Weird topic, money.  Hate it, myself.  Boring.  But it’s relevant to living and so I will address it somewhat.  It is a hard topic to address because most people think money is a touchy subject and they like to keep their finances to themselves.  As if it is all some kind of a secret or something. 

It isn’t!  No one really cares except snobs and Revenue Canada.

But, anyway………….here we go…………

Living off the grid is cheaper than living in town.  The cost to get here is greater.  The cost of building is greater.  And the cost of much of what you do and buy while you are out here is greater and yet, oddly, the overall effect is much cheaper.

“How is that possible?”

Two reasons: one: you live differently in a positive, constructive way.  Two: you live differently in a minimalist, conservative way.

When you live off-the-grid in a cabin/cottage/remote sense, you need to buy food but, over time, you tend to gather, grow and forage much more than when you were in the cul de sac.  You ‘positively’ live more off the land.  By comparison, a garden was discouraged in the ‘burbs.  So was hunting.  Fishing?  Fuggedabout it.  Plus there was no time.  Out here, living off the land is a pastime, a hobby, a form of entertainment and a constant source of marvel.  You get ‘hooked’.

Of course, our little garden doesn’t make a huge dent on our budget but gathering oysters, clams and the odd fish helps.  Being ‘gifted’ eggs and such helps.  Making our own wine helps and ‘making do with what is handy or what floats up on the beach’ helps even more.

But even if you add up all the freebies, supplements, trades, swaps, gifts  and recycling, it might make only about $400.00 a month difference to the cashflow.  It just ain’t that big a deal yet.  And even that is easily offset by at least half by the more expensive burning of fossil fuels for energy instead of ‘buying’ BC hydro.

“So, why is it cheaper living?”

Mostly lifestyle.  I burn fossil fuels to make energy but I don’t use a full tank of fuel in my car driving in a month.  And I use free wood for heat.  In fact, I probably do only 200 kms a month driving the car on an average month.  I did more than 1000 kms a month when I lived in the city.

There’s an irony there.  In theory, I was closer to everything in the city.  But,in practice, I drove a great deal more to get there.

And no one sends out for pizza or Chinese take-away out here.  I don’t frequent restaurants hardly at all anymore.  There is virtually no dry cleaning and my suits, shirts and tie budget is as reduced as Sally’s Jones of New York budget.  We wear Costco jeans now.

We don’t go shopping for the sake of entertainment by finding something new, either. Now we shop for the basics, the essentials.  There ain’t much in the way of discretionary spending out here.

Living off-the-grid is as much about living differently as it is about whether we are plugged in or not.  No Starbucks.  No services by Lawn-care inc, the Pool-boy ltd or Windows-R-us.  Now we do our own thing.  And it is remarkably less expensive in the overall lifestyle even if, on any one item or even many of them, you spend more.  Generally speaking, things cost more because of the remoteness but you still spend less because of the remoteness.

You can quote me on that.

When we first came out here almost 8 years ago, I saw a couple about our age disembarking from a small boat and looking a lot like ‘locals’.  I went over and introduced myself.  Mentioned that I was morphing into a local and needed to ask a question about how much it cost for them to live out on a remote island.

They hemmed and hawed and then said, “$1,000 a month!” Then they had a little more discussion and he corrected himself, “Sorry.  Forgot the taxes.  Costs us $1050 a month!”

I asked about a dozen people the same question over the ensuing months and the highest income reported at that time was $22,500 a year.  The lowest was just over $4,000.  I have kept up that completely un-objective survey over the years and I would say that a couple not burdened by a mortgage and having the odd mod con at their disposal and a decent, healthy lifestyle lives out here for between $24,000 and $36,000 a year.  All in.

The difference between then and now?  Mostly the higher price of fuel.

One of my neighbours lives on about $5,000.00 a year and he lives well.  A few others live on even less than that (but not so well).

“Dave!  What’s your point?  We don’t want to live like that!”

My point is simple.  You have to work to spend more than $36,000 a year out here (again, assuming that you are finished building and debt free).  This lifestyle is simply not consumer oriented.  We got no stores!

Except for the optional winter getaway, you would be hard-pressed to maintain half of your old spending habits.  I don’t think you could. Those of you who think that, because you can’t get by on the 100K income you both earn now, you have to keep at it til you’re dead, are dead wrong.

Living off-the-grid is cheaper than living in-the-cul-de-sac and the lifestyle is more rewarding.  Financially, it’s a good deal.  And for me, comparing lifestyles, it is a great deal.

Rafe Mair is an ex-politician, former lawyer from the right, conservative, make-a-buck side of the political fence.  But, more than that, he is a natural-born resistance-type.  A Contrarian.  He’s a call-it-as-he-sees-it type and he has the skill and the presence to make you listen. 

He is now 80 and as fiesty as ever but his politics have changed over the past ten years or so.  He is no longer right-ist.  He is reluctantly slightly-left on only a few things, he is mostly libertarian-cum-anarchist and he has become our province’s most ardent environmentalist.

