B4 • Friday, June 10, 2022
THE GARDEN ISLAND
thegardenisland.com
Off-grid living beckons more than just hardy pioneer types “For those with means, it opens up building sites that cannot be connected to loSANTA BARBARA, Calif. — cal grids, and allows for a Living off-grid conjures imquieter kind of life, grounded in nature without neighbors ages of survivalists in renearby,” Bang says. mote places and a rustic, For those without the “Little House on the Prairie” means to hire architects, lifestyle with chores from there are numerous recent morning to night. Yet only a books, blogs, YouTube vidtiny fraction of people living off-grid do it like that, and eos and more dedicated to fewer still live more than an the subject. DON RYAN / ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE hour from any town. “A lot of people are inter“Living off-grid doesn’t ested in it now. They contact An off-grid home with a panoramic view showing Mount Jefferson is seen in the Three Rivers Recreational mean you don’t buy your me after watching someArea, a 4,000 acre off-grid community in Lake Billy Chinook, Ore. groceries at a store or take thing on TV or on YouTube metering,” when your propyour waste to the local storing that power. The Anacapa Architecture cost of homes like this is and I tell them, ‘If you dump. It just means you are More frequent power out- erty’s renewable energy firm, in Santa Barbara, Calithat it’s expensive to haul learned everything you not connected to utility equipment to a remote site. know on YouTube, you are ages and utility grids’ strug- source — usually solar -- is fornia, and Portland, Oregrids,” says Gary Collins, In addition, they might be never going to survive,’” producing more energy than gon, has built several gles to handle the severe who has lived off-grid, or you use, and your local util- upscale off-grid homes in re- outfitted with things like so- says Collins. weather events brought on mostly off-grid, for a decade. by climate change have Growing up poor in a rural ity pays you for the excess. cent years, and has several lar power, an onsite battery He has published books on area, he says, helped him added to interest in disconToday, off-grid living enmore off-grid projects in the bank, a septic system that the subject, and leads online necting from the grid. So treats sewage onsite, a water succeed at off-grid living, compasses everything from works. classes. first in Washington state and “There’s definitely an inwell, and a dry well to treat have utility bill hikes. “dry camping” in RVs (with Although precise numand reuse water, not to men- now in Arizona. He makes “There’s a lot more interno electrical or water hook- crease in traction for this regular grocery runs, but bers of off-grid households est in living off the grid now ups) to swank Santa Barbara kind of lifestyle, especially in tion a plumbing system dealso grows some of his own are hard to come by, Collins because energy is costing so estates, from modest dwell- the last two years. There’s a signed to use as little water food and hunts wild game. desire to get more in tune estimates that only 1 permuch and there are so many ings tucked just outside of as possible. with nature,” says Jon Bang, problems with grids,” says Such homes also are care- He has his own septic systowns to — yes — remote cent of those living off-grid marketing and PR coordina- fully designed to take advan- tem and well. While his preauthor Sheri Koones, whose rustic cabins. are in truly remote areas. “Everyone does it differOverall, the off-grid move- books about sustainable tor for Anacapa Architectage of the site’s landscape vious home was entirely houses include “Prefabulous ently and everyone does it features with an eye to susoff-grid, with solar panels ment remains small. But it ture. got a boost after the COVID and Almost Off the Grid” their own way, because it’s The lifestyle that Anacapa tainability. For example, one and a wind turbine for (Abrams, 2012). power, his current home is pandemic hit: City dwellers their own adventure,” says homes aim for is one of mod- of the firm’s homes is built There are also those who Collins. hooked up to an electrical began to explore different into a hillside and has a ernist elegance, not roughgrid, mainly, he says, beways of living, facilitated by remain connected to the For him, off-grid living is green roof (with plantings). ing it. Bang says new improvements in alternative grid but try to power their part of finding a simpler, less technologies can ensure Strategic landscaping can cause the bills are too low to homes independent of it. energy sources like solar cluttered life more in sync comfortable self-sufficiency. minimize the need for water- warrant the cost of solar Koones cites the rise in “net with nature. power, and batteries for One reason for the high panels. ing. Katherine Roth ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mortgage rates jump again, buyers head to the sideline ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Average longterm U.S. mortgage rates jumped back up ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve meeting where it’s expected to announce another big increase to its main borrowing rate. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the 30-year rate jumped to 5.23% this week from 5.09% last week. A year ago at this time, the average rate was 2.96%. Until April, the average rate hadn’t exceeded 5% in more than a decade. The brisk jump in rates, along with a sharp increase in home prices, has been pushing potential homebuyers out of the market. Mortgage applications decreased 6.5% from one week earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. The group’s composite index, a measurement of mortgage-loan-application volume, is at its lowest level in 22 years. Its refinance index is 75% lower than a year ago. Last month, the Federal Reserve intensified its fight against the worst inflation in 40 years by raising its benchmark interest rate by a half-percentage point and signaling more big rate hikes to come. The Fed’s move, its most aggressive since 2000, means higher costs for mortgages as well as credit cards, auto loans and other borrowing for individuals and businesses. Higher borrowing rates appear to be slowing the housing market, an important part of the economy. In April, sales of both existing homes and new homes showed signs of faltering.