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I don't mean the literal meaning, which I do understand. The meaning I assume is not being even connected to the electrical grid; one would either have solar and/or wind power, or otherwise do without electricity altogether. I presume this would involve such things as heating by wood stoves and lighting by kerosene (or other fuel) lamps, etc.
The question I want to ask is why this seems to be seen as a desirable thing to do. I get the impression some people believe this confers an enviable status on them. (Maybe I am wrong - please correct me).
Also, please do not mis-understand one thing: I do truly understand the desireability of conservation. By using less electricity we accomplish a number of worthy goals: reducing air pollution, reducing dependence on foreign oil, saving money for our household budget, etc. I have always disliked waste, and so my own use of electricity is minimal, but I wouldn't think of doing without it, which to me seems like fanaticism. The difference between one family using electricity minimally and using it not at all is just so miniscule. And the work and inconvenience of doing without it is so great (at least so it seems to me) that I wonder how you figure that it's worth it.
That is what I am asking you folks to explain, and I am asking with an open mind. While the chance that I will ever want to go off-grid myself is close to zero, I always enjoy understanding viewpoints which differ from my own, and the more they differ, the more interesting I find it. I ask this respectfully even though I did use the word "fanaticism" and I hope to avoid angry polemics. But if I did make you angry, go ahead, fire away!
I got a buddy who bought land deep in the woods and can't get power from poles or poles for that matter. He built a nice place, no one can see from any road, and invested in solar power, that does it all except his fridge. That runs on propane. he has every thing most anyone has, but he powers it himself by the sun except for that fridge.
I'm probably the absolute last person who should be responding to your question so feel free to disregard my comments. But I question the predicate of "conservation" as a part of off grid living. I think it is more about independence and self determination. After all, a home heated with off grid wood stoves puts approximately 8000 times the undesirable hydrocarbons into the atmosphere than one heated with natural gas fired forced air to the same temperature. Most off grid homes are heated at least partially by wood stoves. A community where all of the households have their own water filtration systems are surely more wasteful of resources than a community where there is central water purification. So, stewardship and and environmental concern is, hopefully, not the goal of off grid practitioners. If it is, they are sorely mistaken about the science of conservation.
I admire the ingenuity and perseverance of off grid living. But don't subscribe to the notion of stewardship and conservation as a part of it.
To Wilson1010: I certainly do not disregard your comments, which I found interesting. To my embarassment, I never thought things through in the manner you indicated.
To Wilson1010: I certainly do not disregard your comments, which I found interesting. To my embarassment, I never thought things through in the manner you indicated.
I've probably gotten us both in trouble. Hopefully not. I'm interested in preparedness: for catastrophe, unrest, collapse, etc. So I am a spectator here at least as it relates to long term off grid living by choice.
I don't really see the off-grid technology as being any more "green" than on-grid technology. Nor is it conserving anything. I can't speak for everyone here, but I would think a good portion of those who go "off grid" don't really do it because they are "going green." Some, maybe.
I'm not off-grid, but here would be my two primary motivators for going off-grid:
a) I don't like putting 100% faith in any one technology (in this case, the power grid), especially if it's controlled by someone else. If you think about it, a whole bunch of people would be in a whole bunch of trouble if their "umbilical cord" was cut for any significant length of time. If you are your own power company, you are in control of your power grid. Not that it can never go out, but if it does, the entire system is at your disposal for repair.
b) Savings. Yes, the initial outlay is expensive (although it's getting cheaper) for solar or wind or hydro power. But once it's up and going, there is no monthly bill that can be raised on a whim of the power company or government taxation.
Then, there is doing without electricity altogether. Obviously, there is no charge for that other than getting the older, simpler technology that electricity replaced. There are folks who do this, but it's never going to be a popular option, since most of us are too used to our modern world.
When I was shopping for homestead land to buy a great many of the places I ended up looking at had no municipal utilities nearby. Being many miles from the nearest power pole it would cost a homeowner $2,000 or more per power pole to string electricity to your home. Ten poles per half mile [or whatever it is] and the cost runs up quickly. I was looking in areas where being off-grid is common.
Now I ended up being land that has power available.
Two of our neighbors are currently off-grid. One of them has a power pole about a half mile away from his property, the second has power available at his property line.
Our power goes out fairly frequently. Snow storms often see the loss of power as well as T-storms, and hard winds. It is not uncommon to be without power for 2 to 4 days.
Our lifestyle is one where we are trying to grow nearly all of our own food. Among the forums that my Dw and I post on, being off-grid is not uncommon.
a) I don't like putting 100% faith in any one technology (in this case, the power grid), especially if it's controlled by someone else. If you think about it, a whole bunch of people would be in a whole bunch of trouble if their "umbilical cord" was cut for any significant length of time. If you are your own power company, you are in control of your power grid. Not that it can never go out, but if it does, the entire system is at your disposal for repair.
b) Savings. Yes, the initial outlay is expensive (although it's getting cheaper) for solar or wind or hydro power. But once it's up and going, there is no monthly bill that can be raised on a whim of the power company or government taxation.
We're not off-grid either but hopefully, one day- these would be my main reasons as well.
We did spend a month in the woods in a trailer that had no electric, no gas, no running water- what an adventure THAT was...cooking on a barbecue, I never realized just how crappy I was at starting a fire as during that time, lol- it was a bit of a pain, and I think the one thing that drove me nuts was having to go into town for a shower, bein' grubby in the woods is one thing, but being grubby ALL the time is something else, lol- however...I do remember going outside at the crack of dawn one morning and starting a fire for coffee...hearing a strange sound, and looking up to see literally dozens of eagles, or some sort of huge birds flying right up above me, and into the trees- wow! And the bonfires in the firepit every night, roasting marshmallows was very cool. I think, when it comes down to it, it's a trade-off---and although it was difficult, especially in those circumstances, I think when people decide to make a big change, you eventually get used to it!
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