WEBVTT - Getting Off the Grid 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:07.280 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.440 --> 0:00:14.960 Forward Thinking. Hey there, everyone, Welcome to Forward Thinking, the 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:17.079 podcast that looks in the future and says back to 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:19.599 the howling Old Alan the Woods, hunting the hornyback Toad. 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:24.919 I'm Jonathan Strickland, I'm Lauren Vocal Bam, and I'm Jill McCormick. So, guys, 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:30.240 we have a listener request to answer we wanted. You know, 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:32.960 we invite our listeners at the end of every episode 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:36.319 to send in any request they might have for us 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:38.400 to cover in the future, and this is one of 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:41.159 those episodes. So first we have to give a big 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.800 thank you to Sylvia Ramsey who wrote in and asked 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:48.120 us to address a few things. And she was thinking 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:50.400 of I think several different podcasts, but we kind of 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:53.440 lump them all into one in a way because they 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:56.120 all seem to have a similar theme. So here is 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:59.200 the request. I listened to the podcast all the time. 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:02.160 Could we have some shows about the technologies used to 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:05.720 be more self reliant? For example, how electricity can be 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:09.880 generated on a household level cheaply and sustainably, or passive 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:11.640 heating and cooling of the home. What are the new 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:15.520 technologies to retrofit an older home to decrease energy use. 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:18.680 Can I make fuel for my car at home? Do 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:21.640 we have to use food crops to make ethanol? Also, 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:24.360 I'd like to know a little more about regenerating soil 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:27.039 that has been degraded by too much tilling or pesticides 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:30.640 and fertilizer where you have no more remaining carbon and 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:33.319 too much saline, so that it will grow food again. 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:35.760 So that's a lot of stuff, but it all kind 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:38.640 of fits in this whole idea of self reliance fits 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:41.880 on this idea of getting off the grid, not relying 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:47.120 on the things that are provided by various companies and 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:50.560 government agencies that make up what we think of as society, 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:54.320 and becoming this more kind of self reliant unit. And 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:57.160 this could be something that takes place in the middle 0:01:57.240 --> 0:01:59.960 of a city. It could be one of those scenario 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:01.920 where you're saying, this is it. I'm gonna be a 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:04.600 hermit in the woods. Either way, you know you have 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:06.800 to start taking into consideration how are you going to 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:11.200 make this happen without too huge an impact on the 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:14.640 life you are used to. Why is it always the woods? 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:16.800 Why can't you be a hermit in the desert or 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:19.800 a hermit in the tundra. You can be a hermit 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:22.320 at either of those places. It's just getting at water 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:25.160 is a lot more challenging in both cases. What about 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.840 a hermit in the sea, A hermit on the fertile planes, 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:31.280 I think is probably the ultimate. Yeah, hermit in the 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:34.280 woods is actually pretty tough to carry out, too, especially 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:37.600 if you want electricity. Electrically speaking, if you don't want electricity, 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:40.960 it's easy, but electricity is a big is a big problem. 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:44.359 If you expect to have that in your life, then 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:47.040 the woods may not be the best choice. Well, first 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:49.520 we should talk about why it is that people would 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:52.440 want to be self reliant and get off the grid, 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:55.600 because it has taken our species hundreds of thousands of 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:59.320 years to get on the grid. I have electricity, I 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:04.600 have running water, I have communication services like telephone, internet, 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:07.880 I have all these wonderful things. I have easy access 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:11.919 to food that I don't have to grow myself. It 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:15.400 makes life pretty easy. So what are the reasons people 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:20.000 would have for wanting to disconnect from all of this convenience. Well, 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:23.720 I mean, we've got the whole self reliance at angle, 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:27.280 This idea of being independent and not having to depend 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:30.919 upon others. One of the big issues of this world 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:33.000 that we live in is that a lot of people. 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:36.520 In fact, I would argue most people don't have the 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:40.920 knowledge or skill sets necessary to survive without that system. 