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BOOKS: The off-grid community and the battle to live their way.

Off The Grid in America (Penguin, 2010)
How to Live Off-Grid UK (Bantam, 2008)

12 comments

1 John { 11.06.11 at 8:27 am }

do you get all of your electricity from solar? are you tied into the grid? if you are connected to the grid, can you or do you ever “sell” power back to the power company? and what part of the country are you in?

2 Curley61 { 11.06.11 at 3:14 pm }

There is a Google map showing my location. My ad says that I am off-grid. That means that you are NOT tied to the grid in any way. If you are using alternative energy and tied to the grid, it is called grid-intertie. Off-grid is just that… off-grid. The reason I chose to be off-grid was for the independence. I feel that grid-intertie does not give me that independence.

Yes, I produce all my electricity from solar.

3 David { 11.07.11 at 4:54 pm }

That is totally neat! You’re doing what I’ve only been dreaming of doing. At what point did you go from ‘thinking about it’ to doing it?

I see you’re near the town I was born in (Manhattan, KS).

4 Curley61 { 11.09.11 at 4:39 am }

@David: Actually, I’m about 90 miles from Manhattan. What I did was out of necessity. The Rural Electric Coop wanted to screw me. Since I had planned to gradually make a transition to off-grid, I just told them I didn’t need them and did it all at once. The cost was 1/3 of what they wanted for running grid power to my new shack. lol

5 Linda { 11.19.11 at 9:53 am }

My grandparents came from Holton/Soldier Creek area and I’ve traveled there to do genealogy research. You can get some cold weather there. What do you use for heat?

6 Deb { 11.19.11 at 2:18 pm }

Congrats! I have been dreaming of going off grid for about 3 years. My electric company tripled my electric costs and they cannot explain why. I have thought about converting my existing house or just selling and building one to be off grid from the start.

What can you suggest?

7 Curley61 { 11.20.11 at 7:03 am }

@Linda: I heat with wood in an Ashley wood stove. Yes, it can get cold and blustery.

@Deb: It depends. I will say that it is much easier to do new than to try and “retrofit” an existing house. If you are going to keep most of the house as 12v, then the wiring is in shorter runs, and has to be a larger gauge wiring. Personally, I’m glad I built new and designed it the way I wanted.

8 Cynthia Tobin { 12.29.11 at 1:36 am }

I would love to find a reliable design and the best source of pv cells to make our own panels to tie into and eventually get off the grid, we do have power at this time to our house but would like to cut down on our use of power and make our own with solar panels. what do you recommend?

9 Curley61 { 12.29.11 at 3:47 pm }

@Cynthia: I don’t recommend making your own. In the long run you won’t save anything. There are a lot of places you can order the components if you still wish and some of those can be found on auction sites. However, you have issues such as longevity (life of the product), quality, etc that cannot be matched by the commercial panels. Other issues such as sealing, type of face (glass, etc) that won’t yellow or cloud with age… Too many factors. There are many forums where this has been discussed at length and the consensus from those of us with experience is that you are better off buying good quality panels with warranties.

10 breck2 { 01.19.12 at 4:02 pm }

ok you are way further along then me. i guess with my limited resources, i not quite sure where to start, its almost kind of over-whelming at times, plus i feel like im wasting time not knowing what i could be doing.

11 Kim { 05.07.12 at 1:16 am }

I am excited to read your posts. We are also wanting to go off the grid. It would mean retrofitting our existing home. Do you give turns or talks to people or small groups. I look forward to hearing back from you.

12 Curley61 { 05.08.12 at 1:23 am }

I ‘ve never been asked to give a talk, but would be happy to assist in any way I can. I believe in sharing knowledge and I’m happy to do so. You may ask here or email me privately.

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