Save energy prior to getting off the grid

 Before jumping into the uncharted territory of living off the grid, it is wise to do warm up exercises and prepare so that you don’t freak out and throw in the white towel in frustration.  Living off the grid will require many concessions and sacrifices in your part, and many fundamental changes; especially if it is done in the current inefficient and wasteful society and with current available technologies.

            It is recommended that you ease into living off the grid, instead of crash landing into it and suffer more than necessary.  Unlike many believe; living off the grid does not have be painful and backward.  You can have all of the comfort and the convenience of the latest technologies, have power, and be part of society just the same or better than under the current ‘grid’ power lifestyle.  I say it would be better because you would be saving much more money and helping to change many industries around the world become more energy efficient and less wasteful.

Appliances are the biggest users of energy, so having the most efficient appliances will help you and eventually the industries that produce them.  High efficiency (HE) appliances (TVs, computers, refrigerators, washing machines, etc.) will save power and pay for their higher cost in the long run in energy savings.  You will contribute to cut down waste and help the environment, and also you will increase the demand for HE products by creating incentive for companies to manufacture HE products.

            You should upgrade to HE products as much as you can.  It can be a slow and gradual process or an all-at-once change; if it is possible for you to do that.   HE appliances that can have a large impact on your energy use are your AC, water heater, washing and drying machines, refrigerator, etc.  Low impact HE appliances are your TVs, computers, fans, lights, and kitchen appliances.

            You should downsize whenever possible.  Why have a 120 gallon water heater when you only need a 40 gallon water heater and save 2 thirds of the energy required to run it.  Other appliances that can be downsized are your refrigerator, TVs, AC, microwave, clothes washer/dryer, lighting power, etc.

            Cutting back on the number of running appliances is another way to save power.  Why have 5 TVs when you can only have one in a central location?  Why have 5 computers or printers when one can be used by everyone in the home without sacrificing convenience.

It is recommended to switch old and inefficient technology off permanently and turn better technology on.  In many cases, and whenever possible is best to get rid of one type of technology and upgrade for other better technology.  For example, when LED TVs came out, the energy savings potential of LED was hardly mentioned in comparison to the brighter sharper picture; if fact the LED TVs save much more energy than older tube TVs or even LCD TVs.  Again, more efficient technologies may be costlier, but they will aid in your efforts to get off the grid and make the effort less costly overall.  If you attempt to get off the grid running all of the same inefficient equipment and remain with the same number of unnecessary appliances running; the cost to do so may be many times higher than necessary.

            Lastly, get rid of appliances you don’t need.  Get rid of that full size freezer in your basement and quit drinking beer; get rid of that large screen TV that you only use every 4^th Sunday in your den; get rid of the small fridge on the side of your bed, and get up and go to the kitchen if you need a cool drink (unless a medical condition requires this).  Cutting back on unnecessary and wasteful appliances is a great way to cut back on energy use prior to getting off the grid; remember that concessions need to occur, and your lifestyle may need some serious reforms to accommodate the benefits of living off the grid.

            Switching appliances from power sources that can be controlled and stored locally can be a powerful way to cut energy costs and dependence on a certain power source such as electric power.  Getting off the grid, in large part, means getting off the electric power; the largest power provider by far for any household.  Switching appliances to power sources such as LP gas, wood chips, natural gas, or heat concentrator; from electrical power is a significant step to get off the grid.  The more important appliances to get off the electric grid are your ‘power hogs’ such as your stove, water heater, clothes' dryer, air heater, etc.  You may say, why switch from one power source to another and still pay for it; perhaps the same or more.  This question misses the point.  Getting off the grid may require a slight increase in the costs you incur, especially sharp increases initially.  But, in the long run, getting off the grid should pay for itself relatively quick if done rationally.  Still, local energy sources provide much more control and flexibility for the owner.  Since you have much more control over the energy you use, and much more control on the costs associated with energy.

            LP gas is a flexible form of power that can be safely stored and it is highly efficient.  It relatively cheap and can power many of the more power demanding appliances (clothes' dryer, water heater, stove, and even your refrigerator and air heater).   LP can be stored in a tank that can last for many months to over 2 years depending on size and use.  And, LP can help you get off the grid by taking away appliances from electric requiring less energy to be covered by solar, wind, or other alternative source.