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:45.720 So we are not like Cormick McCarthy protagonists. We know 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:50.120 where all the people who died before the story started, right, 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:54.040 We don't have those survival skills and we don't have 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:57.400 the equipment we would need if the apocalypse came. So 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:00.200 part of it is just this idea of being elf 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:03.560 reliant puts you in a better spot. You know, whether 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:05.680 you think the worst could happen or you just think 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:10.320 this is something that's important to me. From a philosophical standpoint, 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:12.800 I'm saying that I want to be able to do this, 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:17.359 and furthermore, I'm not comfortable perhaps taking this much from 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:21.039 the rest of society. Right then, you have the idea 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:25.280 of the people who want privacy. Yes, the folks who 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:29.040 value their privacy are obviously going to want to find 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:31.160 ways to protect that as much as possible. Being on 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:33.880 the grid means you're already giving up quite a bit 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:38.480 of your privacy. Things like how much energy you use 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:41.000 is going to be known at least by the entity 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:44.520 that's providing the energy. And I mean also just just 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:46.520 where you live and how many people know that you're 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:49.760 there and when you're there, when you're using communication devices, 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:53.080 then that definitely starts to give a lot more information. 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.640 The more you rely upon the grid, however you define 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:59.200 that grid not just power grid, but this social structure, 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:02.320 then less privacy you're going to have. And then, of 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:04.600 course some of us, a lot of us, choose to 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:07.520 give up a lot of privacy voluntarily we share things 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:10.920 on these communication systems. A lot of us just don't 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:13.880 think about it, you know, you just kind of unconsciously 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:17.120 give that information away, right like saying things like I'm 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:20.200 really looking forward to this vacation, and you're not thinking, hey, 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:23.040 I've already made it clear where I live, and now 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:25.279 I've also made it clear when I'm not going to 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:29.040 be there, right, that kind of stuff. Then the next 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:31.520 big category, I would say, and by the way, I'm 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:35.160 not suggesting that any person only falls into one category, 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:37.760 or that the three categories I'm talking about are the 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.599 only ones. I'm just kind of identifying the big ones 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:43.640 that I can think of. But one would be just 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:46.880 the environmentally conscious, the people who want to make as 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:51.560 little an environmental impact negative environmental impact as they possibly can. 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.680 And you know, we all know that not all, but 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:57.960 a lot of electricity, depending up on where you live, 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:00.920 can come from sources that end up burning a lot 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:03.080 of fossil fuels, which create a lot of greenhouse gases, 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:05.760 big carbon footprint. Yeah, let's talk about some of the 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:09.160 costs of these grid conveniences like electricity. Yeah, I mean 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:13.240 that's a big one, right. I mean, so in lucky cases, 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:16.720 you might be getting some grid electricity from clean power, right, 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:19.239 or relatively clean power, because, as we talk about pretty 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:22.960 frequently on this show, even something like getting solar energy 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:26.880 from photovoltaics means that someone has to create the photovoltaic material, 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:31.000 which uses a lot of nasty chemicals, right. Or building 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:34.400 a wind turbine also means that the manufacturing process usually 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:36.920 has its own carbon footprint. It's one of those things 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.279 where you start peeling back the layers and you realize 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:42.120 that the big picture is a lot more complicated. Now, 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:46.400 the actual production of energy from that point forward much cleaner. Sure, 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:49.680 And that's great. So what's the number one source of 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:52.560 gride electricity? In the United States. Well, it's our old 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:57.440 friend coal. Yeah, coal, yeah, coal. Coal generates about forty 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:00.280 four percent of all the electricity in the United States. 