating use of my propane is many times greater than all other uses of my propane such as hot water heating, cooking clothes dryer.
If you run your house with an inverter you may have difficulty with surge startup for refrigerators and A/C.
I have an older small refrigerator which would not start on a 400 watt inverter but my newer, larger refrigerator started and ran just fine, maybe the newer one has a scroll compressor, not sure.
There are several factors involved with startup surge current. When a motor {or transformer} is turned off it is left at a certain magnetic position depending on which point in the AC sine wave it was switched off at. When it is turned on again, depending the phase angle position of the AC sine wave, it may be at the same point at which it was turned off or it may be the opposite magnetic position which would give even more of a surge than just starting from no initial magnetic charge at all. This condition could be compensated for, perhaps, by using zero point turn on and turn off devices. Zero point {AC sinewave is just crossing zero volts} have been available on the electronics market for years. I am still looking into this so I don't yet have reliable information about it.
It would also reduce surge if you put a delay of a few seconds on the fan motor startup so it doesn't start at the same time as the big compressor motor.