Think 'SELF SUFFICIENCY', not 'SURVIVAL'...
Step ONE,
Find land with south facing hill in temperate climates.
North facing hill in 'Hot' climates.
Hills give you MANY advantages,
Gravity does much of the work for you.
Hills give you a spot above flood planes.
Hills provide places for earth sheltered homes.
Hills usually sit on hard rock, that gives you hard rock filtered wells or water sources.
Hills give you a place to collect solar energy without obstructions.
Our hill gives us gravity water flow to the house,
And sanitation evacuation/drainage away from the house for free...
This make it VERY easy to get the septic away from the well area, and the well head is MUCH higher than the sewage so we don't have to worry about cross contamination on even the wettest years...
Step TWO.
Drill a Well.
Even if you have surface water, it can EASILY be contaminated by run off chemicals, airborne chemicals, dry up or become flooded/dirty/unusable.
Hard rock wells, especially limestone are VERY good filters for all things nasty.
Only a DRAMATIC drop in the water table, which is VERY unlikely, will put you out of renewable, clean water source.
Step THREE.
Build a LARGE 'Root Cellar'.
Works equally well for 'Storm Cellar' and 'Emergency Shelter'
Put out a LARGE GARDEN and you will never go hungry or without a roof over your head.
Our 'Root Cellar' is a 20' shipping container with the outside coated in basement sealer, set in drainage rock with drains and earth sheltered.
Fully vented, it's a cool, dry place for our preserved food and other things that need cool storage to roost.
The first 6' is a set of 'Interlock' doors that keep the cool in where it's supposed to be,
And the container/root cellar ran us about $2,500 total to buy, modify, dig, build drainage and bury.
In the early days of the homestead, it was our 'Home' on weekends when we were working out there,
and it was a tidy, dry, somewhat cool place to call it a day when it was 100+ degrees outside,
And a warm dry place when it was in the 20's outside!
Now it's mostly racks that can be accessed from both sides so it's easy to rotate stock as we acquire/use it up.
New in on one side, old out on the front side... Works great for easy cycling of the food and stuff we commonly use.
Step FOUR,
SUSTAINABLE ENERGY.
If you have moving water in any volume, USE IT. (Micro Hydro)
If you have wind resources, USE IT. (even small, homemade wind generators will surprise you!)
If you have sun use SOLAR POWER. (the LEAST maintinance of any 'Alternative Energy')
If you have large plot of trees, USE THEM. (fuel, fencing, building materials, wind breaks, bag leaves for compost, collect nuts, ect.)
A well drilled at the top of the hill, with a Yard Barn protecting it,
Combined with solar panels, wind generator (even a small one) or Micro Hydro will make your life SO MUCH EASIER.
Step FIVE,
Think 'Redundancy'....
If you have gas heat, then you probably have a chimney, so a wood stove will be a natural redundant back up.
If you have a propane or CNG furnace, the fuel supply will be safe, but you will need electricity to run the fan and thermostat, that's where solar comes in.
If you have solar, don't let the batteries sit there and decay, use them in a golf cart or electric ATV or tractor. They do MUCH more work that way, and earn their keep.
If you have a propane tank, then consider propane generator and propane vehicle,
Propane emergency (Camping) cook stoves, heaters and lights.
It's VERY EASY to fill one pound tanks off a larger tank, so you don't have to keep buying the small containers.
With our 'Yard Barn', it covers the well head, supports the inverters for the solar to house stuff, supports a second set of batteries, and provides a place for all the 'Garden Implements' to hide from the weather in.
Plugging in the golf cart gives us DOUBLE the battery reserve we would normally have...
Pretty soon, I'll be done with the electric garden tractor, and that will put ALL the batteries I have to work...
Since you can't drive two vehicles at once, there will always be a set of batteries plugged in for the solar/inverters.
The generator is big enough to not only run the house/welder, but it will also charge the batteries at the same time if sun doesn't show for 3 or 4 days...
Golf cart is wired to plug into the battery bank and act as backup,
But it's got an inverter so I can run 110 volt tools from it so I don't have a whole slew of gas powered chain saws, hedge trimmers, ect.
And I can run my regular corded 110volt shop tools from it in the field or around the farm instead of dealing with 'Cordless' tools that are either always dead, or the battery runs down WAY too soon...