Rafe Mair is the one providing the environmental movement energy these days and he is doing a helluva job. He is primarily a ‘river-keeper’ and fish-protector but he includes almost anything in his campaign that attacks the government-think, corporate-think and media corruption that he sees as the root of most environmental and social problems. 

And he has urged us to read the message from Occupy’s Jack Etkin.

The Corporate Media is the propaganda arm of Corporate Canada.  Right now the media is trying to ‘define’ the Occupy movement in a negative way.  And all of the rest of us 99% must remember that The Media is the mouthpiece of the 1%; it is not our friend, it cannot be trusted, and we must always watch the corporate media with an eagle’s eye because it never stops trying to lie to us and mislead us about everything of importance.

Since the big ‘Occupy Protests’ of a few weeks ago, the media has focused all of its attention on ‘the camps’ that have been set up across Canada.  Here in Victoria, the focus is on the camps around Victoria City Hall and in Vancouver.  It is relatively easy for the media to make the camps ‘look bad’, and now someone has died in Vancouver and the officials are saying that the camps have togo.  There may be trouble and it will all end with anger  which is what Corporate Canada wants.

But the camps are not the Occupy Movement, only a small part of it.  The media is focusing on the camps because that is where they want the focus to be.  They DON’T want the focus to be on what the movement is really all about, and that’s because they want us to forget about that.  

Occupy is about the lack of democracy in Canada, but there is little mention of that in the corporate media.  Occupy is about the corruption of our governments by the billionaires and the elites, and how those people are bankrupting entire nations and destroying our planet.  Occupy is about the ‘free trade deals’ the 1% have imposed on us; deals that have cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs and led to record corporate profits and record homelessness and record food bank use.  Occupy is about the nuclear disaster in Japan that is going to kill millions of us, and about how all the Big Media is corporate and how it lies to us and misleads us every day of the year.  All of that is what Occupy is about, and The Media’s job is to make us forget it – if they can. 

The media could be leading us in a discussion about how to improve our democracy and make it work better for us, but they aren’t.

The media could be giving us information about how we can fix up our tax system, but they aren’t.

The media could be telling us about climate change and fracking and how we can move towards a sane environmental policy, but they aren’t.

Instead the media are focusing on a few dozen people living in tents.  Why are they doing this?  Because that is where they want the focus to be.  And until the rest of us come to grips with how corrupt and manipulative the Canadian media is, we are going to keep losing.   We’ve got to keep our eyes focused on our real enemies; and the real enemies are the corporations, their politicians, and their media.  And we have to keep some real solutions in mind, and in my opinion two of the best solutions are more democracy and a free press.  Let’s Occupy That!

As you know, I tend to think that way myself.  But they say it better.  And more people listen.  I do, however, want to add yet another comment on the whole thing.  It’s a small pont.  It’s about ‘labels’. 

Your average Canadian is a fiscally conservative open-minded liberal person with a very minor socialist tendency on the larger social issues like health care and education.  The problem is that the fascist-like, undemocratic, corporate-oriented exploiters have managed to comandeer the labels.  Those who waste billions and destroy the environment are the ‘Conservatives’.  Those who have rewritten the laws to prohibit democracy and who have supported the destruction of the environment while bankrupting our social services call themselves the ‘Liberals’.  

If you are stupid, you tend to think that, because you have conservative values, you are a Conservative.  If you have liberal tendencies, you must be a Liberal.  Not so.  The labels are not the party. 

Do you honestly think BEST Foods is the best food?  Do you think Western Family is run by or for western families?  Safeway is the safe way?  Of course not.  We know that is all just marketing and branding.  

Right?  Well, political parties are all about labels and branding and image and marketing, too.  Calling yourself the Corporate Toadies or the New Fascists just doesn’t sell well.

Just for the record, there is no more conservative party on the planet than the Green Party.  Think about it!  Their mission statement is to protect the planet.  What could possibly be more conservative than that?

The reason I bring all this up one more time is that today the ‘them’ is going to oust the ‘Occupiers’ around the nation (or so says the media). 

Our so-called democracies are going to silence the peaceful protestors. 

Why?

I wasn’t going to write much on wind as a power source because, for all practical intent, it does not work.

I mean, of course it works. Some. The propellors spin. But at 10 mph, I get 1 amp. At 15 mph, I get 1 amp. At 20 mph, I get 1.5 amps and at hurricane force, I get the whole 8 amps.

Today, I got 8 amps.

Today, it blew like stink. Wahoo! I love it when that happens. I just love the wind a’howlin’. It’s like a spring rain for me. A cleansing of the air.

Which is weird.

We already have clean air but, somehow, it feels even cleaner, fresher and more infigorating when it just howls.

And I make a bit of power. Finally.

But as far as value-for-the-dollar and ease of installation, windpower comes up last as one of the alternative powers. It just doesn’t produce.

And we have a relatively windy location!

The practical side of it is daunting, too. Assuming that you are a do-it-yourself type and you want to put up a tower that is (supposed to be) 30 feet higher than any nearby trees, then you are looking at a tower in the 75 to 100 foot range. It is likely not too big around – maybe a ham radio tower or a 6″ diameter pipe.

