Is it for you?
There are many reasons to choose to live off-grid. Maybe it’s geographic — you have found your little bit of paradise to build your dream home, but it is too far from the electrical grid to be economically feasible to connect to it. Maybe you have a cabin back in the bush and would like to have a few modern conveniences. or maybe it’s an ethical or environmental choice — you want to produce and use clean energy so that you can reduce the environmental and social costs associated with non-renewable energy sources.
Whatever your reason for living off-grid, your quality of life can be as good, or better than, it would be living connected to the grid. You will need to be more involved in the workings of your energy system: monitoring the state of your batteries, deciding when to run your generator, conserving energy, and planning for the use of items that consume a lot of electricity. The first rule of off-grid living is that the electricity you produce must be equal to or greater than the electricity you consume. If you can manage your demands to keep them within a reasonable level through conservation and wise use of energy then your renewable home energy system can provide for you without being too costly or unwieldy. One dollar worth of energy conservation can save three to five dollars in energy generation equipment costs.
Your home energy requirements will be greatly affected by your lifestyle. do you work at home? If so, are you working on a computer, a table saw, a sewing machine or in a recording studio? If you want all the latest bells and whistles (there’s an off-grid home with its own climate-controlled wine cellar!) and aren’t prepared to conserve energy, then you will pay more for a larger energy system.
As your lifestyle changes over time your energy requirements will also change. A growing family or a new big- screen tv entertainment system means growing energy demands. Think ahead when planning and try to build in flexibility.
If you are new to photovoltaics (solar), wind or micro-hydro power, they may seem confusing and complicated. But the same thing can be said about computers, cd players, microwave ovens, cell phones and programming the clock on your vcr. Living off-grid will soon become part of your routine, as will the satisfaction of knowing the source of your power. And you won’t be subject to the occasional blackout suffered by those connected to the grid.