Thursday, October 8, 2009

Do It. Go Off the Grid


Have you ever thought of living off the grid? It used to be a radical objective. It was quite out of the ordinary to have a solar powered home or to generate your own windmill electricity. It's not remarkable any more. Between environmental issues and monetary ones, there are a lot of reasons why living off the grid is no more than realistic. The never-ending requirements for fossil fuels have brought danger to humanity. Reflect for a minute on all of the ways that that is true. Burning fossil fuels accelerates climate change, compromising the habitats of plant and animal life alike, and having severe consequences for humanity as well. The availability of fossil fuels will never increase even as demand does, so future energy prices are sure to be exorbitant. Globally, former developing economies have now developed to the point where they use more and more energy, the largest part of it generated from fossil fuels. So the environmental and monetary issues of using non-renewable energy sources will only mushroom in the future.

But by going off the grid, you can announce energy freedom from such dire future consequence and reclaim your self-sufficiency. If you live in a solar powered home, or a home powered by windmill electricity, you can save money, live free of fear about the availability of fuel sources and do your own very significant part in reversing environmental impairment leading to climate change.

So do it. Go off the grid. Make your house a solar powered home. Or make the change to windmill electricity. If you do so, you will find:

* You will be free of the tyranny of public utilities, with their fee increases, rolling brown-outs, and likely limitations on power consumption. Do you yearn to heat your shower hotter than you can currently afford? Go ahead. Would you like better to launder your clothing in hot water, not cold? The freedom is yours.

* You will be able to use electricity to your heart's content without needing to feel frugal feeling an obligation to be frugal. You won't need to be bothered about your monthly bill. If you want Christmas lights, a sizeable chandelier, or a sauna, you will be able to make your selection without stinting. You won't need to scrimp and save on lights or temperature if you get your lights and heat from the wind blowing or the sun shining.

* If you generate your own solar or wind power, you will emancipate yourself from your monthly bills. The money that used to go out the door will stay in your bank account. And what will you do with it? That's entirely up to you. See the world? Quit work early? Invest in fine art? Use up it on beer? Hey, it's your dough. And it will remain your money if you don't have to shell out for a monthly electric bill.

* You will do your part to make the earth a greener place. The climate change emergency will be eased by your contribution. And generations yet to come will benefit from your knowing preference. Climate change is a international challenge that will require overall cooperation to solve it. You can help. Your choice to generate your own power using sun and wind will help to save humanity.

Perhaps you hesitate to turn your own residence into a solar powered home or to make the move to windmill electricity because the retrofit would be demanding, costly and not worth it. But you can do it, even if you don't have the skills of a handyman. A home solar panel installation can cost less than $200. Residential wind turbines are less than $150. Visit Earth4Energy to find out more about how you too can go off the grid.

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