Now imagine who the owner is (that’s you!). Chances are you are in your fifties or older. Cottage age. And so now you have a 25 pound wind gen in one hand (400 watts) or maybe a 60 pounder (1 kw) and you have to get to the top and place that puppy up there and wire it in.

This is daunting. NOT impossible (Sal went up like a chimp – see past blogs for the entire story) but it is daunting for mere mortals.

Bottom line: explore the other alternatives on your option list first.

Townday yesterday.  Long day.  Went to Comox and back (dogfood) and did all the usual running around in Campbell River.  But we left early, hustled (ate lunch as we drove), drove fast and got back by 5:00 pm just as darkness was setting in. Dogs were happy that their dinner was not late.  Sal and I were beat to our schneez.

And so I’ll divert a bit from the Alternative energy blog-of-late and spend a paragraph or two on ‘shopping day’ logistics.  It is definitely energy related.  Kinda.  In a personal energy kind of way.

Out here, logistics are big.  Go to town and forget milk and it is another six hours and $100 to correct your mistake.  So, a ‘list’ is incredibly important. 

I know, I know….you knew this.

But did you know that we have several lists?  We probably run six or so lists-on-paper and another casual íf-I-see-it-in-my-travels-list in my head.  We have the ‘when we go to Vancouver/Victoria’ list, the when we go to Costco list, we have the ongoing food and ‘stuff’ list and we have project lists.  If you have a few projects, you will have a few more lists.

Every town trip carries all lists.

And, when you get shopping, you take what you can get.

Regardless of the list, it is impossible to get it filled fully every time.  Got ten items on your Home Depot list and you have had a ‘good run’ if you got seven of them. Generally speaking, a 70% achievement rate overall on all lists is good.  80% and it was a great day!  Get everything there is even on just one of the lists and we sit waiting for the ferry with a a grin our faces!

“Wow!  You went to the fabric store and they had everything!?  I can’t believe it!

“Yeah, I know.  It was amazing.  After the list was all crossed off, I started to look on the nursery and electrical store list and asked the clerk at the fabric store if they had junction boxes?  She just looked at me!  Hahahahhahah!”

“Hhahahahah!  Sal, you are a riot!”

It is a kind of humour you have to live to fully appreciate.

“Sorry, sir.  We don’t have nails just now.  Out of hammers, too.  But a shipment is due tomorrow.  Can you pop back into Home Depot tomorrow?”  (No, but maybe you can ‘pop over’ to Read?)

“Sorry.  Doctor was held up.  I can fit you in tomorrow same time?” (unh…….doesn’t ‘appointment’ mean the same thing to a doctor as it does to the rest of us?)

“Yes, sir, we carry those.  I’ll have them in by Thursday at the latest.”  (May as well make it a Thursday in the next month)

“The computer says we have a dozen but I can’t seem to find any.  I think the inventory is wrong. I’ll have to check with the manager.” (Good.  While you do that, I’ll do the grocery shopping, pick up the lumber, take the propellor in, see the doctor, pick up Sally’s fudge and get some tuna for sushi.  Can you talk to him within the next hour and a half?  ‘Cause by then, I’ll be back!)

You’d be surprised by how many times I have gone off to do six other chores and come back a while later to hear, “Oh, you’re back!  I know he’s in.  I saw his car.  Let me just try to reach him now!”

As it was, we were full to the brim, anyway.  If we ever got everything on all the lists it would take us 12 hours and an extra car, anyway.  That is why you ‘take what you can get’ regardless.

For instance: if I need cement, 4×4’s, lag bolts, staples, fencing, some hardware and some paint and stain for a fence and I went to the store, I would be lucky to get most of it.  Sometimes none of it.  On occasion the wood is there and so is the cement but all the hardware is on back order.  Advice: take what you can and try again and again for the hardware on future trips.  Reason: the hardware comes in when the wood inventory is low.  And there is no cement on that day because the local contractor just loaded up.

And so it goes.

“Doesn’t that drive you mad?”

“Not anymore.  When I was younger, I had a schedule to keep, people who had expectations of me, things to do, people to see and ‘deliverables’.  I lived a juggling act.  It has taken me awhile but now I have slowed down.  I am ‘on island time’.  For me, anyway.  The to-do list is really a wish-list, a maybe-it-will-happen list.  And mostly a maybe-not list.

The only thing that drives me mad?  Not having a book to read.  Now that’s annoying!

Please note that I am shifting to: http://www.offthegridhomes.org sometime real soon…………..kinda like………..this……….

Back to electricity. We have propane hot water-on-demand, a propane stove, a propane fridge and a propane freezer. So, we replaced a lot of common electrical appliances with more expensive, harder to find propane appliances to reduce the drain on the electrical system. And that helps no end.

In the long run, of course, energy is energy and you are still ‘feeding the beast’ (some corporation) when you buy propane rather than being linked to the grid conventionally. But not all óff-the-grid’ decisions are based on being idealistic, frugal or minimalistic. Sometimes you do it just because it works.

Out here we have a fabulous barge service that can fill my big propane container and I am then good for a year. No carrying, no batteries, no major infrastructure or high tech stuff to worry about. Just good ol’ gas. Easy. Simple. And it still allows me to be off-the-grid and independent.