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:02.560 Is that number as of two thousand and nine. I 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:05.920 think I believe so. And even then you're looking at 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:09.279 you know, that's the largest of all the individual ones, 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:12.080 so everything else makes up the rest. So it's less 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:14.760 than half of all the energy, but still the largest 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:18.840 single slice of the pie. And it's also the source 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:22.240 of sixty seven percent of the nation's sulfur dioxide emissions, 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:26.080 twenty three percent of nitrogen oxide emissions, and forty percent 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:30.040 of man made carbon dioxide emissions, meaning it's the largest 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:34.880 contributor to air pollution. So overall, so there are other 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:38.280 things like transportation that if you take transportation as a 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:42.080 whole in the United States, may produce more carbon dioxide 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:44.480 than power plants. But when you look at all the 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:48.200 pollutants across the board, power generation is the top. That's 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:50.640 the biggest one, especially when you factor in things like 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:54.320 heating and cooling. Right, So, getting off the grid, if 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:57.800 you're able to generate your own electricity, presumably not through 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:01.360 your own backyard coal power plant, you're not going to 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:06.200 be impacting the environment negatively beyond whatever the initial carbon 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:09.680 footprint was of whatever device you've decided to use. Sure, 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:13.200 there might also be the fact that the grid is 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:16.040 producing electricity in a way that might not be the 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:18.679 most efficient or convenient for you. Yeah, in the United 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:22.440 States in particular, we have you know, there's this idea 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:25.480 the smart grid. It's a great idea, and there's some 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.120 places the reality of the dumb grid right right. The 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:30.440 smart grid is something that has been rolled out in 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:33.559 certain areas, but it's not something that's infrastructure wide, right. 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:36.240 The smart grid is this idea of not just is 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:39.760 it delivering electricity, but it's doing it. It's able to 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:44.240 dynamically change over time as conditions change, so it's not 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:49.360 just a system that's constantly at ninety eight percent capacity 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:51.120 like one of the stories you'll read about. If you 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:54.320 look into the power grids in the United States, so 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:57.559 that most of them are almost at full capacity right now, 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:00.559 and if something happens, if demand somehow changes, that can 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:03.920 result in brownouts or blackouts. We've seen that happen multiple times, 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:06.480 especially on the West coast, but in the Northeast not 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:08.520 that long ago, a few years ago, there was a 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.640 massive blackout in the Northeast as well, and it's not 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:15.240 like we can dynamically route power easily through these systems. 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:18.600 A smart grid would have much more flexibility. It also 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:22.079 would allow for if there was an interruption in service. 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:25.600 Often the companies don't know that there's an interruption in 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:29.240 service unless customers start letting them know calling them. The 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:32.760 smart grid would have the ability to let a utility 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:35.679 company know if service had been interrupted in one point, 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:37.800 and they could either re route stuff to make the 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:41.560 affected area as small as possible, or immediately send out 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:45.840 repair crews or both to address the situation right. And 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.880 there's another way that the self reliance may come in. 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:50.480 If you want to get off the grid, well, it 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:53.080 might just be because hey, I want to control my 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:55.120 own production of energy. I don't want to have to 0:09:55.160 --> 0:09:57.960 call the power company and have them tell me, well 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:00.360 it'll be a few days. Yeah, I want I would 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:03.559 like it if if it meant that power was lost 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:05.880 to the entire region I live in, I still have 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:08.880 power because I'm generating my own electricity. I'm not dependent 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:13.280 upon some external resource. I mean, apart from whatever you're 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:15.560 using to get your energy. You like it until your 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:20.920 neighbors come banging on your door to watch your TV. Right, Uh, yeah, exactly, unless, 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:23.120 of course, the blackout is so wide that you can't 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:25.880 pick up anything. And technically, if you were truly off 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:29.040 the grid, you wouldn't have a television. Maybe you could, 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:30.840 you could have over the air. You could have an 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:33.360 over the air like antenna, and you pick up broadcasts 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:36.000 over the air that doesn't have any reflections, so you 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:38.160 would just be able to pick stuff up. But even then, 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:40.760 if it's a full black out of the region, there 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:42.720 aren't going to be any broadcast towers near enough to 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:44.559 you to get to pick anything up. I was kind 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:48.000 of joking anyway. Look, well, you're trying to catch up 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:50.320 on Game of Thrones, and I'm glad that we knitpiced 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:52.480 to death in that case. Yes, that's that's what we do. 