According to The Independent:
You won’t find the phrase in the Oxford English Dictionary, yet, but “living off-grid”, outside or in between, the criss-crossing lines of power, water, gas and phone that delineate the civilised world, is a skill that everyone may soon need. Rising energy prices, a weariness with over-consumption, fear of terrorism and economic collapse, and of course, the big issues of climate change and environmental degradation are leading to a mounting interest in unplugging ourselves from the system.
I’d like to pretend that I adopted the off-grid philosophy through a mixture of ideological purity and trend-spotting brilliance. In fact, I stumbled upon it quite by accident back in the mid-Nineties.
It was like living in heaven, overlooking the sea amid mountains that changed colour all day and all night. There was a steep track down to the hut, nestling among giant Pampas grasses. Water was gathered in a huge, ancient amphora that fed off the roof. Electricity was from the hire car, and heating from a smoky woodburner.
That was my first lesson in off-grid living. It’s not just about being eco-friendly – it’s also about living cheaper than a grid-connected existence. If it was easier to win off-grid planning permission in this country, it could help solve the housing shortage and let hundreds of thousands onto the property ladder for the first time.
A decade later, and I am adept at living this way – at least for a few weeks or months at a time. I have a fully-fitted outdoor kitchen, with calor gas fridge and cooker, as well as a built-in barbecue. I harvest rainwater, some of which is pumped back up to a tank on the roof, so I even have running water of sorts. I rigged up a hot water shower using a cheap combi boiler and more calor gas. Yes, that gas is a non-renewable resource, but I use it sparingly – because when it runs out, there is no one else to lug the bottle up to the car, down to the gas store and struggle back again with the fresh bottle. There are a couple of solar panels, as well as drawers full of torches, camping lights, candles and candlesticks of every type and size.
I discovered I was part of a wider phenomenon. By 2007 there were approximately 300,000 off-grid homes in the United States alone and another 40,000 in the UK. Locations ranged from rural houses and huts to tree-houses, container dwellings, tents and their ethnic variations, such as benders (traditional British shelters made by covering a framework of bent saplings with canvas) and Mongolian yurts (circular tents of felt or skin). The people living this way might be backpackers or right-wing survivalists, international business travellers with their own islands or groups of friends who decided to start a commune; they move around in buses and four-wheel-drives, yachts and houseboats, caravans and Winnebagos.
Reassuringly, I was part of a global movement, but meanwhile things had changed. There was a new awareness of the damage wreaked by tourism in general, and air travel in particular and it does seem a tad self-defeating to have an eco-home so far away that you damage the environment just getting there. Foreign breaks of a weekend or even a week were going out of style.
Read the full article at The Independent:
Off-grid living: the basics
- Take a room off-grid by installing a solar panel on an exterior wall. This can be used to power a light, a laptop and a phone charger.
- You can store and reuse rain water if you have an attic or a roof where you can place a storage tank, to reduce your consumption from the mains water supply.
- It is possible to have your own borehole water supply, even in a small back yard, which can cost up to 50 times less than public water. But installation can be costly and you’ll need to obtain a geological survey first.
- If you’re away from the grid, you can buy an inverter for £30, from shops such as Halfords. This plugs into the cigarette lighter in your car and can power your electrical devices.
- Grow your own vegetables and herbs in pots or a garden. You can eat these yourself or exchange them for items such as beds and bicycles, via the Freecycle website (www.uk.freecycle.org)
- Planning laws allow you to install a small marine wind turbine to generate small amounts of power. A turbine should be fitted to a free-standing pole in your yard or garden. Buy online from marine stores such as www.ampair.com.
- Accommodate guests in a tent. However, your guests might prefer it if you take the tent and let them use the beds!
- These people are going to be pioneers of the life of the future…get ready folks!
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