We all hear of the advised shift towards alternative source of energy but people really fail to realize how it can be done. To most, the understanding is that they are just supporting sources to bring down utilization of energy but there are people who will go to extremes to force them to learn what it means to live on personal generated energy.

In fact, the rural life is perhaps the best place to start it all off. Many people may have a shock at first but if you think about it, looking for alternative energy source such as installing your own solar panels for energy or even the wind turbines can really be a good learning experience. Through these innovations, people may learn to how to value energy and saving a lot on energy costs in the process.

Just look at how this couple swapped their home for an off-grid place.

“We’ve learnt to adopt an older, more natural rhythm,” della-Porta says. “We spend hours a week maintaining our power supply, checking storage batteries, making sure the wind turbine is okay and monitoring water levels. Everything has double or triple backup. The cooking and the heating are powered by a solid-fuel Rayburn. And there is a separate bottle-gas cooker, which we use more in the summer, when the Rayburn is off.” Suddenly, that film-star lustre is fading.

With the climate getting more chaotic and nonrenewable resources running out, living off grid seems the logical next step. It isn’t just about saving money (in the long run, of course, as set-up costs are vast), but about reducing one’s carbon footprint to a mere baby step. It’s bizarre, then, that it wasn’t for either financial or ecological reasons that the couple decided to live off grid. “We were looking for something different, but we weren’t sure what or how,” says della-Porta, a product designer.

(Source) Times Online