Off-the-grid

Off-the-grid is a system and lifestyle designed to help people function without the support of remote infrastructure, such as an electrical grid. In electricity, off-grid can be stand-alone power system or microgrids typically to provide a smaller community with electricity.Incomplete DIY Wind generator systemA PV-solar systemSchematic of an active solar heating systemA HVAC heat pump systemTreatment ponds can be used for purifying waterHeat and cold storage may be combined with heat pumps for use in the domestic greenhouse or to heat the house itself Off-the-grid is a system and lifestyle designed to help people function without the support of remote infrastructure, such as an electrical grid. In electricity, off-grid can be stand-alone power system or microgrids typically to provide a smaller community with electricity. Off-grid electrification is an approach to access electricity used in countries and areas with little access to electricity, due to scattered or distant population. The term off-the-grid (OTG) can refer to living in a self-sufficient manner without reliance on one or more public utilities. Namely the electrical grid. People who adopt this lifestyle are called off-gridders. Off-the-grid homes aim to achieve autonomy; they do not rely on one or more of municipal water supply, sewer, gas, electrical power grid, or similar utility services. A common misconception is that a true off-grid house is able to operate completely independently of all traditional public utility services. Although this is not the case. The term 'off the grid' traditionally refers to the electrical grid only. The idea has been recently popularized by certain celebrities including Ed Begley, Jr. who stars in the Living with Ed television show on the Home & Garden Television (HGTV) network. Actress Daryl Hannah promotes off-grid living and constructed her home in Colorado according to those principles, as does survival expert and Dual Survival co-star Cody Lundin, who lives in a self-designed, passive solar earth house in the high-desert wilderness of Northern Arizona, collecting rainwater, composting waste, and paying nothing for utilities. Electrical power can be generated on-site with renewable energy sources such as solar (particularly with photovoltaics), wind, micro hydro, geothermal; with a generator or Micro combined heat and power with adequate fuel reserves. Such a system is called a stand-alone power system or sometimes referred to as a Hybrid power system. In addition, it is possible to simply eliminate electric power such as in Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonite communities.