Off-Grid System Design: Lifestyle & Budget

Designing an off-grid electrical system involves a lot of planning and understanding of one’s goals with the system. One of the greatest factors that play into one’s off-grid system design is their lifestyle and budget. The desired  lifestyle of the electrical system user will have an impact on the size and type of electrical system required, which will in turn affect the overall budget. For example, someone who lives a minimalist lifestyle and has few electrical needs will require a smaller system than someone who uses a lot of electricity for appliances and entertainment. 

So, the big question here is:

How do you hone in on what electrical needs you have and to align those needs with your off-grid electrical system budget? 

A fun fact about me (Morgan here!), my background is in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, which has led me to having many conversations about managing teams through the lens of understanding individual needs. I often started with the base understanding of our personal needs through Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. So, when I was thinking about how to outline how to identify one's off-grid electrical electrical system needs, I of course came back to my psychology roots. 

Let me introduce to you, Joule Adventures’s Off-Grid Electrical System Hierarchy of Needs. 

When we are starting to look at what electrical components we want to bring with us in our off-grid lifestyle, it is important to break it down into categories. Allowing ourselves to see what electrical components we need, which ones we want, and which ones are fulfilling our comfort needs allow us to hone in on aligning our desired off-grid lifestyle with our budget. 

Off-Grid Electrical Needs.

We will start here at the bottom of the triangle with our needs. Our needs category focuses on identifying the electrical components that you cannot live without. Those electrical components that you truly need day-to-day that allow you to live your life sustainably.

What are the basic and must have electrical components that will be pulling power from your off-grid electrical system? I like to ask the question here: what can you not live without? 

I cannot identify your needs for you, as we all live different lives and have different needs. So, looking at this needs category from the lens of what will make this off-grid lifestyle sustainable for me on a day-to-day basis? What electrical components do you need to make that happen?

I would like to note that your location, travel style, and work needs might impact this. If you are planning to be in a location that is super cold at night, a basic need might be a heater and a water heater.  While if you are going to be in super hot places, an AC unit might be a basic need for you. Also, if you are working remotely on your off-grid electrical system a need might be WiFi Hotspots, cell signal booster, and sustainable computer charging.

It’s up to you and the lifestyle you are aiming for that will influence what goes in your needs category. 

Off-Grid Electrical Wants.

Choosing to live off-grid in whatever fashion you choose comes with its own layers of feeling vulnerable and well, uncomfortable at times. I believe that when we step into choosing a new sustainable lifestyle, it is still important to identify the pieces of your life you would want to keep with you. In our wants category, we highlight the electrical components that allow you to feel safe and secure in this sometimes uncomfortable lifestyle.

Once we start piecing apart the electrical components that we use on a daily basis in our grid-tied life it is important to recognize which ones are truly helping you feel that sense of security throughout your day. 

What electrical components give you a feeling of safety and security?

Once again, you are the only one that can identify you electrical component wants. Your desired lifestyle will highlight what electrical components you want to have with you as you step into your off-grid life!

Off-Grid Electrical Comforts.

Now as we go up in our hierarchy of needs, it is important to note the higher you climb, the more energy you are drawing from your system, therefore the more expensive it gets. The comfort category highlights those electrical components you really want, that would make you feel so cozy but are not a necessity. These can also be items that you don’t use every day but only in some instances. We will get into the piece of how energy sources play into the use of specialty items in a future blog and video 

What electrical components provide you comfort?

We recommend highlighting all of the electrical components that you would love for comfort in this category. Don’t be shy, write it out, identify them! it doesn’t mean that every comfort need will make the cut into your ideal budget, but I believe identifying these comfort components is a great first step to start understanding the lifestyle change one steps into when living off-grid.

What’s Next?

We encourage those of you who are looking to step into off-grid living in whatever shape or form that is for you to take a moment and look at a day of your off-grid life. What does it look like? What are you doing? What electrical components are you using? Identify what items you are using throughout the day and then place them into the three categories of needs, wants, and comfort. 

Need some guidance? You can download our free Off-Grid Electrical Needs Workbook here.

A caveat to all of this, I know it’s easy to get caught up in the overwhelming amount of information on what is the ‘right’ off-grid electrical system. We believe that there are many ways to build the perfect off-grid electrical system, and the right way is the one that fits your needs. Put away the shiny instagram and pinterest boards and visualize what this off-grid lifestyle looks like for you! 

It’s easy to see that the price tag creeps up quickly the more power you need, so I also advise you to take a look at your budget. Be realistic with your needs, how much you want to invest, and work to align the two. 

There are many factors that go into your electrical system design, lifestyle and budget are just two of them. We will be diving into more factors that influence the design of your system in future videos and blogs. We believe it is important to carefully plan and consider all factors when building an off-grid electrical system to ensure that it meets your needs and fits within your budget. 

If you are looking for support in designing your off-grid electrical system please connect with us. Joule Adventures specializes in designing and installing safe and reliable solar powered off-grid electrical systems. We look forward to supporting your off-grid electrical journey! 

Cheers!
Morgan