We’re getting Off the grid! We’re building a sustainable living self sufficient off-the-grid living system, and we’re going to share it LIVE with the world as we do it by documenting everything, every step of the way with articles, blog/journal entries, and video.
The goal isn’t just to build a house on a piece of land, but rather a whole self sustaining living system including solar, wind, water, and food production, whereby our family can live comfortably, producing our own food, water and energy enabling us to become 100% completely self-sufficient. This also has the added benefit of contributing food and energy to the community as well.
#1 – Raise Funds
#2 – Planning
#3 – Purchase Land
#4 – Build
#5 – Live Off The Grid
Our energy efficient off the grid system is designed to combine current off the shelf technology which is proven and affordable, creating a hybrid system of living which provides the necessities comforts and some of the luxuries of traditional homes.
We will be combining proven technologies so the learning curve isn’t as great a hurdle, and we will remove the troublesome burden of “reinventing the wheel”.
During the whole process we’ll share all our experience here on the website.
Innovation can come “after” the system is built and there is time to think and ponder on how to improve the system. People need a place to live and call home. Once they have that, they can think about the future. Securing themselves and their families first, making sure things are provided for their loved ones and themselves. The greatest part about this “off-the-shelf- hybrid system, is it will work. ALL technologies have been proven, tested, and people use them every day. The only difference is this idea is combining current technologies to form a completely self sufficient and extensive living system.
The Home:
This is a mock-up of our design. It will probably change, but this is the basic concept.
We’ll be using ISO shipping containers to build the main parts of the home. By stacking them in two stacks separated by 16′ this gives us maximum livable floor space.
The structure picture is 2560 square feet, not including the 10′x32′ (320 sqft) upper deck, and 10′x32′ (320 sqft) lower patio.
This adds an additional 640 square feet to the whole home, giving it a 3200 square feet total. This with only 4 shipping containers.
The Land:
We’re purchasing land in Northern Arizona for our off the grid homestead. The ideal land parcel will be one which abuts state land or national forest which in a sense expands our recreational opportunities, and adds to the land access.
The Water:
Water will be provided by an atmospheric water generator which I’ve designed but not yet built. It’s a simple system which combines off the shelf technology (refrigerator) some copper tubing, vegetable oil, a charcoal filter, and two small DC water pumps. All parts should cost less than $1000 to build the unit.
We’ll also store water in a large tank. (a lot of areas in Northern Arizona is hauled water or from a community well).
The Power: AC
We’ll be using a combination wind/solar system, building parts where we can to cut costs. We’ll purchase the solar panels, inverter, charger, batteries, wiring from USA distributors and manufacturers where possible. We’ve chosen to go with an AC power system rather than DC. Since we have equipment we need to operate to run our home based businesses, we’ll nee a more robust and powerful system so AC seems the best choice. For cooking, we’ll probably go with a propane stove.
The Food:
We’re going to build a small greenhouse where we’ll also have an aquaponics system installed. Raising fish along with the organic veggies is just plain smart. We also plan to have small farm animals as a basic food source. (which I had to talk my girlfriend into) since she didn’t want to live on a quote “farm”. So I called it a “ranch” instead since that sounded more her style, and said we’d only have the basics. Chickens, pigs, cows, horses, and maybe goats and rabbits. Since we’ll be building in a relatively remote area most likely, there will be the occasional deer or wild rabbit we can harvest and store in the deep freezer.