1. Retired Couple living off the grid
Source: https://www.youtube.com/exploringalternatives
A retired couple set out to live in an energy-efficient allergen-free home and ended up living fully off the grid. They have a massive solar power system for the majority of their electrical needs. They process all their own firewood, grow and forage a lot of their own food in the summer and collect rainwater for watering the gardens. The initial to love full sustainable when Mary's (wife) allergy conditions addressed the possibility of mold than anything. In the initial days, while looking for the area, it was so costly for the couple, so they kept moving geographically. Mary loves trees, rocks, and water and wanted to be close to nature at her retirement age due to which the couple is currently living off the grid, fully sustainable.
2. Couple Living Off-Grid on an Island in an Ultra Tiny Cabin
Source: https://www.youtube.com/exploringalternatives
Phoebe and Mike are living in their self-built ultra-tiny cabin that's just 10 square meters or 108 square feet! It's on a piece of boat access-only property and it's fully off-grid with a rainwater catchment system, a wood stove, an outhouse, and a generator + battery bank for electricity. They had to bring all of the materials for their home using either a boat or a barge which added an extra layer of complexity to the project, but now that it's built and set up, their life is cozy, comfortable and their monthly expenses are much lower than when they lived in the city.
3. Family of 7 Living Completely Off-Grid in Northern Canada!
Source: https://www.youtube.com/exploringalternatives
Jeff, Rose, and their 5 girls are living completely off-grid on a 40-acre piece of land in Northern British Columbia, Canada. They built their own off-grid house for less than $25,000 with cedar posts sunk into the ground like a pole barn, log rafters, plywood, foam insulation, and a living roof. The house was so affordable to build because they didn't have to excavate or pour a concrete foundation, dig a well, or install a septic system. All of the water the family uses is rainwater collected from their shop roof and stored in a tank under the shop floor to keep it cool. They have two composting bucket toilets and they sprinkle sawdust into the buckets after each use to absorb moisture and prevent smells. For heat, they cut their own firewood for their Blaze King catalytic wood stove
4. Family of 5 Living Off-Grid | BOAT ACCESS ONLY
Source: https://www.youtube.com/exploringalternatives
Mark and Chera rescued and renovated an old cabin and transformed it into an epic off-grid home for their family of 5. There's no road to get there, so they had to figure out how to do absolutely everything by boat and barge: transporting building materials, equipment, belongings, workers, as well as commuting to and from town for school and work. For heat, they have a wood stove in the house, a pellet stove in the yurt, and backup wall-mount propane heaters for really cold days, or times when they're away from the house during winter. For electricity, they have 3 systems. First, a solar power system with 18 panels and a large battery bank works great in the summer even though they're surrounded by mountains. But during the colder, rainier months, the system doesn't keep everything running so they installed a hydro turbine which creates electricity using water pressure from a creek up the hill, and this provides 24-hour electricity for most of the year. As a backup to these two systems, they have a propane generator but they try not to use it unless they need to.
5. 27 YEARS Living Off-Grid on a Self-Built Island Homestead
Source: https://www.youtube.com/exploringalternatives
Freedom Cove is a rare and very special place that is a man-made floating island that acts as a homestead, an art installation, and a home to Catherine and Wayne in Tofino, BC, Canada. The project stad with a small float home that was built using wood that had washed ashore after a storm, and In 1992, they gradually added new buildings, greenhouses, and an outdoor dance floor to create a fully off-grid, floating homestead where they can grow most of their own food, earn a living as artists, and reduce their environmental footprint. They have used as much reclaimed material as possible, including flotation technology. They use a mix of solar panels, a generator, propane, and firewood for their various energy needs, and they have a new microbial wastewater system.
6. Homesteading Family Living Off-Grid in a Spectacular Earthship
Source: https://www.youtube.com/exploringalternatives
Francis & Marie have dreamt of being self-sufficient for a long time. This inspiring off-grid homesteading family lives in a renovated stone Earthship. They grow their own food, collect rainwater, use solar power, have composting toilets, and have a pond that filters their greywater. For rainwater, they have 3 collection systems. One is a tank in front of the house that collects water from the greenhouse, and they use a solar-powered pump to transfer it into an underground cistern. Another tank collects rainwater from the roof, and a third collects rainwater from their shed. In total, they can have 10,000 liters of freshwater when all of the tanks are full. They have a small solar power system for their lights, the water pump, and for the internet.
7. Man Living in a Sustainable & Innovative Earthship Home
Source: https://www.youtube.com/exploringalternatives
A man in Ontario, Canada is living in a sustainable Earthship home having a 3-bedroom Earthship home has it all: 10kW of solar panels, rainwater collection cisterns, indoor gardens, a wood-fired boiler, and passive cooling tubes. It's built with recycled tires, bottles and cans, and off-cuts from a log home builder. After years of following the Earthship movement, Matt was able to take a course at the Earthship Academy with Michael Reynolds in New Mexico and then worked with Ted Elsasser to build his own passive solar home.
8. Modern Off-Grid Cob House Built With Sand, Clay & Straw - Sustainable Green
Source: https://www.youtube.com/exploringalternatives
The Stoltz Bluff Eco-Retreat is a monolithic cob house that’s completely off-grid. It has a 1-kilowatt solar power system and a backup generator for electricity, a propane radiant in-floor heating system and a Rumford fireplace for heat, and a constructed wetland for natural wastewater treatment. Most cob homes are built with a timber frame structure, and the cob – a mixture of sand, clay, and straw – is used to create the walls. This home is quite different because it’s a structural cob house, so the 2-foot thick walls are load-bearing, and they support the weight of the roof.
9. Group of students from Carleton University lives in a Super High Tech Off-Grid Tiny House
Source: https://www.youtube.com/exploringalternatives
A super innovative net-zero tiny house that is 100% solar-powered, The Northern Nomad tiny home was designed and built by a group of students from Carleton University. The professor and 4 students who worked on this high-tech green building project have a roof made of integrated solar panels and an atmospheric water generator prototype. It’s insulated with vacuum insulated panels, it has a home automation system, a sliding loft, and more!
10. Young Woman's Off-Grid Green Built Tiny House Designed For a Sustainable Future
Source: www.youtube.com/livingbiginatinyhouse
The beautiful tiny house is constructed with a whole lot of heart and some wonderful sustainable materials. When Isabelle Nagel-Brice decided to build a tiny home for herself, she realized that for the cost of two years' rent in Colorado she would be able to pay for the materials to build her own tiny home on wheels. The result of her efforts is an incredible green-built tiny home that has been constructed entirely of eco-friendly materials which can all be recycled or will biodegrade at the end of the building's life. The home is designed to be off-the-grid, with solar panels soon to be added to her set-up, and is packed full of reclaimed and healthy materials.