Conversation about living "off-grid"

 

Hi everybody, I thought some of you might be interested in a
conversation that I had with Bill Kemp, the author of The Renewable
Energy Handbook. The conversation was about off-grid living and how
Bill designed his off-grid home and maintains it.

The conversation is an mp3 file that you can listen to:
http://www.thewatt.com/article-1192-nested-1-0.html

Bill's home is powered by a wind turbine/PV/biodiesel generator.

 

On alt.energy.homepower, in
wrote:

text.usenetserver.com!atl-c01.usenetserver.com!news.usenetserver.com!atl-c05.usenetserver.com!news.usenetserver.com!postnews.google.com!x69g2000cwx.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail

There isn't one person who posts here regularly who is anywhere
near being "off-grid".

If the grid collapsed they'd be without power as soon as
something happenned to their manufactured power-generating,
distributing, regulating, and storage equipment.

They wouldn't be able to obtain replacement parts.

What could happen to their equipment?

Theft
Vandalism
Wear and tear (it _will_ wear out)
Accident
Wind damage
Lightning damage
Animals
Insects
Moisture
Flood

If the grid collapsed, then civilization would collapse and they
might have to leave their power equipment behind.

The area they live in could become so dangerous that moving was
necessary:  Refugees or bandits and variations on those themes.

They might be driven off by a large group that wanted their
land/water supply (if they have one on site)

Or it could be unlivable because of a lack of water from drought
or the failure of whatever local distribution system brought
it to them. Or some group could divert it elsewhere upstream.

Then there's the fact when you use electricity you must power
things that use electricity, which has all the weaknesses mentioned
above.

If you are dependent on the grid, you are not off of it.

There _are_ people who are truly off-grid, but they don't
post here regularly, if at all.

They are not dependent upon industry for their home power.

Most of them use woodgas, some use methane. None use electricity
because it is so inefficient and complex: Why use a fuel to
create electricity to run a generator an electric light bulb when
you can use it directly for light in a simple lamp made from
local clay?

These folks will be able to get through a relatively short-term
natural disaster that temporarily seperates them from the grid,
but that's it.

And be thankful that more people don't follow their example:
1000 of them would be responsible for many, many times the
environmental damage than 1000 people sharing a large, centralized
power-generating station.

That is, mining and manufacturing those 1000 units would do much
more damage than mining and manufacturing one large one.

The economies of scale break down with higher numbers than that,
though. It would need to be a local plant.


$ host 130.15.126.81
Name: webproxy.QueensU.CA
Address: 130.15.126.81

Yep. Troll. That's not his IP. His is hidden behind the webproxy.


GMT)

Gecko/20060608 Ubuntu/dapper-security Firefox/1.5.0.4,gzip(gfe),gzip(gfe)

posting-account=aMxdgg0AAAAgCjQtEmEq6wccrQIKn51r

<article not downloaded:
http://slrn.sourceforge.net/docs/README.offline>

Posting through google groups without a name in the From header
means troll. No credibility.

People who won't stand behind their words by posting under a single,
unique alias cannot be trusted.

No point in reading their articles or any responses to them.

Alan

--
http://home.earthlink.net/~alanconnor/contact.html
Other URLs of possible interest in my headers.

 

Exactly. Anyone who is really really off grid (and we have some here in
Michigan) ain't going to be going on Usenet to debate anything. They're
off the grid and off the radar. Try it, go out in the middle of
1,000,000 acres of forest, leave it behind and live there. I'ts called
survival and there ain't no internet. It's not easy to do or learn -
well, it is but after a few weeks, man you want a shower, let me tell
you.

We can all hoot and talk about being "off the grid" but let me tell
you, if you're here, you ain't off the grid.

I doubt if 1 out of 100 people are equipped to experience the collapse
of everything. If it all went to hell, the wife would be okay but my
kid I'd have to shove around a bit and explain that I'm in charge and
you're not in Kansas anymore, kiddo so here's the sticks and there's
the brush. Make a fire. You've got fire and animals to kill. We've got
this knife. You lose it we die. These are the guts, they stink. Stick
your hand in and start cutting. And no, there's no beer. No internet,
no games, no computers. The battery bank will shit in a year or so get
ready. And don't waste the bullets. And don't lose the arrows. This is
a trail. You wait for the animals. In the dark. Bugs bite, get used to
it. See that mud? Put it on yourself, they won't smell you. If you see
a human, kill it. If it has a gun, take it. Period.

 


beemerwacker wrote:

You guys are reading way too much into "off grid".  All it means is you
don't buy your electricity from the power company.  You're talking
about survivalists.

Bruce Richmond

 

On alt.energy.homepower, in

He's probably the troll who started this thread.


text.usenetserver.com!atl-c01.usenetserver.com!news.usenetserver.com!atl-c05.usenetserver.com!news.usenetserver.com!postnews.google.com!j72g2000cwa.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail

Posting through google groups. Trolls and clueless newbies.


Throwaway, anonymous gmail address.

http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search
beemerwacker
Results 1 - 100 of 138 posts in the last year
      1 alt.autos.dodge.trucks
     20 alt.energy.homepower
      1 alt.hvac
     69 alt.solar.photovoltaic
      1 alt.solar.thermal
      1 free.uk.diy.home
      2 mi.misc
      3 misc.taxes
      1 rec.gardens
      1 sci.energy

Not a natural posting history. This is obviously a kindergarden
sockpuppet created by this troll for alt.energy.homepower
and alt.solar.photovoltaic.

I'll bet you post that many times every day or so using
other psuedo-identities.

With some of them, of course, you use a real newsreader and
NSP.


$ host 68.40.84.231
Name: c-68-40-84-231.hsd1.mi.comcast.net
Address: 68.40.84.231

Dynamic IP. Convenient. He's in Michigan.

Be sure to Cc a copy of any complaints about this troll
to:

abuse@comcast.net

And include the full headers.

I'm not going to complain because I have no reason to: I have
never even downloaded one of his articles, nor any responses
to them, and never will.

Regardless of which alias he is hiding behind at the moment.


GMT)

Gecko/20060508 Firefox/1.5.0.4,gzip(gfe),gzip(gfe)

posting-account=wVGTqQ0AAABcyptDtg9drDvYMR3LOjcf

<article not downloaded:
http://slrn.sourceforge.net/docs/README.offline>

Since the troll obviously knows that I won't be downloading any
articles on this thread, he must imagine that his post is somehowgoing to harm
me.

ROTFLMAO

If you don't have the balls to post under a single, unique,
alias, you are a cowardly punk with a threat-rating of ZERO.

I'm so sure of that that I don't even have to read your articles.

Alan

--
http://home.earthlink.net/~alanconnor/contact.html
Other URLs of possible interest in my headers.