Redundancy runs to the well like everything else.
The cost of the well hole/casing was about $200 more to have a 12" well drilled instead of the usual 6" to 8" well.
Now I have the submersible pump, Plus a hand pump in the 'Power House' so I can still get water if EVERYTHING fails (Solar, batteries, inverter, generator, ect.)
The house is not only earth sheltered, it's DOUBLE INSULATED to keep my very expensive Heat/Cool in where it belongs.
Passive solar provides much of the heat/cool with no cost at all, but when I do have to heat/cool,
I don't want my money going outside where it's not supposed to be!
We went with gas boiler that provides hot water for the house and hot antifreeze for the radiant floor heat in the house.
Radiant floor heat is VERY efficient, not hard to install, and is virtually maintinance free.
A wood burning stove provides 'Backup' in the event that EVERYTHING fails.
It's a low consumption 'Rocket Mass' design that takes very little fuel to operate and quickly heats the entire house instead of just one room.
With what we have, we originally counted on 48 solar panels to run the place.
We are now running on 12 (not counting the two on the top of the self charging golf cart), and we haven't had to cut back on anything...
Solar panels are much more efficient than they were 12 years ago when we started building,
And by using a solar tracking rig, the efficiency is up 40% of fixed panels.
(Tracks the sun throughout the day for maximum efficiency)
Garden work is a VERY good way to stay in shape, and you can't get better food which is EXACTLY what you want than a garden!
I would suggest you start your big compost pile right away as you clear the land,
Compost is a great way to dispose of your vegetation that won't be used for fuel,
And it's the best fertilizer you can ever hope for!
Raising rabbits or other live stock ensures you have a steady, cheap supply of meat,
And a garden will provide about all your other food requirements.
Rabbits are not only a good source of protein, but they are little garden waste consuming monsters!
Unusable tops, greens, stalks go in the cages, and a wonderful rich mixture of fertilizer comes out of the cages.
If you don't want to feed them all winter, and I don't, I dress them all out in the fall for the freezer,
and get a new breeding pair in the spring... You will have PLENTY of rabbits by the end of the year to fill that freezer again!
Stuff like excess produce, rabbits, welding machining, ect. pays the taxes, and not having utility bills REALLY helps with the budget!
Since most places won't loan you extra money to build renewable energy facilities,
Do that with your cash money first.
They will lend you money for the land, once improved, refinanced for the house and you get the entire package financed in the long run.
Once installed, they will lend you more money on the 'Improved Land' for the house loan, and you wind up financing the entire thing anyway.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
EFFICIENCY IN BOTH ENERGY AND MONEY SPENT.
Remember, Insulation, low consumption will save you more than you can earn to pay the bills...
Compact fluorescent or LED lights, Low consumption water appliances, energy star rated stuff like fridge and freezer...
Don't worry about those 24 volt appliances that run directly off the solar,
Go with the low energy rated CHEAP appliances, and use a 110 volt inverter instead.
It will keep your costs down, and you can use all the appliances you do now.
Keep the use of things like blow dryers, microwaves, ect to a minimum, they are energy hogs when you are on a solar powered system!
Gas ranges, furnaces & cloths dryers are more efficient when you are 'Off Grid' than building in extra capacity or running a generator to keep up with large electrical demands.
The well pump is on a timer to run it's natural tank filling duties during the full sun daylight so it doesn't drain the batteries at night.
Since the pump is 220 volt, it will REALLY draw on the batteries when it runs, so just simply timing it so the batteries are fully charged and the sun is fully out makes a HUGE difference,
Plus with the push of a button (Over ride the timer) you can run the pump at any time if need be...
After about the first three hours of direct sun light, the batteries are charged, and the solar panels are still capable of producing at full strength, so there is no sense in wasting it, put it to good use by pumping water or running some of the other things around the house that need done since it's free energy...
Another very good way to save money is with Solar Thermal.
Pre-heating water with solar panels.
This saves a BUNCH of energy, especially when you have a cold, deep water well!
The solar Thermal panels will usually produce enough to take showers and stuff with,
And that pre-heat saves you a BUNCH of both heating time and energy when you need hotter water for cloths, dishes, boiler, ect.
They are EASY to build! Usually waterproof plywood painted black, or with metal reflectors to concentrate the heat on the water tubes, which are painted black.
