Life Off The Grid
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by: OwenJones | Total views: 16 | Word Count: 528
You can live off the grid. You only have to have the grid to buy electricity if you cannot generate your own. Living on the grid has made too many of us lose our self-sufficiency. We slavishly buy energy off the big providers and pay through the nose for it at the end of the month.
How many days a month do you have to work just to pay your electricity bill? What could you do with that time or money if you did not need to use it to pay for your electricity?
The fact is that you can come off the grid and you can even sell your surplus, home-made electricity back to the grid. This is not likely to make you a lot of money, but it is a nice feeling after only paying out for decades. However, the savings of life off the grid do not end there. There are ecological savings and the saving of human life too.
Soldiers would not be sent to combat for oil if we were not so reliant on it. The fact is, that if more people came off the grid, the price of oil would drop, because demand would go down and the oil-producing countries that believe they have a strong hold on the West would lose their power. And that can not be a bad thing either, can it?
It is easiest for people who live in their own houses to come off the grid. They have more jurisdiction over their own premises and can make their own choices about what to do with it. Drill a hole here, cut a hole there - that sort of thing. Alterations or home improvements. Life off the grid is also most beneficial for families as they use the most electricity.
The most common ways of attaining a life off the grid is by the use of solar panels, hydropower and wind turbines or even good, old-fashioned wind mills. These devices are still expensive to buy and very expensive to have installed. A 2010 study in the UK estimated that it would take 10 years to recoup the investment of a professional installation of energy-making equipment.
However, you could take out the expensive labour element by constructing and installing the units yourself! This option is accessible to anyone in the world as the diagrams and plans for making these units are available on the Internet from specialist alternative energy web sites and the components are almost every day objects.
You will be able to get them in a hobbyist or DIY store. They are also very easy to put together - most teenagers could do it and so could you. If you do not fancy that way, you could purchase a self-assembly kit.
Once you have begun to become free of the grid, you can make life off the grid even more rewarding by renewing your appliances, as and when needed, with low energy models. If you approach life off the grid sensibly, you could add new energy producing units every month until you do not get any electricity bills any more and then whatever additional savings you can make will be sold back into the grid.
About the Author
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with a favourite topic, renewable energy advantages. If you are interested in Sustainable Energy At Home, please click through to our site.
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