A Life Un-plugged

The night before our move, I lay in bed worrying about the fate of my coffee maker. My precious coffee maker, along with a pile of other “high wattage” plug-in appliances, was in a box by the door for a one-way trip to Goodwill.

Bright and early the next morning my husband and I were moving into our dream house—a little chalet, perched on the side of a mountain with forever views. The only caveat was this house was “off-the-grid.”

We didn’t “plan” to live off-grid. We considered ourselves to be environmentally conscious. We recycled—but I was quite attached to leaving the lights on. My previous mountain home was on a north facing slope. I loved to brighten it up by turning as many lights on as I could. It never occurred to me that I would have to get used to turning off the lights.

Now my husband was educating me on watts and amps and such. What? A watt? We were culling anything that stayed “plugged-in.” Besides getting rid of my coffee maker, I was being prepped for using my hair dryer less (not so much of a concern), vacuuming during the daytime only (again, not a concern), hanging laundry on the line to dry (the delicious smell of the outdoors on my clothes—no problem there). But turning out the lights—this was concerning!

It all started in July of 2003 when we first fell in love. With our house, that is. After walking a mile down a jeep-trail of a road, through a grove of shimmering Aspen, the view began to emerge—a vast expanse of mountains, cloud striations and the statuesque Pikes Peak sixty miles to the south. The grand finale was a sweet profile of a house looking out over the magnificent and awe-inspiring view. But what was this “off-grid” thing?

I will take a moment to define “off-grid” as I have found that even my most savvy and well-informed friends are uninformed in this area. Off-grid means not being connected to (or dependent upon) an electrical power grid. It means being self-sufficient and being able to generate one’s own power. However, in reality being completely off-grid is not always the most efficient way to utilize alternative energy sources. Remote locations (such as ours) often require it. But in fact, when one has a solar system and is also grid tied it can be a much more efficient arrangement. The grid itself is a superior energy storing mechanism. We store our power in a block of golf-cart batteries. After a few dark days we need to run our generator (which of course does require an account with the local propane company.)

Living this way took some getting used to. We needed to produce more energy than we consumed which required discipline. As part of our décor in our living room, we have a wall mounted device which informs us of the remaining available power (much like a gas gauge in a car). We made some mistakes too—we bought a gorgeous duel fuel stove, had it delivered, only to realize that duel fuel meant the oven was electric and it sucked more “juice” than our system could handle. The stove was quickly returned!

We looked at where we could conserve and what could we cut out. I became willing to turn off lights as I left a room and we changed all of our light bulbs to compact fluorescents. Even our Christmas tree lights are now LED. This quiet, less consumptive lifestyle became intriguing, then intoxicating. We even got rid of our television.

What we have “given up” has been well worth it and what we have gained has been priceless. I wouldn’t trade this environmentally friendly lifestyle for anything. And you should know we are now famous among our friends for the coffee we concoct—freshly ground beans brewed in a French press, add in a teaspoon of cardamom, cream and agave nectar and served in Colorado-made ceramic mugs. If you haven’t guessed already, I don’t even miss my coffee maker anymore!

Article previously published in The Mountain Connection, Evergreen Colorado

Kristen Moeller is a life coach, a radio show host, a speaker and the author of the soon to be released book “Waiting for Jack.” Please contact her by visiting www.waitingforjack.com