Off Grid Home Forums Technical Discussion Inverter Suggestions for Fully Off-Grid System Re: Inverter Suggestions for Fully Off-Grid System

#64934
elnav
Member

“Life on batteries requires some diligence in design and in lifestyle choices. A 52 inch TV lifestyle with a hot tub – run primarily by a diesel or propane generator – is NOT off-grid at all, since diesel is provided by a very large grid called global oil production and distribution”

Here we go again with the definitions. Taken to its ultimate logical end no one here on this forum who acesses the internet is truly off-grid because they rely on the global grid of internet providers and the linking communications network.

I know a lot of people who are living off-grid but they bring in a tankful of propane every year and theer are also those who rely primarily on solar but who must resort to a genset when cloudy winter weather blocks the su for a week on end. Are we going to insult and denigrade these people for not being politically correct and a purist about being off-grid.

If a home is not tied into municipal services; primarily electric power or piped in natural gas and plumbed for municipal sewers then we could in all fairness call it off-grid. These homes are for the most part self reliant in that they somehow generate their own power by some means, supply their own water from a well and dispose of their sewage in some manner.

Talk of being a purist and politically correct does nothing for encouraging more people. If you want the movement towards off-grid living to grow you need to appeal to ordinary middle class people and somehow make off-grid living seem comfortable to the average family of two adults and two or three children. Yes I do know some people who have done itin cramped quarters but they are the exception not the rule. Living jammed up in a tiny caravan or trailer is not conducive to family life unless everyone can get their own personal private space. Living on a 37 foot sailboat while gradually circling the globe sounds wonderful until you try it yourself. Personally I found my 48 foot boat cramped and my 37 foot RV was only bearable because I built a big shed next to it for a shop and had a 30 foot gazebo for a sundeck area in summer.