For a year, anyway.

It’s a compromise.

My solar panels are 80 watt ‘ers. I have 8 of them. They are wired up to pump out 48 volts. In August, they are perfect. I can usually go the whole month just on the panels (if I started with a full charge and didn’t use many tools or big draws). Another 8 (someday, I hope) and I am covered for probably three whole months June, July and August. They have cost me about $5.00 a watt or $500 each when purchased. Plus the cost and labour of installing a ‘carrying structure’ for them to sit on. NOT cheap.

Today, the total watts per panel are generally higher (lowest is about 130. Highest about 240) and they are less cost on a per watt basis. I found some in Georgia advertised for $1.50 cents a watt. Canada, despite NAFTA and sometimes having a stronger dollar is always more expensive. No reason. We’re just easier to rip off. So, I doubt very much if you can do better than $3.00 a watt as I write but I am not as up to date as I could be.

I’d say a reasonable sized system for that imaginary 1500 sft house would be somewhere around 1500 watts. Of course, you can make a big difference on your overall ‘draw’ at 500 watts and you can boil away the lake in front of your house if you want to go much bigger but a reasonably ‘good investment’ estimate would suggest around 1500 watts. I’d be ecstatic at 1200 myself. Think: $10,000.

But, again, you have to have the battery capacity to ensure you store and use what you make. Sympatico.

One thing we don’t have is a dishwasher. That may have been an error. Sal is starting to rebel. My hands are turning pink. We are not happy. Having said that, a dishwasher is a big juice draw. Stupid big, really. And, if it is just the two of us we are OK. Mostly. But, when you have guests or a dinner party, the dishes thing can be a drag. I don’t have a good answer so I came up with a bad one. We tell the guests to wash up.

Well, we do that to the young people, anyway. When we can. The W’fers. The Chinese students. And sometimes family. Sally’s sister Mary is great! And that sharing-of-the-dishes-chore seems to have taken the ‘edge out of it’ for us. It’s not great hostessing but most people like to ‘chip in’ and so we say, “Really? Really? You want to help? Really? OK! Great. You’re on dishes. See ya later!”

Other than that, our power system is almost adequate. We always have light (but we turn them off when not in use), we always have enough juice for the computer, the movies and all the battery chargers. Power tools are no problem. But I can’t weld. No dishwasher. We ‘manage’ our usage and the system is demanding of maintenance and attention. It’s not all ‘buy it, install it and forget it.’

Alternative energy is a constant chore, a major initial investment, an ongoing expense, a challenge to your skills and abilities, a techie mystery and a fickle off-the-grid partner. (Not unlike a spouse now that I think about it.)

Remember: Sparks can fly

I am reluctant to write too much about batteries. Mostly because I don’t know very much.

But I do know this: get a big system. And that means hours and ‘size’. Lots of amp/hours. We have 600. I’d prefer to have 1000. But, just so you know, you pretty much need a battery charger ‘sympatico’ with the amp hour or ‘reserve’ of juice those amp hours represent. The rule-of-thumb is that your battery charger should deliver at least 10% of what your reserve is. A 600 amp hour battery bank needs 60 amps of charger.

But not all amp hours are the same. That is why ‘size’ matters. Let me explain:

You can get a battery with 200 amp hours that will fit in the engine compartment of your car and weigh under 60 pounds. Or you can get one that has the same amp hour rating and you can’t lift it. “Why is that?” I dunno. Plate thickness mostly, I think. Makes no sense to me. But, essentially, it is like Bud Light and Regular Bud and, I suppose, Heavy Bud. All beers. All drinkable. But you want heavy Bud.

Heavy, deep cycle batteries last longer. That’s the simplest reason to have them. And the heaviest are the BIG Surette 2 volt batteries that retail for about $500.00 or more a pop. If you have a 48-volt system like I do, that means 24 batteries of 2 volts each weighing in at a total of almost 4000 pounds and costing a minimum of $12,000.00 not counting all the ‘bells and whistles’ (like cables). Batteries are the heart of your system.

So, in this case, go BIG if you want to stay home.

There are variables here, of course. You can choose to have a 12 volt system (which would mean less BIG batteries). You could go 24 volts. I went 48. The higher the voltage the less resistance in the lines and the less thickness you need to compensate. If I had to do it over again, I’d go 24 volt so that I could afford the BIG two (or four-volt) volt batteries.

Bear in mind that other mfgérs make BIG two-volt batteries and they don’t market them as much so they are not as expensive. But they are still NOT cheap. Big 2-volts well maintained can last 20 to 25 years. That’s important for a whole bunch of reasons not the least of which is transporting and carrying.

They are not, however, the best value. Not as a rule. The best value comes from getting the biggest battery you can that is still ‘mass produced’ and, in my searching, I concluded that D-8’s were the best bang for the buck. D-8s are 12 volt Caterpillar tractor/heavy-duty industrial batteries that are used in everything from forklifts to buses, from tractors to bull-dozers. Plus, at 150 pounds a battery, they are still somewhat manageable.

