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Getting Off the Grid

Going off the grid means that a home would function in a self-sufficient way: a home would not use the public utilities and would generate, save and store their own power. A true off the grid house is completely autonomous; a home owner would have their own water supply, sewer system, and electrical source. This is done with stand-alone power systems (SAPs). These usually use methods for electricity generation, storage and regulation like solar, wind, geothermal, micro hydro, diesel and biofuels. There needs to be a myriad of solutions in America and the world to solve the energy crisis, having people that are able to and that are willing to go off the grid would be a piece in the puzzle to solve this problem. In America the average household uses about 10,500 kWh per year, this is 875 kWh per month, and over a period of 40 years, this would be over $46,000 [Dept. of Energy]. In 2006, USA Today reported that there were about 180,000 homes that were living off the grid; this is a 33% increase per year for a decade [USA Today, 2006]. There are many examples in the media of people going off the grid: a 57 year-old man in Springfield, NJ bought a $50,000 solar power system in 2004, after rebates it cost him $15,000, and he installed it on his roof. His electricity bill has dropped from $1,270 to $170 along with energy efficient appliances, along with these savings per year, he get’s $500 in clean energy credits. After he pays back his system, he will be earning $200 per year. He said, “I am now an electricity company… I’m generating electricity without any pollutants.” [USA Today, 2006] Other countries are taking the initiative to try and reduce their energy consumption but decreasing their use of their own national grid. In Scotland, the Colston’s Girls’ School has been a leader in trying to reduce their carbon footprint and reduce their energy consumption. In 2008, with the help of the Scottish Power Green Energy Trust, Carbon Trust, and fundraising, the school unveiled their £30,000 solar panels. These panels will be used to offset the amount of power that the school uses, to teach the students lessons spreading a variety of topics, and even help put energy back into the grid. When the students are on vacation and not using the school, the energy that is produced will be sold back into the grid [ScottishPower, 2008]. A study was done in different climates in Italy to research the energy efficiency of buildings and how to optimize the efficiency using alternative energy options. Ultimately, it was concluded that there was a 64.7% savings in primary energy, as well as significant savings during the winter and summer months for all of the regions that were tested. This experiment also covered the economic performance of the systems and they found that just giving people/businesses money up front for their purchases would not make the change cost efficient, however, if there were capital incentives, like continuously getting tax incentives then this could become cost effective. This study found that by using solar heating and cooling, it could be energy efficient and possible as well as cost effective [Science Direct, Thermo economic Analysis]. In very rural areas, off the grid options may be cheaper than being tied into the grid, there are some locations where it may cost up to $30,000 just to be tied into the grid. So it would be worth it for people to generate their own energy in some areas. Some people don’t have the choice to be on a grid, in many developing countries there is no grid for communities to get on, there are 1.7 billion people in the world that live off the grid [Modern Ghana, 2008]. This means that people need to generate whatever electricity that they actually need, and they are very smart and efficient with their energy use, since they use only what they absolutely need. In these developing countries, photovoltaic’s, or PV systems, are very common to harvest energy. They are used for many applications for their farming, in their homes, hospitals, schools, businesses and communities. Plus there are no moving parts, which means that it is very easy for the people to maintain, the only general maintenance it needs is to be cleaned every once in a while [IEA]. Even though these systems are for low power needs and the developing world lifestyle is very different than those of the developed world, these communities are a good source to look for to find ways to live off the grid and to decrease our energy consumption. Of course, there are problems that are associated with going off the grid. The first and probably most important is the initial cost of the systems. This can be thousands of dollars, and it would be more time consuming then just calling the utility company. Plus, there are constant costs with each system, for example, the batteries need to be replaced about every 10 years [Off Grid or On?]. Also, if a household decides to make these changes, they would not be able to live like most people, freely consuming electricity. It would mean that people would have to consider the electricity that they are using and conserve [Living Off the Grid, 2008], this could mean not doing the laundry until the weather changes. Also, by taking yourself off the utilities, it means that you bear those responsibilities of that utility company that you gave up. The homeowner is responsible for their repairs and maintenance. With all of this considered, it is easy to see that going off the grid is not for everyone. It is a large responsibility and is not for the lazy, however, if there were more options for helping people and giving them more incentive, this may not be such a burden for homeowners. The proposed solution would be to encourage people to go off the grid. This could be completely off the grid if it is possible and they are willing to, or this could be partly going off the grid to offset some of their energy consumption. As mentioned with the school in Scotland, it would even be worth it for schools or businesses to produce their own energy for their consumption and at some point in time sell it back to the grid when there is excess. Homes that go completely off the grid would need to be designed efficiently and properly educated on the matter to understand the responsibilities they are undertaking. While others that are trying to cut back on some of their energy uses could require only a few solar panels to save energy for certain appliances around the house. This would mean that only certain things in the house would take energy from these battery storage systems tied to renewable energy sources. There are even examples of people that live in the city and use solar panels to offset their electrical energy needs, but they are still required to be tied to the municipal infrastructure [Off the grid homes, 2007]. This was recommended for homeowners, to start gradually building the off-grid technologies around the house, so that there isn’t such a large purchase right up front. As mentioned before, in Italy researchers found that it is not enough for people to only get compensation for their purchases up front, it is much beneficial for consumers and businesses to constantly get incentives rather than just immediate rebates. Hopefully, there could be a combination of these incentives. People could get large rebates up front to encourage people to buy products to produce their own renewable energy, and they would continue to get compensation/tax incentives for continuing to produce their own energy. This initiative will mean that people that are considering doing this need the education, and there needs to be programs to encourage others to participate as well. This could be in the form of a government agency that could be a resource to educate the public on the topics, why they should do this, the benefits and disadvantages, and where they could go to get help. This could encourage businesses to take part in this as well. Businesses could make a profit by helping homeowners analyze their houses for energy efficiency and get contractors involved to help build and install the systems in homes. This could get many people, businesses and the government involved, when this happens that brings attention to the matter increasing funding and profit and encouraging more people to join in these programs, as well as help technology develop into more advanced and efficient techniques. This solution is not for every homeowner in America or even the world, however, it’s a known goal that we are going to need as much help as possible to reduce and eventually eliminate our dependency on fossil fuels; by people getting off the grid, completely or partially, this could make a huge difference in our energy situation.

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