By: R Nethaway

R Nethaway — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 07:13:27 +0000

It is possible to live in your own house and never have to pay a utility bill. My daughter has done it for years. Well water, solar panels, car batteries and a composting toilet are all you need.
In her part of the country � next to Big Bend National Park and the U.S.-Mexican border � many people live off the grid without hookups to natural gas, water systems, telephones or electricity.
“Many people” is a relative term when referring to the residents of Brewster County, Texas, which is more than 6,000 square miles in size with a total population slightly in excess of 9,000.
Two-thirds of Brewster County’s population is packed into one town, Alpine, which is about 100 miles from my daughter’s spread.
As a schoolteacher of children in that remote part of the country, she has taken her students on class excursions to Alpine so the youngsters could see what a stoplight and a Dairy Queen look like.
Returning to the topic of avoiding utility bills, many Americans this winter are experiencing shocking increases in their heating bills because of a sharp run-up in the prices of natural gas and heating oil.
As usual, the price hike in utilities hits poor people, the elderly and people on fixed incomes the hardest. Even middle-income families are hurt when a large portion of their family budgets suddenly must be shifted to pay for high utility bills.
Not everyone can go off the grid as my daughter has done out of necessity. Nor would they want to in established urban areas. It is difficult and expensive to live off the utility grid with the level of comfort most Americans demand.
They can, however, move in that direction by taking steps to reduce their dependence on increasingly expensive energy.
For the first time since 1985, the government is getting involved in helping Americans improve the energy efficiency of their homes.
In 1985, President Ronald Reagan dismantled programs that encouraged American homeowners to save on their energy bills. He also ended programs that funded research and development of alternative energy sources. The thinking was that these efforts belonged to the free market, not the government.
There’s no way to know how far down the road toward energy independence the United States would be today if those programs had been allowed to continue.
Just as the government has the responsibility to invest in the research and development of cures for cancer and other diseases, the government also should help its citizens and industries break their dependence on dwindling energy supplies, particularly those controlled outside the United States.
Fortunately, this year American homeowners can receive tax credits that will help pay for energy improvements in their homes.
Tax credits are good since they can be used to reduce the bottom line of a person’s annual income tax return, unlike tax deductions.
Also this year, Americans can take advantage of tax credits if they purchase energy-efficient hybrid cars powered by a combination of gasoline and electricity.
The tax credits for cars, which started on Jan. 1, range from $3,150 for the Toyota Prius to $250 for a Chevrolet pickup truck.
They had an immediate impact on hybrid car sales, which should spur more research and development of even better and less costly hybrids.
In the housing market, homeowners can receive tax credits by adding more insulation or installing energy-efficient windows, furnaces, solar systems, heat pumps, water heaters and more.
The amount of tax credits varies according to the products installed. Most builders and sales people should be familiar with the tax credits available for their products. More information can be obtained at the http://www.energy taxincentives.org Web site.
Americans should take advantage of these tax incentives to reduce their energy bills. I look forward to the day when I can go off the grid and still keep my creature comforts.

By: caribe704

caribe704 — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 21:25:46 +0000

Sad but TRUE, we humans are overrunning paradise, or should I say the DEVELOPERS are! I have lost my dream of ever having a home at the beach let alone in the keys, or even a housboat on the miami river, am I just old or maybe the world all became millionaires while I slept, I find my island dreams are slipping from my last fingernails grip, but, I suppose the Indians felt much the same, nothing lasts forever, I guess I’m just glad I got to taste it for awhile…I am not beaten yet, but the hot breath of urbania and its poison closes on my fading dreams by the moment

Comments on: “We want to stay off the grid”

By: R Nethaway

By: caribe704