I have 12 D-8 batteries in the three ’48 volt banks’ and they add up to about 600 amp hours. The good part? They are about $200 each. They’ll last about 7 years – give or take. So, they are 1/3 as good as Surettes but at 1/3 the price and, because I have a 48 volt system, I can afford them as well as carry them.

You can also buy 4-volt batteries (almost as heavy-duty as the 2 volt), 6-volt batteries and, of course, the common 12-volt battery. And, when you do choose which ones to get, remember to get the ‘maintenance shockers”. These are little boxes that take a bit of juice from the battery and ‘shoot it back in at miliamps’ in an effort to stave off sulfation. They work. I have three of them – one for each bank. Cost: about $50 – 75.00 each.

If I was building a 1500 sft house and doing it again, I’d still go D-8’s even tho Surettes or other BIG 2volt batteries are better. And I’d get more of them. Plus, I’d ‘house’ them very well with thick insulation and even a bit of heat if I could. Get really heavy cables for connecting and keep the batteries topped up with ‘charge’ and water. Best tip: install them so that the battery tops are at waist level so that servicing and maintaining them is easy. Then do it. It goes without saying that even tho they are at waist level, they are covered with plywood (one battery exposed at a time) so that you don’t drop something on them or short them out.

Batteries is where it all starts and ends.

Having said that, this lead acid battery technology is just a step ahead of the horse and buggy. All sorts of universities and private companies are working on improving battery technology and I suspect that they are only about five years away from putting something better on the market. But, right now? BIG lead acid is the way to go.

Putting together an alternative energy system is not as easy as it looks. And it looks hard because it is. And it is expensive. And it can be confusing, too. If there is an ‘operational foundation statement’ it would be this: Don’t believe what you read. Your case will be different. And don’t think that you can ‘do just part of it’. To do it right, the system has to be balanced and the parts have to be sympatico right from the start.

Part of the reason for the difficulty is that much of it is counterintuitive. That which you think you need, you don’t. That which you dismiss as ‘not so important’ is really, really important and much of what you need is never mentioned by the salespeople because few of them actually live off-the-grid. And, even when they do, each system should really be tailored to your needs rather than what they happen to sell.

I know that sounds like a bit of crap. But it isn’t.

For instance, one of the things the experts tell you to do is to ‘add up’ your appliances consumption rates, add in the lights and fridge and all that and then add a percentage for future demands. If you do that, you might find yourself looking at ‘needing’ 10 or more kilowatts of power. Then you look around to find the cheapest 10kw power genset. Generac or Powermate or one of the many wastes-of-money Chinese made ‘cheapies’ thinking that, “I won’t really use the genset that much. I am going to go solar and save the planet!”

The reality is that your solar panels are great in the summer, good enough in the shoulder seasons (if you have enough of them) and simply inadequate (unless you went mad and purchased 6 times what your summer needs require and even then……..) in the winter. In the winter, you will use your genset. Trust me.

“But what about wind power? I am gonna add a wind turbine for winter supplement!”

We did that. And it works. Kinda. Not ‘kinda’ enough, tho. The typical 1kw turbine (or less) just doesn’t make enough juice. Turbines need to really spin before any amount of electricity is made. REALLY spin! Think 20 mph and more. Under 20mph and it is almost useless. And you need bigger-than-normal-budget units on very expensive and very high towers to have the slimmest of chances of making a real difference.

Hydro power is far and away the best but that is a whole other chapter.

But let’s go back to the genset for a minute. You likely don’t need the 10Kw you ‘added up’. In fact, you are likely to only need around 3kw but 5 or 6.5kw is likely good enough to cover everything.

The reason? You are some kind of profligate waster-of-energy if you are running everything at the same time. Who turns all the lights on, washes clothes, dries them electrically and has all the computers and TV on at the same time? That’s crazy.

It’s takes very little in the way of thinking conservation to reduce half of your energy use. Generally speaking, we use 12 amps of power from our Honda Eu 2000 watt generator the most. I’d estimate that we used 4 times that when we lived in the cul de sac and we weren’t very wasteful even then.

For instance: jettison the electric hot water heater. Go demand. Go propane. Save a bundle. Dump incadescent bulbs – go compact flourescent. Put your fridge in the right place and you can halve the energy use. And you can do that kind of thing to almost all uses.

Still, I’d prefer to have double that which I have. I should have 5000 watts. Here’s why: We have an Outback inverter charger. It converts DC to AC power. Juice from the batteries goes to making ‘juice for the house’. But the inverter will only process 2500 watts (which is fine for daily living for us) and it will only charge the batteries at 20 amps AC. To do both at the same time, I need 5500/6500 watts. That gives me all the power that I can use plus a smidge.

In other words: my inverter/battery charger and my generator go hand in hand. In fact, the whole system has to go ‘hand-in-hand’. Sympatico.

Some people will think they need two Outbacks and 5000 watts of power-on-tap and maybe they do. But we don’t. And we have all the modcons. I would advise starting at 2500 watts of inverter power and building your system around that.

And, even before that, build your system to use less electricity.

If you do that, you need less generator. You need less fuel. You have less to worry about.

