Could you live "off the grid"?

[OilFilters]

Some of you don't seem to understand what "off grid" means. It simply means you do not have municipal power, water, or sewer. That's about it. It has nothing to do with water or food or even lifestyle. If you have the correct solar system, and/or generator, you have as much electricity as anybody else. You have a well and septic just like any other person that doesn't live in the city.

And yes, I intend on building a house in the future that will not rely on any utilities. I will have well and septic, solar panels, and a propane powered cogeneration system. (heat and power from one machine) Otherwise I will use wood heat. I will not be sacrificing any modern conveniences(especially lots of A/C), and it's not because I care one bit about my CO2 footprint...it's because I don't like paying utility bills.

I'll probably have a power connection just so that I can use net metering - you use power from the grid at night when the sun isn't shining, and then turn the meter backwards during the day to make up for it. This way you use the power grid like a big battery instead of having to buy and maintain a battery bank. You can also use the grid for backup if any of your system stops working. Or you can use your own system for backup when the grid stops working.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: sleddriver
Find someone down here, in this age & times, living in hot & humid Tx, very close to the Gulf, with no air conditioning. No doubt people used to do it, but then gas was 15 cents/gallon. I guarantee very, very few would put up without it today.

I have solar hot water. Works great in an all electric neighborhood. Makes sense here. Neither solar nor wind is dense enough though to run A/C day & night given the load & start-up current required to be both practical and cost effective.


Why can't the waste heat from AC pre-heat your hot water?

My parents had an open loop central AC in their 1950's ranch house. Heat went into tap water which then either went down the drain or out a lawn sprinkler. Very wasteful, so we only used it a couple times a year.

I did the math on my chinese inverter generator; it only costs 5x as much as grid power, nowadays, even with $3 gas. I used to assume closer to 10x.

 

[fdcg27]

To be fair, different people have differing definitions of what the term "off the grid" means.
To most, it doesn't mean merely substituting local sources for mains power when convenient while still using mains power when needed.

 

[AVB]

I would miss air conditioning and internet, I could do it though.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: AVB
I would miss air conditioning and internet, I could do it though.


But why would you want to? The fact that everyone replying is connected to the internet should tell you something. There's no need to live like a Ted Kaczynski.

No way to live off the grid here, I'm in the city. Haven't lost power in decades.

 

[raytseng]

you definitely need to change your lifestyle to live off the grid.
the grid gives you economy of scale in consumptuon. if you don't change your lifestyle you are paying much more for your consumption and it makes no sense for what you're trying to accomplish.

it would be like saying you can give up your car and you'd live the same way since you have access to rental cars or taking a uber everywhere so that's the same.
Would you?

I am pretty sure if you had to pay per usage youd use things less.

 

[ZZman]

I guess living off the grid can be fairly normal or roughing it. It depends on the person and what they are willing to do or give up.

You don't have to live in the boonies to be off the grid but often that is what comes to my mind.

 

[hatt]

These days you can be off grid and have electricity, running water, and internets.

 

[Kamele0N]

Originally Posted By: SirTanon
I don't need water or power. Just this ashtray... And this paddle game. - The ashtray and the paddle game and that's all I need... And this remote control. - The ashtray, the paddle game, and the remote control, and that's all I need... And these matches. - The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control, and the paddle ball... And this lamp.


Hey Dudeee...and dont forget your pills also

 

[henni]

In line with this thread, how many of you have installed a solar panel, inverter, batteries ?

If you have done so, what kind of system did you start with ?

 

[sleddriver]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: sleddriver
Find someone down here, in this age & times, living in hot & humid Tx, very close to the Gulf, with no air conditioning. No doubt people used to do it, but then gas was 15 cents/gallon. I guarantee very, very few would put up without it today.

I have solar hot water. Works great in an all electric neighborhood. Makes sense here. Neither solar nor wind is dense enough though to run A/C day & night given the load & start-up current required to be both practical and cost effective.
Why can't the waste heat from AC pre-heat your hot water?

