Living Off The Grid

Living “Off the Grid” could be a different experience for someone to do in life. Thinking about someone living off the grid raises many questions. How lonely is it, are people constantly busy, or do they sometimes struggle to find certain necessities? When first thinking about living off the grid, it has deemed as something crazy. Defined living off the grid is a state of degree of self-sufficiency with little to no reliance on public utilities, especially the three traditional basics: energy (power), water, and waste management (Black). Who would want to do such a thing and what would be the joy of it? It could be a fun experience for people to do, but what all does it really entail?
Looking into what it means to live off the grid, has showed
Depending on where people go, they will have to learn ways to get the resources needed and keep the ones available. With how life runs now it is easy to get what people need to live, but when living without all of these sources that are so easily available, people often forget how easy it is. The article “10 Lessons from Living Off the Grid” shows that people have to gain or strengthen skills that they would never think about using, “Off-grid living pulls you away from a commodified world of hyper-specialization and pushes you to become a Jack or Jane-of-all-trades” (Vannini and Taggert). The start of living off the grid could be very costly and time consuming; whether people move or not, some of the equipment can be expensive. To get a good amount of electricity for a house, it takes about twelve to eighteen solar panels, which could cost about $3,000 to $5,000. According to Mr. Hill his house that he built the metal roof is covered in thin-film solar panels which generate enough power to not only run the house but also to charge his car and his electric Magnum bicycles (Mckeough). Mr. Hill’s roof, gutters, and rain chains take water to a 15,000-gallon tank used for irrigation. Which he uses a composting toilet to save on water
The communities of living off the grid have been rising, therefore it is growing in popularity and becoming more common. With it becoming more popular, surely it will start to become a little easier to manage the home and find useful resources. The whole situation of living self sufficiently would be a learning process for some, with one’s house becoming more of a hands on operation and having to know how to raise a garden and find water sources. While this lifestyle may have some disadvantages, it offers more advantages. If people are to learn the advantages and are up to the challenge or fun, depending on the person, the popularity of living off the grid could continue to rise. People become more aware of their effects on nature as well when living this way; such as what they can recycle, how well they are eating, and what they are doing in the nature surrounding them. If they were to use fishing or hunting as a way to supply some food, they would have to pay attention to the population of the animals and not kill all of them out of the