As for the generator: most of us out here have opted for diesel because the fuel consumption is less and the machine will likely last longer than we will. That part kinda makes sense. But not really. Honda’s Eu series have éco-throttle’. That means that the machine powers up and down as the load changes. I have found that an eco-throttle machine uses much the same fuel as a diesel because the diesels run at a constant rate and consume fuel you don’t use. The eco-throttle goes through more gasoline on a ‘combustion-cycle basis’ but, with the throttle control, it saves more fuel overall.

Plus the damn Hondas seem to go forever, too. My neighbour has had his Honda 5000 for over 20 years. 25, I think. It is just ‘clapping out’ on him now but 25 years is pretty good.
“Wow! Good to know. So, we’ll go get the Honda Eu6500. Thanks!”

Well, I can understand why you might want to do that. I am tempted myself. But I am also considering buying two Eu3000 s instead. “Why?” Well, machines break. Even Hondas. It would be nice to have to repair only one and still have the other working. Plus Honda allows you to ‘pair’ the two up for those larger loads. So, if you are just messin’ about in the summer and the solar panels are doing the bulk of the work, you can just fire up one unit and go about your chore. Plus, a 3000 is easier to lift and carry than a 6500.

This ‘fine-tuning’ is so critical that I may, in fact, get a Honda Eu 3000 and, when it is paired up with my Honda Eu2000, I will have the needed 5000 watts. Plus the Eu2000 is only 50 pounds. I carry it all over the property – no problem. That’s a HUGE deal.

I am not so smart. My first genset was a Coleman that was so tempermental it took a lot to get it to operate near 60 hz. The OutBack is even more tempermental and won’t accept juice that is not delivered right at 60 hz. So, I was always ‘tinkering’ with it to get it to rpm just right. Cheap generators just won’t ‘do the job’ when solid state electronics are on the line. And my inverter was the first thing on the line.

Which reminds me: buy appliances that are basic. Try to avoid the ones with ‘computers’ in them. Lots of folks out here who went for Maytag top-loaders and fancy big screen TVs found that their gensets just would not deliver the ‘smooth’ power that the appliances need. Our washer is the ‘bottom’ of the line. No bells or whistles. And no problems, either.

My second generator was a used 15kw diesel genset that is built like a tank and has to run at the full 1800 rpms to get the ‘juice’ just right. That means that if I want to run a skill saw from it, I have to burn half a gallon of diesel an hour. Plus the start-up is complicated and the damn thing is noisy. It’s like having a Freightliner idling in the garage.

Then I got the Honda Eu2000 for a camping trip and it was perfect. Quiet, too. So perfect, in fact, that it is our main daily genset even tho we run the whole house. To be fair, it is inadequate. I have to kick up the Freightliner for the odd ‘big’ draw. As I said, we need 5000 watts. But the 2000 will give us half what we need which is fine 80% of the time.

Bottom line: really, really think about gensets a lot before buying one. Not only for the reasons stated but because there are other factors at play as well like portability, noise and size of ‘shed’ needed to house it. But, without a doubt, an oil-burning, polluting, noisy machine is gonna be part of your alternative energy, off-the-grid system. Get used to it.

More tomorrow.

When I post about ravens and seals, people comment. Almost always in a complementary way. People love ravens and seals.

When I write about local people, I don’t usually get written comments but I always get a ‘local’ saying, “I read what you wrote about Jerry. Pretty funny! True, too.” Local people like reading about local people as long as it isn’t them.

When I write about me and my screw-ups, accidents, misadventures and various embarrassments, I get the most comments. People love to read about me screwing up. And it doesn’t seem to matter how much screwing up is being written about. It is all good.

“Hey, Dave! Chainsawed off a limb lately? Ha ha ha!”

And when I write about the Amazing Sal, women write back and tell me that I am undeservedly lucky and that I should appreciate her even more than I do and boy, oh boy, they sound like they just want to slap my silly face for some reason. The more I heap praise on the Ol’ Puddin’, the more likely I am to be reminded that I don’t deserve any of it.

I am not stupid. I will never write a critical word about Sal. Ever! They’d hunt me down and skin me alive.

It’s politics and philosophy that gets the least in the way of comments. I know that. I feel the same way when I read some other nut’s point of view on things. What a drag! So, I try to curb the tendency. Honest. As I said before, “Forgive me, please. I can’t help myself most of the time.”

But I can right now. I am going to be good. I promise.

Let me start with a brief summary of possible topics. There is the Read Island Development plan. Mind you, it is mostly just in my head but it’s a plan. Of sorts. It includes some woodworking, maybe some boat-building. It includes some housing construction. Maybe. Maybe a ‘clutch’ of units somewhere for those of us too old to keep up the ol’ homestead but not wishing to retire to the city. There are the potential ‘income stream’ ideas. And there is the ongoingness of just ‘keeping it all together’ on a day to day basis. Lots of material there.

There is the winter retreat. We try to get away three winters out of four. Two out of three, anyway. And we try to make it interesting. A cruise ship or an all-inclusive resort is not our style nor within our budget. So we usually try to ‘get local’ and travel like the footloose youth we once were. That aspect is wearing a bit thin but we still think that way even if it is getting harder to do. I suspect that we will have to get really creative soon. Mind you, we are planning on Argentina next year. Fly there and chicken-bus around. So the spirit isn’t dead.

