Off-Grid Island Life
by TreeHugger on 04. 1.05
Here's an example of island living with all the amenities, but completely off-grid. This house, owned by Monica and Jack McVickers, is on Keewaydin Island in the Gulf of Mexico, just off the coast of Southwest Florida. There are no full-time residents on the island, no roads, no utilities, and access is by boat only. All fifteen of the homes on the island rely on off-grid electrical systems.
The McVickers house is equipped with a power system large enough to power the appliances in the house, plus tennis court lights and hot tubs.
Here's what this kind of system involves: two Xantrex 4,000-watt inverters stacked together and connected to twelve 300W solar panels. Four 1,270 amp-hour batteries were installed to provide close to 50 KWH of electrical storage.
The McVickers have a propane generator for battery charging and backup purposes. This provided them with the extra capacity to handle air conditioning and other large loads.
The electrical load could have probably been scaled down with judicious application of green design principles, eliminating the need for the propane backup, and making the house run completely on renewable energy. But this is an interesting example of how a modern house can be re-equipped for living off-grid on an island. For more information see: Home Power Magazine (PDF File)
[By Justin Thomas]
with photovolaic panels looking less and less obtusive on home design, why more people don't do this in their suburbs is beyond me. Looks like a dream house.
phony loosers destroying island for rich bastards abd bravgging about their eco mindedness leave the island alone, destroy the houses and go away
That is certainly a very attractive off grid home. There are many good ideas here that need to be shared. The systems for a luxury comfortable house are complex. I would like to know what systems have proven most satisfactory and reliable and which are a constant headache. I seem to buy one or two headaches before I find the right stuff.
I would like to know the architect or interior design team of this home. The PDF file link does not work, Home power magazine does not recongize this when archived, and so, I can not find further info about the house. Does anyone know? Thanks for your help!
I am the designer of the Mcvicker house.
I have 2 degrees in Architecture and feel very blessed to be able to design homes that use solar energy. I am available for comment/questions if needed. I live in NAples Florida and live in a house that uses passive cooling that my husband and I built. It is not as great as active solar - but we couldn't afford to go solar right now. my e-mail is archologyinc@aol.com
ps the owners are not phony loosers
the only way to not interact with the environment is to live in a hut and take cold showers