The Ups and Downs of Living Off Grid

I recently was given a copy of "Countryside" magazine to read and it had an article about living off grid.  'Countryside' is a magazine that is dedicated to country living and usually talks about self sufficiency too.  Because there are several magazines out there that are like this, around here we each get one and then exchange them with each other.  This summer I haven't had much time to read but I did have a minute and so sat down with Countryside last night for a few minutes.

The first thing that caught my eye was the article entitled "Living Off The Grid...Can You Hack It?" by Dave Stebbins.  Now I have read many articles written by this man and I will say that the man knows his stuff.  If you are a beginner to alternative energy, and are especially looking into solar, this man can get you started.  But his writings and this article in particular always seem to imply that living off grid is only for the tough and intelligent.  I can't quite tell if he is issuing a challenge to people to get them off their butts and get them off grid or if he is trying to make himself look impressive by telling you how hard living off grid is.  In any case, I'm not too thrilled with this article.  It certainly is not an encouragement for those who are seeking to go off grid.

"Can you hack it?"  If you are a person who wants to go off grid, YES!  Are there differences to living off grid than there is being hooked up, yes, but they are not so bad that anyone who is actually looking into going off grid can't handle.  I mean if you aspire to be Britney Spears, live you life clubbing and throwing huge parties all the time, then you might have some problems  But more than likely, you are not looking to live off grid either. 

I have live "off grid" most of my life.  Now, I have to admit as a kid our off grid living was just the fact that we had no electricity.  We pumped our water up by hand or with a windmill, we boiled it on a wood fire kitchen stove and we used an outhouse.  I could tell you stories about outhouses in January in Wisconsin...but that's for a different post. lol  It really wasn't until I went away to college that I had unlimited electricity at my fingertips.  By then though I was so broke that I used as little of it as I could so my electric bill wasn't too high.  So I have to admit that moving to an off grid electrical system was a step up for me.  Still, I have had many a person stay over at the house and adjust very quickly to living on a budget of limited electricity. 

The one thing you have to remember when living off grid is that you can only use as much electricity as you make and sometime not even that.  Since more than likely you are not making electricity 24 hours a day, everyday, you need to store it for those times your system is not making it.  This is usually done with batteries.  These batteries are your weak point and you learn quite quickly to guard them like a small child.  Make sure they are fed, don't over work them, and make sure they never go below a certain energy level (okay that last one doesn't apply to small children lol).

 

 

Most people who live off grid have a back up generator of some sort.  I use wind and solar with a back up LP generator.  Most off gridders want to use that back up generator as little as possible.  What we do is when we have cloudy and windless days we adjust our life style.  I actually have a list of things to do when the power gets low.  If we have many sunny and/or windy days here, I can get behind on my schedule of "low power" chores and I start hoping for dreary weather so I can get them done.

The adjustment isn't really that hard, you'll just realize how much more in touch you are with the weather.  You learn to "feel" what is coming and adjust you daily routine accordingly.  For me, this is an extra gift.  Because it is not an abstract thing, because weather is important to the very energy I live off of, I know the weather more than those who simply close the door and lock themselves away from it.  I can't lock myself away.  It is the very thing that keeps my farm's energy going.

Another thing he wrote about was there will be problems.  He's right.  Some time, some day your system will have a problem.  That's why when it is being installed you listen and ask questions of your installer.  When you are looking to purchase a system, ask tons of questions.  If you're thinking you aren't smart enough to fix things...electricity is not my strong point.  In fact I get bored quite quickly listening to men talk about wiring and volts and ohm meters and...<yawn>...  Let's just say I was not going to grow up to be an electrician.  Once you start down the road towards living off grid though you learn what you need to know simply by listening, asking questions, doing and living with your system. 

I always explain it like going to the Veterinarian.  Most of us did not go to school to learn about being a Vet.  Most of us do not hold a DVM.  Yet most of us work quite well with owning animals.  We learn how to take care of the minor problems and learn something new every time we go to the Vets.  Believe me, if you can keep a dog happy and healthy, you can learn to live off grid.  You will learn how to fix minor problems and slowly learn how to fix the big ones too.  Not that there a great deal of problems.  Like owning a dog, most of the time things go well, which is why so many of us own them.

Then he talks about attitude like how people will disapprove of living off grid.  Really, does this happen?  I not only have never had people disapprove, but most of the time they wish they were living off grid.  But if you are a person to knuckle down under another person's disapproval and you happen to live in the one place on earth where living off grid is considered to be a bad thing, maybe he's right.  Maybe you should not go off grid.  Or maybe you should grow a backbone and do what makes you happy.  I don't know, this has never been a problem I've heard of until I read this article.

Then he talks about living lean.  This is most likely true.  You are not going to be running 6 computers, huge refrigerators, extra freezers, a big screen TV and every new electrical gadget that comes on the market.  Here's what I have learned though; most of us don't do this to begin with.  Even if we are on grid.  People who are interested in being self sufficient and aren't just giving it lip service, don't have every electronic gadget under the sun.  In fact when my friend went off grid the only thing she sacrificed was one freezer.  No, unless you have a HUGE system you are not going to have 6 freezers filled with meat.   Sorry.  But other than that, her life isn't much different than it was before and she has three kids.

You just have to be aware.  You are not going to do laundry all day long.  You'll just have to keep up with it instead of waiting and doing it all at once.  You are not going to be taking a shower, washing dishes, using an air conditioner, and blow drying your hair all at the same time.  You'll have to stagger your large electrical uses.  I have never heard of anyone who actually went off grid having a problem with this.  It is something they learned very fast, like on the first day and it just became a part of their lifestyle.

I believe we should encourage people who are looking to go off grid.  Don't tell them that it will be all sunshine and roses, it won't.  But it isn't something you need to "hack" either.  There are problems being on grid too.  Paying that darn monthly bill is a big one.  Can you "hack" that?   There are times when the power goes out when you are on grid.  Can you "hack" that?  Your house is just as vulnerable to electrical problems on grid as off, the only difference is when you are off grid it is up to YOU to fix it.  That's all.   I guess what I am saying is that if you are a person who actually wants to live off grid, you can do it.  It's not so hard that only a special breed of people can "hack" it.   Believe me, if I can do it, almost anyone can.