“Off-grid” living is a lifestyle choice involving living without reliance on one or more public utilities, such as the electrical power grid, municipal water supply, sewer, or natural gas.

People living off-grid generate their electricity with alternate energy sources such as solar and wind power. Because small systems are easier and cheaper than large systems, they are also involved in reducing the electricity they need.

Water may come from springs, wells, streams, lakes or rain runoff collected in a cistern. Sewage disposal systems can range from the simplicity of an outhouse, to composting toilets, to a septic system. Heating can be from wood or solar.

Who’s Living Off the Grid?

A growing number of people are choosing to live more or less off the grid.

On 13 April 2006, USA Today reported that there were “some 180,000 families living off-grid, a figure that has jumped 33% a year for a decade.” By 2007 there were approximately 300,000 off-grid homes in the United States alone and another 40,000 in the UK.

The people living this way might be multi-millionaire celebrities, radical hermits or right-wing survivalists, international business travellers with their own islands or groups of friends starting intentional, sustainable communities. And there are plenty of “ordinary” families as well. All have their own reasons, their own methods, and their own tale to tell.

Why Live Off Grid?

Many people think those choosing an off-grid lifestyle are survivalists hunkered down in a bunker, expecting the end of the world. While off-grid living certainly appeals to these folks, most people pursueing an off-grid or partialy off-grid lifestyle do so for other reasons.

Here is a list of 5 reasons to live off grid:

1. Save money! No more electricity bills in the mail! Or very cool electric bills in the mail. In some places, if you generate more electricity than you use, you can sell the excess back to the power company. Millions of homes are heated or supplementaly heated with wood or pellet stoves, and millions more use well water and a septic system. Energy prices may go up and down, but in the long run will only go up and up.
2. Save the Earth! Global warming and the environment are concerns of another large group of individuals living or seeking to live off grid. Using energy sources such as solar and wind power, significantly reduces the carbon “footprint” of the off-grid lifestyle.
3. Live in a gorgeous place close to nature. In many remote locations, public utility lines are far away and connection is prohibitivly expensive. Generating your own power allows you to live and raise your family away from the cities and still have modern conveniences such as TV and computers.
4. Security and self-reliance. Well-built and maintained alternative systems are more reliable than public utilities. Hurricanes, ice storms, tornadoes, falling trees, floods, and numerous other disasters can interrupt power, heat, or water supplies for days at a time. Without utilities many homes quickly become unlivable, think New England in January or Phoenix in July!
5. Discover a new, more fulfilling way of living. Managing alternative energy systems, and living more simply and consciously offer a hands-on education that you can’t get entirely from books. Many people do come to think of off grid living as a lifestyle choice vs. simply how their home is designed.

Time is Running Out

Rising energy prices, a weariness with over-consumption, fear of terrorism and economic collapse, and of course, the big issues of climate change and environmental degradation are leading to a mounting interest in alternative ways of life.

Off-grid living — becoming independent of the criss-crossing lines of power, water, gas and phone that delineate the civilized world — is a skill that everyone may soon need.

We’ve got 5.5 billion years of sun left and maybe 30 years of oil.

Choose wisely!

Cascade Engineering has just launched its small rooftop wind turbine in the United States and Canada. The SWIFT Wind Turbine, which was originally designed by Scotland-based Renewable Devices, is already installed at 250 sites in Scotland and is currently available in the UK, Belgium, New Zealand and the Netherlands. Now Cascade has licensed the technology to bring an effective solution to lower energy bills and reduce carbon emissions to North America.
 
“With rising energy costs and increased environmental consciousness, we’ve seen more people turning to small wind. For the past several months, we’ve been inundated by requests for SWIFT before we even launched the product,” said Michael Ford, head of the renewable energy business unit for Cascade Engineering. “The SWIFT Wind Turbine design solves many of the challenges of previous residential and commercial scale wind turbines: it registers as a whisper on decibel charts, it’s efficient, it’s safe and it’s clean.”

Key Benefits of the SWIFT Wind Turbine

• One of the quietest wind systems available generating less than 35 decibels of noise at all wind speeds.
• Low vibration allows the Swift to be mounted directly on the roof or building, rather than to a free-standing pole or tower for use in urban and suburban areas.
• Sustainable design enables it to become carbon and energy positive within four years.
• Safe, efficient and autonomous operation

Why Is the SWIFT Wind Turbine So Quiet?