There is always good ol’ China-watching. And not-so-good US-watching. I confess to not having much interest in Canada-watching but every once in awhile…………

And then there are the obits. That’s something, eh? I never passed a minute reading obituaries until about five years ago. I still don’t do it on a regular basis but, I must confess again, I do read them when I can. I keep expecting to know someone. Sometimes I do. Weird.

I’ve got spiritual stuff to write about but that seems to elicit much the same response as politics and philosophy. So, I may censor myself on that. Maybe not.

We’ve got great kids. I’d love to write about them but they prefer to remain relatively anonymous so I’ll respect that. But Em is going to China in January. That should be good for a few columns.

There are the dogs but as much as some love to hear about dogs, I am not one of them. The dogs wag their tails, chase sticks, smell each others butts and like their dinner at or just before 5:00. ‘Nuff said.

‘Course there are the W’fers. But they are seasonal and it isn’t the season.

And there is ‘living-off-the-grid’ teachings. How to do stuff. But I am currently disinclined that way for some reason. I’ll get back to batteries and solar panels someday. But not now. Just for the record: Sal and I ‘serviced’ the battery system yesterday. Water, cleaning, charging…….that sort of thing.

So, that’s the ‘index’. Any preferences?

Watched a documentary last night. Fierce Light. It was produced by Velcrow Ripper who also did Scared Sacred. He’s Canadian, born in Gibsons, BC. Good cinematographer. Last name is really ‘Ripper’. ‘Velcrow’, I am not so sure about.

Anyway, his doc was about the ‘Occupy’ movement before it was called the ‘Occupy’ movement. Seems the whole civil disobedience thing goes back a long ways (duh!). But, somehow, he managed to convey the difference between a Ghandi or MLK-led peaceful march and a real no-name-leader protest. I don’t think he saw his documentary as the beginning of the ‘OCCUPY’ movement but, from this perspective, it seems that way.

Seems (for him, anyway) it started in Oaxaca, Mexico. Seems the people got ‘mad as hell’ and ‘occupied’ the city centre for a few weeks. No real leaders. No real message. Just ‘we’re mad as hell!’

And that was 2006. Mind you, I seem to recall that the Bolivians did the same thing over water some years before that. It is hard to say when a local protest morphs into a provincial one and then again into a national and international one.

It is definitely media determined. But what is it that the media needs before they see the writing on the wall?

Interesting, don’t you think?

I watch this kind of stuff because I still have a few drops of activist in me. Not much. Just a bit. I’d rather write my protest than actually paint myself in fake blood and stand on a street yelling slogans and waving signs. That just ain’t my style. I’m not photogenic enough, anyway. But the sentiment is the same. Kinda.

I was ‘that way’ back in the 70’s. I got involved. Protested. A little. But I was always more inclined to protest for change from within the structure than from without. Seemed like a good way to get in on the inside. Start there. And so I did. I got to the epicentre of local politics and even provincial politics briefly but I burnt out. The work was intense, the politics unfathomably stupid and immoral and there was always daily proof that one person CAN’T make a difference. It got depressing after 12 years. And I got depressed.

So, I left and did other things.

But, ya know, if you’ve got a dissent gene, it will continue to show up. It’s in your make-up. And I can’t deny it, I’m a whiner. May as well face it and proceed to complain as I am so inclined. Plenty of material to work with. I’ve tried ‘going with the flow’. It ain’t easy. But I may have found a little trick, thanks to an 82 year old Vietnamese Buddhist monk with an unpronounceable name. He said (and, of course I am paraphrasing),

“Social work is too hard. Burns you out. I would have to meditate more and more just to get enough energy to go back into the battle. It was draining me. I had to find a better way. So, I did. Now I see the battle as having a rhythm all it’s own. It is a ‘being’ I have to get into harmony with. Like a dance partner. I have to be one with the problem. I have to love the problem and all that makes it a problem. Then I can work without getting exhausted. I am no longer resisting it, I am ‘loving it’, instead. I don’t fight it. I dance with it. And that makes it fun and easier to do. Big difference.”

“What the hell does that mean, Dave?”

I dunno. I am just easily influenced by documentaries, I guess. Maybe it’s another genetic trait.

The older you get, the slower your financial understanding or perspective becomes. I think it is clear that we find it harder and harder to process monetary facts of life as we age. Especially since the ground rules are always changing. As a consequence, we are being invisibly nickled-and-dimed to death. There is a design of sorts at work here.

This awareness of my awareness came about by accident. Yesterday, a friend of mine was lamenting the lack of a few thousand dollars in the community chest and I suggested that a grant request be made. After all, all the money requested would only go to materials. No one gets paid to do community work out here.

“Oh, gee. I hate going to the government for a handout. That’s $10,000! It’s a fortune. It’s also demeaning to beg, and anyway, why do we deserve to get a grant? It’s too much!”