I used copper in my first run, painted black, with black back ground and glass faced with energy trapping film on them...
The second build was with curved reflectors concentrating on black stainless steel pipe (Salvaged from a meat processing plant that went under) and that REALLY made a difference in both temprature and heating time.
You simply run water though those pipes and use directly in the summer or anyplace it doesn't freeze,
Or you run a coil of tubing through a holding tank.
Tank has consumable water in it, coil has anti-freeze in it.
Use a single small solar panel to circulate the anti-freeze through the heat exchanger tank via a small pump.
The system turns 'On' by it's self when the sun reaches up high enough to warm the anti-freeze, and shuts 'Off' when the sun lowers enough to no longer provide any heating.
For fresh water systems, you simply connect water line to one side of the panel, and the warmed water proceeds to your water heater, no pump involved...
Water line pressure does the work.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
GENERATOR...
For those of you that are 'Do It Yourselfers', a WELDER that produces 220 volt, 110 volt and welding current are MUCH better than a regular little back up generator.
Much more useful and serve dual purpose, saving space and money.
Welders will let you 'Tinker' with things, build things, experiment...
Some of it will work,
Some of it won't work,
But since you did it yourself, you aren't out nearly as much if you had everything custom made and it DIDN'T work...
Plus, I pick up some considerable money along the way by welding for the local farmers on this or that!
Lets me finance my projects without being completely 'Out Of Pocket'.
A drill press, good cutting power hack saw, grinder and welder will make/fix about anything on a farm that can be fixed at home,
and you will save TONS of money with just a basic welding class at the local high school, vocational center or even some welding supply shops will have classes for VERY cheap.
Gasoline or diesel generators can be cheaply converted to propane or CNG, and propane/CNG are MUCH easier to store,
And much CHEAPER if you buy large quantity in the summer 'Off Peak' season rather than waiting until winter to do it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME FRAME,
If you have the money laying around, you can go great guns right now,
but if you are poking around this web site gleaning answers, you probably have more time and questions than money to hire everything done by the people that have the answers...
I have been working on this for about 12 years and it's 'Sustainable', and much of it is 'home Made'...
I started out in 'Town' with some solar panels, home made wind generator and some used 6 volt golf cart batteries.
Once I found out how much current I could get form the panels and wind generator,
I converted an old S-10 pickup to electric power using a 'Cushman' work site truck motor and electronics...
It got out of hand from there!
I'm all DIY with no 'Professional' help except for the septic tank/leach field install... (didn't have a back hoe then, and had to have it 'Certified' by the county...)
House trailer frame for mounting solar panels so they can be moved to track the sun and/or mow around, or move with me if I ever need to do so,
Home made Wind generator on an old TV tower for when the sun isn't shinning (Particularly good for 'Finish Charging' batteries when the wind blows, which is usually when the sun isn't shinning, so they complement each other pretty well).
The 'Experts' told me I was nuts when I wanted a 12" casing so I could have a deep well hand pump along with in well electric pump, but it's proven it's self invaluable, especially in the early days!
I was told I was 'Nuts' again when I wanted insulation OUTSIDE the poured concrete walls & insulated footer, ect, and another 6" expanding insulation sprayed into the studs on the inside...
Took us $63 to heat for all winter this winter...
I was told I was 'Nuts' for using metal wall studs in the house, too much drilling into concrete to attach them... We are virtually fire proof now...
-------------------------------------------------------------
PASSIVE SOLAR.
South facing home with thermal mass for interior walls and floor, and lots of windows in the front means we warm up in the morning VERY quickly, and the concrete holds the heat all day and part of the night.
Porches in the south keep the high summer sun from entering the home directly and make a great deck also!
Roof windows above ground level mean we have ventlation during the day by opening the high windows and don't have to use AC on moderate days.
Layered concrete roof with LOTS of insulation mean earth sheltered roof for insulation and ease of maintinance, while providing us with virtually unlimited protection from things like tornadoes.
I MOW the roof!
Evergreen trees planted on the west and north block the wind, so that's even more of an energy saver, plus you can't see the house from the road with those in place...
If I could just keep the darn deer from gnawing on them!...
Deciduous (looses it's leaves in winter) Shade trees are a good thing if they don't interfere with your solar energy collection...
In my case, I have enough room to separate the two, shading even small portions of PV cells will reduce efficiency in the entire string.