My parents had an open loop central AC in their 1950's ranch house. Heat went into tap water which then either went down the drain or out a lawn sprinkler. Very wasteful, so we only used it a couple times a year.
Condenser heat could pre-heat water IF you have such a system. Most do not. Wouldn't work for me as I use a heat pump. I do remember mini-cooling towers used on A/C systems in Houston during the mid-60's. Rare to see water-cooled condensers in a residential site these days.

Open loop water cooling as you described would have the meanie-greenies dumping ashes on their heads and driving their Euro SUV's on the sidewalk.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: hatt
These days you can be off grid and have electricity, running water, and internets.

Yep, that's what we were thinking of doing at our house. Electricity was going to be like $30k to bring in, but then Hydro1 extended their line to our property and bringing in power was only $10k then so we did it.
Anyways, with a new house, and a new woodstove, heating with wood is pretty painless. Only use 2-3 cords a year, coals last all night, all day, so no restarting for most of the winter, and the house drops very little temperature over 10 hrs.
A well and septic are almost preferable in ideal circumstances IMO, and solar panels and batteries are getting cheaper every year. Also propane is handy for your stove and dryer, hot water tank, and even the generator.
In some municipalities, the new development charges for services are getting higher than what it costs to do your own services, so I think at some point in will be common to design a house to be nearly self sufficient in terms of electricity and perhaps even water.
I know we have long passed the break even point on our well and septic system compared to the municipal rates(they aren't available for me anyways).

 

[das_peikko]

Originally Posted By: ZZman
As long as I could have Satellite TV and Internet it sounds intriguing. But would that be like cheating?


Living off the grid means the government doesn't know where you're at. If you have an internet connection, they'll know where you're at.

 

[pkunk]

I could be 'off grid' IF I wanted to give up the big power needed by 3& 5hp motors in my shop. I 'could' get by by running a large generator for when I needed that big power but is it worth it? Not yet.
Most of the time when I'm off in my motorhome, I'm 'off grid'. I require no electric plugin, have my own water with water heater, and carry my own food and cook with onboard propane. Comfortably parked in one of out National forests by our ourselves & pets. Good for a week or more without replenishing supplies.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: das_peikko
Originally Posted By: ZZman
As long as I could have Satellite TV and Internet it sounds intriguing. But would that be like cheating?


Living off the grid means the government doesn't know where you're at. If you have an internet connection, they'll know where you're at.


Why would they know or care where you're at?

Ted Kaczynski was also off the grid and they found him.

 

[jakewells]

Electrical power is flaky in my area i already have well water and a septic tank plumbed to the house and i don't have trash pick up.
I haul a load every other month to the county landfill. I got a small garden that gives me seasonal vegetables / fruit spring through fall and home can what ever i can't eat at one time to save it for a cold day in the winter.

I do have window a/c and wood heat but i do enjoy the way i live. If and when my power failed it wouldn't be a challenge for me to live because of back up options i have available to me.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: SirTanon
Nope. I use the internet WAY too much for so many things to be able/willing to live without it.


+1

And Air Conditioning. I couldn't handle it without A/C

 

[Silk]

Originally Posted By: das_peikko
[quote=ZZmanLiving off the grid means the government doesn't know where you're at. If you have an internet connection, they'll know where you're at.


That's what Off The Grid means to me too - being invisible to those who have a need to know who and where I am.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

Originally Posted By: SirTanon
I don't need water or power. Just this ashtray... And this paddle game. - The ashtray and the paddle game and that's all I need... And this remote control. - The ashtray, the paddle game, and the remote control, and that's all I need... And these matches. - The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control, and the paddle ball... And this lamp.
"That's all I need....a couple of Twinkies." Great movie. Wish TCM or AMC would show it again. TCM has gone to the birds since Osborn died.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

When I was in college, I spent the summers working for R.R.Crow Lumber Co. cutting right away to timber purchases in the Snowy Range. We lived in six man tents with a wood stove. The company provided the cook and the meals for very good. Had to heat water to bathe or jump in very cold streams. I thought it was great. But now I want power, water and sanitation. Speaking of power, the lights are flickering here as we are experiencing another thunderstorm and weather radio is going off every ten minutes.