I am not off grid, but the thing that would draw me to it is as an individual sustainability goal. Perhaps it would be more expensive to initially set up and r

I am not off grid, but the thing that would draw me to it is as an individual sustainability goal. Perhaps it would be more expensive to initially set up and run, but it should be sustainable for 20-40 years. There is the side benefit of reducing the demand on energy to acheive this sustainably. Spending less on technology and energy means working less. In other words, we pay in our own time for the time technology saves us. To quote Thoreau: 'One says to me, “I wonder that you do not lay up money; you love to travel; you might take the cars and go to Fitchburg to-day and see the country.” But I am wiser than that. I have learned that the swiftest traveller is he that goes afoot. I say to my friend, Suppose we try who will get there first. The distance is thirty miles; the fare ninety cents. That is almost a day’s wages. I remember when wages were sixty cents a day for laborers on this very road. Well, I start now on foot, and get there before night; I have travelled at that rate by the week together. You will in the mean while have earned your fare, and arrive there some time to-morrow, or possibly this evening, if you are lucky enough to get a job in season. Instead of going to Fitchburg, you will be working here the greater part of the day. And so, if the railroad reached round the world, I think that I should keep ahead of you; and as for seeing the country and getting experience of that kind, I should have to cut your acquaintance altogether.' Walden, chapter 1, Economy.