The Three Core Necessities Living Off the Grid

[ixion]

Living off the grid the 3 core necessities become quickly apparent.


1) Shelter

2) Thermal Stability (Heating|Cooling)

3) Water


An optional number 4) would be electricity, but the aforementioned three must be fulfilled first, and not in that order, but sort of all at once. Those three are critical to carbon-based life form survival and fecundity.


The 4th is nice if you want to have the internet available. :)


I say this because after living off grid for the last three months, it's these things I find myself most concerned about. Electricity is available, in limited amounts, so I've been giving a great deal of thought to alternative methods of achieving these three core necessities using little to no electricity. So make note: if you ever find yourself living off grid, remember these two simple words:


Thermal Mass.


Thermal Mass seems to be something of a well-kept secret that no one wants to talk about beyond how to waterproof your basement. Perhaps because it's cheap, strong and efficient, eh? In any case, I've been putting the concept of thermal mass into practical application, and the results have been outstanding. Using a mere 40 watts,

I should be able to keep my water and chickens cool this summer, as well as the produce from the garden. I'm accomplishing this using -- you guessed it --thermal mass.

It was exciting to see a concept perform so well in practical application, so I wanted to share.


This is a picture of the root cellar, under construction. When complete, it will be 14' long with an 11' ceiling and a 4' thick roof. The temperature should vary very little.




This water storage culvert holds about a thousand gallons. The thick walls and shade cloth keep the evaporation down, and a pump and solar aerator circulate the water to keep it fresh and cool.

[cbayer]

1. For me it's water, electricity and waste disposal.

I live off the grid on the water, so my situation is different than yours, but our needs are basically the same.

We carry a lot of water and have a water maker and lots of sea water.

Our 4 solar panels keep us going during the day, but we do use the generator to keep the batteries charged or run certain things (like the hot water heater and small electric heater). We are looking at wind generators and use propane for cooking and heat most of the time.

Waste disposal is big for us. Whenever we are within three miles of shore, we have to store it for later disposal when we go back out. That works well for about 2 weeks, but can't get by much longer (particularly in the summer).

It's a great feeling, isn't it. No water, electricity or waste disposal bills. One advantage to a boat is that we can move easily and quickly. But I miss gardening!

[ixion]

3. I lived on a boat for a few months, so I can relate

I loved being on the water, but long term I need to have the soil...gardening being one of the primary reasons. We had a little cactus on board, and that fared okay, but planets just don't do ocean life well.

I still have to use the generator at night (urg), but I'm working towards running it only on occasion.

[cbayer]

6. I have done hydroponic tomatoes the last couple of years and that has worked out

pretty well. And I generally have a small basil going and do sprouts from time to time. But I do miss a big garden.

We use the generator very little in the summer, but during cloudy periods, particularly in the winter, can run it up to 2 hours a day. Still, it takes miniscule amounts of diesel fuel.

I feel great about my tiny footprint and even better about not being dependent on big corporations for my day to day needs.

My biggest energy draw is refrigeration. Another aspect of being on the water is the need to provision for relatively long periods of time, but I am getting better and better at it.

Hoping to hear from others that are doing what you are doing. I don't really understand this thing you have constructed here, but will read more about it.

:hi:

[ixion]

8. cool! glad to hear the hydro works... I'll keep that in mind.

Yep, it's a great feeling knowing that I'm reducing both my footprint and my dependency on Big Corp at a pleasantly brisk clip. I'm always happy to hear of others that are doing the same. More and more people are turning to alternative energy supplies, building techniques and lifestyles, so I think that we won't be lonely for too much longer. :toast:

Long term, I want to do aqua-culture. There was a video posted on DU here a few months back about it. Sounds like an exciting idea, so I'm anxious to get a small scale test system set up.


Regarding thermal mass: Here's the documentary that clued me in. It was still a theory in my mind until I saw it working magnificently first hand.

http://www.garbagewarrior.com/

[truedelphi]

12. Re: Refrigeration -I imagine if you built yourself the root cellar thing-ee

As it's pictured in the OP, you could put a ton of ice in there from the winter, and as long as you don't go opening up the door to the cellar every single day,you might have ice for at least half the summer.

You gotta figure that in the old days, every community up north had an ice house. And the reason that people still say not to put hot things in the refrigerator is that again, way back when, doing so melted the ice that people needed to have last until the ice man showed up the following week.

[ixion]

13. Yeah, I was thinking about something like that... the problem is

I'm in Florida, and while it'll get down into the 20's and 30's in the winter, we don't get much ice so I'd have to import it.

I'll be happy if I'm able to get it in the 60's in there, though, as that will be much less corrosive than the summer heat.

[cbayer]

14. I live on a boat, so building a root cellar is kind of out of the question.

We do keep some things in the bilge in the winter and can store a significant amount of ice in the deepest recesses of the refrigerator.

:hi:

[truedelphi]

15. You don't wanna ask one of Saudi's royalty about

The ice berg thing-ee? Just attach the iceberg to your craft as if it is a second (bigger) boat!

In fact, if you have a big enough boat - you might find valuable employment towing the iceberg to those guys!

And a big warm :hi:

[cbayer]

16. What a great idea! We never have enough ice for cocktails!

:rofl:

Thanks for the warm welcome. I have been looking for a group that shares ideas on being off the grid and just stumbled on this one. Though I do not have a farm, my living environment is uber-rural. Not even roads.

:hi:

[mariya]

17. waste management

You have been thinking for waste disposal is very good. Few people are thinking about the environment. Now environment is polluted by waste. People are not giving importance to waste management. That situation is in slum area. Due to bad management of waste people are suffering from diseases.

[cbayer]

18. Welcome to DU, mariya.

Yes, this is a very important issue. The rules concerning disposal of anything at sea are very clear, but there are still huge problems.

:hi:

[wtmusic]

2. Cool (pun not intended).

Can you give us a brief description of what's happening here? :shrug:

[ixion]

4. sure thing...

edited to add... thanks! :toast:

[wtmusic]

5. Is the 40 watts for the pump?

[ixion]

7. Two pumps...

One in the larger culvert above (29 watts), and a smaller one in the storage area in the chicken coop (11 watts).

There's also a solar aerator in the big culvert, but that is self-powered, so I didn't count it. :)

[wtmusic]

11. Nice work.

There's a special satisfaction that comes from home projects that save energy.

Thanks for sharing.

[ixion]

9. Wikepedia Link for Thermal mass:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_mass

[Schema Thing]

10. marking to read n/t

[name removved]

19. I have to get back to this when I have more time!

Thanks!:)

[Shagbark Hickory]

20. Do you not require refrigeration?

For me electricity would be number 1. Even if you could build a structure that was comfortable temperature wise, I think you're still going to need ventilation. And unless you're finding some primitive way to preserve food, I'd imagine refrigeration would be important. Powering pumps and things too.

Refuse seems like an easy one. If you're not against burning what can be burned and composting, I'd imagine 2 wheelie bins would last one person for 3 months. One for recyclables the other for non recyclables, non compostables. Is taking a trip to a transfer station twice a year that big of an inconvenience?

Water in florida seems like it would be easy too. I dug a well down there when I lived there. I was fascinated by it. It was like popping a straw into a capri sun.