Traditional wind turbines generate some noise as the wind travels the length of the blade. The outer ring on Swift acts as a diffuser as the wind travels down the blades and is dispersed along the outer ring, therefore eliminating the noise and keeping the turbine quiet.

How much electricity can I expect from my Swift Wind Turbine?

The Swift also has two fins to turn it into the wind – it can turn 360 degrees to take advantage of any wind direction. The Swift generates about 1.5 kilowatts with a 14 mph wind; Cascade says that in typical use it will generate about 2,000 kilowatt hours over a year. U.S. households typically consume between 6,500 and 10,000 kilowatt-hours in a year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

What is the average cost to install a Swift Wind Turbine?

Swift has an estimated installed cost of about $10,000 – $12,000. At a cost of $10,000 installed, it’s a bit lower than the typical per-watt cost of solar electric panels. But state rebates, the cost of electricity, and the wind or solar resource make a big difference on the actual up-front cost. Cascade estimates the payback on the upfront cost can be as low as three years, but that it varies widely.

Small wind systems recently benefited from the extension of renewable energy tax credits, which gives consumers a $1,000 tax credit for residential systems and $4,000 for commercial buildings.

For more information, visit www.SwiftWindTurbine.com.

I just came across this fascinating article in the Bangor Daily News about Maine families who live totally off the grid and generate all their own electrical power. I’ve always had the impression that people who live in rural Maine are a tough independent lot – all that snow and everything – but what struck me was how comfortable, even luxurious their lifestyle is.

The Maine Solar Energy Association estimates there are about 1,000 off-grid households in the state. Here are some of their stories:

Nine Years of Energy Self-Sufficiency

“Everyone in town feels sorry for me,” said Kim Paradis, 37. “But then I ramble off my list of amenities. I have everything everyone else has – it’s just smaller and energy-efficient.”

When Kim and her husband, Mike, moved into their home in the woods outside Fort Kent nine years ago, the nearest power line was several miles away. Since connecting to the grid can cost $45,000 to $70,000 per mile, alternative energy sources were their only option.

But Kim is quick to say they did not start out with the amount of available power they now have. Slowly, the couple built up their wind and solar power and storage systems to the point where they no longer have to wait for sunny and windy days to vacuum or watch television or use the shower with remote control music, water jets and a foot massage.

“Yeah, we went from simple to pampered pretty quick,” Kim said.

Off-Grid Living is a Life of Voluntary Simplicity

The Paradises’ neighbor, Karen Boutot, has been an advocate of conservation and alternative energy sources for years, and taught energy workshops during the last big energy crisis in the late 1970s.

Like the Paradises, Boutot has an electric water pump, appliances, television and a computer. A row of solar panels lining the railings of her deck and a generator supply her electrical needs.

“It’s a life choice,” Boutot said of her off-grid home. “We call it voluntary simplicity.”

“Living like this makes me more conscious of everything that is wasted in other homes,” her daughter, Grace Boutot, 17, said. “It’s almost second nature for us to read how much energy different things use.”

“I’m kind of the yuppie-preppy person.”

Patty Hill of Eagle Lake runs her entire home with solar power and is adding wind power. Two new free-standing Skystream wind turbines were erected in August and are waiting for an inverter before going on-line.

“I’m used to planning my life around my electric consumption,” Hill said. “When the batteries run down I turn the vacuum off — it’s good to have that excuse.” But, she said, “I don’t feel you should struggle just because you have alternative power. I have light bulbs, I take cozy, hot showers, watch television and use my computer.”
Hill readily admits entering into the world of alternative power knowing little about it — it was her husband’s idea.

“Dick was always the one into the whole organic and holistic lifestyle,” Hill said. “I’m kind of the yuppie-preppy person.”

“I did not understand it at all when we first got started,” she said, but “Now I can read the system’s meters better and begin to understand it.”

Off-Grid Living Is about More than Watts

Regardless of how much sun is shining or wind blowing, all three off-grid families say it comes down to more than watts produced.

“It’s about conservation,” Karen Boutot said. “If you are going to complain about fuel prices, think about what you are doing and what you are using.”

“It’s up to the individual, Kim Paradis said, to do his own part.”

“We look for energy-efficient appliances,” she said. “They don’t have to be made for ‘off grid.’ They just have to be energy efficient.”

“It’s not so much about being self-sufficient,” Kim said. “It’s more about being self-reliant.”

Read the full story for photos and details about their alternative power setups: “Living off-grid – 1,000 Maine Families” in the Bangor Daily News.