Living Off the Grid

When blackouts roll around Southern California, as they tend to do, Jules Dervaes could easily become the most popular guy on the block. Since 2004, Dervaes (pronounced Dur-VAYS) and his three adult children have lived almost completely off the electric grid. That means that while his neighbors scramble for flashlights in the dark during an outage, the Dervaes family, who live in Pasadena, barely blink. Their Path to Freedom project (pathtofreedom.com) has converted a one-tenth-acre suburban tract house into an energy-self-sufficient homestead. Like the majority of suburban “off-gridders,” the Dervaeses remain connected to public power (paying a little extra for “green” power from wind generators), but much of the time their electric meter runs backwards as excess power from their solar panels flows into the system. This give-and-take leaves them with an electric bill and a “carbon footprint” that often approaches zero.

In fact, the City of Pasadena has taken notice by including the family’s home as a stop on a green bus tour. Says Jules Dervaes, “We had almost 80 people tour our house. The city was showing it off as a green example to get the citizens to follow suit.”

The Dervaes family is part of a fast-growing population around the world who choose to make themselves independent from the public utility grid, usually powering their houses through solar energy. One set of solar panels converts the sun’s energy into electricity. Another set of solar panels heats water. The Dervaes family also uses a solar oven to cook their food. Except for a television and a room full of computers for the Path to Freedom Project, their lifestyle is low-tech. “It is pretty comical to see people’s reaction,” says Jules Dervaes. “It is an old homestead, but it is pretty high-tech in this room. Inside this one room, we’re wired. We’re really plugged in.”

Not all off-the-grid houses are small, and size is not necessarily a measure of carbon footprint. Gerald Whipple, president of Solar Unlimited in Utah, says he’s put solar on homes with as much as 6,300 square feet. Even some major Hollywood players have placed solar panels on their homes, such as Julia Roberts, who has a $20 million Malibu mansion. A well-designed mansion in a temperate climate may get by with minimal heating or air conditioning and actually use less energy than a modest house in a more extreme climate. That said, not everyone in the off-the-grid movement agrees about placing solar panels on an abundantly large home.

“You see articles where people are building McMansions and they put solar on top and say, ‘Now we’re okay,’” Dervaes says. “They didn’t change their lifestyle. They’re having this little shell game going on and save a little bit here and spend it someplace else. It is not a game where you can do partials. We’re looking at holistic changes. It is everything.”

Lisa Stevenson, who lives completely off the grid in south-central Alaska, started powering her mountain home with solar power 13 years ago. Before that, she lived without electricity, using a wood-burning stove and lamps for heat and light. She walks the walk when it comes to creating an off-the-grid lifestyle that respects the earth. “This whole place is like a temple,” says Stevenson, who has a newborn daughter. “To be able to sit in the quiet of the mountains and not be disrupted by all the busyness that goes on in town — that’s half the reason to live off the grid for me. I live here because it’s the most peaceful place I can imagine. I don’t need to bring all that high-speed stuff that makes noise into my environment.” In fact, though it would cost upwards of $76,000 to connect her mountain home to the grid, she maintains that she wouldn’t take grid power if it were offered for free.

“It’s pretty harmful to our world, all the ways we decide to produce power,” Stevenson says. “Especially with coal and power plants. That’s the direction they want to go in Alaska. It’s even more incentive to stay away from it and find healthier alternatives.”

HELPING YOUR COMMUNITY GO SOLAR
Lisa Max, a 64-year-old grandmother in San Raphael, California, hoped to help the environment as well cut her $350-a-month electric bill by going solar. She also knew that 66 households in nearby Portola Valley had banded together to get a community discount on solar installation. So Max went door to door, distributing flyers in her neighborhood to see who else might be interested. Then she went to her neighborhood association, and then to the city’s umbrella group of associations. With nearly 300 interested residents, Max and two other organizers asked for proposals from 15 solar companies. Ten responded.

The least expensive proposal came from a local installer, SPG Solar, and cost about 15 percent less than the average installation. The cost for a 3-kilowatt system for an average home would be $23,820, which could be reduced to $15,220 under California’s $2.20-per-watt rebate program and a federal tax credit of $2,000. With the discount, Max figures her system will pay for itself over about seven years instead of ten. Best of all, SPG offered the same discount to every resident in Marin County. Catalyzed by the huge response, another local company, SolarCity, decided to match the offer.

AN INVESTMENT FOR ALL
Going off the grid means spending many thousands of dollars, as well as a lot of time and aggravation. Says Dervaes, “There’s a steep learning curve.” But the investment changes lives. For the Dervaes family, the decision to go off the grid actually preceded their becoming born-again Christians. Says Jules Dervaes, “There’s a lot of emphasis now on Christians being environmentalists, which is a good change. Life on earth is not permanent, but it doesn’t mean you can’t learn anything. You can’t do as you please. It is a training ground and we have to do our best, taking care of it.”

Whatever your own religious beliefs, exploring life off the grid allows us to face the connection between the power we consume and the damage we do to our planet. For these three families, finding ways to reduce that damage has proven to be a source of great joy.

Rachel Mosteller is a full-time freelance writer. She’s written for the New York Times, American Baby, Plenty, Ladies’ Home Journal, and Redbook.

THINKING ABOUT YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT?

Almost all our actions — from the foods we eat to the clothes we buy — affect our carbon footprint. But the biggest contributors are travel needs and energy demands at home.

WHO LIVES WITH YOU / Divorce can double a family’s carbon footprint. Housemates are environmentally friendly.

IF YOU ARE BUILDING A HOME / Properly orienting the structure to the sun can reduce heating and cooling energy demands by 15 percent. Good insulation can reduce usage by 40 percent or more.

QUICK FIXES / Switch to fluorescent bulbs, which can save 75 percent compared to incandescent bulbs. Unplug “phantom power” hogs such as large-screen TVs, which use almost as much power when they are turned off. Buy energy-efficient appliances approved by Energy Star. For more recommendations, see energystar.gov.