Take a peek inside this family's off-grid home in Victoria
Warm and warm in his home near Ballarat, Michael Robinson admits he feels both satisfied and guilty.
His home in Mollongghip is completely off-grid, so while rising electricity costs are pushing other families towards and across the poverty line and causing sleepless nights, for Victoria Center Energy Policy leader Mr Robinson has no such worries.
“I can’t see sustainability first paying the utility companies to supply us with electricity and then paying for the privilege of turning on the lights in our own homes,” he told ABC News.
So 15 years ago he started researching how to make his off-grid fantasy a reality.
He achieved his goal five years ago, creating “sustainable buildings that will look after my family and protect the environment in the best possible way.”
‘Little Forest’
The main room of the house – named Lille Skov (“Little Forest” in Danish) – is large enough for Mr Robinson, his partner Jo Taylor and their children Elke, 10, and Pia, 9, to skateboard.
Large north-facing windows overlook the Wombat Forest, while thick walls filled with highly rated insulation create a comfortable barrier from the cold winter days outside.
There’s a wood stove next to the standard induction hob in the kitchen and a fireplace near the living room, but no other visible sign inside the house reveals its sustainability secret.
Pia and Elke had their iPads on the wall, the lights were on in the bedrooms, they often watched the big television in the lounge, and they took long hot showers every morning.
What’s not visible from inside the house is a sprawling 11.4 kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) solar system on the roof, a 78KW hour battery backup, and a hot water heat pump on a 350 liter tank.
“Basically we have a week of power before the battery runs out, [though] the sun is usually kinder to us than it is,” said Robinson.
The position of the house also allows sunlight to heat the concrete floor.
Mr Robinson said the solar PV and battery systems meet their needs all year round, except for a few days each year during the dark depths of winter when the backup generators are running.
“I can’t imagine paying to have the lights on again,” he said.
“It used to be something to dread every three months when the electricity bill was coming up.”
Normal life
Mr Robinson said they were living in a “completely normal way”.
“When we moved into the house I didn’t want to be aware of the fact that we were living off the grid, I didn’t want to worry about it because I tend to get stressed and panic about things.
“The house is performing very well so I have nothing to worry about … that is the main criterion – comfort and no discomfort.”
Mr Robinson said despite many views of off-grid living, nothing in the home was “caveman” or “hippy”.
“The fact that it’s off the grid sometimes makes us feel a little cocky,” he said.
“But we feel like we’re doing the right thing – that it’s going to teach our kids the right things and it’s going to govern our future.”
‘Generally chaotic’
Bruce Mountain heads a research team at the University of Victoria focused on the economics and energy policy in Australia and says people should take life off the grid seriously.
“Solar plus battery-and-grid connection is now a very attractive proposition for most customers,” Mountain said.
“I think it will become very common in the next few years and I think after that some people will consider taking the next step.
“I don’t see many customers at this stage completely disconnected – I think it will be in a few years – but I do see much greater decentralization.”
Mountain said he believed the rising cost of electricity from the grid was largely due to the slow transition to cleaner energy sources, which was “widely fouled at the federal level”.
As a result, electricity customers will experience unpleasant surprises in the years to come, he said.
“There are major wholesale market pressures that are not being felt in the retail market yet, but I think they will almost certainly flow.”
Mr Mountain said the power grid depends on volume and scale, so the more customers leave the grid through self-supply, the prospect of rising prices will increase.
“We are facing a pretty big change, strategically and economically for electricity supply,” he said.
“We are really headed for a very difficult situation right now.”
Safe like home
Returning to Mollongghip, Robinson said the prospect of rising electricity prices left him “confused” that regulation and the volume-boosting industry continued to “let people down”.
“People don’t have easy choices to live in an eco-friendly way,” he said.
“We’re four times isolated from the outside here as new homes are being built on the housing market.
“Those things should be options to tick along with the color of the tile.
“Houses must be set to face a certain direction; [when] You face north you get the sun.
#peek #familys #offgrid #home #Victoria
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