Looking For A Way To Get Off The Grid? Read This First

Image by Ryan Somma via FlickrBy Robinson Cather

Going off the grid has many advantages. It's a good way to become independent of the system and it is a good practice if you are going to prepare for the events of a disaster. As much as there are many benefits to going off-grid, there are still a few things one cannot overlook or else it can leave you with a lot more problems than you expected. By reading the following, we will point out all the do's and don'ts and hopefully you will get a better, clearer view on going off the grid.

Alternate Electricity Sources

Often most people go with a gas generator or even solar panels. However, as much as having a gas generator is a good thing, one should not rely on it. It will cost you quite a lot if you use it often and it uses a source that can easily run out in the events of a disaster. As for solar panels, they are a better solution than the generator since you do not need to rely on fossil fuel but again, you should never rely on it 100%.

The reason being is that solar panels will not work at night and will not be running at its optimum performance on cloudy days. As such, you should get another method of harnessing energy such as a wind turbine. All of the three methods mentioned are good but should not be used alone but rather together.

Heating

Heating is one of the things that uses the most electricity and since you are your own means of producing electricity, you might want to have a different method of heating your home. It is much better practice to use a wood burning stove during winter since you do not get as much sunlight at those times of the year and a wood burning stove is pretty much as reliable as it can get. If you very rarely use your heating and live in a warm climate, then you don't really need something too big.

Cooking

A lot of people who are already living off-grid usually use propane for cooking and there's a few reasons for it. It's a very clean burning gas and since you have to use your electricity supply sparingly, propane can help you save that. It is much better than using charcoal or wood since its healthier and much faster to cook food. It is also much cleaner to use since charcoal gets dirty really fast.

Where Can I Get Started?

You can start looking at the different energy sources available to you and how you can get started simply by clicking here. You can learn how to build your own homemade solar panels, get or build yourself a home wind turbine and become one step closer to become entirely off the grid! Learn more at: buildhomemadesolarpanels.net/

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