We get this question a lot, so let’s try to explain it simply. The original term “off-grid” was more commonly known as being disconnected from the utility power grid. I looked up the formal definition and it now seems to encompass 1 or more utility companies, not simply electric. So, for our family, when we say we are building an off-grid home, we actually mean off-grid from all utilities (gas, water, electric).
We will be generating our electricity from solar panels and storing in batteries. We will also be capturing and storing rain water which will be gravity fed to our home. This post wasn’t meant to get into the details of HOW each system will be built, but just to lay down some basic answers to common questions we get.
The next most common question we get is “What if you run out?” (Of power or water). We’ve done the math (that’s the fun part) and have been able to create what we believe to be a safe buffer in the event we don’t have rain or sun for a period of time. We’ve also made sure we had backups with an on-site spring in the event we lose water as a propane generator in the event we lose power. A great deal of time and effort went into calculating our system size as we didn’t want to build too big or too small, but those details are for another post. I’ll probably start with the water design first as it’s short and far simpler to understand, then I’ll follow up with the solar design.