[One heart one Love]

Greetings! I plan on buying land and building a mortgage free home in FL for myself. I'd like to grow my own food and have alternative energy for power. I've been doing research on this for about a year now. I like the price of land in rural areas of the central, northern and western parts of the state.

I'm just curious if there's anyone on City Data who is embarking on a similar adventure and to see how it's going for them. It'd be nice to share info and tips with others.

Thanks,
Ana

[pontyrogof]

Hi Ana!

I don't know if I still have the strength to live like that, but I'd sure like to live in an area of FL where that kind of lifestyle happens. I hope someone comes along before too long with location ideas, etc.

Storms in the area sure do make subsistence farming difficult, I bet.

[willow wind]

Can sustainable energy crank up enough power to keep A/C going 24/7 for several months of the year ?

I know people in New England & CA who have enough solar power for electric service .You can always burn wood for heat. It's the A/C question I have because I don't know if anyone would want to live in FL these days without it. Maybe I'm spoiled but life in FL without A/C- yikes !

Any idea, anybody doing it?

[tallrick]

I have been mostly off-grid for years. I use woodgas for home energy and plastic for fuel for the machines and cars. The air conditioning for the home is powered by waste heat from the generator. Eventually I want to try solar thermal but that has to wait till I have the money to build a mirror array and concentrator.

[One heart one Love]

Willow wind - I understand what you mean about a/c. The type of housing I plan on building will be built in a certain way where I may not need heat or a/c. I can't remember the term that is used for this type of building but basically the material the house is made out of absorbs the heat from the sun during the day keeping the house cool and then at night the heat is released to keep the house warm at night. So in the summer it'd stay cool and in the winter it'd stay warm. I know of people who have alternative homes and their power for heat and a/c is little to nothing depending on the material, the structure and how it's built.

A man in Live Oak Florida got an earth bag dome home approved for building, he's been building it and has a blog for it. He does workshops too. So, I'm definitely considering building an earth bag dome home for many reasons such as I know it can get approved in Florida because it's already been done and it costs $10 a square foot.

pontyrogof - thanks for reminding me about the storms and farming/gardening. That's definitely something I'll have to take in consideration. I'm still going to do gardening, but I'll be aware of the environment I'm doing it in and take that into consideration.

Tall rick - I'll keep in mind what you've mentioned, you've brought some new info to me. Thank you!

Thanks everyone,
Ana

[Djbl2008]

Hello everyone; we also live in Florida. We are beginning to plan for this as well. We have talked about it for a few years, now we are ready to get serious. We just last night talked about a community, where everyone trades services & the food would all be organic safe to eat. Encouraging to read others input.

[Restrain]

Ok, so here is some info about these homes. We had the opportunity to do an appraisal on a low energy home built by the Federal Govt as part of a demonstration plan. Return on investment was about 50%.

Now, having seen a lot of various styles, the most efficient is that using panelized construction. The home is pre-planned, and the exterior walls and roof structure is made out of insulated panels made with plywood with poured foam between the plywood. Like building a very large Igloo cooler. Best insulation. Then you will add solar cells for electric as well as a windmill (again 50% return). Can power the well, etc.

But unless you have lived the life, you have no idea how much work is involved in off-grid living. Better to get good insulated conventional housing, upgrade the windows, etc and live on the grid efficiently.

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by One heart one Love

Willow wind - I understand what you mean about a/c. The type of housing I plan on building will be built in a certain way where I may not need heat or a/c. I can't remember the term that is used for this type of building but basically the material the house is made out of absorbs the heat from the sun during the day keeping the house cool and then at night the heat is released to keep the house warm at night. So in the summer it'd stay cool and in the winter it'd stay warm. I know of people who have alternative homes and their power for heat and a/c is little to nothing depending on the material, the structure and how it's built.

A man in Live Oak Florida got an earth bag dome home approved for building, he's been building it and has a blog for it. He does workshops too. So, I'm definitely considering building an earth bag dome home for many reasons such as I know it can get approved in Florida because it's already been done and it costs $10 a square foot.

pontyrogof - thanks for reminding me about the storms and farming/gardening. That's definitely something I'll have to take in consideration. I'm still going to do gardening, but I'll be aware of the environment I'm doing it in and take that into consideration.

Tall rick - I'll keep in mind what you've mentioned, you've brought some new info to me. Thank you!

Thanks everyone,
Ana

I know a guy planning on a dome home in Okeechobee County. He owns the land, built a barn and has electricity to the site. He has done the research on the dome home but hasn't built it yet.....think he is saving money to pay for it. He said the septic and well were the only hassles as far as permits so far. He is planning on using electric but will have a backup generator so it isn't 100% off the grid living.

For now he has a camper he stores in the barn as his temporary living quarters when he is there. I think the hassle of the place longterm will be the remote location. To/from work will be an hour each way with good traffic. Save money on housing, spend money on getting to/from there!

[The_Gamer94]

From what I heard, Florida does not allow anybody to live off the grid, and people will be required to pay electricity bills.
Though this was from a while ago so I don't know the situation now.

[Restrain]

Gamer: This was an issue in, I think, Fort Myers. City code required utility hookups to protect the neighborhood. There were a lot of issues involved in this one more than just trying to live off the grid. It was hyped as an argument over living off-grid but that not really what was involved.

But it is easier to live off-grid in the counties as opposed to in a city which tries to enforce conformity. Further, all counties in Florida have zoning as well.

If someone really wants to live off-grid, I would look at East Texas. No county zoning, minimal controls. Pretty much can do what you want. Southeast Texas is warm, no real hard cold spells, have gulf breezes most of the time, you can have the goats, chickens, etc.