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November 18, 2012

Vandwelling

There are many ways of living off the grid, for some it means buying up some land, putting up a small cabin with solar panels and such, growing a garden, hunting and living as close to the land as possible. For others it means something entirely different. There is a whole culture around van living, ie living in a vehicle, usually a van or camper, not setting roots in any one place, being free to move around as they please.

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Energy

In the future we will drive to the store to buy electricity

The Chevy Volt is showing the way forward for some off-grid families. Where one of the household commutes to work, they might charge their hybrid/electric car during the day, and then drive home with a full battery ready to power the home.

But as this ad from the early 1900s reminds us, it s actually a case of Back to the future — the earliest electric cars were pioneered a century ago and battery technology has scarcely advanced since then. GM say a Chevy battery can power a households for just TWO hours (see below). In fact it could power a household for up to a day with intelligent use of energy and a small solar panel to top it up.

The battery is the most expensive part of an electric vehicle, and once an “EV battery has reached the end of its life in an automotive application, only 30 percent or less of its life has been used,” said Pablo Valencia, GM senior manager of battery lifecycle management.

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