Step ONE,
Find land with south facing hill in temperate climates.
North facing hill in 'Hot' climates.
Hills give you MANY advantages,
Gravity does much of the work for you.
Hills give you a spot above flood planes.
Hills provide places for earth sheltered homes.
Hills usually sit on hard rock, that gives you hard rock filtered wells or water sources.
Hills give you a place to collect solar energy without obstructions.
Our hill gives us gravity water flow to the house,
And sanitation evacuation/drainage away from the house for free...
This make it VERY easy to get the septic away from the well area, and the well head is MUCH higher than the sewage so we don't have to worry about cross contamination on even the wettest years...
Step TWO.
Drill a Well.
Even if you have surface water, it can EASILY be contaminated by run off chemicals, airborne chemicals, dry up or become flooded/dirty/unusable.
Hard rock wells, especially limestone are VERY good filters for all things nasty.
Only a DRAMATIC drop in the water table, which is VERY unlikely, will put you out of renewable, clean water source.
Step THREE.
Build a LARGE 'Root Cellar'.
Works equally well for 'Storm Cellar' and 'Emergency Shelter'
Put out a LARGE GARDEN and you will never go hungry or without a roof over your head.
Our 'Root Cellar' is a 20' shipping container with the outside coated in basement sealer, set in drainage rock with drains and earth sheltered.
Fully vented, it's a cool, dry place for our preserved food and other things that need cool storage to roost.
The first 6' is a set of 'Interlock' doors that keep the cool in where it's supposed to be,
And the container/root cellar ran us about $2,500 total to buy, modify, dig, build drainage and bury.
In the early days of the homestead, it was our 'Home' on weekends when we were working out there,
and it was a tidy, dry, somewhat cool place to call it a day when it was 100+ degrees outside,
And a warm dry place when it was in the 20's outside!
Now it's mostly racks that can be accessed from both sides so it's easy to rotate stock as we acquire/use it up.
New in on one side, old out on the front side... Works great for easy cycling of the food and stuff we commonly use.
Step FOUR,
SUSTAINABLE ENERGY.
If you have moving water in any volume, USE IT. (Micro Hydro)
If you have wind resources, USE IT. (even small, homemade wind generators will surprise you!)
If you have sun use SOLAR POWER. (the LEAST maintinance of any 'Alternative Energy')
If you have large plot of trees, USE THEM. (fuel, fencing, building materials, wind breaks, bag leaves for compost, collect nuts, ect.)
A well drilled at the top of the hill, with a Yard Barn protecting it,
Combined with solar panels, wind generator (even a small one) or Micro Hydro will make your life SO MUCH EASIER.
Step FIVE,
Think 'Redundancy'....
If you have gas heat, then you probably have a chimney, so a wood stove will be a natural redundant back up.
If you have a propane or CNG furnace, the fuel supply will be safe, but you will need electricity to run the fan and thermostat, that's where solar comes in.
If you have solar, don't let the batteries sit there and decay, use them in a golf cart or electric ATV or tractor. They do MUCH more work that way, and earn their keep.
If you have a propane tank, then consider propane generator and propane vehicle,
Propane emergency (Camping) cook stoves, heaters and lights.
It's VERY EASY to fill one pound tanks off a larger tank, so you don't have to keep buying the small containers.
With our 'Yard Barn', it covers the well head, supports the inverters for the solar to house stuff, supports a second set of batteries, and provides a place for all the 'Garden Implements' to hide from the weather in.
Plugging in the golf cart gives us DOUBLE the battery reserve we would normally have...
Pretty soon, I'll be done with the electric garden tractor, and that will put ALL the batteries I have to work...
Since you can't drive two vehicles at once, there will always be a set of batteries plugged in for the solar/inverters.
The generator is big enough to not only run the house/welder, but it will also charge the batteries at the same time if sun doesn't show for 3 or 4 days...
Golf cart is wired to plug into the battery bank and act as backup,
But it's got an inverter so I can run 110 volt tools from it so I don't have a whole slew of gas powered chain saws, hedge trimmers, ect.
And I can run my regular corded 110volt shop tools from it in the field or around the farm instead of dealing with 'Cordless' tools that are either always dead, or the battery runs down WAY too soon...
Redundancy runs to the well like everything else.