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:54.440 That's what we do. We make a joke and then 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:56.920 we drive it into the ground. Let's let's pit more 0:10:57.040 --> 0:11:01.559 let's pit more nicks. Okay, let's pick more nits. No 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:05.120 more nicks, We'll pit more nicks. Okay, Okay, So, Nick Fiery, 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:08.040 let's say you want to get off the grid. This 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.800 idea appeals to you. Yeah, how would you do it, 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:12.560 What are the steps you need to take and what 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:14.920 are the factors you need to consider. Well, all right, 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:17.920 let's assume for the moment that you do want electricity, 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:20.240 all right, because if you don't want electricity, then this 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:23.200 simplifies things quite a bit. But let's assume that you 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:26.640 need electricity for certain things. You have certain conveniences you're 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:30.760 used to. Perhaps you still want to maintain some connection 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:32.880 to the grid with communication devices, like you want to 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:34.880 be able to communicate with loved ones who are still 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:39.120 definitely part of society, or you really enjoy refrigeration. Yep, 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:42.640 that's another big one. If you don't have a plentiful 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:45.640 fresh food source that's going to be available all year round, 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:48.680 then you're going to need something to keep that food preserved. 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:53.240 And perhaps you are not great at pickling everything. So yeah, 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:57.560 it's necessary. So yeah, electricity is a big one. Well, 0:11:57.640 --> 0:11:59.439 you want to be able to generate it. If you're 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:00.880 going to be off the grid, you're not going to 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:04.800 be dependent upon any power grids out there. The probably 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:08.720 the number one choice, I would say, would be solar. Now, 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:11.720 solar power, of course, you're using solar panels, which we've 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:15.320 discussed many times. If you're talking top of the line 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:19.640 super efficient solar panels, like the kind that are used 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:22.040 in space under ideal conditions, they top out at about 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:25.320 forty percent efficiency, meaning sixty percent of the energy hitting 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:27.720 them gets lost. If you're talking about the kind that 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:31.160 we could actually use in our homes, because those are 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:36.160 reserved for like space stuff, and those optimal conditions really 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:39.559 only happen in the laboratory, and it would be prohibitively 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:44.120 expensive for pretty much any human being apart from billionaires. Well, 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:46.640 I mean, I mean solar power is still pretty expensive. Yeah, yeah, 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:50.600 the initial expense is that's the big problem with any 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:54.559 of these is that you have to make an innational investments. Yeah. Now, now, 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:56.520 over time, you're going to save tons of money because 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:58.720 you don't have to pay any utility bills. You have 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:02.000 to maintain whatever it is you're using. But if you're 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:04.520 using regular solar panels, the kind that most of us 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:07.000 would be able to get for our homes, that efficiency 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:10.960 peaks out around twenty or twenty one percent. On top 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:13.160 of that, each solar panels only generating a little bit 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:14.640 of electricity, so you've got to have a lot of 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.839 them in order to get enough power. It affects the 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:20.320 locations you can choose for where you want to live, 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:22.600 right in case you don't want to be somewhere that's 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:25.600 cloudy or has tree cover, or you don't want to 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:28.600 be too far north right, you know, because they're going 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:30.920 to be long get shorter. Yeah, there's long stretches of 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:32.600 time where you're not going to get a lot of daylight. 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:35.600 So the closer to the equator you are, the more 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:38.720 sun you're going to get year round, because otherwise they're 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:40.120 going to be sections of the year where you're not 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:41.760 going to have very much electricity at all. You're also 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:43.920 going to want batteries because otherwise you're not going to 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:46.679 be able to use any electricity after the sun goes down, 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:49.679 which is when many of us want light. Yeah. Yeah, 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:51.439 it turns out that turning all your lights on when 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:54.280 it's already bright outside is not necessarily the most you know, 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:57.160 effective thing. In fact, you could you would probably be 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:00.840 using things like daylighting, which is where you're using either 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:04.800 a wind a series of windows, or even windvanced window technology. 