As I read posts about folks who say they are "off" grid, how their few number of PW's allow them to be "off" grid, I am just wondering how these statements can be made. This is an energy group, and I assume we are talking about reducing our "grid" usage, which IMO, means both electricity and gas.
How does electricity get produced? A lot of it is from natural gas converted into electricity. So IMO, by default, whether one uses electricity from the "grid", or gas from a different "grid', both are grid uses.
So, for folks who really push they are being green by having solar, PV cars, etc, but still have gas heating, I offer they are not that green or even close to being off the grid. So why are these folks not changing to heat pumps if being "off" grid is so important?
When I converted my house from gas heating to heat pumps, and to an electric dryer, my energy needs changed. I probably use in the winter now at least 25Kwh per day just to heat my house, with a setting of 64 degrees. The amount of electricity I use for the rest of my house needs is trivial compared to gas. Just like for all of us in the summer, running AC has to be on electricity and it is a lot.
So the engineer in my just wonders why so many seem to say they are off grid when they are using gas to warm their homes, or even gas dryers.