Nowadays, solar energy has become a viable option for people who wish to save money on their monthly or annual electricity bills, thanks to the significant advancement of solar technology.
Plus, solar panels nowadays do not cost as much as it was five or ten years ago.
Now, a typical family of average annual income can afford to build their own solar panels to provide partial power to their household electrical equipment.
For homeowners who are a bit more serious in investing in solar power, they can build a more extensive solar panel that is capable of powering the entire home and eliminate the dependence of the national power grid completely; this is called living off the grid.
Off-grid living is a rather simple idea to explain, but quite a challenging thing to embark on. But however challenging it may be, an individual who is willing to sacrifice the things he has gotten used to, using conventional power from the national or local power grid, can certainly make it work.
Perseverance and determination are essential if you wish to go through with the idea of living off the grid. To live off the grid basically means that you are not connected to the national or local power grid.
This means you sustain your home’s power requirements through other methods, which we are going to discuss in this article. You need to realize, though, that if you wish to live off the power grid, you need to be prepared to make sacrifices in order for it to work.
You ask any family today about which type of energy-producing method they would pick if they were to live off-grid, most of them would probably answer solar power.
But here is the thing though, just because solar panels are quite popular nowadays, does not necessarily mean it is the best option for your own family.
If you are really serious about going off the grid, you should also consider other means of generating power for your home.
Although solar panels are quite affordable nowadays, the shortage of silicon, which is an important component of solar panels, has forced the prices to even out somehow.
If you are a skilled mechanically you should consider building your own wind generator. There are a lot of wind generator plans all over the internet, you just have to find a good quality wind generator plan or guide.
Using micro-hydro as a way to live off the grid is also a good way to generate your own electricity, provided that you have running water near where you live.
This option is probably the most efficient way to generate renewable energy at the moment if you have adequate running water, enough elevation drop, and strong water flow. If that is not viable in your area, there is always biodiesel.
This new renewable source of energy does not just work on cars you know. You can convert almost any engine for biodiesel consumption. Biodiesel is produced by converting used vegetable oil into a clean-burning, highly sustainable type of diesel fuel.
You can use it to power your home by setting up your conventional diesel guzzling generator into a biodiesel one.