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.000 It kind of is there's actually I've seen a really 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:09.120 cool one where you use like a kind of like 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:11.520 a skylight that's installed in the house, and then it 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:14.800 uses a tunnel system with mirrors to direct that sunlight 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:17.400 down to whatever room you want. So it's like having 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:20.160 a light that's that's just a's dictated by the sun. 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:22.000 So you still get light in the daytime, and then 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:24.800 you only use the electricity at night when you don't 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:27.080 have that daylight. I think in a lot of cases, 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:30.000 whatever your source is, it's going to involve a lot 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:32.880 of cutting back on the electricity you use. Yes, yes, 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:35.160 you want to be very, very efficient. We'll talk a 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:37.520 little bit more about that in a second, but the 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:39.280 point being that, yeah, you have to be you have 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:41.600 to be strategic and where you're going to live so 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:43.240 that you can make the most out of the sunlight 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:45.560 you're going to get, uh, and you have to be 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:47.520 strategic about how you're going to use it and how 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:49.840 you're going to store it. But there are other choices 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:53.040 as well, not just not just solar power ed Begley's 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:57.640 stationary bicycle power. You could yeah you could. Actually I 0:14:57.640 --> 0:14:59.320 didn't put it in the I didn't put it in 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:01.600 my notes, but yeah, you could actually have things in 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:04.600 there where you're using human power to generate some electricity eyes, 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:08.840 and I'd imagine that would be election. It wouldn't be 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:12.720 enough to power anything, you know, really significant, but I 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:15.600 mean to help charge a battery. Yeah, if you really 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:17.200 need to work out anyway, it's a pretty good way 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:19.960 to charge your cell phone. But if you're using a 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:23.080 cell phone, right, it's more likely that you would use 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:26.880 something like wind power. You could get wind turbines that 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:28.680 you could you can use at your home. There are 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:31.120 a lot of places that allow that. They have very 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:34.960 you know, most areas in the United States have specific 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:37.280 restrictions on how tall those things can be and how 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:39.880 how close they can be. And it certainly depends also 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:42.560 on whether you live in a residential area or somewhere 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:45.360 rural or et cetera, et cetera, because I mean just 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:48.080 your home owners association if you own a home, for example, 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:51.240 might have a problem with you erecting a large, fifty 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:55.080 foot tall tower that's behind your house. So about nuclear 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:59.160 power also not practical, So getting back to things that 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:04.080 actually could happen the wind power, Another issue there is 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:06.720 that you'd have to be someplace where you're getting consistent winds. 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:10.480 So some places are less conducive than others, Like if 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:12.720 you happen to live near a coast, then that's awesome 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:16.200 because you're going to be getting pretty consistent winds in 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:18.520 one direction during the day in another direction at night. 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:22.040 But not every place gets you know, great wind coverage either. 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:25.800 Then you could have micro hydro power. Micro hydropower being 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:29.280 that it's kind of a tiny version of the stuff 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:31.720 you would see at say the Hoover Dam. That would 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:35.440 be macro hydro power. So if you're living next to 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:37.760 a stream or a river or something, yeah, they look 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:40.480 kind of some of them look like little outboard motors 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:42.560 without a boat, right, just sit in the water and 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:45.200 the water turns a turbine, right, and that generates the 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:48.960 electricity which can then charge battery packs which you use 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:51.160 to access power. You'd have to have some sort of 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:53.920 inverter to switch DC to AC that kind of stuff. 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:58.040 But you know, this is also a possibility. I've seen somewhere. 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:01.480 It's a man made try off that branches off of 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:04.960 a natural stream and that's what ends up feeding the 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:09.920 turbine or turning the turbine. S say feeding but turning it. 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:12.560 So again, all of these mean that you have to 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:17.199 be strategic in where you place your domicile. So if 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:20.439 you're talking about retrofitting an existing house, obviously you're limited 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:23.560 by whatever geographic features happen to be in that area. 