Livin’ the Dream, Off the Grid and Thriving

Reader Contribution by Cam Mather
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Twenty years ago my wife Michelle and I had a dream to get out of the city and move to the country. We wanted to live more sustainably and have space around us. Almost 14 years ago we found our little piece of paradise on 150 acres in Eastern Ontario. The nearest utility pole is 3 miles to the east and 4 miles to the west and we power the house entirely with the sun and wind. It truly is a dream come true.

Don’t get me wrong, there have been some very trying moments. When we moved “off-grid” there were very few good sources of information. There were no books, Home Power Magazine was still in its infancy, Mother Earth News articles lacked details because the technology was new, and local trades people weren’t that anxious to help. So we had to put into practice the lifelong learning  philosophy that we had developed while home schooling our daughters. If you’re motivated to learn something you can and you will. We met some knowledgeable people along the way who were great sources of information. We asked a lot of questions.

About a decade ago I met a fellow off-gridder named William “Bill” Kemp when I went to pick up some used batteries from him. We became good friends and when I started publishing a renewable energy magazine Bill wrote an off-grid primer for it. He enjoyed writing so much he suggested that in the next issue he could write on solar panels, and then wind turbines and the next thing you know I had convinced him to write a book. The Renewable Energy Handbook continues to help people to make the transition to off-grid living easier because Bill Kemp is one of the those rare engineers who is able to describe even very technical issues in an easy to digest, logical way. Now that so many utilities are paying for green power from homes it doesn’t make much sense to go off-grid these days. You are better to sell your excess power to the grid and use the grid as your large battery bank, hopefully depositing your green electricity during peak hours when the sun is out and electricity rates are highest, then drawing it back out later when rates are lower. You should have a small battery bank to use yourself in the event of power outages, but unless you are a long distance from the grid, you should be plugged in.

Over the years we have constantly upgraded our system and we are just about where we want to be. We have installed a new Bergey 1 kW wind turbine and have 2.3 kWs of photovoltaic panels. While many people choose to invest any of their excess income into 401Ks and retirement plans, we’ve put ours into solar panels. My research into peak oil has convinced me that our days of cheap oil are over and that with 9 million people buying a car every year the competition for what’s left is going to be intense. In fact I can see shortages looming and most off-gridders who want to live a typical North American lifestyle will still find periods where there is not enough sun and wind and they’ll require a fossil fuel powered back up generator.

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