Feature Articles

Living Off The Grid
by Karla Meyette, Team Leader, Customer Service Bibliographer

Usually disclaimers come at the end of an article. However, I want to state up front that I am by no means an expert when it comes to understanding alternative energy sources. My reason for writing this piece is just to share my first year's experiences living off the grid. I also want to say that, although this arrangement is new to me, my husband has lived with renewable energy sources for the entire 15 years he has lived in NH. In fact, he designed the system we currently use. Perhaps after a few more years, I'll be experienced enough to write a technical treatise on alternative energy sources.

Living in northern New England means we have long winters and short summers that require more than one source of collecting energy. There are 16 photovoltaic solar electric panels mounted on the roof of our house. To gain the maximum amount of electricity from sunlight, the panels are adjusted twice a year, in order to face the sun as squarely as possible. In the fall, we tilt them up to nearly a 90 degree angle (which also helps snow slide off), and in the spring they are lowered back to the flat position. The house was built to face true south in order to capture as much sunlight as possible, both for our solar electric panels and for our passive solar warming through the windows. The house is insulated with Styrofoam, so it retains heat very well.

To counterbalance the often sunless days of the winter season, my husband added a wind generator to our "bag of tricks." Although I initially believed that most days produce sufficient wind in this part of the country, I've been quite surprised by how many calm days we actually have. The wind generator sits on a 135 ft. tower that was designed by my husband because, unlike today, in 1995 there were not many ready-made towers available. The three guy-wire bases are anchored by 12 yards of poured concrete, and the power cables run underground to the basement, where the energy is stored in twenty 6-volt golf cart batteries. The batteries are wired in a 24-volt DC configuration. An interesting aside is that Contoocook is also home to a business that repairs golf carts, so the batteries came from this local business.

To convert the energy from 24 volts DC to 110 volts AC, the power goes through two inverters. In the early years, there was only one small inverter. That was then upgraded to a larger, more powerful one. We later added a second one to give us the ability to stack the inverters and produce 220 volts AC. We tend to leave the inverters in search mode, so they consume less power while waiting for a load they can drive. I decided one evening to surprise my husband by baking custard. Once the custard was in the oven, I began to notice that the stove display light was flashing. I finally realized that the oven wasn't getting enough power. Once the inverter went from search to on, all was well and the custard, although in the oven longer than expected, was fine.

We also use a wood stove to help keep the house warm, although it was not purchased with the intent of being the main source of heat, but rather as an adjunct to the other sources. So far, we have been fortunate in that all the wood we burn is from our own land.

For those days when there is little or no sun and relatively little wind, or we just require extra power, the next line of defense is a gasoline-powered generator or as I affectionately call it, "The Beast." There will be more about my experiences with the generator later.

For the most part, one would never know that we are not connected to the local electric company. Although the refrigerator is a little smaller than normal and runs on 24 volts DC, all other appliances are like any you would find in an ordinary home. My husband owns just about every electrical power tool made and owns and operates a lathe, a mill, and welders using 220 volts. We run computers, television, microwave, washing machine, etc. We heat our hot water with propane as well as using propane for the cooking stove.

The main difference, other than not paying a monthly utility bill, is that we constantly monitor the flow of energy coming in and going out. I tend to listen for the whirl of the wind generator blades and watch the meter box to see just how much electricity the wind is generating. We do not use incandescent light bulbs; we use only compact fluorescent bulbs.

All seemed to be working well for the first five months that I lived in our house. Then one fateful day in early September, I came home to find the telescope set up on the south deck, aimed at the wind generator. I was asked to take a look at the generator through the telescope and say what I saw, which was nothing! Although there had not been any high winds, the power head had tipped forward and run the blades into the tower top. Parts were scattered and some were never found. We later learned that a weld had failed, causing the underlying bearing case to tear. The whole thing had then twisted and put the spinning blades into the tower.

Thus began a three month wait for a new wind generator. This is where my experience running the gasoline generator comes in. Being the naïve person I can be, I never expected that not only would this become a major power source for us, but that I would be required to learn to run it and make sure we had ample power. The Beast and I had several run-ins: from being finicky about starting, to following a detailed, step-by-step instruction outline (that turned out to be less than step-by-step) for all the settings. There were a few mishaps, but for the most part, I persevered. I suppose we were fortunate in that the new generator finally arrived just before Thanksgiving, and no snow had yet fallen. We got it installed the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Once the new wind generator was installed, I elected to give up my role in creating power through the gasoline generator!

I'm now beginning my second year of living off the grid. Would I recommend this life style to others? Yes and no. Yes, not because of the obvious reasons, but because it is interesting and when all is going smoothly, you just don't think about it. However, I will never again take for granted a good, strong, reading light, a hot shower or the warmth created from a wood stove. I also revel in the short summer season. Summer frees us from getting our chores done for the day only to have the empty wood box staring at us! Summer gives us longer hours of sunlight and nice wind when a storm begins to brew. The warmth of summer rejuvenates our bodies and souls and it is an all too short reprieve between the seasons. One of my reasons for not recommending this lifestyle is that it eats into precious time. We both live active lives yet we know that wood needs to be cut, split, and stacked for the next winter. There are also the issues of how to handle the problems that arise when one of the precarious parts of the system either dies or needs fixing. The decision of whether to fix it or replace it has to be made, and again eats into time. The last issue is money. Although we have not calculated the costs involved because there is no alternative for us, it is a work in progress. Parts and labor are expensive and sometimes require a great deal of research.