![]() Microhydro systems are quite popular for off-grid homes in the Pacific Northwest, thanks to the hills, mountains, and rain. It’s especially appealing to me to, then, to install a mini waterwheel should I have the good fortune to build a home with a creek or stream on the land. I was born and raised in Sheffield, England, where there are seven rivers and a long history of industry powered by waterwheels. I got a little bit obsessed with microhydro a few years back but as I lived in the city at the time, there wasn’t much opportunity to give it a whirl. Some off-grid homes in my local environs use microhydro systems to generate power. ![]() You may even want to consider a green roof, but only if you have the right structure to support it and a seriously good membrane in place to make sure you don’t have leaks. Instead of growing your food indoors, build your raised beds and a greenhouse close by that you can gaze at fondly from the other side of your thermal windows that are blissfully free from condensation. Your best bet for an eco-friendly off-grid home is to take advantage of passive heating and cooling as it works best for your lot orientation, climate, and lifestyle. This will mean you need to use more energy heating and/or dehumidifying your home, making it more difficult to live sustainably off-grid. Walls cannot dry out when they’re stuffed into the earth itself, and using the wrong kind of construction materials, improper insulation, or none at all, can quickly cause your home to become damp. below ground), such as an earth-sheltered home, also poses some serious challenges for moisture control. Building an off-grid home below grade (i.e. Growing plants indoors is not the only cause of high humidity and associated mold and mildew, though. That said, if humidity is too high, which happens when you have a lot of plants in your home, you’ll get mildew, mold, and all the problems associated with these, including asthma, allergic rhinitis, eczema, respiratory infections, and even rheumatism. A lot lower than that and you’ll get cracked lips and nosebleeds (I visited Ontario in winter this year and boy did I miss the humidity in BC). To stay healthy, you need the air in your home to be at around 50%. I’m a big fan of growing my own food but trying to do this to any extent inside your home will set up an epic battle between your plants and your dehumidifier. There are also benefits to ditching the dream of an attached solarium or greenhouse. This can lower your energy consumption and heating costs dramatically. HRVs are mandatory in many jurisdictions to adhere to building codes, they are also required for LEED qualification as well as for several other systems, including Passivhaus and Novoclimat, and for good reason a top of the line HRV can recover up to 90% of the heat from air as it is vented from your home. You will also want to think about installing an effective energy and/or heat recovery ventilator (ERV, HRV) system in your home. This will reduce your reliance on electricity and other heat sources, meaning that you can meet your needs with a much smaller solar array or wind turbine. In almost all cases, you will be better off building in energy efficiencies to your off-grid home rather than trying to figure out how to meet higher energy demands in a sustainable way.įor instance, by altering the shape, design, and foundation of your home you can limit opportunities for heat loss and install more insulation. ![]() If you’re committed to the off-grid lifestyle but have some qualms about relying on a gas generator or propane for cooking and heat, read on. ![]() Put simply, if living off-grid is actually going to increase your carbon footprint, consider why it’s so appealing to you, if it’s really necessary, and if there are more eco-friendly ways to do it. It should also be noted that propane is one of the worst fuels to use for indoor cooking as it poses a serious risk to indoor air quality. If you’re looking more for a back-up system in case of emergencies, this will probably look quite different to a system that is designed to meet all your needs 24/7. If the same is true where you live, consider whether your tiny home design really needs to have a propane-powered stove and heating system or use up precious metals and other materials in order to have a snazzy solar array or wind turbine. In fact, in Canada as a whole, renewable energy sources currently provide about 18.9% of the country’s total primary energy supply, and this is growing. In BC, where I live, most of the electrical grid is fed by renewable energy sources, including hydroelectric and wind power. ![]()
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