Sustainable Living


 We live "off the grid", which means that we have no public utilities where cables need to reach our house (we do use cell phones and have broadband internet). Instead, we use solar power to charge batteries. Now, in NH winters there isn't a lot of sun, so we also use a propane-powered generator to generate the additional electricity we need.

Electricity is needed for all the normal things you can think of, including light bulbs, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and computers, and it's also used to pump water from our well.

Propane is used to directly power our stove, refrigerator, and hot water heater. This is more efficient than first generating electricity and storing it in batteries.
Since we want to reduce our reliance on others for our needs, we are experimenting with other ways to generate electricity. One thing we're working on is a wood gassifier. We'd also like to design a mechanism to have our oxen power a turbine that generates electricity.
Since we want to reduce our reliance on others for our needs, we are experimenting with other ways to generate electricity. One thing we do is collect rain water, which is used both for gardening and for animals. We use a wood stove to heat our house.
Coming soon... Alternative energy Energy conservation Water collection Homesteading Raising animals Gardening Community connections

Want to know more? Want to work on new energy ideas? Drop us a line!