If you had the chance to "live off the grid", would you?

I mean, if I could afford the set up, I’d do it. I think my best bet is to hope solar cells continue to improve.

I’d do it for sure.

I’d be all for it. We’ve considered solar panels on our roof, and I’d love a brown water system. I’d like to have an orchard on my roof. I guess I could grow vegies on an urban farm, but I’d still buy from the farmers market. We’d ride bikes as much as possible. Recyle just about everything (if possible). Yeah, sounds good to me.

Yuppers. The solar thing is getting closer and closer.

http://cleantechnica.com/2008/10/25/mit-energy-storage-discovery-could-lead-to-unlimited-solar-power/

By the time I purchase a plot of land and build my own uniquely designed home, the price of solar panels should be low enough to make it a smart and logical investment. I will also be looking at windmills as an option. My life goal right now is to continue towards self-reliance, and living off the grid is one avenue I will pursue.

Not only would it be an intelligent economic and environmental choice, it presumably implies a considerably amount of capital to make the transition, in which case I would have the resources to go to town improving the infrastructure (if that is the right word) of my home. As a student engineer, it sounds like great fun to be able to tinker around with my house like that.

Great topic! I would love to live off the grid.

It seems to call to the true American spirit- living self-sustained and free.

@dynamicduo – consider an underground house. More accurately called an earth-covered house. Most are not really “underground”.

as long as I had access to the internet I’d be all about it.

@All – This may sound like a silly question, but would you still be able to use the internet if you lived off the grid?

@KrystaElyse – of course. When I use the term “living off the grid”, I still mean I will be connected to the rest of the world, even through my power lines. It’s very expensive and difficult currently, but not impossible, to have a 100% self sufficient electrical system. Most people who have solar panels keep their home attached to the grid, and any electricity generated that cannot be stored in the batteries (such as if they’re full) would otherwise be discarded, so you can instead set it up to sell the electricity back to the electric company. Staying connected to the grid also has the security of electricity when a solar array would not work efficiently and would not be able to provide all of your power, such as a cloudy day, or if something happens and the array breaks.

The Internet is a totally different beast. I mean, you can’t really go about being your own ISP (yet), you can’t generate an Internet at your house (well, technically you can, but you’d have to film and upload every YouTube video, write every Top 10 list, etc, effectively you’d be creating and consuming your own private internet, not the same internet the rest of the world knows and loves/hates). So long as you have a phone or cable line coming in to the house, or feel like paying for satellite internet, you can have internet access in an “off the grid” house. Even if you live way out in the middle of nowhere, you should still be able to access dial-up internet. It would certainly be a different experience, but then again so is the entire experience of living off the grid and supporting yourself with your own two hands.

@dynamicduo – Ahh okay, I understand now. Thank you!

When I hear about living off the grid, I don’t even generally think of solar cells (let alone still being connected to anything by wires). I think power-free, as in, candlelight, fire, cooking at the hearth, etc. – and yes, I would do it. It’s sort of like my dream.

I don’t know about an orchard on my roof (they’re pretty heavy), but I would like an orchard nearby, and a green roof. All I have to garden with is a little 10×10-foot deck, but I grow as much of our food as possible (which is more than you may think). I sound a lot like Daloon – farmer’s market, want a greywater system, etc.

I also spin my own yarn, make my own soap, etc. – I’m some weird kind of internet-using neo-luddite.

So yeah. Little House on the Prairie? I’m in!

Little wired house on the prairie?

I want to be off the Grid, but be on my own grid. It’s a “cake and eat it too” thing.

IMHO, the ideal individual home should be self-powered, with all the modern amenities, and a zero waste stream. It is a big goal, but I think that we can get there.

Of course, I actually try do to this for a small period every year, I call it vacation. Of course my idea of vacation is heading out into the woods with a week’s worth of food and basic necessities, and I have this odd compulsion to prepare myself to live off the land in a post apocalyptic world. I think that’s my dislike of crowds, and worries about society compounded by my subconscious in an “I’m going to make sure you survive” way, and hey that’s what it evolved to do so, yay subconscious! As far as permanently, I’m not so decided, there’s a decent amount of comfort and easy afforded us by “the grid.” I guess I want to be capable of going off the grid at any time, but don’t necessarily want to leave it entirely behind (except when I need a break).