Fed up with relying on expensive mains suppliers to provide your water and energy? What if you could harvest your own water and energy instead? While costly to set up, it’s possible to save a lot of money in the long run by going off-grid. It can also be a practical option for homes in remote areas or locations with frequent outages. On top of this, there are environmental benefits to ditching mains suppliers.
Just how do you take your utilities off-grid? In this post, we’ll explore some of the methods and some of the important considerations you’ll need to make.
Power
There are several different ways in which you can generate your own electricity. The most popular option is to use solar panels. The average home will require at least 10 to 14 solar panels (roughly a 4 kW or 5 kW system) to cover its entire electricity needs. By working with a solar installation company, you can explore different types of systems and work out where best to position your panels. A decent battery will be required to store energy so that you can still power your home at night.
In windy areas, installing wind turbines could be an alternative option. Hydroelectric power is meanwhile a solution for homes with rivers or streams on site.
Water
One of the most historic and reliable ways to harvest one’s own water is to dig a private well. This allows you to tap into water underground – it is suitable for homes that are close to the water table. Collecting rainwater is an alternative option for homes located in higher locations that get a lot of rainfall.
When installing any water harvesting system, you will need to set up a high-quality filtration and purification system to make sure that water is clean and safe to drink. This will need to be regularly serviced to ensure that your water meets health standards.
Waste
A lot of homeowners looking to go off-grid overlook what they will do with their wastewater. In most cases, a septic tank is the best solution – an underground tank for disposing of sewage. This needs to be installed somewhere safe and legal. Make sure to look into the different factors that could influence your septic tank lifespan and determine how viable it is long term.
Compositing toilets are another option if you’re just looking to dispose of waste from your toilet. Choose between a self-contained system or a split system depending on how much waste you think you will create.
Heating
It’s possible to rely on electric heating powered by solutions like solar panels or wind turbines. However, there are other off-grid heating options that could also be worth considering if you live somewhere that regularly gets cold. This includes biomass boilers that burn wood pellets to provide heat, LPG heaters that use bottled gas or ground heat pumps that use heat from the ground.
Different heating options come with different costs and legal requirements. When it comes to biomass boilers and LPG heaters, you will need to order an ongoing supply of wood pellets or bottled gas, which may end up costing more than using an energy supplier in some cases.
