Leaving the grid behind

Feel like escaping the rat race? Nick Rosen, author of How to Live Off-Grid explains how to prepare for a self-sufficient life

How would you cope without the security of mains power, water and sewage? For many people, living “off-grid” is a daunting and confusing concept – after all, why would you willingly choose to make your life harder?

In truth, there are many reasons to go off-grid. One motivation is a desire to live a cleaner, greener life. For others, it is a mixture of fear and exasperation – fear of climate change and energy price rises. Add to that the social disruption that sometimes seems to be just around the corner – exasperation with traffic jams, overwork and over-consumption.

Low cost living

The high price of a conventional home is another reason to consider living off-grid. Providing you can get planning permission, it might cost as little as £50,000 to buy a patch of woodland and build a warm, snug cabin. All you need to do then is equip it with a composting loo, rainwater harvesting and a basic renewable energy setup (see details below).

My own reason for starting down the off-grid path was as much about money as it was ecological. I wanted a place of my own and I couldn’t afford anything except a shepherd’s hut in the mountains. But I was smitten with the pleasure of leaving “the system” behind every time I set off up the tiny pass to my little home.

Fuel and technology

At first I relied on bottled water, bottled gas and a diesel generator for power and hot water. But over the years steady modifications have made me less reliant on hydrocarbon fuel.

I gather rainwater in a 40,000-litre tank, use wood burning stoves for heating and cooking. Wind-up torches and LED lamps have almost eliminated the need for electricity for lighting, and I have a wind-up gramophone for my 78rpm records.

But the hire car provides vital backup – a CD player and a reliable steady supply of power via the cigar lighter, and an inverter for charging phones and my computer. And the mobile Internet means that I can work off-grid and earn a living without being forced into farming.

Energy and power

In the decade since I first went off-grid, the technology has come a long way. Batteries are smaller and more powerful, solar panels and wind turbines are more robust, and becoming cheaper. Plus, the gadgets that we take for granted have become more portable and less energy hungry.

Whether your electricity comes from solar, wind turbines or hydropower, you will probably have some storage batteries and either run a 12 volt or a 240 volt system. Now let’s be honest, most people choose a diesel generator as backup. But even if you were to get all your power from the generator you would still be helping the environment. If you are not connected to the mains you are simply much more careful about conserving your energy.

The off-grid community

Around 100,000 people in the UK are thought to be living off-grid in rural cottages, urban houseboats, vans and caravans and, in at least one case, in a Mongolian-style yurt. And there are perhaps as many again doing it part time.

It is not necessarily an easy choice – many have fought bitter battles with the local council planning department to be allowed to live this way. But whatever the reason for your interest, going off-grid does not have to be an all or nothing life changing decision. It’s something you can do for a few weeks, or even a few hours.

Ease your way in

Try rough camping or wild walking – camping for a few days somewhere that does not have mains power, lavatory blocks or washing machines. Even a humble picnic counts as an off-grid experience of sorts, albeit the most watered down kind. Then if you like it, you can always go up to the next step.

And going off-grid is now actually comfortable – even luxurious. To write my book, I spent six months touring the UK in a camper van and visited some stunning architect-designed homes and expensively modified farmhouses. It’s not just the poor who have taken to living off-grid.

Get off-grid ready

Assuming you don’t have the option to go fully off-grid, you could consider getting yourself off-grid ready – preparing for the unexpected moment when power or water runs out. And meanwhile reducing your own consumption of grid supplied resources.

You could take your spare room off-grid, install a composting loo in your garden or terrace and get a bicycle, for goodness sake, if you do not already have one. With no more than a few hours preparation you will be able to bask in the knowledge that even if you use the grid, you are no longer dependent on it.

And you won't need to buy all those books that tell you how to reduce your carbon footprint because you will already have been there and done that.

Nick Rosen is a journalist, documentary maker and author of How to Live Off-Grid, a guide to modern living without mains power or water. He is editor of www.off-grid.net