I appreciate your perspective. I'm not a professional but in the past I lived totally off the grid in a very rural area so I know what that lifestyle is like.

I live in a city now so we're not going to disconnect our sewer and water in favor of a well and composting system but if I had the space I'd consider it.

In any case, my partner and I have worked pretty hard to reduce our energy consumption and adjust our lifestyles accordingly. We walk to work. Don't have a clothes dryer. Spent a lot of money making our house as passively energy efficient as possible. Reduced waste and compost, and grow what food we can.

Now we're at a point where the only thing left to do is convert our energy sources.

Our colonial will never be as efficient as a well built straw bale house, but life is a series of compromises and we're doing the best we can with what we've got.