I'm working on a piece about the "grid." The grid refers to the network of public utilities that urban dwellings connect to. The experiment in off the grid living is a way of life that encompasses green building techniques, organic gardening, and sustainability. Nationwide the phenomenon of off grid is growing. Entire websites and blogs are dedicated to forming online communities and information resources for those who are aiming to live off grid. One of them is Off Grid.net This website is dedicated to the transition of energy from cheap fossil fuels to harnessing the power the sun, wind and water at a hyper local level, your rooftop.
This project is enlightening. It asks the fundamental question, to what extent will our nation survive without cheap energy. The U.S. is entering a time of change, a period some refer to as 'peak oil'. This idea of peak oil in says that we as a nation and a planet have reached our maximum output of fossil fuels and that from now on we are running out of things like coal and petroleum.
As you may have learned in grade school coal and petroleum are the product of organic materials compressed under layers and layers of sediment and naturally converted into fossil fuels. That process takes hundreds of years. Our planet's energy needs cannot sustain itself on fossil fuels for much longer.
Thousands of people world wide are now living sustainable lifestyles with minimal energy consumption by going off grid. Some are using solar power to keep their homes cool and t.v.'s on while others are using wind power to do keep the E=MC2 flowing through their wires.
One part of this project that I never considered until more recently was the fact that our wastewater and wastewater processing is responsible for consuming huge amounts of energy. An answer to this is composting toilets. A composting toilet is an environmentally conscientious answer to the grid wastewater.
