Off the grid... Is it for you?
If you're serious about minimizing your footprint upon the earth, then yes, it might just be for you. What's it about? Conservation mostly. Some of which you can also participate in even if you're stuck in the city. Simple things like getting rid of every single incandescent light bulb in your house and then shutting off everything you're not using.
The power consumption of a florescent light bulb is one fifth that of an equivalent incandescent bulb. That is a savings of eighty percent in case you're fractionally challenged, or to put it another way, it means 80% off of your light bill. That's HUGE! If you can't live with florescent light bulbs for some reason, you'll never make it living off the grid.
I'll grant you that if you heat your space and your hot water with electricity, lighting is a small part of your electric bill. Unless they're lying (imagine that!), North America has an enormous supply of unexploited natural gas, so why are we still heating stuff with electricity? Of all the things we burn, natural gas is by far the least noxious.
As you might imagine, space heating is our biggest challenge in off grid living. Cooking, hot water, and refrigeration can all be handled by gas whether it be natural, compressed or propane, it matters not. Cooking with gas is a no brainer because it uses very little. Same goes for hot water although the fuel consumption does vary widely, depending on method and need. I opted for a small rv unit because I can turn it on as needed with a timer on the wall.
Off grid electrical systems also vary widely but if you're conservative with use and you live on the leeside of a mountain range or some other sunny area, you can get by nicely with 300 watts of solar and two L16 deep cycle batteries per person, at least from February into November. Small invertor gensets work great through those dark days of winter (I use less than twenty gallons of fuel per year this way).
It is currently unknown to me why small low voltage d.c. motors use so much less energy than high voltage a.c. motors do to do the same job, but the difference is similar to the aforementioned light bulbs. So, needless to say, all water pumping and air movement is handled by the former.
Another thing that never ceases to amaze me is the power of the sun for passive heating. By all means, if you're building or remodeling, do incorporate a south facing window wall. If you live in an area that gets serious winter, said windows should be triple glazed clear glass so that whatever your alternative heat source is doesn't beat itself to death trying to keep you warm through the dark days. You may need shades for them in the fall when the sun starts dropping if the outside temps are high but it's still very much worthwhile the rest of the year.
Space heating is the biggest energy consumer and the biggest challenge by far. If I was rich, I'd buy a submarine of a propane tank, bury it in my yard and get a nice rv furnace (because it runs on a 12vdc motor) and hook it up to a programmable timer.
But alas, since I'm basically poor, have 4 chain saws and lots of beetle killed trees, I use a woodstove. But, at least I'm a responsible wood burner in that I minimize my emissions by burning a very hot fire in a small stove using only seasoned wood. Wood fired boilers that employ secondary combustion to burn the smoke emitted by ordinary stoves are now available from a variety of manufacturers and the cool thing about them is that they have large hot water reservoirs built in so you can fire them basically at your convenience. And if your distribution is radiant floor heat set in a six inch slab of insulated concrete, Oh! Will I ever stop drooling?
And water! Good Lord, but don't we know how to waste this most precious of all comodities. Take a look at your water bill. They don't even measure it in gallons probably because it would/should scare the living BeGeeZus out of you, but, if you're curious, there's roughly 6 gallons in a cubic foot. I sort of learned how to be careful with water whilst boondoocking the Southwest in an RV and have extended that knowledge into an experiment to see just what it takes to be comfortable and stay healthy.
But before I tell you, please do take a look at your water bill. Multiply the cubic feet x 6, divide by however many days it covers, and divide that again by the number of people in your household. The result is the number of gallons per day per person, right? What do you use? I've averaged less than 5 since 2006. How? A substantial part of it comes from recycling bathroom water. I know what you're thinking, that sounds creepy! But really, all it involves is storing and sanitizing all the shower, sink, and washer drain water for use in the toilet. That little trick alone will cut bathroom water use in half. Beyond that, it's just being careful and realizing what a valuable commodity it really is.
Having jumped through many a hoop to figure out what works and what doesn't, I'm available for consultations on the aforementioned subjects on a prepaid basis only. I know, that sucks, but you can't beat the rate at $15 an hour. I love PayPal and you'll find my contacts by clicking on the Axman Junior icon below.
Footnote 10 August 2011: Just finished burying three hundred feet of 4" lightweight pvc in a coil to a maximum depth of 9' and now have a lovely geo-thermal air conditioning system that runs on 7 watts of power. Next year that constant supply of cool air will cool two heat sinks coupled to high performance peltier heat pumps and should, if all goes as planned, provide side by side refrigeration that will run on one solar panel.
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Contact Boo Radley - paraglide altitude junkie of Chelan, Washington, USofA