Self reliance through your home/building

With new technologies emerging every day it is becoming simpler and simpler to become self reliant. A major step towards self reliance would be getting your home/building off grid. Energy in the form of electricity is extremely important in our way of life today and being able to produce it yourself is the epitome of self reliance by today's definition.

Architecture of the home is itself being somewhat self reliant. It is your shelter and place of comfort and safety. Now imagine that home can supply it's own power to function as a home by today's standards. That would give you a ton of piece of mind, not mention eliminating those pesky bills. That is how most people view the benefit of off grid self reliant homes/buildings. Let's look deeper into the benefits. Think of the pride it brings you knowing that you have created a true safe shelter free from someone Else's control. Someone Else's control?! Yes you heard me correctly. Now before you block that out think for a moment the control of say, a power or gas company, has over your home. You miss a bill, they cut your ability to see in the dark and provide heat in the winter. Who is the crazy one now? It doesn't even have to be a result of something you do. Storms can cut off the power supply to your house. A crisis in the major oil producing countries or a dissolving of our relationship with them could jack your costs or eliminate the oil to produce electricity almost completely. And if you think our own country can just switch on their power production to supplement that you are just naive and disillusioned. Now it is very easy to see why it is a major step to produce energy for your home yourself.

In today's world you could really take off grid and self reliance to the max. I would say you really don't have to be connected to anything physically and not miss out on the cushy comforts we enjoy. Let's go through the list. You can have your home produce all the energy it consumes and more. You can supply your own water through a well (if possible) or by harvesting rainwater and purifying it within your home. Heating and cooling systems along with water heating can be electrically powered with the self produced energy. Most people use their cell phones as there primary phones which could eliminate a land line. Even TV and the Internet can be obtained through satellites. If you purchase an all electric vehicle(EV)in the near future you can charge it with the power you produce at your house. Now you can see that basically through your home you can really become self-reliant, self-sufficient & self-sustainable. You may say, "hey, Free, what about the cell phones, TV and Internet being controlled by someone else!" unfortunately these items can't be supplied by yourself however; there is plenty of competition with mobile phone providers and you can access the Internet with free wi-fi hot spots. TV, though not how you typically may envision it, can also be accessed through the Internet. That is not your control totally for those three items, but I would say it is pretty good.

Applying these steps provides a crucial part being totally self reliant. This is a personal goal of mine and for many people. Some is for self pride and some is for lack of trust in the powers that be that we "depend" on to help us survive and live the lives we hold dear. Either way it is a good path to be on.