Living off-grid looks increasingly appealing

Ever felt like getting away from it all? Away from noise, pollution, traffic jams and vapour trails – not to mention most utility bills and, of course, the occasional pandemic.

Going off-grid is an old dream, commemorated weekly on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, but it has always had a particular appeal for selfbuilders. Part of it is the idea of complete, or near-complete, self-sufficiency, part the prospect of living in a fully sustainable way, but the initial impulse is often prompted by finance. A quarter-acre plot for £40,000 in Orkney, boasting panoramic sea views – recently featured in PlotBrowser – can look like a good deal compared to 110 square metres in Banbury, Oxfordshire, seeking offers up to £100,000 (another PlotBrowser item).

Even living partially off-grid can be an expensive option.

But, as many of the four million UK households that lack access to mains gas can confirm, living even partially off-grid can be an expensive option. According to the Energy Saving Trust, while heating a typical three-bedroom semi-detached house will cost on average £1,100 a year for gas, oil will cost £1,280 and LPG £1,630.

And that doesn’t take into account other utilities, including electricity, water, sewerage and internet connection, all of which may have to be brought in. In the case of a particularly remote location, vehicular access may have to be built, or existing access roads or tracks upgraded, either of which will then need regular maintenance.

On the other hand, even the most straightforward self-build project can turn out to be the equivalent – emotionally, at least – of hewing a log cabin out of snake-infested rainforest, or possibly erecting the first Mars base. So let’s see what a functioning off-grid build project would need.

Finding the right plot, as in all self builds, is the first hurdle and the less populated regions of the UK are an obvious starting point. Local building plots and renovation opportunities are also likely to have access to, or come with, basic utilities.

You may decide later not to use them, or keep them only as a backup, but for the building stage, especially if you are living on site, they are going to make life a lot easier.

You may also be able to benefit from regional government assistance. The Welsh government, for example, has adopted a One Planet Development Policy, which allows selfbuilders to circumvent planning rules if they build an eco home in the countryside and then work the land on which it sits.

The Scottish government provides interest-free loans for solid wall insulation of existing properties and up to £17,500 to install renewable energy systems. And there is the UK government’s Renewable Heat Incentive which gives revenues for seven years to homeowners in England, Wales and Scotland installing heat pumps, solar thermal panels or biomass boilers.

The biggest challenge to off-grid living is providing sufficient energy to run a modern appliance-rich home.

The biggest challenge to off-grid living is providing sufficient energy to run a modern appliance-rich home. Using renewable energy will require a combination of solutions, juggling local circumstances and weather conditions.

They include photovoltaic panels, wind turbines and micro hydro-electric power generators, all linked to an inverter and batteries to store surplus electricity and, often, a back-up generator. Specialist companies can work out your energy requirement and create integrated management systems to meet it, as well as providing the associated kit.

These, however, are major investments and it may be financially easier to start with a minimal system and enhance it over time.

Heating, hot water and cooking, meanwhile, are generally less expensive since local timber can be used in solid fuel stoves and range cookers with back boilers powering central heating systems. Surplus heat can also be stored for later use in a thermal store – a large, well-insulated cylinder.

Sewage can be handled with a septic tank or biodigester, which is likely to be already in place in a renovation, or a reed bed, if the plot is large enough and slopes away from the house. If you have a basement, an alternative is a composting toilet. It consists of a shaft dropping vertically from the loo to a double-chambered, independently ventilated tank. Simply toss in a handful of wood shavings after use and twice a year you can extract odourless, non-toxic compost for the garden.

Potentially more of a problem is finding fresh drinking water away from a mains connection. Legally, a single household can use water from a spring, well, watercourse or rainwater, though filtration is advised. Where these sources are unreliable, drilling a borehole may be the only option, but it is an expensive one. If you are planning to heat the home with a ground source heat pump, however, you can recoup some of the cost by using the borehole for the pipework.

All in all, attempting to reproduce all the comforts of urban living in a remote valley or halfway up a Scottish mountainside demands a generous budget as much as dogged perseverance. But perhaps the most successful off-gridders are those who are seeking an alternative to those very comforts.

Perhaps the most successful off-gridders are those who are seeking an alternative to the comforts of urban living.

Like the Watkinson family who took advantage of the Welsh One Planet policy to build a self-sufficient home in rural Pembrokeshire. Their house is built from old horse boxes, caravans and trailers. Electricity comes from solar panels; gas for their oven and hob from a biodigester producing methane.

Around a third of their food is home-grown, while sales of honey and eggs produce a basic income. The only bill they pay is council tax.

May 2020