toledogogreen asks:Is it possible to get off the grid? Is it legal?

I talked to the local electric company and the guy practically made it sound like it’s illegal to even attempt to hook up wind mills, solar or anything that will affect them. Naming off all these government regulations and what not. The reason I ask is I belong to the local real-estate association and I have a small group with an idea. They want to buy small chunks of rundown neighborhoods. Like 10-20 house on both sides of a road. Rebuild them for the elderly. Combine energy efficiency devices with electric generating things like solar and wind to make the home 100% off the grid. Allowing the elderly to spend their utility money on medicine instead. Sounds like a dream but why can’t we make this happen? Open to suggestions!

Submitted By: toledogogreen sometime ago in Green Living

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Yes definitly

It is legal, there is no law that says you have to buy electricity from the city... the thing is you might not want to be 100% off the grid... typically it's cheaper for you to sell the electricity back to the city and use it when you don't generate enough electricity... otherwise you have to invest in energy storage devices which can cost you a lot of money.

You just need an inverter and any extra energy you don't use gets put back onto the grid and your meter rolls backwards.

Comments:

One of the more interesting resources I've found for learning about feeding home-generated power back into the grid is a magazine called Countryside. It's largely designed to promote self-sufficiency. Your local library might subscribe.