“For those with means, it opens up building sites that cannot be connected to local grids, and allows for a quieter kind of life, grounded in nature without neighbors nearby,” Bang says.įor those without the means to hire architects, there are numerous recent books, blogs, YouTube videos and more dedicated to the subject. Strategic landscaping can minimize the need for watering. For example, one of the firm’s homes is built into a hillside and has a green roof (with plantings). Such homes also are carefully designed to take advantage of the site’s landscape features with an eye to sustainability. In addition, they might be outfitted with things like solar power, an on-site battery bank, a septic system that treats sewage onsite, a water well, and a dry well to treat and reuse water, not to mention a plumbing system designed to use as little water as possible. One reason for the high cost of homes like this is that it’s expensive to haul equipment to a remote site. Bang says new technologies can ensure comfortable self-sufficiency.

The lifestyle that Anacapa homes aim for is one of modernist elegance, not roughing it. There’s a desire to get more in tune with nature,” says Jon Bang, marketing and PR coordinator for Anacapa Architecture. “There’s definitely an increase in traction for this kind of lifestyle, especially in the last two years. The Anacapa Architecture firm, in Santa Barbara, California, and Portland, Oregon, has built several upscale off-grid homes in recent years, and has several more off-grid projects in the works. “Everyone does it differently and everyone does it their own way, because it’s their own adventure,” says Collins.įor him, off-grid living is part of finding a simpler, less cluttered life more in sync with nature. Today, off-grid living encompasses everything from “dry camping” in RVs (with no electrical or water hookups) to swank Santa Barbara estates, from modest dwellings tucked just outside of towns to – yes – remote rustic cabins. Koones cites the rise in “net metering,” when your property’s renewable energy source – usually solar – is producing more energy than you use, and your local utility pays you for the excess. There are also those who remain connected to the grid but try to power their homes independent of it. “There’s a lot more interest in living off the grid now because energy is costing so much and there are so many problems with grids,” says author Sheri Koones, whose books about sustainable houses include Prefabulous and Almost Off the Grid (Abrams, 2012). More frequent power outages and utility grids’ struggles to handle the severe weather events brought on by climate change have added to interest in disconnecting from the grid. But it got a boost after the COVID-19 pandemic hit: City dwellers began to explore different ways of living, facilitated by improvements in alternative energy sources like solar power, and batteries for storing that power. Overall, the off-grid movement remains small. He has published books on the subject and leads online classes.Īlthough precise numbers of off-grid households are hard to come by, Collins estimates that only 1% of those living off-grid are in truly remote areas. It just means you are not connected to utility grids,” says Gary Collins, who has lived off-grid, or mostly off-grid, for a decade.

“Living off-grid doesn’t mean you don’t buy your groceries at a store or take your waste to the local dump. Yet only a tiny fraction of people living off-grid do it like that, and fewer still live more than an hour from any town.

Living off-grid conjures images of survivalists in remote places and a rustic, “Little House on the Prairie” lifestyle with chores from morning to night. The Anacapa Architecture firm, in Santa Barbara, California, and Portland, Oregon, has built several upscale off-grid homes in recent years and has several more off-grid projects in the works. This image released by Anacapa Architecture shows the view from an off-grid guest house in Hollister Ranch, Calif., one of the last remaining undeveloped coastal areas in California, located on a wildlife preserve.

Off grid cabins for sale