No meters here (off grid homes, NH)

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http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071118/FRONTPAGE/711180303/1043/NEWS01

Jay Flanders meets all the new meter readers. They always make trips up his long, winding driveway their first time through the neighborhood. And Flanders never tires of chasing them away.

"They walk around the house going, 'Where's the meter?' " he said.

But Flanders's house in Newbury is 700 feet from the nearest utility pole, and it would have cost him $5,000 to pay for the wires and poles to connect his house to the electric power grid when he built it 10 years ago. Instead, Flanders spent $1,000 more on a solar energy system and panels that would provide enough electricity for his 1,500-square-foot saltbox house.

Today, the Flanders live a normal family life in a house where the kids are always on the computer and the morning doesn't start without the slurping and gurgling of the electric coffeemaker. They are among dozens of New Hampshire families that do not rely on municipal utilities, such as sewer, water, electricity or natural gas, and they are changing the stereotypes about living off the grid.

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[eppur_se_muova]

1. A melancholy quote ... what might have been ...

Lydia Hawkes, a nurse at Valley Regional Hospital, has dreamed about living off the grid since the energy crisis of the 1970s. She was 18, and President Jimmy Carter was the first president she voted for. Hawkes said she was inspired by Carter's efforts to promote energy efficiency and independence.