オフグリッド生活　電気

Life entrusted to the sun

My house is built at the highest point of the site in the off-the-grid mountains,

Four solar panels are installed on the roof of the house.

This is the source of electricity for my home, and from here the electricity throughout the house is supplied by solar energy except on rainy days.

Entering the mountains from the nearest town, 25 minutes on an unpaved road, living off-the-grid with no water or electricity. It is a life that does not draw in the power grid (utility grid) provided by public electric power companies.

When it's cloudy, the power storage drops, and on rainy days, the sun doesn't come out, so it doesn't store electricity. In such a case, run a private power generator as a backup.

It only takes an hour to produce the electricity needed by this generator.

I will take care of the generator for about 100 hours a year.

Solar cooker Cook with solar heat. These are my toys these days.

Afternoon of washing is a sunny day. While watching the state of electricity storage. It's fun to hang laundry one by one on a clothesline with pulleys and pulleys.

On such a sunny day, we will ask you to share the energy of the sun.

Solar energy not only supplies electricity to the house, but also boil water with residual heat . This small tank contains solar-heated hot water.

The solar- heated water then goes to this hot water tank. This is a propane water heater . Since hot water from the solar comes in the summer , the temperature setting of the propane water heater is set quite low . Still, boiling water comes out of the faucet.

In a warm and warm house. There is less lighting than in a Japanese house.

Vegetables that cannot be eaten raw are dried and stored. Northern California where the sun is fine. This is zucchini

Warm up the house with a wood stove

Raw wood is cut out and needs to be dried before it can be burned. Chopping wood is a change for my husband. I don't do it all at once, but I break it every hour for about an hour.

In some places of my home, the temperature difference in the day is large, and it is not uncommon for the temperature to rise from 15 degrees in the morning to 35 degrees in the afternoon even on the hottest day of summer.

There is no air conditioner. Even so, this is a Mediterranean climate region with five regions in the world, and it has a relatively warm climate that can be tolerated without using air conditioning.

The house is made of redwood cedar and has a high ceiling, so it is a highly confidential house.

It may be big.

We make good use of the outside temperature and try to maintain a comfortable temperature inside the house while opening and closing the door.

Warm in winter with a wood stove.

There are two wood stoves on the first and second floors. Trees for firewood are cut out from the premises, and the husband chops the firewood little by little throughout the year to prepare for winter.

In the summer, the doors in the house are left open in the morning, and the temperature inside the house is about the same as the outside air. At around 1 pm, everything is closed this time. By doing this, you can keep the cool air in the house without the hot afternoon air entering the house.

Around 5 pm, when it gets cooler, I will open the door again.

Two couples in a large house. This is enough to control the temperature, and enough hot water to use in the kitchen and bath.

Attached to the wall is an indicator of the state of the inverter. The storage status and the amperage currently in use are displayed.

All chargers for PCs, mobile phones, etc. will be shut down at night without leaving them in the outlet. Standby power is also not stupid.

Looking at this number, when electricity storage is confirmed, I try to use electric appliances that consume electricity, such as washing machines, irons, and dryers.

I try to live in nature in harmony with the rhythm of nature, but I live comfortably. .. Various ingenuity is required before doing so.

Still, living in the countryside and living in the mountains is wonderful ♪