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:27.560 You can make some depending again, depending upon where you 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:30.199 are and Homer's associations, because some would say no, you 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:32.440 can't put solar panels on top of your house. We're 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:34.760 not gonna allow it on Some cities won't either. Yeah, 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:37.879 but if assuming that they do, then actually, I'm not 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:41.680 sure if that's I mean, always check your local regulations, right, 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:44.520 I think it depends neighborhood to neighborhood actually, but yeah, 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:47.760 it all. There are also some cities that will allow 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:50.000 you to not only use solar panels, but if you 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:52.440 generate more electricity than you actually need and you're still 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:54.679 on the grid, Like, you're not using this to get 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:57.679 off the grid, you're using it to supplement coming in. 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.239 If you actually generate more than what you need, some 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:03.000 cities will allow you to sell that extra electricity back 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:05.159 to the grid, right, depending on whether the systems that 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:09.760 you're using are compatible with the local Yeah, there are 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:12.320 a lot of caveats, a lot of qualifiers. I'm off 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:15.720 and on the grid, you know, me and the grid. 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:18.960 We got a thing. We have an understanding. But yeah, 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:22.040 at any of these, any of these considerations you can 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:26.359 potentially use to retrofit a home. Again dependent upon the 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:31.639 geographic and legal situation of that home. Okay, micro hydro power. 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:34.800 That makes me think about water. We actually also get 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:37.760 our water from a grid. Yeah, there's a you know, 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:40.840 most of us are reliant, not well. There are actually 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:42.640 quite a few homes in the United States that have 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:46.560 wells that use wells for water. But if you're living 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:50.000 over over fifteen million households, lots of them. But if 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:52.600 you happen to live in say an urban area like 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:55.480 we live in Atlanta, so we're getting our water from 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.480 the municipal system. But yeah, we have reservoirs of water. 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.240 We have these water tower which allow us to use 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:05.560 the force of gravity to help provide water pressure, water 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:09.719 mains and piping systems. Yeah. So if you aren't, if 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:11.320 you don't want to be part of that, if you're saying, 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:13.119 I'm being really self reliant, I'm not going to be 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:17.240 on the water system, then you've got to be. You 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:19.840 either have to be close to like a lake or 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:21.760 stream or something like that where you're getting your water 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:25.240 directly from there, or more likely what you're going to 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:28.199 do is drill a well. Now, wells are going to 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:31.600 depend on you depending on the location you may have 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:34.000 to drill well. First of all, you have to get 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:36.560 someone who's truly a licensed well driller, because this is 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:38.680 not full and around. You don't want to do yes yourself, 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:40.760 unless you happen to be a license well driller, in 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:42.960 which case you can't do it yourself. It tends to 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:46.800 run from the last time I looked, between three thousand 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:49.480 and fifteen thousand dollars, depending upon how deep a well 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:51.600 you need to drill and how complicated the job is 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:53.760 going to be, because there's really a lot to consider 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:56.240 if you're going to do this whole well thing. The location, 0:19:56.600 --> 0:20:00.400 any potential contaminant and disease testing and purification, the water 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:02.760 that you're getting out, because so much stuff gets into 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:05.439 groundwater that you might not be thinking about before you 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:07.959 just go get a delicious cup of death. Yeah, if 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:10.919 you happen to be really far from everything, then that 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:13.360 might not be an issue. But you know the rest 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:15.480 of us would have to Oh yeah, I mean we 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:19.280 bury trash and landfills. Septic tanks can leak fuels, or 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:22.680 stored in underground tanks. We use all kinds of fertilizers 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:26.919 and pesticides. Industrial and urban area runoff can cause all 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:29.720 kinds of third eyes. Yeah, just think about all the 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:33.840 homeopathic medicine you'd get. Let's not do that. Really, Come on, 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:35.920 don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry. 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:37.639