OBSERVATION: His morals are in good shape but his financial cognition is impaired. Somehow he continues to think $10,000 is a lot of money. It hasn’t been a lot of money for a very long time. Worse, I was starting to think the same way. We were both ‘founded’ in the past!

But, if you think about it…………..

“You go to the local greasy spoon for breakfast don’t you? The one we all go to in Campbell River because it is cheap, the food is home-made and the ambiance is straight out of a frayed-at-the-edges diner from the fifties?”

“Yep.”

“You and your wife have bacon and eggs and a cup of tea and you find that, somewhat surprisingly, you are leaving behind $25.00 to pay the bill. Right? And you are always a bit shocked that it is so much but, because you are an honest man with a sense of ‘paying as you go’, you pay and leave a tip and try to put it out of your mind, right?”

“Yeah! How did you know we had bacon and eggs and it costs $25.00 with tip?”

“Because we all go there and we all order much the same thing and the price remains the same unless it goes up. Which it always does. Like the BC Ferries. Like White Spot. Little ‘ price increments’ every few months. PLUS HST! They have accountants on it all the time so that they can keep up with the cost of things. You don’t! Your little mental accountant retired a long time ago. In case you haven’t noticed, the cost of things is always increasing, even in recessions (gasoline, taxes, food), and usually much more than the cost of living laughingly stated by the government’s basket-of-goods official price index – AKA the LIE.”

“Yeah. Right! But what is your point?”

“Well, you are retired. Fixed income. Your sense of ‘pricing’ is at least a decade old and most likely two decades old. Your sense of the ‘value of a buck’ is so dated, you’ve lost the ability to know what is a bargain and what is too much to pay. You don’t even know how your ‘buck’ is spent! You certainly don’t know how to comparison shop anymore. Or how a bill works. You are ‘out of it’.

“And because of that – for example – you think a small grant of $10,000 is a lot of money. Well, it used to be. It ain’t no mo’. There are hockey players and actors and criminals and corporate pigs that make $10,000 a minute! Your local government probably spends well in excess of $10,000 an hour every day! Ten thousand dollars is chicken feed nowadays. But it’s not the numbers, it is what it will buy.”

This monetary dissonance, this skewing of perspective, this inability to calculate is a natural part of aging but it is made especially hard these days. These days, they are also messin’ with our heads.

These days things that used to be cheap are expensive and those things that used to be expensive are cheap. Gasoline used to be cheap. A TV used to be expensive. If I do a ‘comparison’ to the seventies, I recall paying $700 for a mediums sized screen TV. That same $700.00 would have bought me in excess of 1000 gallons of gasoline. Today, the value of 1000 gallons of gasoline would buy me five huge home-theatre-sized TVs. The price relativity of things is askew – to my perspective, anyway.

If I buy a slab of steel about 8 inches square that is a simple baffle made for my woodstove (locally made and a crude, small-market item), I will pay $200.00. There is about five dollars worth of steel (maybe) and less than one hour of labour. I can buy a HP mini-computer (notebook) for the same price (high tech, incredible computing power, micro-engineered). How does one compare that apple and orange value-wise?

Of course, that ‘skew’ is especially manifest in electronics and modern appliances and such. But the whole price-relativity perspective has been turned higgledy-piggeldy over the years. We are faced with some things that seem cheap by our ‘sense of value’ and other things that seem ‘outrageous’. Tools are cheap. Restaurant meals are expensive. Prices and expenses don’t seem to have the relativity to one another that they once did and whatever the relativity is today, it seems like it will be different six months from now.

Even a dozen eggs has almost doubled in the last five years.

Bear in mind, too, that pricing is no longer ‘simple’. We used to see a widget for ten bucks and that was the price. Take it or leave it. Now the widget is electronic and you may need to add a ‘service pack’ or a ‘set up fee’ or pay extra for a warranty. Even after all that, you may have to subscribe to a ‘service provider’ so that your widget works.

And let us not forget the taxes, the hidden taxes and the carbon, transportation, and HST taxes that seem to be added willy-nilly. Or the fuel surcharge. I am sure you are aware that airlines are now charging ‘extra’ for taking your luggage, letting you listen to the sound system and for edible food. The sticker price is no longer the pay-at-the-till-price. Not even close.

It is almost impossible to figure out how much per litre I pay for propane delivered by barge. And it is impossible to forecast what I will pay three months from now.

Unless you are ‘in the market’ every day, it is almost impossible to keep up and, if you are older and less involved in day to day activities, your price perspective is very likely all wrong. Old people are not only subject to this strange dynamic, they are very vulnerable to it.

And, if you are ‘on-the-grid’, ‘they’ haven’t even really begun to mess with you yet. The cable companies, BC Hydro, your water. All of these will have surcharges and ‘premium packages’ and use-fees. In addition to the licenses and taxes and other ‘niggling’ charges that add a few percentage points.

You can thank the ‘convenience’ of digital money for much of this. This will blow your mind: most banks don’t even carry much cash anymore. Ya wanna rob somebody? Good luck. The money is all electronic and, as such, all the extra costs are levied without you even knowing.

And you wonder why it is getting harder and harder to make ends meet?

I’m just sayin’………….