            Wood chips can be used as fuel for furnaces that can drive air heat, water heat, and clothes' drying.  Natural gas can be used like LP in many occasions, and can be stored although much more costly than LP.

            Solar heat concentrators can be used to heat water or air and be used to take water or air heating from electric to solar.  Heat concentrators can use radiated energy and collected in a sealed greenhouse and heat up a fluid for use.  Heat concentrators can heat up a point for cooking, or heating a fluid for use in air or water heating.  Heat collectors and concentrators can be readily bought or built to save a large amount of electric energy.  Large amounts of amps and voltage are used up to heat up elements like air or water for appliances, at times up to 15,000 watts or more.

            Solar, wind, or geothermal can be used to cover the energy needs required for the appliances that cannot be covered by the mentioned sources prior to getting off the grid.  Covering energy needs with solar, wind, or geothermal will be covered in detail in other presentations, but these technologies are affordable and ready for use in most areas of the world right now.

A great way to save energy, in preparations to get off the grid, is to switch appliances off manually or automatically.  Many items in the home draw energy even while they are in the off mode and use energy constantly.  Recently I used a watts meter, a device that measures the amount of energy being used by devices plugged in to electrical outlets, and found out that a few computer equipment, even while off, drew about 56watts per minute.  That is 1344 Watts in 24 hours for just for a few office equipment; imagine how many watts your whole home can draw while off.  A good idea for this is to make devices and appliances switch off completely and be disconnected from their wall outlets.  There are several ways of doing this, timers, manual disconnects, or just manually unplugging devices when not in use.

            This practice of turning devices off can be seamless and worry-free or can be a bit aggravating; it depends on how automated the switching system is.  Of course manual systems are much more hassling and require a strict schedule adherence to work, but can be an alternative to overpaying for energy or wasting precious energy.  A huge user or energy are your heat producing devices; water heater, air heater etc.  Those can be put on a timer where no energy is supplied to them during times of non-use or when the house is vacant; especially your water heater.  TVs, Internet equipment (modems, routers), music equipment, lighting, and more; can be disconnected from the outlets of your home by placing timers on those outlets or simply by putting switchable power strips on those outlets then running the rest of the cords to those power strips.  Power strips with some kind on lighting to indicate ON state are better as they are easy to identify as to On or Off.

            A lot of equipment now is able to shut off automatically or enter a hibernation state.  These are better than just having equipment on all the time but still do not completely stop “power leakage”.  Lighting is a major power user only because there are generally many lights in a home, and many of them stay of for long periods inadvertently or on purpose.  Efficient lighting helps, but it does not help as much as turning those off when not in use.  Movement sensors are a great advancement for lighting and saving energy.  Masdar city’s buildings are required to have these sensors per their building code*, and apparently they work; so if you can afford this technology is an option to get off the grid.  As a side note, you need not be piss poor to want to get off the grid to save some money, as getting off the grid will probably not save you much money at first.  Freedom, independence, choice, and environmental reasons are main drivers for those that want to get off the grid.

            A huge energy user is your home’s AC for cooling and heating.  It is the largest energy user here in America, by far.  Many states in the eastern seaboard and the Midwest are mild weathered and do not need the amount of air conditioning that people use.  I suspect people have grown over comfortable and unwilling to acclimatize to the natural weather of the season.  Deep summers and winters aside, most states in the continental US experience pleasant mild weathered springs, early and late summers, falls, and early winters.  Most households, as I have experienced, have their AC on, even during the most pleasant days, throughout the year.  This dependence on the comfort of ac is rampant and is a huge user of the total energy demand of cities, driver of pollution, and heating of the local atmosphere.

            While air conditioners cool the interior of the home, they release heat into the atmosphere.  And, one AC unit may not warm up your neighborhood by a few degrees, but 250,000 units are sure to increase the temperature in a large city.  Here in the US; majority of homes, businesses and industrial buildings are designed to maintain a constant internal atmosphere that require the constant use of large and power hungry AC units.  These buildings and dwellings are built with the power companies in mind, and for optimal comfort.

            Buildings are highly wasteful and energy inefficient.  From costly lighting, to small and limited windows and ventilation, to exterior dark paint and roofs; these buildings are a power company’s dream.  The lack of use of sun heating, illumination, and natural wind flow is just sad examples of how energy negative modern architecture is.  Architecture in the US is highly driven by economic and social pressures and very little or no environmental and efficiency concerns.