The cost of the well hole/casing was about $200 more to have a 12" well drilled instead of the usual 6" to 8" well.
Now I have the submersible pump, Plus a hand pump in the 'Power House' so I can still get water if EVERYTHING fails (Solar, batteries, inverter, generator, ect.)
The house is not only earth sheltered, it's DOUBLE INSULATED to keep my very expensive Heat/Cool in where it belongs.
Passive solar provides much of the heat/cool with no cost at all, but when I do have to heat/cool,
I don't want my money going outside where it's not supposed to be!
We went with gas boiler that provides hot water for the house and hot antifreeze for the radiant floor heat in the house.
Radiant floor heat is VERY efficient, not hard to install, and is virtually maintinance free.
A wood burning stove provides 'Backup' in the event that EVERYTHING fails.
It's a low consumption 'Rocket Mass' design that takes very little fuel to operate and quickly heats the entire house instead of just one room.
With what we have, we originally counted on 48 solar panels to run the place.
We are now running on 12 (not counting the two on the top of the self charging golf cart), and we haven't had to cut back on anything...
Solar panels are much more efficient than they were 12 years ago when we started building,
And by using a solar tracking rig, the efficiency is up 40% of fixed panels.
(Tracks the sun throughout the day for maximum efficiency)
Garden work is a VERY good way to stay in shape, and you can't get better food which is EXACTLY what you want than a garden!
I would suggest you start your big compost pile right away as you clear the land,
Compost is a great way to dispose of your vegetation that won't be used for fuel,
And it's the best fertilizer you can ever hope for!
Raising rabbits or other live stock ensures you have a steady, cheap supply of meat,
And a garden will provide about all your other food requirements.
Rabbits are not only a good source of protein, but they are little garden waste consuming monsters!
Unusable tops, greens, stalks go in the cages, and a wonderful rich mixture of fertilizer comes out of the cages.
If you don't want to feed them all winter, and I don't, I dress them all out in the fall for the freezer,
and get a new breeding pair in the spring... You will have PLENTY of rabbits by the end of the year to fill that freezer again!
Stuff like excess produce, rabbits, welding machining, ect. pays the taxes, and not having utility bills REALLY helps with the budget!
Since most places won't loan you extra money to build renewable energy facilities,
Do that with your cash money first.
They will lend you money for the land, once improved, refinanced for the house and you get the entire package financed in the long run.
Once installed, they will lend you more money on the 'Improved Land' for the house loan, and you wind up financing the entire thing anyway.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
EFFICIENCY IN BOTH ENERGY AND MONEY SPENT.
Remember, Insulation, low consumption will save you more than you can earn to pay the bills...
Compact fluorescent or LED lights, Low consumption water appliances, energy star rated stuff like fridge and freezer...
Don't worry about those 24 volt appliances that run directly off the solar,
Go with the low energy rated CHEAP appliances, and use a 110 volt inverter instead.
It will keep your costs down, and you can use all the appliances you do now.
Keep the use of things like blow dryers, microwaves, ect to a minimum, they are energy hogs when you are on a solar powered system!
Gas ranges, furnaces & cloths dryers are more efficient when you are 'Off Grid' than building in extra capacity or running a generator to keep up with large electrical demands.
The well pump is on a timer to run it's natural tank filling duties during the full sun daylight so it doesn't drain the batteries at night.
Since the pump is 220 volt, it will REALLY draw on the batteries when it runs, so just simply timing it so the batteries are fully charged and the sun is fully out makes a HUGE difference,
Plus with the push of a button (Over ride the timer) you can run the pump at any time if need be...
After about the first three hours of direct sun light, the batteries are charged, and the solar panels are still capable of producing at full strength, so there is no sense in wasting it, put it to good use by pumping water or running some of the other things around the house that need done since it's free energy...
Another very good way to save money is with Solar Thermal.
Pre-heating water with solar panels.
This saves a BUNCH of energy, especially when you have a cold, deep water well!
The solar Thermal panels will usually produce enough to take showers and stuff with,
And that pre-heat saves you a BUNCH of both heating time and energy when you need hotter water for cloths, dishes, boiler, ect.
They are EASY to build! Usually waterproof plywood painted black, or with metal reflectors to concentrate the heat on the water tubes, which are painted black.
I used copper in my first run, painted black, with black back ground and glass faced with energy trapping film on them...
