The Sunday Read

Recent news about off-grid life from around the interwebs

The best and worst states to go off-grid

We need a study like this in Canada: LawnStarter, which seems to be some improbable site dealing with lawn care and landscaping, has a list of 2021’s best and worst states for off-grid living. Damn! That’s what I say. They’ve nailed it.

The company parsed a ton of data to “help you find the best state for your own small, sustainable slice of heaven.” They examined all 50 U.S. states, and even included that aspirational state the District of Columbia, comparing” key factors, from average per-acre cost of farmland to legality of rainwater harvesting to average monthly temperature.”

Okay. I’ll cut to the chase. The worst? (Because that’s what you really wanted to know, right?) District of Columbia (well, of course. It’s not even a real state, right?), Alaska (that’s surprising; you figure everyone trying to get off-grid is immediately heading there; Into The Wild, anyone?), and Nevada.

Topping the list is Kentucky and the rest may be found here

The ranking criteria included highest and lowest potential for solar power, average cost for farm land, and more. Consider this, for example: “Although Alaska has plenty of out-of-the-way places to build your cabin, it also has worse infrastructure and a more extreme climate, which increases costs.”

LawnStarter also included an “Ask the experts” section. Overall, it’s one of the best posts I’ve seen on helping people (at least in the lower 50) pick their ideal off-grid location.

Everyone wants solar…but the installers are bleeding cash

While more and more homeowners, on and off the grid, clamour for solar panels, the companies doing the installations are bleeding money. The New York Times reports “Sunrun and Sunnova, two of the nation’s biggest home solar companies, lost a combined $500 million in the first nine months of the year, and their operations and purchases of solar systems collectively used up $1.3 billion in cash.”

The problem? The Times says residential solar is “a fiercely competitive and expensive business, and Sunrun and Sunnova must contend with hundreds of smaller rivals, many of which have been turning a profit for years.”

Do we have a happy ending? Er…not likely. “There have been very few success stories,” Vikram Aggarwal told the Times. He’s the founder and chief executive of EnergySage, which helps consumers compare solar installers. “Practically everyone who has tried this has failed. The road is littered with dead bodies.”

Does that mean the industry is a boondoggle? Not at all. “There is a good business here,” Joseph Osha, an equity research analyst with JMP Securities, told the Times. “The financials are tremendously complex.”

And the paper of record noted that with more people at home because of the pandemic, “some have realized that solar panels could help them reduce monthly energy costs while protecting them against blackouts.”

News report: Chinese solar companies employ forced labour

It’s a never-ending conundrum. You want to do the right thing, be sustainable, and then - it just goes to shit And that’s frustrating.

The New York Times is reporting that some of the world’s largest solar companies are implicated in forced labour in China. The story alleges that a “report adds to a growing list of companies that have been accused of relying on coerced labor from Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in China, either in their own factories or those of their suppliers.”

The Times story goes on to report that “together, the solar companies named in the report supply more than a third of the world’s polysilicon, which is refined from rock and turned into the solar panels that end up on rooftops and utility energy projects, including those in the United States and Europe.”

Adds Nathan Picarsic, a founder of Horizon Advisory, in the New York Times: “If Americans are buying solar panels made with materials from these Chinese companies, he said, ‘“I would say you are complicit in perpetuating this Chinese industrial policy that suppresses and disenfranchises human beings.”’

Again, why it’s important to define off-grid

And, finally, a follow-up on my post earlier about the importance of defining and owning the phrase off-grid. This story appeared in the Maple Ridge - Pitt Meadow News, a local B.C. paper: ‘Hope for the best, prepare for the worst:’ More Canadians interested in survivalism.”

Here’s what the paper reported: “Many Canadians were not prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic, but Dave MacDonald wasn’t one of them.

While some people rushed to stores to buy toilet paper and food, MacDonald was living peacefully at his remote home in southern Manitoba with his wife and two sons.

They live “off-grid” near the town of Lac du Bonnet and grow about half their own food in their backyard. MacDonald also hunts.

“I don’t even need toilet paper,” the 55-year-old says.

“I can use snow, leaves or my hands. Snow is most stimulating.”

Oh, damn.

We just use a flush toilet and paper in this house.

Weirdo.

And we’re off-grid.

Apparently MacDonald is quite the guy. He seems to be Johnny-on-the-spot when shit goes down.

“MacDonald, who teaches survivalist courses, also had a long career as a search-and-rescue specialist with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

“I’ve seen plane crashes. I’ve seen boats on fire. I’ve seen people fall overboard. I’ve seen helicopters crash. I’ve seen trains derail. I’ve seen factories explode. I’ve seen wars break out everywhere,” he says.”

Again, in the media - and this was a Canadian Press wire service story - we fail to see any distinction between the different types of folks off-grid. The story goes on to say: Ryan Pearce, 35, of Saskatoon doesn’t live off-grid. He says he is a hobbyist who enjoys learning bush craft.

“His online group called “Preppers & Survivalists of Canada” has more than 6,000 members. Since the pandemic began, the group has seen a 50 per cent increase in participants, he says.

“Some of them are moms asking, ‘How do I refrigerate my meat like our grandparents used to do?’ or just preparing food out of your gardens or hunting,” Pearce says.”

And some of us are just folks living off-grid. Period.