We live at the edge of the suburbs. We have city water and are connected to the the natural gas service and electrical grid of the utility companies. However, a benefit we have is the old wells here are still functional. The new sewer lines coming through caused all the homes to be forced to disconnect from septic systems and hook up to the public sewer. No problem. Sewer pipes do not fail like water and electricity can. We have an emergency water supply with the wells and were now looking at solar panels prices to have an emergency electricity supply.

In learning more about it, we discovered that we could probably go off grid from electricity altogether. The house had a furnace that burned wood alongside a natural gas furnace. We could install solar panels and batteries to power lights, well pumps, refrigeration and other needs. Continue reading →