The second build was with curved reflectors concentrating on black stainless steel pipe (Salvaged from a meat processing plant that went under) and that REALLY made a difference in both temprature and heating time.
You simply run water though those pipes and use directly in the summer or anyplace it doesn't freeze,
Or you run a coil of tubing through a holding tank.
Tank has consumable water in it, coil has anti-freeze in it.
Use a single small solar panel to circulate the anti-freeze through the heat exchanger tank via a small pump.
The system turns 'On' by it's self when the sun reaches up high enough to warm the anti-freeze, and shuts 'Off' when the sun lowers enough to no longer provide any heating.
For fresh water systems, you simply connect water line to one side of the panel, and the warmed water proceeds to your water heater, no pump involved...
Water line pressure does the work.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
GENERATOR...
For those of you that are 'Do It Yourselfers', a WELDER that produces 220 volt, 110 volt and welding current are MUCH better than a regular little back up generator.
Much more useful and serve dual purpose, saving space and money.
Welders will let you 'Tinker' with things, build things, experiment...
Some of it will work,
Some of it won't work,
But since you did it yourself, you aren't out nearly as much if you had everything custom made and it DIDN'T work...
Plus, I pick up some considerable money along the way by welding for the local farmers on this or that!
Lets me finance my projects without being completely 'Out Of Pocket'.
A drill press, good cutting power hack saw, grinder and welder will make/fix about anything on a farm that can be fixed at home,
and you will save TONS of money with just a basic welding class at the local high school, vocational center or even some welding supply shops will have classes for VERY cheap.
Gasoline or diesel generators can be cheaply converted to propane or CNG, and propane/CNG are MUCH easier to store,
And much CHEAPER if you buy large quantity in the summer 'Off Peak' season rather than waiting until winter to do it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME FRAME,
If you have the money laying around, you can go great guns right now,
but if you are poking around this web site gleaning answers, you probably have more time and questions than money to hire everything done by the people that have the answers...
I have been working on this for about 12 years and it's 'Sustainable', and much of it is 'home Made'...
I started out in 'Town' with some solar panels, home made wind generator and some used 6 volt golf cart batteries.
Once I found out how much current I could get form the panels and wind generator,
I converted an old S-10 pickup to electric power using a 'Cushman' work site truck motor and electronics...
It got out of hand from there!
I'm all DIY with no 'Professional' help except for the septic tank/leach field install... (didn't have a back hoe then, and had to have it 'Certified' by the county...)
House trailer frame for mounting solar panels so they can be moved to track the sun and/or mow around, or move with me if I ever need to do so,
Home made Wind generator on an old TV tower for when the sun isn't shinning (Particularly good for 'Finish Charging' batteries when the wind blows, which is usually when the sun isn't shinning, so they complement each other pretty well).
The 'Experts' told me I was nuts when I wanted a 12" casing so I could have a deep well hand pump along with in well electric pump, but it's proven it's self invaluable, especially in the early days!
I was told I was 'Nuts' again when I wanted insulation OUTSIDE the poured concrete walls & insulated footer, ect, and another 6" expanding insulation sprayed into the studs on the inside...
Took us $63 to heat for all winter this winter...
I was told I was 'Nuts' for using metal wall studs in the house, too much drilling into concrete to attach them... We are virtually fire proof now...
-------------------------------------------------------------
PASSIVE SOLAR.
South facing home with thermal mass for interior walls and floor, and lots of windows in the front means we warm up in the morning VERY quickly, and the concrete holds the heat all day and part of the night.
Porches in the south keep the high summer sun from entering the home directly and make a great deck also!
Roof windows above ground level mean we have ventlation during the day by opening the high windows and don't have to use AC on moderate days.
Layered concrete roof with LOTS of insulation mean earth sheltered roof for insulation and ease of maintinance, while providing us with virtually unlimited protection from things like tornadoes.
I MOW the roof!
Evergreen trees planted on the west and north block the wind, so that's even more of an energy saver, plus you can't see the house from the road with those in place...
If I could just keep the darn deer from gnawing on them!...
Deciduous (looses it's leaves in winter) Shade trees are a good thing if they don't interfere with your solar energy collection...
In my case, I have enough room to separate the two, shading even small portions of PV cells will reduce efficiency in the entire string.
