Getting Off the Grid

The energy grid, which the majority of the world lives within and depends upon, provides freedom at the same time as it robs recipients of freedom. If you live on the grid, you enjoy the freedom of available energy-for a charge-and without discrimination. However, in accepting to live on the grid, you also forfeit the freedom to be self-sustaining.
Surviving off the grid means more manual labor and a more concentrated effort on the part of those who attempt it, but along with the extra workload you get the satisfaction of no more electrical and gas bills, and a monumental feeling of accomplishment.
When getting off the grid, the first thing a homeowner will need to address is a viable source of heat. In this instance, you could learn from America's early settlers, who were in the same boat when winter arrived to their sod homes, so many years ago. They needed shelters that could endure the weather, and they needed some form of readily accessible heat. Wood was scarce, so they used what they could find, including cow chips. The thin, round disks of dried cow manure scattered about in pastures are free and burn hotter and quicker than wood. Since cow chips also produce plenty of ash, your stove will have to be cleaned out more often. And, yes, cow chips are a waste product. But before you turn your nose up at this idea, remember, it works, and when looking for self-sustaining methods, everything must be examined.

Heating Your Home Without Electricity or Gas:

Convert to a wood- or a corn-burning stove. Due to heat escaping up the chimney, fireplaces are not the perfect source for heating an entire home, but a fireplace will heat a room nicely. Corn burns hot and clean and is one of the newest sources of heating available. Remember, however, that the price of corn will rise along with the need. If you can grow your own corn, you may have the perfect setup. But, remember also that corn is a crop that must be rotated often as it depletes the ground, and corn must also be harvested and stored. Any time you store a food source you also have to be concerned with pests such as rats, raccoons and squirrels.
Add extra insulation to the house, especially the attic, where heat escapes, and around doors and windows or anyplace a draft is detected. Installsolar panels and tap into the sun's energy.

Creating Your Own Energy

Powering small appliances, such as a TV, cell phone, laptop or radio, can be done through the use of a bicycle, a small generator and a battery. Order plans to create a bicycle generator stand or order the bicycle stand already completed for you, then simply drop the back wheel of your own bicycle into the slot, hook up the battery and start pedaling. As the wheel turns, it spins the generator and the generator collects the energy you create. One hour of pedaling will produce approximately 200 watts of power.