OUR JOURNEY TO LIFE IN HAWAII, INSPIRING OTHERS ALONG THE WAY
Off-Grid
We are set up mostly off-grid with solar and water catchment. We brought in grid power during construction and use it as backup, plus the stove is hooked up to it, which is good because it draws a lot of energy and can be utilized when it's cloudy. There has been a shift in how we do things. All activities that use power need to be done after the battery is fully charged and the sun is shining. Charging the Prius is now done during the day instead of night. Since the dryer is on solar and uses a large amount of energy, we hang most of the clothes on the line outside and use the dryer minimally. Dishwashers use a lot of energy and with only 2 of us, we rarely used one on the mainland so we do not have one here.
Our solar batteries and hot water heater reside in the garage. We finally got unlimited home internet after living in the house a year so we can better monitor the system.
Our pump and filtration system includes a UV filter. The water is drinkable and tastes very good.
All the solar panels are on the garage and suite due to the pitch of the roof on the bamboo home. The panel over the suite door (left) is the hot water solar panel. Most of the panels are facing east for sunrise and there are less facing west (right). We usually get afternoon clouds and rain every week so this makes sense since most of the sun is in the morning at our elevation (~1200 ft.) and location.
This is our 10,000 gallon water catchment. It stores rain water from the gutters on our structures. Notice our little composter.
